Balancing Act: Optimal Class Size and Course Design in Online Higher Education

This mixed-methods study explored the extent to which parity of professional experience between pairs of adult learners modulates the sophistication of co-constructed knowledge. The study was conducted during a semester-length online, graduate-level, educational leadership course in a large southern university. Student assignments were designed to foster engagement and scaffolded to focus on application of prior professional experience. The interaction analysis model (Gunawardena et al., 1997) was used to measure levels of knowledge construction, while self-report surveys were used to measure experience levels. Results suggest a relatively minor relationship between these variables, but the student learning activities yielded consistently high levels of knowledge construction.