Project-SOAR Research

Project-SOAR (Investigating Students’ Online self-efficacy, Academic performance and course Redesign) investigates how student self-efficacy mediates the course-redesign academic performance relationship in online environments

Prior works have studied students’ self-efficacy as an outcome in online settings, but there is little research on its mediating role, essentially treating it as a dynamic process in online setting. Appropriate intramural, discipline specific, STEM and higher education peer reviewed venues are identified for disseminating the results of Project-SOAR, and the insights gleaned during its implementation.

Project-SOAR aims to answer three research questions (RQ):

RQ1 ): Does a Quality Matters (QM) standards based, comprehensive redesign of online STEM courses, enhance students’ self-efficacy, leading to increased student performance and reduced equity gaps?

RQ2 ): How and why does students’ self-efficacy mediate the relationship between specific online course changes and students’ academic performance in STEM courses?

RQ3 ): How can the effectiveness of instructor led course redesign be enhanced, by considering ‘enhancement of student self-efficacy’ as a goal for redesign?

We will use structural equation modeling, a quantitative approach, to understand the various correlations that underlie the (i) independent variables (QM course redesign measures captured quantitatively as Legon’s cluster scores) and (ii) student performance (captured as students final course grades) are related through the construct of self-efficacy (captured as students’ self-reported score). By using structural equation modeling (SEM) approach, a cluster by cluster impact on self-efficacy will be modeled, and by relating these to the student performance, the mediating role of self-efficacy could be demonstrated.