Innovative online instructional practices: a narrative study exploring the social learning environment of distance education from the perspective of college instructors.

• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2047/D20194317

The landscape of higher education is changing by the increased offering of distance education courses in addition to traditional, face-to-face courses at many colleges both in the United States and around the world. The purpose of the study was to better understand how college instructors who have transitioned from traditional classroom instruction to online instruction describe their learning process. Specifically, the study sought to discover the learning experiences of these instructors as they sought to adopt innovative instructional practices to enhance students' social learning. The framework for this study was based on Bandura's (1986) Social Cognitive Theory. The researcher conducted a qualitative narrative study of a two-year college located in the southeastern United States (U.S.) that is in the process of expanding its distance education course offerings. Five faculty members were interviewed to answer the research question of "How do college instructors describe their learning relative to new online instructional practices that seek to enhance students' social learning?" Instructors who transitioned from the "on ground" to the "online" environment faced a learning curve. Part of the learning curve in the transition from teaching face-to-face to online consisted of instructors having to learn about emerging technologies and different forms of communication. One important piece of the puzzle for instructors was learning how to incorporate social learning in the virtual environment. It seems to occur naturally in the face-to-face classroom, but faculty had to learn how to integrate social learning in the online classroom. Collaboration with other faculty members helped promote best practices in designing and delivering quality online education.