ATHABASCA UNIVERSITY SYNCHRONOUS WEB CONFERENCING: TOWARDS A PEDAGOGICAL MODEL FOR EFFECTIVE LEARNING BY SZE KIU YEUNG A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF EDUCATION IN DISTANCE EDUCATION CENTER FOR DISTANCE EDUCATION ATHABASCA UNIVERSITY MAY, 2014 © SZE KIU YEUNG SYNCHRONOUS WEB CONFERENCING Approval Page ii SYNCHRONOUS WEB CONFERENCING Acknowledgements It has never occurred to me that I would take up formal study at the doctoral level. The thought of committing myself to the discipline and rigor of research study seemed, at the time, beyond my grasp. Certainly, in a traditional face-to-face program, the “travel to class” time would have been higher, making the whole endeavor inefficient and less appealing. When Athabasca University (AU) and SIM University (UniSIM) signed a Memorandum of Understanding on academic exchanges at the faculty level, I was encouraged by my former Dean to consider studying in AU’s EdD in Distance Education program. At the beginning, three senior UniSIM Professors gave me the confidence to pursue this learning journey: Professor Tsui Kai Chong (Provost), Professor Koh Hian Chye (Assistant Provost, UniSIM College), and Associate Professor Neelam Aggarwal (Dean, School of Arts and Social Sciences – retired), and I am sincerely grateful to them for their guidance and support. In addition, I would also like to acknowledge the funding support (S$10,000) provided by UniSIM’s Center for Applied Research, which enabled me to implement the technological solution for this study. When I eventually enrolled on the program, I found the peer-support from my Cohort 2 class-mates, who are scattered around the world in different time-zones between North America, the Middle East, and East Asia, indispensible especially during the time when we were struggling with our research proposals. Whatever progress I have made in distance education and research I have benefited much from their expertise and humor. Thank you, my fellow Cohort 2 class-mates and I wish everyone success. Over in Australia, I am indebted to Mr. Stephen Rowe, Deputy Head of Southern Cross Business School and Director of Teaching & Learning, Southern Cross University, for his strong interest in my topic. How he managed to find the time or the interest to watch my Blackboard Collaborate recordings, I have no idea. iii SYNCHRONOUS WEB CONFERENCING At UniSIM, I would like to thank all my faculty colleagues in the School of Business for their constructive advice. Two other colleagues: Dr Zhang Jianlin, an Economist, and Dr Luo Futeng, Head of the Chinese Programs, also deserve my special recognition. Dr Zhang for offering me invaluable advice on important matters such as research assistant recruitment and quantitative data analysis, and Dr Luo for his good advice and encouragement on matters related to research and international conference. In addition, all the students who participated in my study over the last three semesters deserve my special acknowledgement also. Last, but not least, I would like to pay tributes to all my professors at AU, in particular, Dr Mohamed Ally, Dr Jon Baggaley (my former supervisor), Dr Susan Moisey, and Dr Craig Montgomerie, for their great teaching, world-views, and research prowess. Finally, I could not have completed this intensive-research journey without the support and patience of my wife who accepted and tolerated me and my study for so long now. It’s time to cross the finishing line, I hope. iv SYNCHRONOUS WEB CONFERENCING Abstract Pedagogy supported by synchronous web conferencing is the topic of this research study. While pedagogy for asynchronous online learning has been widely studied, there is little literature on a coherent pedagogical model that guides teaching and learning practices in a synchronous web- conferencing environment. The study undertaken here aimed to address this gap by investigating the extent to which synchronous web conferencing offered a benefit over traditional classroom- based learning. The action research methodology based on the mixed methods of combining quantitative and qualitative analyses was adopted to investigate (a) the students’ course achievement over three semesters, (b) the factors contributed to students’ positive learning experience, (c) the emergence of a set of pedagogical patterns; (c) the implementation issues of synchronous web conferencing; (d) the potential of learning analytics; and (e) the development of a pedagogical model. At an overall level, when the data from the three semesters was combined, the study revealed that students’ achievement in terms of their examination results was significant (p = 0.04 < 0.05) between students who experienced synchronous web- conference learning (Mean = 68.9, SD = 11.8) and those who experienced face-to-face learning (mean = 65.5, SD = 12.2). However, at the individual semester level, there was no significant difference in two of the three semesters studied. Keywords: synchronous web conferencing, pedagogy, action research, learning analytics v SYNCHRONOUS WEB CONFERENCING Table of Contents Approval Page ..................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ iii Abstract ................................................................................................................................v Table of Contents ............................................................................................................... vi List of Tables .................................................................................................................... xii List of Figures .................................................................................................................. xiv Chapter I - INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................1 History and Background of the Institution.....................................................................1 Institutional Objectives and Importance of Study .........................................................3 Overview of Diploma in Management Studies ..............................................................3 The DMS Information Systems for Business (BUS017) Course...................................4 Statement of the Problem ...............................................................................................5 Proposed Solution ..........................................................................................................6 The Study .......................................................................................................................6 Research Questions ........................................................................................................7 Characteristics of the Learners .......................................................................................8 Summary ........................................................................................................................9 Organization of the Dissertation ....................................................................................9 Definition of Terms......................................................................................................11 Chapter II – LITERATURE REVIEW ..............................................................................12 Literature Selection Process .........................................................................................12 Overview of Synchronous Technology .......................................................................13 vi SYNCHRONOUS WEB CONFERENCING Development of Synchronous Technology ..................................................................15 Comparison of Synchronous Technology ....................................................................17 Evaluation of Synchronous Technology ......................................................................21 Criteria for Selecting Synchronous Technology ..........................................................22 Synchronous Technology and Pedagogy .....................................................................24 Multimedia Learning ...................................................................................................26 Action Research ...........................................................................................................28 The Conversational Framework ...................................................................................32 Community of Inquiry .................................................................................................33 Learning Theories, Instructional Theories and Principles ...........................................35 A Theoretical Framework for Technology and Pedagogy Integration ..............................42 Class-size .....................................................................................................................42 Summary ......................................................................................................................43 Chapter III - METHODOLOGY .......................................................................................45 Part 1: Procedures of the Study ....................................................................................45