Recommendations

The following key recommendations have been made in relation to dissemination and further studies in this area.

The first recommendation of this study is that the Higher Education Institutions (HEI) body, the Irish Universities Association(IUA) and the Higher Education Authority (HEA) in Ireland be invited to critically review the findings from this study, with a view to highlighting the interesting new profile of students embarking on fully online studies (i.e. the majority already have undergraduate degrees, and are in full-time employment) and furthermore, to inform current policies that aim to promote the fully online mode of learning across the eight remaining Institutes of Technology, the Technological University of Dublin, and the seven universities on the island of Ireland. In this regard, the vignette presented in this study offers an evidence-based account of what works and what needs to be improved from the perspective of students who have engaged with fully online learning offerings in an Irish higher education settings. In order to activate quality learning within fully online settings, there also must be acknowledgement by management in HEI that lecturers need additional time to foster meaningful interaction and engagement within communities of learning, in the fully online mode of learning, and this should be reflected within workload allocation models.

The second recommendation of this study is for the development of a training course on fully online learning for lecturers, and furthermore, that completion of this training course becomes mandatory for lecturers prior to engagement within a fully online course.

The training course should raise awareness of the variety of online students, their backgrounds, knowledge or expertise not just in the online programme they are pursuing but the knowledge (or lack of) online communication, educational platforms and team work. The training course should help lecturers be able to facilitate and encourage collaboration and interaction among students and lecturers. Help them make friends, create teams and build strong study groups. It is through this interaction that lecturers will be able to monitor student presence and participation and provide relevant feedback. The lecturer/student relationship will provide an awareness of student worries and concerns and assist in the construction, design and necessary requirements to help the lecture be cognisant of the needs of the online student. The

online mode of learning. Finally, the greater need for “Time”, as previously mentioned, to create, develop, enhance and improve the course structure and roll out of same, in addition to the time required for monitoring of students behaviour, students progression and “Time” to facilitate answering of questions in addition to feedback from both summative and formative assessments. The literature review in this study highlighted Computer Support Collaborative Learning (CSCL) a format of learning and instruction which can adopt the social nature of learning using a variety of technological and pedagogical strategies (Jeong, Hmelo-Silver and Jo 2019). It is this format that the researcher feels can enhance students experience of online learning.

The third recommendation relates to further interrogation of the new pattern of engagement identified within this study i.e. the emergence of the two communities of learning– one of which formed through engagement in the live lecture sessions, and the other formed through engagement with archived resources. Further research needs to be undertake to ascertain whether this is unique to the model of fully online learning enacted within this institution, or whether this has emerged elsewhere, and further consideration is needed of the implications of this on quality learning and/ or sense of connectedness or community within the context of the fully online mode of learning. Flexibility within fully online learning is paramount for the mature online students, acknowledgement of whether the student prefers a live session over the archived session, vise-versa or a combination of both is essential as this confirms how the fully online course should be structured and rolled out.

The fourth recommendation is that further research be conducted on other fully online course contexts to further refine and articulate factors and processes that foster quality learning. The findings from this research study will be disseminated at national conferences including the Educational Studies Association of Ireland and of the United Kingdom conferences in April and September 2020 respectively, and furthermore that a paper will be submitted to the Irish Journal of Education Studies and the British Journal of Educational Technology. Through these dissemination processes, it is anticipated that opportunities for comparative research studies will emerge from higher education institutions on the island of Ireland and the United Kingdom, and through engagement

in addition to using the data obtained in this research in regard to the development and structure of all fully online courses, acknowledging the student profile and personality, their need for flexibility, interaction and feedback.

5.5.1 Future Guidelines of Practice for Online Programmes

The was no typical profile of an online student however what was typical of all students was the need for flexibility and accessibility in how they wanted to learn, and the security of knowing that someone was there. For future online courses these three element are paramount to ensure the smooth running of an online programme. Initial introduction and communication should be encouraged prior to the start of an online programme, this introduction and communication through discussion forums should outline the roles of all participants (students/lecturers), the curriculum design and outline and the learning objectives. Basic training on the learning platform (Moodle/Blackboard) with particular reference to downloading documents and uploading assignments, easy access to the archived lecturers, and connection via discussion forums both internal and external to the education platform thus ensuring the aforementioned flexibility and accessibility and security. The research indicated that it was these element which were important to the online students, if that is the case, then it is these elements that will ensure the retention rates for online programmes continue at a high level.

In addition, it is these guidelines of practice that follow the basics of El-Seoud et al. (2014) who provided a typology of how lecturers can enhance student motivation, the nine classifications outlined by El-Seoud et al. (2014) are strongly present in Recommendation 2 and 3 of this study.

1. Facilitate collaboration among students 2. Encourage interaction among students;

3. Build strong study groups so that students do not feel isolated; 4. Assist students to make friends by meeting fellow students online; 5. Monitor the online presence of students and

9. Be intuitive to the anxiety and worries of student’s engagement both with the online material and tools, as this might have a negative impact on their accessibility and motivation of online learning.

5.6 Chapter Summary

The students who took part in this research project did not fall into a particular profile, they were mixed in age, gender and nationality. Their level of qualifications, experience or job title was not evident. However what was evident was their need for change, to better themselves and to progress on a personal or work related level. It was also clear from the personality question, that they were determined to achieve their goal, even if that meant time management and adjustment of their work life balance.