Introduction  (Page 2/3)

The purpose of study

The purpose of this qualitative study was to find out how instructors in higher education taught with a web-based courseware that encompassed an e-textbook and a course management system. Factors that related to the instructors and their teaching environments were examined to understand their influence on the participant’s course design and methods of teaching. In particular, this study focused on how they used online resources from the textbook publisher’s course website and the reasons why. Some of the personal factors examined were the instructor’s teaching experience, their comfort level with technology, their teaching philosophies, the influence of their mentors, and their goals for teaching the course. Factors relating to the teaching environment included the course format and the support and training provided by the university for teaching with technology.

The instructors who adopted the courseware were interviewed at intervals during the semester: while they were in the process of setting up their course websites, beginning to teach the course, and at the end of the semester. Data was collected on their initial ideas for their course design, mitigating circumstance that caused them to modify their plans, and their reflections on how they taught the course.

Research questions

In qualitative research, the researcher develops ideas about the research problem through reading the literature of the discipline and through personal experience in the field. However, it is expected that the focus of one’s research might change significantly in response to themes that emerge from the data. To give focus to this study, four basic research questions were pursued:

1. Who were the instructors who opted to adopt the Online Day textbook package and what motivated their adoption?
2. How did they teach the course?
3. To what extent did they use technology in teaching?
4. What kinds of successes and failures ensued in teaching the course?

The participants in this study were graduate-level instructors from various universities in the U.S. who adopted an online counseling theories textbook. Because the instructors used the same basic materials, their methods of designing instruction and teaching the course were clearly comparable.

Definitions of terms

A number of terms used in this chapter have different meanings in different contexts. For the sake of clarity, I have defined the terms as they are used in this study.

• Blended or hybrid course “Course that blends online and face-to-face delivery. Substantial proportion of the content is delivered online, typically uses online discussions, and typically has some face-to face meetings” (Allen&Seaman, 2007, p. 4) .
• Online course “Course where most or all of the content is delivered online. Typically have no face-to-face meetings” (Allen&Seaman, 2007, p. 4) .
• Course management system “A software system that is specifically designed and marketed for faculty and students to use in teaching and learning…most include course content organization and presentation, communication tools, student assessment tools, grade book tools, and functions that manage class materials and activities” (Morgan, 2003) .
• E-learning “The use of new multimedia technologies and the Internet to improve the quality of learning by facilitating access to resources and services, as well as remote exchange and collaboration” (European Commission, 2001) .
• E-textbook a digitized version of a textbook designed with functionality for flexible use by the reader online, such as the ability to click on a term and hear a term pronounced while reading its definition.
• Courseware software designed to use in teaching.
• Online Day a website containing an e-textbook built into a course management system which has been enhanced with various educational resources and communication tools, such as a discussion board, a linked glossary, PowerPoint presentations, audio segments, videos of counseling sessions, an automated test bank, and an instructors’ guide.