Earlier this week in the article, ‘Interrogating Students’ Perceptions of Their Online Learning Experiences With Brookfield’s Critical Incident Questionn

Interrogating students’ perceptions of their online learning experiences with Brookfield’s critical incident questionnaire

Liam Phelan*

GradSchool and Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia

(Received 23 April 2011; final version received 30 November 2011)

This article discusses whether the very act of accessing online students’ experi- ences of teaching may itself foster students’ sense of belonging to a learning community. The article reports and reflects on the application of Brookfield’s critical incident questionnaire (CIQ) in postgraduate courses delivered online in 2008–2010 through the University of Newcastle in Australia. The anonymous CIQ is designed in part to access students’ views of teaching practice, and was deployed as part of an ongoing interest in quality teaching. The article makes recommendations for deploying the CIQ in online learning spaces and concludes with some reflections on unexpected opportunities thoughtful CIQ deployment may provide. The practice of sharing students’ anonymous responses may have helped to foster students’ sense of a shared learning community. This may be particularly valuable in an asynchronous online learning context where students are typically geographically isolated from one another.

Keywords: reflecting on teaching; tertiary teaching and learning quality; Brook- field’s critical incident questionnaire; online learning communities

Introduction

This article deals with accessing online postgraduate students’ experiences of teaching practice, and explores whether the very act of seeking students’ perspectives may foster students’ sense of belonging to learning communities (Rovai, 2002). To access students’ experiences, I used an amended version of Brookfield’s critical incident questionnaire (CIQ) (1995), inspired by Brookfield’s four lenses framework for developing critical reflection on teaching practice. One of Brookfield’s four lenses is students’ perspectives, and the CIQ is designed to access students’ experiences of teaching. However, the act of using the CIQ has raised the possibility that thoughtful CIQ deployment may itself constructively contribute to fostering a sense of community (Rovai, 2002) among cohorts of students engaged in online learning, an increasingly prevalent form of adult education delivery (Dawson, 2006). A sense of community is understood to support learning outcomes and student satisfaction of learning experiences (Black, Dawson, & Priem, 2008; Lear, Ansourge, & Steckelberg, 2010). The notion of learning or classroom community is consistent with currently prevalent socio-constructivist education practices, which emphasize learning as a social and interactive activity (Dawson, 2006, p. 153; Levine Laufgraben & Shapiro,

*Email: [email protected]

Distance Education Vol. 33, No. 1, May 2012, 31–44

ISSN 0158-7919 print/ISSN 1475-0198 online � 2012 Open and Distance Learning Association of Australia, Inc. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01587919.2012.667958 http://www.tandfonline.com

2004). Learning was recognized as a social activity long before the advent of online education (Lear et al., 2010, p. 72), and conceptualizing learning as a social and inter- active activity provides a rationale for fostering a sense of community in online cohorts: “the development of an online learning community is an important approach to enhance the learning of online students” (Tu & Corry, 2001, p. 245).

Rather than reporting on the design and results of an intended research project, this article reports on activity undertaken to support high-quality teaching through reflection on practice. As such, this article is perhaps more reflective in style than it would otherwise be. Even so, the outcomes reported here may be of interest to scholars of classroom community and online teaching and learning. The first section briefly introduces and reviews (a) the CIQ, its context and rationale for use, and (b) the literature on learning communities. I then describe the deployment of the CIQ in an online learning context at the University of Newcastle in Australia. Some stu- dents’ responses to the CIQ in two sets follow. Firstly, responses as anticipated, given the purposive use of the CIQ (i.e., to access students’ perspectives of teach- ing). Secondly, responses suggesting thoughtful CIQ deployment may itself contrib- ute to fostering a sense of community. Later sections discuss the implications of the results, with particular attention to the second set of student responses, and conclude the article.

Brookfield’s CIQ and learning communities

Brookfield’s CIQ

Critical reflection on teaching practice offers enhanced teaching and learning prac- tice informed by values in a conscious and systematic way (Brookfield, 2006b; Hedberg, 2009; Tripp, 1993; Woods, 1993a). The term critical “is deeply perverse in the plurality of connotations and interpretations (some of them contradictory) it provokes” (Brookfield, 2005, p. 11). Critical reflection, as used by Brookfield (1995), refers to developing awareness of the assumptions that lie behind teaching practice. Brookfield (1995) explicitly named critical reflection as “inherently ideological” and “morally grounded,” and tied it to values of “justice, fairness and compassion” and democratic processes (pp. 26–27).

In seeking to reflect critically on teaching, Brookfield (1995) advocated “look [ing] at what we do from as many unfamiliar angles as possible” (p. 28). Brookfield (1995) drew on Tripp’s discussion of critical incidents (1993) and Woods’ discus- sion of critical events (1993b) to refer to incidents that are understood to be impor- tant, and that invite reflection, which can reveal hidden assumptions practitioners may hold in relation to their teaching and their students’ learning. “Critical inci- dents are vivid happenings that for some reason people remember as being signifi- cant” (Brookfield, 1995, p. 114). CIQs are deployed in part to provide access to students’ view of teaching practice. This is consistent with Brookfield’s students’ eyes lens (1995), one of four lenses useful for systematic critical reflection on teach- ing (pp. 28–39).

Insights achieved through use of this students’ eyes lens complement those gen- erated through the colleagues’ experiences lens, valuable because colleagues offer another set of eyes: a trusted, alternate, and expert perspective on teaching practice. The autobiographies as teachers and learners lens is valuable because it encour- ages teachers to put themselves in the role of the other; that is, draw on teachers’ own earlier student experiences. The theoretical literature lens is useful to identify

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generic elements of teaching practice and so enable articulation of teaching experiences (Brookfield, 1995, pp. 28–39).

The CIQ is designed to be used weekly for the term of an adult education course. Students are allocated the last 5–10 minutes of a class to complete the CIQ anonymously. After class, the lecturer briefly reviews students’ responses and draws out themes (Brookfield, 1995, p. 116). The following week, at the beginning of class, the lecturer shares with students common themes drawn from their responses. The lecturer may refer to individual comments also. If the lecturer chooses to make changes to teaching on the basis of students’ responses, these changes are also explained. The lecturer may also re-explain or re-justify aspects of the course design and conduct that may not be changed.

The CIQ is a valuable tool to support critical reflection on teaching practice. It is a qualitative tool, designed for repeated use, and designed to reveal assumptions about teaching practice that, upon exposure and reflection, can allow for better qual- ity teaching. The primary purpose of the CIQ is to assess student critical thinking, so as to allow reflection on the part of teachers in support of continued professional development (Gilstrap & Dupree, 2008, p. 410). In the next section, I shift focus to learning communities, in order to later link the two literatures.

Learning communities

Learning communities—individuals who come together for the purpose of learning— support learning through reducing attrition, promoting critical thinking skills, and facilitating achievement of learning goals (Dawson, 2006, p. 154). Learning (or class- room) communities support collaborative learning, which “enhances the active exchange of ideas within small groups and increases interest among the participants, but also promotes critical thinking” (Tu & Corry, 2001, p. 258). The argument that a sense of community supports learning outcomes and student satisfaction of learning experiences is common in the literature (e.g., Black et al., 2008; Dawson, 2006; Lear et al., 2010; Ni & Aust, 2008; Vlachopoulos & Cowan, 2010). Classroom community is an aspect of both face-to-face (FTF) and distance learning environments.

Attention to building community in online learning spaces is important in part because “in distance education programs … it is a “sense of community” that attracts and retains learners” (Rovai, 2002, p. 199). Previously, Rovai (2000) drew on McMillan and Chavis’ (1986) earlier and broader work on communities to define classroom community specifically as a psychological community characterized by:

A feeling that members have of belonging, a feeling that members matter to one another and to the group, that they have duties and obligations to each other and to the school, and that they possess a shared faith that members’ educational needs will be met through their commitment to shared goals. (Rovai, 2000, p. 287)

Rovai (2000), Rovai (2002) and Rovai and Whiting’s (2005) discussion is specifically of distance education contexts, such as online learning, also referred to as asynchronous learning networks (ALNs).

Yet the literature on the importance of community for learning in the online space is not exclusively supportive of this argument. Lapointe and Reisetter (2008) suggested that a majority of, but not all, students who value online learning also value opportunities to interact and be part of a learning community. A minority of students who value online learning value the flexibility and independence it offers,

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and have little interest in engaging with peers. This led Lapointe and Reisetter (2008) to suggest that the existence of a minority of students not seeking the opportunity to interact with peers raises questions about the manner and extent to which exchanges are usefully required of students in online learning environments.

The online learning context varies from the traditional (i.e., FTF) tertiary educa- tion context in important ways (Conrad & Donaldson, 2004; Dillon, Wang, & Tearle, 2007). My own experience in teaching on campus and online since 2004 also attests to this. Although students in online classes learn content and report satisfaction with their learning similarly to students in FTF settings, students in each context report “decidedly different learning experiences” (Reisetter, Lapointe, & Korcuska, 2007, p. 55). Yet while there are differences between FTF and online learning contexts, Brookfield (2006b) warned against simply accepting the (double) “caricature” of online education as “an alienating, disembodied process in contrast to the warmth and fluidity of bodies gathered together in face-to-face classrooms” (p. 210).

Asynchronous discussion board interaction remains the most common form of interaction in online learning spaces (Sharpe & Pawlyn, 2009). Rovai’s classroom community scale (CCS) measures discussion board exchange volumes to provide a quantitative measure of sense of community among cohorts of students engaged in learning in ALNs (2002). Dawson further developed Rovai’s CCS (2002) to demon- strate “the existence of a significant relationship between student frequency of com- munication and sense of community” (Dawson, 2006, p. 160). Other researchers have made similar efforts to link sense of community with students’ online activity, as logged by online learning management systems such as Moodle and Blackboard (e.g., Black et al., 2008).

Students’ interaction with course content, with peers, and with the instructor sup- port students’ development of a sense of community, and this in turn supports learner engagement (Lear et al., 2010). Learners’ exchanges, their engagement, and their sense of community may even constitute a virtuous spiral; that is, a self-reinforcing process that supports achievement of learning goals. Findings linking student exchanges, student persistence, and achievement are consistent with this (e.g., Morris, Finnegan, & Wu, 2005).

In the next section, I describe the deployment of Brookfield’s CIQ in an online context (1995). As noted above, my purpose was to access students’ perspectives on my teaching, in the context of an interest in teaching excellence. However, responses suggest CIQ deployment may also present an opportunity to foster students’ sense of belonging to a learning community in the online space.

Deploying Brookfield’s CIQ in the online learning space

CIQs can be used and adapted in various ways (Adams, 2001; Gilstrap & Dupree, 2008). The second edition of Brookfield’s The Skillful Teacher (2006b) includes dis- cussion of using the CIQ in online learning environments. However, a recent and comprehensive literature review (Keefer, 2009) identified only one published study that refers to the CIQ being used in an online context (Glowacki-Dudka & Barnett, 2007). In this article, I draw on the experience of deploying the CIQ since 2008 through two core courses delivered online through the University of Newcastle, as part of the Master of Environmental Management and the Master of Environmental and Business Management. The discussion in this article is informed by use of the CIQ over several years, but data included in this article are all from one use of the

34 L. Phelan

CIQ in 2010, deployed toward the end of the first week of Sustainability and Ecosystem Health (Albrecht, Evans, & Phelan, 2007/2010), offered in second trimester (late May to mid August). The CIQ was deployed purposively (Burnham, Lutz, Grant, & Layton-Henry, 2008); that is, as appropriate to the research aim, which was to access student experiences during the first week of trimester—the earliest and perhaps most bewildering stage of an online course, particularly for students new to an online learning context. The single (rather than repeated) use of the CIQ is a variation on the intended weekly use for which the CIQ is designed. Other surveys or questionnaires may have also been suitable.

The standard CIQ is worded for use in an FTF learning situation. The wording of the CIQ questions as used in FTF learning contexts has been amended by vari- ous authors for varied reasons (see Brookfield, 2006a; Keefer, 2009; Taylor, n.d.). Using the CIQ in an asynchronous online education delivery context required rela- tively simple modification to question wording to refer to a specific course module week (i.e., week 1) rather than a particular class period. Brookfield’s (1995) stan- dard CIQ questions refer to an on-campus, in-class learning period; for example, the standard wording for question 1 is as follows: “At what moment in class this week did you feel most engaged with what was happening?” (emphasis added). These standard questions were modified as follows:

• Question 1: At what moment in this week’s discussion did you feel most engaged with what was happening?

• Question 2: At what moment in this week’s discussion did you feel most dis- tanced from what was happening?

• Question 3: What action that anyone (whether instructor or fellow student) took in this week’s discussion did you find most affirming and helpful?

• Question 4: What action that anyone (whether instructor or fellow student) took in this week’s discussion did you find most puzzling or confusing?

• Question 5: What about this week’s discussion surprised you the most? (This could be something about your own reactions to what went on, or something that someone did, or anything else that occurs to you.)

Brookfield (2006b, p. 198) has provided a similar rewording of the standard CIQ questions for online use.

The online courses in which the CIQ has been deployed are delivered via the Blackboard learning management system (LMS) used at the University of Newcas- tle, and structured around 12 learning modules. Each module runs for one week, with students and the lecturer making contributions to the course discussion board across the week.

The CIQ was made available to students enrolled in online courses through the surveys area in each Blackboard course site. Participation was voluntary and anony- mous. Asynchronicity in the course overall was reflected in the period during which the CIQ was made accessible for student responses: during the final two days and until two days after the period for which a sense of the student experience was being sought, that is, week 1.

However, respondent anonymity through surveys in the Blackboard LMS can be partially compromised where respondents do not all complete a survey simulta- neously. Blackboard updates its records in Gradebook of who has completed a survey as students complete the survey. In theory, a user with instructor privileges

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(i.e., a lecturer) could repeatedly check to see when Gradebook records a student as having completed the survey, then download the results from Gradebook, thereby attributing the single set of responses to a particular student. As well as being unethical and counter to the purpose of CIQ deployment, in practice this would be a highly effort-intensive and time-consuming activity. Nevertheless, it remains a possibility.

In deploying the CIQ online I advised students that Blackboard’s functioning allowed this theoretical possibility, committed publicly to ensure students’ ano- nymity, and did not seek to identify individual student responses. An alternative approach that ensures anonymity of individual students’ responses would be to establish a dedicated CIQ discussion board within Blackboard set up to allow anonymous postings. This is the approach taken by Glowacki-Dudka and Barnett (2007). However, responses would be visible to all students as soon as they were posted, perhaps influencing subsequent students’ responses. Additionally, respon- dents could also in theory post multiple responses to each question. Alternatives outside the Blackboard LMS include online surveys. It is perhaps worth keeping in mind that the CIQ is designed not as a basis for a research project, but to quickly and easily provide an opportunity for critical reflection in the course of teaching.

Students were advised their responses to the CIQ would be collated and shared among the cohort, together with my reflections on themes drawn from aggregated students’ responses. Students were also advised why this would be done: in the interests of transparency. Giving students access to their own and peers’ responses demonstrates responses have been faithfully recorded through the process. The purpose of the second step, that is, sharing my reflections (standard for CIQ use—Brookfield, 1995, pp. 116–117) is to show students that their responses truly constitute feedback: their responses are received and acknowledged, and I have considered them in my ongoing facilitation of their learning experience. I am of course not obliged to act on any responses. I may or may not choose to do so. In either case, some explanation for my decision in the context of learning objectives and course structure may be helpful for students.

Responses and reflections

I begin this section by reviewing some anticipated students’ responses before exploring responses that suggest the potential for thoughtful CIQ deployment to contribute to fostering community in the online learning space. Of the 50 stu- dents enrolled at the end of the first week, 27 students provided responses to the CIQ, a response rate of 54%. The CIQ has five questions, and so 27 respondents generated 135 individual responses (including two respondents leav- ing a total of three questions unanswered). As is common in use of the CIQ in FTF learning contexts (Adams, 2001; Brookfield, 1995), responses reported vari- ation, including frequent contradiction, in student experiences of the same class. In this section, I draw predominantly on qualitative data analysis (Bryman, 2008) to demonstrate the richness and variation of students’ experiences and illustrate the possible link between thoughtful CIQ deployment and classroom community. I also provide a limited quantitative analysis in order to indicate how widely felt students’ comments are. In order to draw on both qualitative and quantitative analyses I have categorized students’ responses. Categories are indicated in the text.

36 L. Phelan

Anticipated responses

Student responses to the CIQ deployed in the online learning space in this instance are diverse, similar to what might be expected from use of a CIQ in an FTF learning context (Adams, 2001; Brookfield, 1995). In this section, I note some stu- dent responses to the CIQ that may be unique to use of the CIQ in an online con- text. Additionally I note some reflections informed by student responses.

Diversity in responses showed important differences in experiences of the first week of trimester between students new to online learning and ongoing students. The following three responses are indicative of potential variation in student experi- ences based in part on whether or not students are new to online learning. The responses are to question 2, “At what moment in this week’s discussion did you feel most distanced from what was happening?” The first two responses below con- trast with the third:

This is my first subject as an online student, and I was very apprehensive before the Blackboard opened up, as I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing. (Student 1)

At the start of the week, simply due to the fact that I was trying to work out how the system worked, as well as the dynamics of the group. (Student 2)

I have used the BB [Blackboard] before and as a result did not feel distant at all. Front end loading [i.e., early provision of] information assisted with this nice and early. (Student 3)

Students’ responses also highlight issues that may appear mundane but clearly are important with regard to the potential for student engagement; for example, the importance of receiving course materials on time (three respondents (11%) providing four individual responses) as well as familiarization with Blackboard software and online learning culture generally (12 respondents (44%) providing 19 individual responses). The following is also a response to question 2, “At what moment in this week’s discussion did you feel most distanced from what was happening?”:

When people started discussing technicalities to do with the topics on Blackboard, and I had not even done introductory reading. [P]erhaps this is because [I] haven’t yet received my textbook or perhaps [I] did not start my research early enough. Also because this is my first online course I am still generally confused about how it all works.

Thus, the CIQ has been very useful for accessing a sense of students’ varied experiences of the first week of an online postgraduate course.

Sharing my reflections on students’ responses is also important, to show stu- dents my interest in their responses. This is my reflection, shared with collated anonymous students’ responses to question 3, “What action that anyone (whether instructor or fellow student) took in this week’s discussion did you find most affirming and helpful?”:

Seems to me many folks find the opportunity to engage with others to be a source of affirmation in what for some at least is a new and somewhat daunting environment. I like the reference to an “open culture”—this is how I want the course to be, so I’m glad there’s a report that it’s being experienced that way. In terms of practicalities, the importance of me providing timely responses to folks is not a surprise (it seems to me

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sometimes that “good practice” and “good manners” can overlap greatly!), and it’s good to have that message coming through strongly.

Sharing my reflections on students’ responses demonstrates to students that their comments have been received and considered.

An unanticipated opportunity: a contribution to fostering community?

Use of the CIQ on which this article reports raises the further question of the reflex- ive influence of the act of employing the CIQ itself in furthering group develop- ment or a sense of a shared learning community. A sense of community can be important for learning outcomes (Dawson, 2006; Lear et al., 2010; Morris et al., 2005). It may be particularly important in the online context, where students are geographically dispersed, vulnerable to isolation, and likely never physically in the company of each other, or that of the lecturer, at any time during the learning experience.

Almost all students (26 respondents (96%) providing 50 individual responses) provided responses to CIQ questions that underscore the importance of exchanges and communication between students and between students and the lecturer, toward feeling comfortable in the online learning context. The following are examples of responses to question 1, “At what moment in this week’s discussion did you feel most engaged with what was happening?”:

I felt most engaged during the introductions. The responses were all very friendly, and I felt like part of a peer group very quickly.

I felt most engaged halfway through the week. I felt that there were a number of con- sidered responses provided. In addition, I enjoyed watching how the discussions evolved.

I think the whole first week was full of information exchange where … everyone[’s] view was different but the concept was same. So I feel I enjoyed and discussed the whole week as different folks gave their views [at] different time[s].

Started Friday but was feeling more confident Saturday afternoon after opening and reading just about everything on line.

The introductions discussion board was a great way to engage everyone straight off. Was great to read everyones [sic] responses and see what a diverse group there is even though we are not sitting in a physical room to learn together.

Just reading the others responses helped. As this is my first University experience [it is] all … a bit daunting.

The following are responses to question 3, “What action that anyone (whether instructor or fellow student) took in this week’s discussion did you find most affirming and helpful?”:

[T]he [dedicated discussion board] where people posted questions about how the course works and what they are confused about in terms of course structure, assess- ment etc. This helped me understand a bit more about how it all works.

38 L. Phelan

When a fellow student replied to what I’d written on Bb and said that she found it a useful point.

Welcome from [the lecturer] was really nice, and particularly getting everyone to introduce ourselves.

There are a number of my classmates who are very involved with the discussion process—personal greetings, responses, getting to know you, making connections. It feels like there are some old hands at the online game who know how to make it work well. I am extremely happy to be part of this group, and enjoying it immensely.

I felt that it was a combination of everyones [sic] perspective [sic] that helped to affirm points. Different ways of thinking about things.

The exchange of information from folks [sic] experience[s] and their view[s were] very helpful.

Those that responded directly to anothers [sic] questions/comments. There were some good points of true interaction rather than one way communication.

I feel that the … questions and responses [posted to the dedicated discussion board] are very helpful. Whilst I have not as yet submitted a response, I have been able to look through these and my answers have generally been answered before I have needed to ask.

I liked the way some students (obviously those who have completed a good few modules) took the lead on the discussions. I thought this was good and what might be more helpful is if the course leader explained how students can and should use the discussion board as online learning is new to many students.

Students’ responses made positive reference to active engagement in communi- cation (20 respondents (74%) providing 25 individual responses), as well as to the act or experience of observing others communicating (22 respondents (81%) provid- ing 43 individual responses). Some respondents (nine respondents (33%) providing 14 individual responses) also referred positively to becoming aware of the diversity of peers’ perspectives.

However,

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