Faculty Resources
Faculty Research Grants
As part of a continuing program to encourage research for the improvement of teaching and learning pedagogy, the Office of Evaluation and Assessment periodically provides grants to University of Maryland University College faculty conducting relevant research.
Faculty Research Grant Winners
Researcher |
Title and Description |
Eric B. Dent |
The Individualized Interaction between Professor and Student in an Online Course The purpose of this research is two-fold: (1) to determine the nature of the contacts that students in an online course make with a professor outside of "class," or, in other words, to understand the reasons why a student uses email to interact with a professor outside of the WebTycho course space, and (2) to determine the nature of the interaction between a professor and student to see whether these exchanges support student success in the course. |
Ted Field |
Globalizing the University: The Impact of Online Teaching & Faculty Perspectives on Organizational Change A study of faculty interpretations of what constitutes global education in terms specific course design and delivery. Qualitative interviews will be conducted with part-time and full-time faculty during the winter of 2002. |
Kenneth D. Feigenbaum and Steven Kronheim |
The Effect of Reduced Cues in WebTycho-Based Instruction A study of the effects of the lack of spoken and visual cues upon the learning process in WebTycho-based courses. |
Researcher |
Title and Description |
Jim Chen |
Interaction and Success in Web-based Online Learning This study will examine the role of the interactive components of Web-based online classes in the success of the students. Quantitative and qualitative aspects of interaction between instructor and students and among students will be studied. |
Megan Hurley and Jennifer Vest |
Exploring the Experiences of First-Time Online Learners in UMUC Teaching Education Programs in the Graduate School First-time online learners in the UMUC Graduate Program in Teacher Education will be asked about their most rewarding experiences and the greatest obstacles and challenges to their success in the Program. On the basis of findings from these questions, the research team will investigate how the success of the students can be maximized in courses with high numbers of first-time online learners. |
Jennifer Vest and Sean Chung |
OMBA Persistence Study This invitational study will examine the relationship between select characteristics of incoming students and their likelihood of persistence during and through the first three courses in the OMBA program. |
Researcher |
Title and Description |
William Mood |
Enhancing Students’ Reasoning Skills through Creative Teaching: Implications for Multiple Intelligence Theory in an Online Environment The principal investigator will compare achievement in reasoning skills in a course using a recommended form of creative teaching with results achieved in a class taught in the instructor’s usual way. |
Marsha Margarella |
Pilot Study for Evaluating Writing Skill Assessment This study proceeded from an invitational award to investigate the following questions:
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Researcher |
Title and Description |
Cynthia Whitesel |
Case Study Proposal for Discovering the Experiences of Faculty Teaching Online The purpose of this study is to explore how faculty learn to teach in a virtual classroom, how they experience the first year of such teaching, and how they then adapt to the virtual classroom. The study may be expected to help UMUC do a better job of helping teachers to do well online. It is, however, not intended as an effort to evaluate WebTycho training. |
John Booth and Lucia Worthington |
Costs and Risks of Distance Education for Students in Mexico This is to be a study of the developing-country distance education student as consumer and evaluator of DE courses. Believing that cost factors are not as crucial to certain consumers as are quality considerations, the inquiry will probe the suitability of courses developed in other countries to the cultural orientation and expectations of Mexican students at the Monterrey Institute of Technology. Respondents will be asked, for example, whether the constructivist, collaborative learning-oriented assumptions of U.S. course-creators go against the grain in respect to learning styles and cultural values of this sample of Mexican students. |
Researcher |
Title and Description |
Alan Carswell |
Factors Affecting Learning Outcomes in an Asynchronous Distance Learning Environment A study to investigate the relationship of factors such as spatial and temporal separation of instructor and student, the use of media, and the two-way patterns of communication between instructor and students to the learning outcomes achieved and to a hypothesized transactional distance associated with the spatial and temporal separation. |
David Cohen |
The Usefulness of Audio-Video Clips in Asynchronous Web-Based Courses A study that will attempt to determine types of content in audio-video clips that are most advantageous for students' learning in technology-related courses, to identify disadvantages of different clips, and to assess the bearing of the use of such clips upon student satisfaction with their courses. |
Donald L. Goff |
A Study of UMUC Faculty’s Use of Web-Enhancement of the Traditional Classroom A survey to document (a) the range of uses of the internet in support of standup classes, (b) the frequency of use of these tools, (c) the amount of time employed to develop and use them, (d) their perceived value, (e) the platform employed, (f) whether there is disciplinary bias about their use, and (g) whether there is a difference between the graduate and undergraduate programs. |
James Kasprzak |
Maintaining the Integrity of Student Evaluation in Online Education A study to analyze the perceptions and practical experiences of UMUC online faculty about real or perceived problems in insuring the integrity of student evaluations in the online academic environment, and to propose best practices and policy for maintaining the rigor and integrity of student evaluations in online teaching. |
Joseph Kasser, Kimberly David-Chung |
Mitigating Barriers to Effective Teamwork in the WebTycho Environment A project is that will develop ways of offsetting or overcoming barriers that interfere with students' working effectively in teams while using the WebTycho environment in their studies. |
Robert McDonald |
Assessment of the Information Literacy and Writing Assessment Project A study which illustrates an assessment model that promotes effective assignment design for online faculty via the Undergraduate Writing Program. |
Sal Monaco, Steve Versace |
Designing and Using an Intelligent Agent-'chatterbot'-as a Technological Teaching Assistant in the Executive Program in Information Technology A project that examines the use of an intelligent agent ("Sylvie") in the Project Management seminar. |
Robert Ouellette |
Characterizing Students in the TMAN Program to Facilitate Adapting to Their Learning Needs A study to document the characteristics of students in the TMAN program of the Graduate School and to share this information with the students themselves so that instructors and students can adapt to enhance learning. |
Mary Helen Spear, Steve Kronheim, Marilyn Pugh |
Developing a Validated Tool for Assessment of Online Course Readiness A study to develop a means of predicting readiness of students to persist in online course participation and to gain information on factors affecting such persistence. |
