Inspire Blog Category: Research

AI Disclosure Matters: Closing the alignment gap between online instructors and students

In online education, transparency is foundational to high-quality learning experiences (Ecampus Essentials, 2026). Transparency about who the instructor is, how the course set-up, what tools are available, and how learning will be assessed helps students trust the learning process. The emergence of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools in higher education raises important questions about transparency in online courses, particularly regarding instructor and student disclosure of AI use. Disclosure of AI use in online teaching and learning can be challenging for a number of reasons. First, it may be difficult to know what constitutes “use.” For example, is a Google search that resulted in an AI generated summary to gather information for course development considered “use”?  What about a student using … AI Disclosure Matters: Closing the alignment gap between online instructors and students
by · September 8, 2026

What Our Online Students Told Us About Navigating Canvas (and What It Means for Course Design)

Authors: Mary Ellen Dello Stritto & Dana Simionescu What We Did and Why When we design online courses, we make hundreds of small decisions about where to put things or how to introduce them. Should assignment instructions come before or after the readings? Does anyone look at the Module Learning Outcomes? Most of these calls get made on how we know people learn, what we think learners do, or what the program has always done, but rarely on concrete evidence about how students actually move through a Canvas course. So, we asked them. During Winter 2026, we surveyed 463 Oregon State University Ecampus students about how they navigate Canvas, where they look for information, how they engage with course elements, … What Our Online Students Told Us About Navigating Canvas (and What It Means for Course Design)
by · July 13, 2026

The Group Project Paradox: Everyone Thinks They Did the Most Work

The Skill Students Resist, and Employers Expect I have a confession. When I was earning my M.S.Ed. online, I dreaded seeing “group project” on a syllabus. I juggled coursework with a full-time job, logged in at odd hours, and did most of the work on every collaborative assignment. My standards were higher, my contributions more substantial, my late nights longer. I carried the team. Here’s the awkward part: so did everyone else. Researchers have been studying this phenomenon since 1979, when psychologists Michael Ross and Fiore Sicoly found that group members consistently overestimate their own contributions (Ross & Sicoly, 1979). When you ask everyone on a team to estimate their percentage of the work, the numbers don’t add up to … The Group Project Paradox: Everyone Thinks They Did the Most Work
by · April 15, 2026

Problem Solving, Team Conflict and Large Enrollment in Online Courses: Research and Design

Core Education at Oregon State University launched summer 2025 and is designed to deepen how students think about problem-solving in ways that transcend disciplinary-specific approaches. It aims at preparing students to be adaptive, proactive members of society who are ready to take on any challenge, solve any problem, advance in their chosen career and help build a better world (Oregon State University Core Education, 2025). Designing Seeking Solutions Signature Core category courses presents a few challenges, such as the nature of wicked problems, cross-discipline teamwork, and the global impact of wicked problems, to name just a few. In the past eight months, instructional designers at Oregon State University Ecampus have worked intensively to identify design challenges, brainstorm course design approaches, … Problem Solving, Team Conflict and Large Enrollment in Online Courses: Research and Design
by · August 25, 2025

Student Voices Support Quality Standards in Online Education

This post was written in collaboration with Mary Ellen Dello Stritto, Director of Ecampus Research Unit. Quality Matters standards are supported by extensive research on effective learning. Oregon State University’s own Ecampus Essentials build upon these standards, incorporating OSU-specific quality criteria for ongoing course development. But what do students themselves think about the elements that constitute a well-designed online course? The Study The Ecampus Research Unit took part in a national research study with Penn State and Boise State universities that sought student insight into what elements of design and course management contribute to quality in an online course. Data was collected from 6 universities across the US including Oregon State in Fall of 2024. Students who chose to participate … Student Voices Support Quality Standards in Online Education
by · August 18, 2025