Project Activities
The researchers will conduct two studies: one that focuses on professional development activities at two specific community colleges (a "partner-site" study) and one that focuses on professional development activities offered by the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office for faculty across the entire California community college system (a "statewide" study). The researchers will join information about the faculty and their professional development activities to student behaviors in online courses to explore connections and how they predict student outcomes.
Structured Abstract
Setting
The research will take place in two community colleges in California (in both southern and central California) and will leverage statewide data from community colleges across California.
Sample
For the study that focuses on two specific community colleges, the main sample will include data from approximately 30,000 students matched to the classes of an estimated 625 faculty who completed comprehensive PD courses on online pedagogy. The research team will also use a subsample of approximately 50 faculty and an estimated 2500 matched students across these institutions for a deeper dive into outcomes. For the statewide study, researchers anticipate using data from roughly 10,000 students matched to 200 faculty who participated in comprehensive PD courses through the California Virtual Campus-Online Education Initiative (CVC-OEI), available to CCC educators statewide.
The primary factors researchers will study include participation in professional development (PD), the content of the PD, and the format and length of the PD. Some faculty may participate in the longer, comprehensive PD provided through CVC-OEI, whereas others may participate in shorter, multi-week courses that focus on particular content areas (such as course content presentation, accessibility, assessments, etc.). PD courses can also vary in whether they are synchronous or asynchronous and whether they are instructor-led or self-led. However, central to all of these PD courses is helping faculty and students to thrive in online teaching environments.
Research design and methods
The researchers will explore instructional practice using a mixed-methods approach in both the study of two specific colleges and the statewide study. For the partner-site study, they will leverage data on training histories of faculty who go through each campus's comprehensive PD program, joined to administrative data on student outcomes and clickstream data that captures student actions in the course learning management system. They will also work with a subsample of 50 faculty from each college, to look more deeply into the "course shell" data from the LMS. These data will allow the researchers to explore the instructional materials that they post and obtain measures of instructional practices, such as whether faculty scaffold learning by providing clear guidance on how to engage with course materials, or whether faculty promote interaction by offering opportunities for collaborative learning with classmates. In the systemwide study, they will examine two types of PD offered through the CVC-OEI: a 12-week comprehensive PD program and shorter, skill-targeted PD courses. They will use data on training histories of faculty who go through the CVC-OEI's PD program, joined to administrative data on student outcomes to measure how participation in PD is associated with changes in student outcomes. They will compare differences between the faculty who participated in the comprehensive program versus those who participated in skill-targeted courses in one of four domains—content presentation, online course interactions, online assessments, and accessibility in online courses.
Key measures
Key measures include administrative data including course performance, measures of progression such as persistence in the same subject, transfer, and degree attainment.
Data analytic strategy
The researchers will use multiple analytic strategies, including difference—in-differences analyses with fixed-effects and multilevel modeling.
People and institutions involved
IES program contact(s)
Project contributors
Products and publications
The researchers will produce academic articles, and products such as policy briefs and practitioner toolkits targeting audiences both within the California community college (CCC) system and nationwide.
Supplemental information
Co-Principal Investigators: Aminy, Marina; Xu, Di; Baker, Rachel
Questions about this project?
To answer additional questions about this project or provide feedback, please contact the program officer.
