One of the most challenging processes that I have every attempted is trying to narrow down what I want to study and research for my dissertation. Everytime I read an article, I find something else that I would like to pursue. But, fortunately, I have noticed, with the help of the AGFs, that all of my interests are centered around the same thing – understanding the design of online math courses that would benefit both the instructors and students.

The topic I decided to address for my dissertation is what modality, method, application, and structure students want in their online math courses. Since realizing that was my interest, I have searched various existing research articles related to – student opinions of the structures of online math courses and similar search criteria. Although these searches have produced from just under 200,000 articles for open-ended searches to under 20,000 articles since 2019. Out of the 300-400 articles that I have reviewed, I may be lucky if 1% of the articles are even remotely on the same topic.

I am excited about this topic because it seems (I hypothesize) that when instructors design their online courses, they do so from their point of interest and not from the student’s standpoint. Practically all of the articles take an apriori approach to course design. This may be one of the main reasons why some researchers have noted that online courses have a lower level of success than their in-person counterparts. I believe that students are more technologically advanced than most of their instructors, and the instructors (course designers) need to understand what the students want from an online course.