Student Engagement in an Online Special Education-General Education Graduate Program

Authors

  • LaRon Scott, Ed.D. (Author) Virginia Commonwealth University image/svg+xml
    LaRon Scott, Ed.D., is an assistant professor in the Counseling and Special Educatio n Department at Virginia Commonwealth University. He has worked as a public school teacher and mental health provider supporting services to students with disabilities. His research interests focuses on teacher shortages in special education, diversification of the teacher workforce, special education teacher preparation, and transition of students with disabilities. He co-authored a book on distance education and transition instruction, and has served as contributing author in books and manuscripts on teacher instruction and transition planning. He was the recipient of the Division on Career Development and Transition (DCDT) Transition Teacher of the Year award in 2008.
  • Priyadarshini Pattath, M.S. (Author) Virginia Commonwealth University
    Priyadarshini Pattath is a Ph.D candidate in Education in Urban Services Leadership, Adult Learning track in the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), School of Education. Priya graduated from the VCU School of Business with a master of science in business, with a major in human resource management. She has a background in physical therapy. Her research interests include online learning, health education and health promotion.
https://doi.org/10.64546/jaasep.359
Engagement is a key factor for student learning, participation, and retention in a distance education course and programs. The Online Student Engagement Scale (OSE) was developed as a tool to measure student engagement in online courses. This study investigated student engagement in a graduate-level online special education-general education program to get students’ perceptions about their (a) level of engagement and (b) factors contributing to their engagement. Following the OSE survey, students participated in a focus group to gain greater understanding of students’ engagement in their online course and program. Results indicated that student engagement in the online program was highly rated and several themes emerged as reasons students believed that the newly minted online program was engaging. Based on these findings, implications for strengthening practice regarding engagement in online courses and programs are discussed.

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Scott, L., & Pattath, P. (2018). Student Engagement in an Online Special Education-General Education Graduate Program. Journal of the American Academy of Special Education Professionals, 13(1), 129-145. https://doi.org/10.64546/jaasep.359

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  • Article Type Articles
  • Submitted January 26, 2018
  • Published February 15, 2018
  • Issue Winter 2018
  • Section Articles
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