Hostos Online Learning Assessment (HOLA) Follow-Up: Student Perceptions in Two Cohorts.

Authors:

Kate S. Wolfe, Ph.D.
Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences
Hostos Community College of the City University of New York (CUNY)

Dr. Jacqueline M. DiSanto
Department of Education
Hostos Community College of the City University of New York (CUNY)

Iber Poma
Educational Technology Department
Hostos Community College of the City University of New York (CUNY)

Wilfredo Rodríguez
Educational Technology Department
Hostos Community College of the City University of New York (CUNY)

Abstract

 

This article is a follow-up article to our 2016 publication in this journal. The authors examined data from two cohorts, Fall 2015 and Fall 2016, to assess the stability of our survey results and learn more about student perceptions of online learning at Hostos Community College, an urban Hispanic-serving community college.  Faculty have been working with the Office of Educational Technology (EdTech) as a task force to measure students’ perceptions of their online learning experiences since 2015.  The Hostos Online Learning Assessment (HOLA) Task Force designed a survey to identify strengths and weaknesses in online teaching and student preparedness for online learning.  Understanding these perceptions is crucial in order to build upon current best practices.  Despite limitations in our sample size, this follow up study found great consistency of student perceptions across both semesters. We continue to assess student perceptions annually at Hostos Community College in order to continually improve our online teaching and learning environment.

 

Hostos Online Learning Assessment (HOLA) Follow-Up: Student Perceptions in Two Cohorts.

 

Student perceptions of online learning are integral to building upon current best practices and also gauging the preparedness of the students for the online learning environment, particularly in an urban, Hispanic-serving community college (Wolfe et al., 2016). Hostos Community College (HCC) was founded 50 years ago as part of the City University of New York (CUNY), and is located in the South Bronx, the poorest congressional district in the country.  HCC enrolls approximately 7,200 students, and more than half (5,070) are enrolled full time.  Sixty-three percent of students reside in the Bronx, and many come from families who reside below the poverty line.  Almost 67 percent of students identify as female, and the vast majority of students (81 percent) are 29 years old or younger, with 47 percent 21 years of age or younger.  Students at Hostos are ethnically diverse.  Nearly 60 percent identify as Hispanic, 21 percent as Black, and 18 percent as Other/Unknown.  Three percent identify as Asian and less than two percent as White.  The majority of first-year students are enrolled in developmental or remedial courses (Hostos Community College, Office of the President  & Office of Institutional Research and Student Assessment, 2018).  Hostos is categorized under the Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) program authorized by Title V of the Higher Education Act of 1965 and has received grants as a Hispanic-serving institution under the Department’s Office of Postsecondary Education (Minority Institutions, n. d.).

Dr. Kate Wolfe

Kate Wolfe, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Psychology
Behavioral & Social Sciences Dept.Chair
Educational Technology & Leadership Council (ETLC)
Co-Chair Hostos Online Learning Assessment (HOLA) Committee
Faculty Liaison to Education Technology
Hostos Community College of the City University of New York (CUNY)

Kate Wolfe earned her Ph.D. in Social Psychology at the University of Houston. She is an Assistant Professor of Psychology in the Behavioral and Social Sciences Department at Hostos Community College, CUNY. She is a social psychologist with research interests in quantitative reasoning and quantitative literacy among urban community college students, student perceptions of online learning, using iPads in teaching, linking general psychology and statistics to help reduce the number of remedial math courses taken by students, and urban college student attitudes toward sexual minorities. Regarding quantitative reasoning, she is interested in student perceptions of their own quantitative literacy and student abilities in performing QR tasks such as analyzing pie charts.  She co-chairs the Hostos Online Learning Initiative and is chair of the Educational Technology and Leadership Council. This project resulted in numerous conference presentations as well as an article in the Hispanic Educational Technology Services Online Journal in Spring 2016, Hostos Online Learning Assessment: A Survey of Student Perceptions. In 2014-2015 she was a Visiting Scholar at Teachers College, Columbia University as Fellow of the Metropolitan Colleges Institute for Teaching Improvement, a program that focused on the nature of a liberal education at urban colleges. She is beginning the research on attitudes of students in a Hispanic-serving institution toward others based on gender identity or sexual orientation with particular attention on allied health students.

 

Contact info:
Address: Hostos Community College, 500 Grand Concourse B-346, Bronx, NY 10451
Phone: 718-518-6894
Email: KWOLFE@hostos.cuny.edu