A Quantitative Study of Online Faculty's Use of Brain-based Learning Techniques

The purpose of this quantitative, causal-comparative study was to determine to what extent online faculty utilized brain-based learning techniques as part of their academic practices in the online asynchronous environment and to assess differences in the use of these techniques between online adjunct and online full-time faculty employed by two public universities and one private university located in the Southwest region of the United States. Data were collected using a survey questionnaire. The research questions queried to what extent did the online faculty utilize BBLT and if there was a significant difference attributable to faculty's hiring status and type of institution. Hart's educational theory of brain-based learning formed the theoretical framework for this study. Data were analyzed using SPSS. Descriptive statistics were provided for sample demographics and the participants' responses on the three BBLT subscales (knowledge, beliefs, and practices). The researcher used MANOVA to test the hypotheses. The results revealed a significant difference between the BBLT practices of the online faculty from public (M = 3.45) and private universities (M = 3.28), F (1, 294) = 1.62, p = .004, ¿)2 = .044. These findings are relevant to designers of professional development for online faculty.

The purpose of this quantitative, causal-comparative study was to determine to what extent online faculty utilized brain-based learning techniques as part of their academic practices in the online asynchronous environment and to assess ...