Instructors should conduct a pre-course characteristic-type evaluation of the student, in order to adapt their pedagogy to the students enrolled. Post examination of graduate-level online students should “include questions that cover course content, materials used, organizational aspects of course activities, technical aspects, and performance of instructor and support staff” Instructors must encourage interaction/communication between instructor-student.

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Success of distant education courses.

Structured “comprehensive objectivist” design was significantly more effective than its unstructured counterpart on graduate learners’ competence

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Best graduate online course design for a research methods course

Instructors should allow positive affective communities, the use of student peer mentors, and the use of cognitive knowledge which offers graduate online students the chance to interact at higher cognitive levels

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Determine problems with online threaded discussions in higher education

Instructors need more administrative support, proper recognition of achievements online learning achievements, promotion of learner-centered methodology in the transition to online learning, and professional development that leads to a more collaborative community, an enhanced role for centralized support for staff engaged in online learning.

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Explore concerns and professional development needs of full-time faculty and instructors

Technical support and pedagogical guidance have very low impact of student satisfaction in online learning. When designing training and support programs, The focus should be more on personal and pedagogical characteristics of faculty.

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The relationship between levels of technical support and pedagogical guidance provided to faculty and Student satisfaction in online courses

University administrators should offer online support services available to the online students in order to improve their chances at succeeding in online courses. This way students can voice their concerns or clear any misunderstandings that may affect their chances of succeeding in online learning.

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The relationship between the non-academic support needs of online graduate students and their developmental achievement.

Best pedagogical practices in graduate online learning

Visible instructor engagement in online course activities

Conduct pre and post learning quality assessment to discover: pre-test―demographics, computer experience, distance education experience, preferred method of learning. Post-test―student satisfaction, grades and gain scores.

Adequate socialization and technical support of students, particularly for the first-year graduate students in online setting.

Initial student orientation, readiness identification, technical support (24 hours a day) and personal contact with professors, other students, and university support personnel.

Pedagogical practice from this study would be for instructors to post all of the assignments at once instead of staggering the assignments, allowing student to plan ahead

Instructors should conduct a pre-course characteristic-type evaluation of the student, in order to adapt their pedagogy to the students enrolled. Post examination of graduate-level online students should “include questions that cover course content, materials used, organizational aspects of course activities, technical aspects, and performance of instructor and support staff”

Instructors need more administrative support, proper recognition of achievements and continuous professional development.

Prompt and constructive instructor feedback. When students got delayed feedback from instructors it generated student perceptions of dissatisfaction and isolation

Timely, clear and consistent communication between faculty and online graduate students. University administrators should consider offering supplemental support services available to the online students in order to improve their chances at succeeding in online courses.

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