Contemporary Issues in Online Instruction:  Enhancing Online Education Through Research

Teaching in an online environment presents many unique challenges which must be addressed, including behavior in the online classroom, ability to access material appropriately, and assuring that adequate learning is taking place. This session will address the importance of research to guide effective instruction in both synchronous and asynchronous online teaching environments. The importance of research to guide teaching will be stressed, along with the addressing important research issues for online teaching. A series of studies that have informed our instructional pedagogy will be presented, as examples of the type of research that will have validity, as well as instructional relevance. We will discuss behavioral expectations for online students and different instructional methodologies, including fluency, reading response methods, and classroom behavior

Jennifer Hilton is the Director of Programs in ABA and an Assistant Professor at Endicott College. Prior to working at Endicott, Jennifer spent 13 years working in the public education system in Massachusetts in a variety of capacities. Jennifer’s interests include dissemination of behavior analysis to those outside of the profession, teaching and training new behavior analysts, and ensuring the use of evidence-based practice. Jennifer has recently conducted research in the area of fluency-based instruction as it relates to skill acquisition and maintenance, the use of interteaching to teach behavior analysis to graduate students, and the application of instructions and rules to the behavior of graduate students in an online classroom.

Dr. Thomas Zane is a Professor of Practice and the Director of Online Programs in Behavior Analysis in the Department of Applied Behavioral Science at the University of Kansas. Dr. Zane earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in psychology at Western Michigan University and his doctorate in Applied Behavior Analysis at West Virginia University. He has served as a Post-Doctorate Research Associate at the University of Massachusetts and as a Research Scientist at Johns Hopkins University Department of Psychiatry. Dr. Zane serves on the Executive Board of the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies, the international organization that represents the field of behavior analysis. He is also a member of the Scientific Council of the Organization of Autism Research, a group that funds innovative research in Autism Spectrum Disorders. Dr. Zane has been past President of the Ethics Special Interest Group of the International Association for Behavior Analysis. His research interests include online learning, evidenced-based practice in autism, and the philosophy of science and radical behaviorism. He is particularly interested in why some behavior analysts drift from the code and the importance of adhering to choosing scientifically-supported treatments in clinical and educational work.

Mary Jane Weiss, Ph.D., BCBA-D has been working as a behavior analyst serving people with autism for over 35 years. She received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Rutgers University in 1990, and became a Board Certified Behavior Analyst in 2000. She is currently a Professor of Education at Endicott College and Director of Programs in ABA, including the Doctoral Program in ABA and the masters programs in ABA and in Autism and ABA. She previously served as an Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology at Rutgers University, and as Director of Research and Training and as Clinical Director of the Douglass Developmental Disabilities Center at Rutgers University for 16 years. Her clinical and research interests center on defining best practice ABA techniques, on evaluating the impact of ABA in learners with autism spectrum disorders, and in maximizing family members’ expertise and adaptation. She is a regular presenter at regional and national conferences on topics relevant to ABA and autism. She is a past president of the Autism Special Interest Group of the Association for Behavior Analysis, a former member of the Association of Professional Behavior Analysts Board of Directors, and she currently serves on the ethics review committee of the Behavior Analyst Certification Board, on the Scientific Council of the Organization for Autism Research, on the board of the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies, on the board of the Association for Science in Autism Treatment, and on the board of Trustees of Autism NJ.