Investigating Online Learning in Higher Education
About this area of research
Online learning and distance education are becoming integral parts in the higher education landscape. Accelerated through the shift to emergency distance education, it is critical to guide educational policymakers with respect to the benefits and challenges of online learning environments. Studies in this research area examine the effectiveness of online learning on both course- and institutional levels. For example, we partner with course instructors to develop, implement, and evaluate interventions in their college courses to improve student motivation and performance, as well as to identify effective online course design features.
Personnel and Collaborations @ Tübingen and Beyond
Tübingen: Christian Fischer, Gabe Orona
International Collaborations: Mark Warschauer (UC Irvine), Di Xu (UC Irvine), Penelope Collins (UC Irvine), Fernando Rodriguez (UC Irvine), Susan King (UC Irvine), Renée Link (UC Irvine), Qiujie Li (UC Irvine), Rachel Baker (University of Pennsylvania), Renzhe Yu (Columbia University), Teya Rutherford (University of Delaware), Hye Rin Lee (University of Delaware)
Funded Grants and Projects
Investigating teaching and learning processes and outcomes at a large public research university, Research Stipend, Office of the Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning, University of California, Irvine, [$10,000; Funding awarded to Christian Fischer]
Investigating Virtual Learning Environments, National Science Foundation [$2,500,000; Grant awarded to PI Mark Warschauer and Co-PIs Di Xu, Padhraic Smyth, Teomara Rutherford, and Sarah Frey]
List of related projects: STEM Courses, STEM Learning Environments, UCI-MUST
Selected Publications (as of October 22)
Fischer, C., Baker, R., Li, Q., Orona, G., & Warschauer, M. (2022). Increasing success in higher education: The relationships of online course taking with college completion and time-to-degree. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 44(3), 355-379. https://doi.org/10.3102/01623737211055768
Fischer, C., McPartlan, P., Orona, G. A., Yu, R., Xu, D., & Warschauer, M. (2022). Salient syllabi: Examining design characteristics of science online courses in higher education. PLOS ONE, 17(11), 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0276839
Szura, J., Fischer, C., Link, R., & Collins, P. (2022). Looking at the Laboratory Discussion: Course Modality Choice and Student Performance in Organic Chemistry Laboratory. Journal of Chemical Education. Advanced Online Publication. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.2c00437
Rodriguez, F., Lee, H. R., Rutherford, T., Fischer, C., Potman, E., & Warschauer, M. (2021). Using Clickstream Data Mining Techniques to Understand and Support First-Generation College Students in an Online Chemistry Course. Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Learning Analytics & Knowledge (LAK '21). Virtual Conference. https://doi.org/10.1145/3448139.3448169
Fischer, C., Xu, D., Rodriguez, F., Denaro, K., & Warschauer, M. (2020). Effects of course modality in summer session: Enrollment patterns and student performance in face-to-face and online classes. The Internet and Higher Education, 45, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2019.100710
Zhou, N., Fischer, C., Rodriguez, F., Warschauer, M, & King, S. (2020). Exploring how enrolling in an online organic chemistry preparation course relates to students' self-efficacy. Journal of Computing in Higher Education, 32, 505-528. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12528-019-09244-9
Yu, R., Li, Q., Fischer, C., Xu, D., & Doroudi, S. (2020). Predicting College Success: What Data Are Useful and for Whom? In the Companion Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Learning Analytics & Knowledge (LAK '20). Frankfurt, Germany.
Fischer, C., Zhou, N., Rodriguez, F., Warschauer, M., & King, S. (2019). Improving college student success in organic chemistry: Impact of an online preparatory course. Journal of Chemical Education, 96(5), 857-864. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.8b01008
Wu, L. L., Fischer, C., Rodriguez, F., & Washington, G. (2018). Evaluation of online learning in a first-year engineering design course. Proceedings of the 2018 annual conference and exposition of the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE), Salt Lake City, UT.