Journal of Online Learning Research and Practice
gram offerings , quality must be central , and that means instructional practice , the development of instructional personnel , as well as pursuing and applying new insights from the Learning Sciences and MBE will continue to evolve and garner attention . Research to compare student engagement , retention , academic performance , and faculty evaluations prior to and after the faculty development and instructional delivery should be institutionalized .
Insights from the Learning Sciences and MBE Science may also be integrated into faculty development for distance education instruction in online and blended formats on a national level . These principles may serve as cornerstones in professional development workshops . Surveys and interviews could be distributed to workshop attendees 6 to 12 months after they complete the workshops to explore any changes noticed regarding student engagement , retention , academic performance , and course evaluations prior to and after workshops .
Finally , collaboration is key to moving forward . Moore stated in 1993 , “ In distance education teaching is hardly ever an individual act , but a collaborative process joining together the expertise of a number of specialists in design teams and delivery networks ” ( p . 28 ). This is reflected by Ko and Rossen ( 2017 ) as well : “ When it comes to development of online courses , a growing number of institutions committed to online education have increasingly turned to a team approach for course development ” ( p . 92 ), which may include “ an instructor paired with an instructional designer , instructional technologist , or other technically oriented person providing assistance or it may be a larger group of individuals ” ( p . 92 ). Through collaboration , innovation , and these recommendations , IHEs are positioned to meet the instructional needs of an increasingly diverse population in a complex global environment through multiple modalities ( e . g ., online , blended , and on-campus formats ) to support student engagement , learning , and completion in an authentic and high-quality manner .
Summary
Projections by NCES , prior to the COVID-19 pandemic , indicated that higher education enrollments in the United States would increase by “ 15 % between 2014 to 2025 , with larger proportional increases among adults than traditional-age students ” ( Lederman , 2017 , para . 1 ). Learning Sciences and MBE Science support teaching and learning across modalities , and support pivotal pedagogy creating a new frontier in teaching and learning for students , instructors , instructional designers , faculty , and professional development administrators . It is the responsibility of IHEs , independent scholars , and practitioners to maintain currency and document high-quality practices and outcomes of a changing population of learners in higher education . In the article “ Three Generations of Distance Education Pedagogy ,” the authors state at the end : “ It is tempting to speculate what the next generation will bring ” in
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