The problem addressed in this qualitative grounded theory study was that there are different curricula designs for online biology courses resulting in students having significant challenges. The purpose of this qualitative grounded theory study was to use the theories of Mezirow (1990) and Tomlinson (1996) as the theoretical framework to explore…

The purpose of this non-experimental, comparative, quantitative study was to determine if there were significant differences between the perceptions of male and female community college students about the importance of sense of community (SoC) in online classes and sense of instructor presence (IP) at eight southern, public, community colleges…

This study used an explanatory sequential mixed methods approach to compare student experience and academic performance in an asynchronous online community college course delivered in three formats: accelerated (5-week) cohort, accelerated (5-week) non-cohort, and non-accelerated (16-week) non-cohort. Quantitative results showed no significant…

The COVID-19 pandemic led to an abrupt shift from in-person to virtual instruction in the spring of 2020. We use two complementary difference-in-differences frameworks: one that leverages within-instructor-by-course variation on whether students started their spring 2020 courses in person or online and another that incorporates student fixed…

Online education, also referred to as distance education, has been on a steady rise for over a decade, and California community colleges offer more online courses than any other public higher education institution. Although the success gap, as measured by course completion, between online and face-to-face learning is closing overall, online…

The purpose of this study was to determine if there is a relationship between the learner interactions of learner-content, learner-instructor, and learner-learner and either course satisfaction or perceived learning in online mathematics courses at the community college level. Additionally, this study investigated whether the learner interactions…

This study examines the student experience in the online classroom at a small, Northern California college during the COVID-19 pandemic, using a survey administered online and in person to students enrolled in targeted sections of general education courses at the college. By exploring student responses to specific instructional and support…

Community college students with disabilities (SWD) find disability-related challenges in online learning. Online learning is plagued with high withdrawal rates that impede educational goal completion. Prior to this study, the reasons for asynchronous online course withdrawal of community college SWD were not known. The purpose of this qualitative…

Community college students with disabilities (SWD) find disability-related challenges in online learning. Online learning is plagued with high withdrawal rates that impede educational goal completion. Prior to this study, the reasons for asynchronous online course withdrawal of community college SWD were not known. The purpose of this qualitative…

Online course persistence at community colleges is a serious issue, with students being between 3 and 15 percentage points more likely to withdraw than those taking the on-campus equivalent (Xu et al., 2019). Despite the continued growth in distance education, quality online course design is a concern throughout the literature. This quantitative,…

Academic food security aims to provide students with sufficient access to knowledge (one key academic nutrient) in order to limit intellectual hunger. In this analogy, the student is seen as a consumer of knowledge. Academic food sovereignty, on the other hand, aims to shift the focus from student knowledge consumership to student knowledge…

Adult learners, including those who are employed at least part-time, have children or other family responsibilities, and are older than 25 years can benefit from the flexibility and convenience of online courses. In community colleges, adult learners enroll in online courses at a higher rate than in-person courses, but their success rates are low,…

Though online course offerings have expanded to meet the needs of student access in the context of funding constraints, research has shown worse student outcomes in online classes, with significant inequities by race and ethnicity. Consequently, the proliferation of online course offerings could have vast implications for equity in the California…

The last two decades have seen a transformational change in the higher education landscape, with institutions increasing their online presence either through expanding online course offerings or developing fully online programs to expand access, convenience, and flexibility for students. The rapid growth of online offerings has renewed debates…

The purpose of this study was to analyze Latinx student success in online education and how culturally responsive pedagogy (CRP) contributes to removing barriers for success. CRP has proven to be successful in small scale studies in K-12 sector. This study analyzed how CRP can be effective in higher education and if applied to online education how…