Student Presence and Faculty Availability in Fully Online Courses: Is Alignment Requisite?

Kathleen Huun, Indiana State University
Andreas Kummerow, Indiana State University

Abstract

Distance students consider online faculty availability and immediacy to be very important. Understanding student course usage is imperative to be able to align with their needs. The results of daily course usage by fully online nursing students enrolled in three separate clinical courses on an LPN-to-BSN track illustrate a clear pattern of extraordinarily consistent usage over six semesters for each course with remarkable consistency between courses. As an aggregate group, students spend roughly the same amount of time each day of the week using their LMS except Sunday, which shows roughly twice the usage as other days. Therefore, matching faculty availability and immediacy to times of higher student activity on the LMS should be considered.

Keywords:

faculty availability, course usage, faculty presence, online courses