Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia (2018) 27(3), 395-413

Infusing Authentic Learning into Online Courses:

A Case of Online Introduction to Sociology

NGOC VO
eCampus
University System of Georgia, USA
nvo@westga.edu

ANGELA BRODSKY
eCampus
University System of Georgia, USA
abrodsky@westga.edu

MARLA WILKS
eCampus
University System of Georgia, USA
mwilks@westga.edu

JASON GOODNER
Department of Sociology
Albany State University, USA
jason.goodner@asurams.edu

KELLEY CHRISTOPHER
Department of Criminology
University of West Georgia, USA
kchristo@westga.edu

One of the challenges in higher education courses is to im-

prove learning authenticity or reducing the gap between what
being taught at school and what being used in the real world.
In this paper, we describe a 6-step model to employ learning
authenticity in online courses. Our model infuses character-
istics of authentic learning with Madeline Hunter’s Lesson
396 Vo, Brodsky, Wilks, Goodner, and Christopher

Planning Model. We implemented the new model in an online

Introduction to Sociology course, and received positive feed-
back from the students after implementation.

INTRODUCTION

The gap between university teachings and real life is not new, neither
is the concept of learning authenticity. Different scholars have defined au-
thentic learning multiple ways, but the central feature of authentic learning
is that it has real world applicability (Nicholl, Flutter, Hosking, & Clarkson,
2013). The primary definition used for this paper is that authentic learning
refers to learning that is centered on rich, immersive, and engaging real-
world tasks (Herrington, 2006). Typical online courses in higher education
rely on asynchronous discussion boards and assigned readings, omitting
rich content that could potentially bridge the gap between the material and
the real world. There are examples of how instructors and researchers have
attempted to enrich classroom learning environments with real-world tasks;
nevertheless, there have been few examples of how online instructors make
online learning experiences authentic. As communication in most online
courses in higher education rely on asynchronous discussion boards and as-
signed readings, in this paper, we presented a simple model that can be used
to quickly infuse current online courses with elements of authentic learning.

Characteristics of Authentic Learning

Authentic learning is based on the scholarship of John Dewey, and is

summarized best by Elias and Merriman (1980): the goal of authentic learn-
ing is to free students from the privileged status that education offers pri-
marily to upper social classes, by allowing all students to construct knowl-
edge based not just on their own epistemology, but on the real world. Au-
thentic learning principles accomplish this goal by focusing on (1) develop-
ing learner potential by making them an active participant in their knowl-
edge creation; (2) social reform; and (3) Experientialism, in which students
construct knowledge around their experiences (Smith, Butcher, Litvan, &
Frash, 2015, p. 265).
Real-world context is the key component of authentic learning (Grabin-
ger, Dunlap, & Duffield, 1997; Herrington, Oliver, & Reeves, 2003; Her-
Infusing Authentic Learning into Online Courses 397

rington, 2006; Lombardi, 2007; Zahra, 2012). Creating a learning environ-

ment in which conditions, characters, circumstances, and parameters derive
from real life experiences simulates real-world context (Herrington et al,
2003). These experiences provide a rich environment for active learning
to develop (Grabinger, Dunlap, & Duffield, 1997). For example, the usage
of the animated television series, The Simpsons, to illustrate sociological
themes and critical thinking in an undergraduate sociology course provides
an excellent way for the students to grasp and connect course materials to
the real life (Scanlan & Feinberg, 2000). Another example is the usage of
daily newspaper to teach college-level Introductory Sociology class in
which students are asked to relate the news and daily happenings to the con-
cepts, issues, and theories introduced in the course (Reinertsen & DaCruz,
1996). These methods allow students to assimilate new information with ev-
eryday encounters and current events to construct new knowledge.
Authentic learning is important because it allows students to take the
real-world knowledge acquired in classrooms, and use it in future studies
and in employment (Smith et al, 2015: p. 268). Employers, in particular,
are looking for workers who have the skills that authentic learning affords
(Zahra, 2012). While real-world context provides a door for the students
to engage in what is happening around them, authentic learning tasks give
students chances to examine, collaborate, reflect, apply, and make decisions
like professionals in practice do (Herrington et al., 2003). In other words,
real-world context provides rich environment for active learning in action
(Grabinger, et al, 1997), giving the needed environment for project-based
learning, case-based learning, problem-based learning, constructivist learn-
ing environment, collaborative learning, and other active learning approach-
es to develop (Rule, 2006). For example, students in undergraduate sociol-
ogy courses have been asked to complete short-term experiential assign-
ments such as observations, participant observations, and field trips (Wright,
2000). Researchers found these short-term experiential assignments ben-
eficial because they require less time to plan, integrate easily into existing
course curriculums, and provide chances for students to experience hands-
on work of sociological researchers (Wright, 2000).
According to Herrington et al., (2003), these are the ten design charac-
teristics of authentic activities:

• Real-world relevance: Contextualized activities parallel practical

tasks of professionals in the field
• Ill-defined problem: Multiple possible interpretations and solutions
require students to forge a path to the outcome
398 Vo, Brodsky, Wilks, Goodner, and Christopher

• Complexity over a sustained period of time: Learning activities

necessitate substantial investment of time and effort
• Opportunity to utilize various perspectives: Multiple resources
enable student to discern relevant information
• Potential for collaboration: Designed to encourage teamwork and
partnerships
• Opportunity to reflect: Activities prompt self-reflection of the
learning process
• Cross-disciplinarian: Rich knowledge base from the application of
multiple fields of study
• Seamless integration with assessment: Assessment reflects the
evaluation of a real-world task
• Valuable product: Activities yield a product rather than just a form
of practice
• Competing solutions: Multiple solutions instead of a single correct
solution

Madeline Hunter’s Lesson Planning Model

Lesson planning is a critical part of teaching any course regardless of

whether the plans include authentic learning activities. A lesson plan is the
instructor’s road map to help students effectively acquire the new knowl-
edge during class time (Milkova, 2012).
Utilized since the 1970’s, Madeline Hunter’s lesson planning model
provides a familiar framework for instructors to organize a lesson. Research
demonstrates that lessons developed with Madeline Hunter’s model ren-
der better learning (Burns, 2006) and increased instructional effectiveness
(Burns, 2006; R. Hunter, 2004). Madeline Hunter’s lesson model consists
of 8 structured steps that guide instructors in creating a lesson plan (M. C.
Hunter, 1982).

• Anticipatory set: A short activity to prompt student attention

• Objective and Purpose: A list of targeted achievements that
students need to accomplish by the end of the lesson
• Input: The new knowledge and content presented to students in
various formats
• Modeling: Teacher’s demonstration to helps students “see” what
they are learning
• Check for Understanding: A point in the course to help the students
evaluate what is known and what is not known
Infusing Authentic Learning into Online Courses 399

• Guided Practice: Students practice under instructor’s supervision

• Independent Practice: Students practice by themselves
• Closure: A review at the end of each less to wrap up new
knowledge

Madeline Hunter specified that this model is designed to guide behav-

iors, outcomes, and research and that instructors need to have appropriate
expectations and usage of the model in order to achieve success (M. Hunter,
1985). Yet, some researchers have criticized Madeline Hunter’s model of be-
ing cumbersome and inapplicable (A. P. Johnson, 2000), and at the same
time so simple that it stifles teachers’ and students’ thinking (Gibboney,
1987). An analysis of the development of lesson planning over the past
100 years, however, has compared Madeline Hunter’s model against other
framework and acknowledged that Madeline Hunter’s model incorporates
the flexibility and relevancy to become the backbone of lesson design (Lia,
2014). In online learning, Madeline Hunter’s model facilitates the transition
of traditional instructional designers into online course designers while sav-
ing time and effort, and minimizing errors (Cyboran, 2007).

A Model to Plan Authentic Online Learning Lessons

Madeline Hunter’s model provides a solid basis for us to build a model

that is capable of infusing authentic learning into existing online courses
in higher education. In particular, the rigorous structure can help create a
uniformed structure for all units in the online courses. Additionally, even
though most online courses in higher education are instructor-lead, students
still rely primarily on themselves to go the materials in the course. Instruc-
tors mainly play the role of content facilitators, in which they coordinate the
discussion boards and assess students’ progress through quizzes and assign-
ments. In other words, the self-directed nature of online higher education
courses require a lesson planning model that is highly structured in which
learning scaffolds gradually to enhance the students self-learning process.
We begin by determining how real-world issues can be integrated at
each step of Madeline Hunter’s model. Together with the existing structure
and nature of our online courses, which is heavily based on text reading and
asynchronous discussion forum, we designed the following model to guide
our online instructors in integrating real-world components into existing on-
line courses (figure 1). The model consisted of 6 interconnecting steps:
400 Vo, Brodsky, Wilks, Goodner, and Christopher

1. Anticipatory set: A surprising fact relates to the unit concept and

drives student attention and curiosity. Examples include a piece
of news, a YouTube video, a research article, or even an anecdote.
Instructors link this surprising fact to the introduction of the unit.
We recommend including a brief paragraph summarizing the
surprising facts and explaining the relatedness to the content.
Stimulating questions follow to help students brainstorm before
continuing the unit.
2. Inputs: Multiple channels for students to acquire content
knowledge are essential, especially when students may have
different learning styles. We highly recommend videos in addition
to textbook readings and other written materials. Instructors can
create their own lecture videos or use YouTube videos as the audio-
visual channel to supplement reading.
3. Modeling: Authentic examples are the keys to helping students link
the unit concepts with real-world issues. For this reason, we highly
recommend that instructors use real-world examples throughout
the presentation of content knowledge.
4. Check for understanding: Self-assessment and quizzes are essential
parts of online learning to help students evaluate their knowledge
by themselves.
5. *Guided Practice: A hands-on project helps students perform
authentic learning tasks. Depending on the nature of the
subject, instructors can ask students to collect raw data from the
environment around them. Each online student has their own
physical surrounding, which is a great way to bring diversity in
hands-on experiences to the class.
*Please note that note that not all units need a hands-on project.
We highly recommend that instructors use only one hands-
on project per course to avoid overloading the students while
maintaining their enthusiasm in completing the project. Other
forms of guided practice such as interactive exercises can be used
in most of the units.
6. Closure: The discussion board expands and closes the lesson.
Students share their voice and thoughts about the surprising
facts, the relationship of unit concepts, and how can a solution, if
possible, can be achieved.
Infusing Authentic Learning into Online Courses 401

Figure 1. A model to infuse authentic learning into existing online lessons.

A successful model connects the surprising fact to each stage of the

lesson. By referring back to the same authentic facts, students can deeply
analyze and relate those facts to the lesson content. We especially encourage
instructors to link the anticipatory sets in the introduction to the discussion
boards. Questions to ponder created in the introduction can be reused in the
discussion board to remind the students of the interesting fact and to close
the lesson-learning loop.

eCore Online Introduction to Sociology Course

Introduction to Sociology is a fully online course offered by eCore, a

collaborative program of the University System of Georgia. eCore offers
this course in either 8-week or 16-week formats. Like other eCore courses,
subject matter experts work with instructional designers to develop the cur-
riculum. eCore then hires instructors from various institutions within the
University System of Georgia to facilitate the courses every semester. In-
structors manage the pre-designed curriculum as well as the course calen-
dar, student communications, discussion boards, and assessments.
The nine lessons in eCore Introduction to Sociology are designed to ac-
complish the following learning objectives:
402 Vo, Brodsky, Wilks, Goodner, and Christopher

• Compare, contrast, and apply the basic theoretical paradigms of

sociology.
• Identify and define the steps of the sociological research process
and evaluate claims.
• Define, identify, and explain basic building blocks of society and
social experience and apply this knowledge to explain why people
conform to or deviate from societal expectations.
• Explain social stratification using theoretical perspectives.
• Explain social structure, provide examples of social structure, and
express how important social institutions shape society and social
experience.
• Identify and interpret the impact of basic demographic trends in
society and discuss mechanisms of social change.

Prior to the implementation of the new model, students opened each

unit’s folder in the course website that took them directly to the advanced
organizer and the assigned readings. Recognizing the shortcomings of this
approach, the revision team that consisted of two subject matter experts, one
instructional designer, and two multimedia designers created an introduction
to be used as an Anticipatory Set for each individual lesson.

Lessons and Materials Activities

sub-topics

Lesson 1 – Introduction: • Lesson 1 Discussion – The Social

Sociology and • “Men walk a mile in her shoes” Imagination
Sociological http://www.walb.com/story/31856693/ • Lesson 1 Self-Assessment and Quiz
Theories men-walk-a-mile-in-her-shoes
eCore Videos (embedded in the content)

Lesson 2 – Introduction: • Lesson 2 Discussion –“Well Prepared in

Research • “Well-Prepared in Their Own Eyes”
Methods https://www.insidehighered.com/
(Concepts & news/2015/01/20/study-finds-big-gaps-
Applications) between-student-and-employer-perceptions
External Readings:
• “How to Design a Sociological
Research Project: A Brief Guide
through the process?”
http://sociology.about.com/od/Research/a/
Designing-Research-Project.htm
Their Own-Eyes” article
• Lesson 2 Self-Assessment and Quiz
• Lesson 2 Writing Assignment/
Socialization and Social Media Research
Project
• (Optional) Lesson 2 Discussion
–Sharing Your Research Project’s
Findings
Infusing Authentic Learning into Online Courses 403

Lesson 3 - Introduction: • Lesson 3 Discussion - Material and

Culture • “Bizarre food America- New York” Non-Material Culture and Symbolic
https://www.youtube.com/ Interaction
watch?v=5kueXq3AWY4 • Lesson 3 Self-Assessment and Quiz
• “Bizarre food St. Petersburg, Russia”
https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=ss886pgo7rQ
Lesson 4 – Introduction: • Lesson 4 Discussion - Media, Human
Socialization • “Wild Child Speechless After Tortured Growth, and Development of Self
Life” • Lesson 4 Self-Assessment and Quiz
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/
story?id=4804490&page=1

Figure 2. Examples of real world issues introduced into some lessons in the
online Introduction to Sociology.

Using the authentic learning online lesson-planning loop described

above, the revision team also made the following changes (figure 2):

• We created an introduction with either a link to real world article

or YouTube video for each lesson and provided a brief summary of
the link to help the students make the connection to the lesson. We
included at least 3 questions to prompt the students to think deeper
prior to reading the course content.
• We created a video of one important concept for each lesson.
Subject matter experts selected one of the more difficult concepts
in each lesson and wrote a script. Multimedia designers produced
the script using Creative Commons content to illustrate the
concept.
• We created an interactive layout for the reading to give students
more freedom to navigate, learn, and test their knowledge as they
progressed through the lesson
• We converted one out of the four existing writing assignments
into a course project. Since lesson 2 was about the Sociological
Research Method, we decided to take advantage of this lesson to
create a hands-on project for the students. We replaced this writing
assignment with a class project in which individual students
collect first-hand sociological data through interviews, analyze the
interviews using the provided guided questions and data analysis
form, and summarize the results in a research report.
• We revised the discussion board topics to reflect real-world
issues and often incorporated the same topics presented in the
introduction.
404 Vo, Brodsky, Wilks, Goodner, and Christopher

METHOD

eCore released the revised Introduction to Sociology course in the sum-

mer of 2016. We utilized data from student evaluation surveys completed in
the summers of 2015 and 2016 in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the
revision. We chose to compare these semesters because eCore only offers
8-week courses in the summer, whereas other semesters include both the
8-week and 16-week formats. Limiting the data to one format potentially
avoids the impact of course pacing upon students’ perceptions. Furthermore,
eCore revised the student survey in the fall of 2016 making other compari-
sons less feasible.
The student surveys are an appropriate measure since they contain rele-
vant questions about course design. Students indicated their agreement with
the statements “The course learning projects or activities added to my un-
derstanding of course materials” and “Overall, this course was an effective
learning experience” on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1, “Strongly
disagree,” to 5, “Strongly agree”. Additionally, students rated the course dif-
ficulty on a scale ranging from 1, “Much too easy,” to 5, “Much too dif-
ficult” and had the opportunity to indicate which components of the course
were most useful.
As an added measure, we asked students in 5 of the sessions offered in
spring of 2017 to reflect on the course content by answering the following
questions in a discussion board post.

• Please name three learning activities that you like the most in
SOCI 1101 and explain why.
• In what way do you think that the course content has reflected the
real world sociological issues?
• Please describe one sociological concept or event presented in
the course that you find surprising. Please also indicate how your
perception of the world has changed after learning about that
concept or event.

RESULTS

Overall Student Perceptions

A total of 61 students from 6 sections participated in the summer 2015

Introductory to Sociology course evaluation survey, whereas a total of 171
Infusing Authentic Learning into Online Courses 405

students from 10 sections participated in the summer 2016 Introductory to

Sociology course evaluation survey.
There was a slight percentage change in the student perception of the
course learning activities, in which a slightly higher percentage of students
in summer 2016 sessions (55.2%) compared to Summer 2015 sessions
(51.7%) strongly agreed that the learning activities were effective (figure 3).
However, more students in the summer of 2015 sessions (95%) found
the course had appropriate level of difficulty compared to those in the sum-
mer 2016 (84.3%) (figure 4).
More students in summer 2016 (51.7%) strongly agreed that the course
overall was effective compared to those in summer 2015 (45%) (figure 5).

Figure 3. Student perceptions of learning activity effectiveness.

Figure 4. Student perceptions of course effectiveness.

406 Vo, Brodsky, Wilks, Goodner, and Christopher

Figure 5. Student perceptions of course difficulty.

Student Perceptions on the Influence of Authentic Learning

The open-ended questions provided more detailed feedback on the re-

vision. Students reported that presenting real-life issues in the course con-
tent and reintroducing the same issues in the lesson discussion along with
the hands-on assignments impacted them in positive ways. Below we detail
the ways in which these positive outcomes relate to authentic learning prin-
ciples; authentic learning outcomes and principles from Smith et al (2015),
and Ashford-Rowe, Herrington, and Brown (2014), are in parentheses:

• Easier to relate course materials (Opportunity to reflect)

“I feel like this class has reflected life more than any other class
that I have. For example, I had an online History class and it was
absolutely terrible. I felt like I could not relate to the material
because all of it was memorization. However, with this class I feel
that the information and the concepts are much easier to relate to
because what we talk about is actually happening around me.”

• Enable deeper thought about course content (Complexity over a

sustained period of time)
“Course assignments caused you to think about the topics and not
just spit back info”.

“I enjoy the discussion posts because they give a twist off of what
the actual textbook lesson is discussing. If I were to only read the
Infusing Authentic Learning into Online Courses 407

textbook section, I feel I would not understand the concepts as well

as I do with being required to discuss the topic more in-depth with
my classmates.”

• Encourage participation (Potential for collaboration; Competing

solutions)
“My favorite part would have to be the discussion responses; when
I am in a physical classroom I am very shy and do not speak up.
However, for this online class I feel like I can speak my mind and
share what thoughts I have with other classmates.”

• Encourage thinking outside of the box (Opportunity to utilize

various perspectives; Cross-disciplinarian; Seamless integration
with assessment)
“This class has been one that has kept me on my toes and made
me think outside the box I previously lived in. I have thoroughly
enjoyed getting to know everyone and have loved learning a new
language. The main activity I enjoyed within this class was the
weekly discussion posts, this allowed me to see how others thought
about our weekly readings and see what stirred them about it.”

“The writing assignments were effective because they made me

think about things I never would have thought about otherwise.
This led to a greater understanding of others.

• Able to apply course concepts in their own life situation (Real-

world relevance)
“For example, in previous discussion we talked about cohabitation;
I can relate to this right now because my cousin just moved out and
is living with her boyfriend right now. Safe to say her family is not
happy. Because we were talking about this in the discussion posts,
I was able to vent my opinion and let others know how I feel about
what is going on in my life right now.”

• Improve trust in the course content (Real-world relevance;

Valuable product)
“I think that the content reflected the real world the most with the
discussions on social media and the influence it has today.  That
tells me that the textbook and course materials are not out of date
and ripe obsolete thought.”
408 Vo, Brodsky, Wilks, Goodner, and Christopher

• Change students’ perception of the world (Valuable product;

Competing solutions)
“The course content reflected real world issues by bringing light
to topics that are often overlooked. I know there were some topics
that I had no idea were a huge issue in society. It has allowed me
to see people better and to accept them just how they are because
everyone contributes to society as a whole. This course most
definitely made me realize the importance of diversity.”

“I think this course gave me a different perspective on the everyday

“real” world. I look at my own family a little differently after
going through the family course. I also learned a lot about myself
personally though this course, and that apparently it is completely
unheard of to live with someone and not be sexually active.”

• Positive attitudes about learning online (Opportunity to reflect;

Metacognition)
“First of all I would like to say how much fun I have had taking
this class. Due to this being my first online class I have taken, I
have more faith in myself. I didn’t know if I could be able to make
it through an online class. They were a bit intimidating, but this
class has definitely helped me feel more comfortable with the
thought of taking more. “

“Top grade class!!! Cannot speak highly enough of the course

material. This course changed my opinion of online classes (in a
positive way)”

DISCUSSION

The quantitative evaluations from the summers of 2015 and 2016, when
we introduced the authentic learning materials and tasks into the course, do
show some positive improvements in terms of students’ perceptions towards
course learning activities. However, we must further analyze the data to de-
termine if these relationships are statistically significant. Furthermore, be-
cause students’ perceptions of course effectiveness can be influenced by a
variety of variables, including an instructor’s manner of facilitation, learn-
ing style, and class dynamics, future research should focus on controlling
for possible confounding variables. Future research should also assess more
Infusing Authentic Learning into Online Courses 409

course data such as success rates and learning outcome obtainment for a
broader understanding of the impact of the revision.
We found the qualitative data to be less ambiguous and more encourag-
ing. The feedback indicates that the new content invigorated the discussion
boards and helped students make real-world connections. We find it promis-
ing that so many students reported that the new content changed their per-
ception of the world. In this way, authentic learning may provide a bridge
between the online classroom and the real world. On top of that, the qualita-
tive data also identified that the infusion of authentic learning into online
lesson planning may promote positive attitudes about learning online.
Previous research shows that students in face-to-face courses have
slightly more positive perceptions of course quality than in online courses
(Johnson, Aragon, & Shaik, 2000), which could be caused by a number
of factors. Studies also show that students find face-to-face courses more
enjoyable, interactive, and collaborative (Carver and Kosloski, 2015). Our
study shows that by infusing authentic learning elements into online cours-
es, students can change their perception of online courses, and thus make
online learning less intimidating and more fun. Because more students are
taking courses online for the perceived benefits of online courses, ensuring
students receive authentic learning experiences becomes more important
than ever to eliminate performance gaps between online and face-to-face
courses. The achievement gaps in online courses primarily correlate with
socioeconomic status, with online students performing more poorly if they
are poor or minorities (Di and Jaggers, 2014, p. 651). By infusing authen-
tic learning into online course curricula, institutions have the opportunity to
close gaps and promote learning for all students. This aligns with the Dew-
eyan principle of basing students’ learning on their own epistemologies.
A limitation of this paper is that it measures student perceptions of con-
tent as a measure of authentic learning, while (1) not reporting on authen-
tic assessments in the introduction to sociology course, and (2) not studying
prescribed learning outcomes for authentic learning models. Our study is
preliminary and positive, so future research will study authentic learning by
using Smith et al’s (2015) learning outcomes as part of Ashford-Rowe, Her-
rington, and Brown’s (2014) authentic assessment. According to Smith et al,
the expected learning outcomes for Authentic Learning models (based on
Herrington and Oliver, 2000; Deale, Elders, and Jaques, 2010; and Zahra,
2012) are:
• Students become a functioning agent as opposed to an observer
(e.g., they learn skills)
• Students have a richer, more informed understanding
410 Vo, Brodsky, Wilks, Goodner, and Christopher

• Students can apply topics broadly and personally

• Students are able to reflect meaningfully on materials
• Students are able to make connections between course material and
real world (p. 267)

Ashford-Rowe et al (2014) detail eight elements of authentic assessment as:

• Assessment should be challenging
• Learning outcome is in the form of a performance
• Assessment design itself should transfer knowledge
• Metacognition
• Performances reflect accurate learning
• Assessment environment is a simulation of the real world
• Assessment includes checkpoints for feedback
• Assessment should include elements of collaboration

According to Archbald and Newmann (1988), assessment of authentic

learning must include behavioral aspects, namely, students’ ability to apply
what they have learned to complex projects and performances (p. 33). In
order to measure authentic learning, Ashford-Rowe et al (2014) recommend
that authentic assessment be employed in instructional design (p. 220). One
of the elements of authentic assessment concerns learning outcomes of au-
thentic learning models; namely, it indicates that students should be able to
actively perform learning of materials in projects or environments that simu-
late real-world context (p. 209).
In the case of our introductory sociology course, students engage in a
social media project where they interview five individuals, research their
findings, then compare those findings to research. This project measures stu-
dents’ ability to practice social research methods, learning about media so-
cialization through active research, and their ability to contextualize learn-
ing in real-world scenarios. Future research on this topic should measure
and report findings based on the five learning outcomes recommended by
Smith et al, as part of an authentic assessment. Future research should also
measure the real world, project based authentic learning of introductory so-
ciology students’ work on the social media project using Ashford-Rowe et
al’s elements of authentic assessment. It is a limitation of this paper that,
though the social media project was designed as an authentic assessment,
we have not yet measured and reported the efficacy of the learning out-
comes for students’ social media project.
Infusing Authentic Learning into Online Courses 411

CONCLUSION

The study shows that our model to infuse authentic learning into ex-
isting online courses can produce positive outcomes. Despite some limita-
tions in the quantitative reports of student perception of course effectiveness
and difficulty, the anecdotal evidence of the positive improvement in student
perception of the course quality is encouraging. Students’ qualitative feed-
back on the impacts of authentic learning shows that authentic learning can
influence student learning in online courses in different ways, most potently
giving them the chance to connect learning materials with real life and to
bring them a new perception of the world along with improving their atti-
tude in taking online courses.
The initial success of the implementation of our model to infuse au-
thentic learning in an existing online course on Introduction of Sociology
shows that the model may be useful in similar online Sociology courses.
Additionally, we believe that our work could broadly benefit instructors and
designers of online courses by providing them with a simple model to im-
prove the quality of their own online courses with authentic learning com-
ponents, and that these can be modified by discipline. We aim to test our
models in other online courses in different fields in order to distill the model
further so that it can be applicable to online courses across the disciplines.
The study also contributes to the literature of authentic learning by re-
porting ways that authentic learning can affect students’ perceptions of on-
line courses. We hope that with the development of our model, others can
easily infuse authentic learning into online courses to promote the quality
and interest in online learning in the years to come.

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