Executive Functioning in Online Environments
What
What is this resource about? This resource provides a brief definition of Executive Funcitoning, a video Example and strategies for Supporting Executive Functioning in Online Environments.
Why
Why is this important for higher education? The landscape of online education is changing rapidly. While executive functioning is relevant for learning in general, executive functioning (EF) processes are particularly critical for postsecondary students who participate in online learning as students are required to be far more autonomous.
UDL Connection
Provide multiple means of action and expression: Support students to become strategic, goal-directed learners by teaching them effective ways to set goals, plan, reflect, and monitor their progress.
Provide multiple means of representation: Present course material so that it is well organized and easy to navigate. Provide models for how to collect and synthesize information with the use of various note taking methods and graphic organizers.
Executive Functioning
Executive functioning (EF) is a term used to describe a set of cognitive capabilities that influence behaviors including the following:1, 2
- setting appropriate goals
- planning and organizing
- developing steps to achieve a goal
- using strategies for problem-solving
- remembering, attending
- prioritizing and self-discipline (e.g., avoiding distractions and inhibiting unsuccessful impulses)
- monitoring progress
Example
Andrew recently entered his second semester at community college majoring in Economics. As a high school student, Andrew did well in the classroom despite his difficulties with attention. He often met with his teacher to clarify concepts and receive feedback on his understanding of the material. His first college semester went well, as long as he was in contact with his professor who often helped him to plan his assignments and strategize when problems arose. After three weeks into the second semester, however, Andrew faced new challenges, as two of his courses were online. He was having a harder time moving through the course at the same pace as his peers, and he wasn't understanding all the material or what he was supposed to be doing each week. Andrew's scores for this second semester are lower than the first semester and he feels overwhelmed. He is considering withdrawing from the course, but he recognizes this would put him behind schedule for receiving his degree.
Andrew's situation is not unusual. Many students who do well in a traditional classroom are often surprised and overwhelmed by the drastic change in their performance when participating in an online course for the first time. The changes Andrew is experiencing have a great deal to do with executive functioning. While executive functioning can be challenging for many students in an online environment, it is particularly challenging for students with disabilities that manifest as weaknesses with executive functioning.
[White text appears on magenta background: “UDL On Campus.” The colors are inverted and a wave of orange slides over the “UDL On Campus” magenta text. Grey text appears below: “Universal Design for Learning in Higher Education.”]
FEMALE VOICE: UDL On Campus: Universal Design for Learning in Higher Education.
[An animated male figure appears in the lower center of the screen. Above his head are three transparent icons. The title fades in over the icons.]
FEMALE NARRATOR: Executive Functioning in Online Learning Environments.
[The animated male figure remains in the same position. A community college building appears behind him in the distance.]
FEMALE NARRATOR: This is Andrew. He recently entered his second year of community college as an economics major.
[Andrew remains in the same position onscreen. Three icons drop down above his head. On the left is a graph with an upward arrow for “Goal Setting.” On the right is a clipboard with a checklist for “Prioritize, Plan, & Organize.” In the middle are two detached puzzle pieces for “Problem Solve.”]
FEMALE NARRATOR: Like any learner, Andrew had to develop goals, prioritize, plan and organize, and problem solve as he navigated through his coursework and applied learning strategies.
[Andrew appears on screen, with a laptop resting on a table in the foreground. His female instructor appears on the left side of the screen and slides behind him. The screen then changes, showing Andrew's point of view as he looks at his laptop. On his laptop screen are several warm colored columns ranging in size. His instructor re-enters, facing Andrew. An icon appears, showing an audio symbol coming from the instructor's mouth. The point of view switches to that of the instructor. A speech bubble appears above Andrew's head and shows the warm-colored columns inside of it. Andrew smiles.]
FEMALE NARRATOR: His first college semester went well, as long as he was in contact with his professor, who often helped him plan his assignments and strategize when problems arose. Andrew often received feedback during class time from his instructor as to whether or not his conceptual understanding was accurate and this prompted him to reflect upon his learning.
[A calendar appears on the right side of the screen. X's appear over the first three weeks. Andrew appears on the left side of the screen. His face indicates that he is uncertain.]
FEMALE NARRATOR: After three weeks into his second semester, Andrew faced new challenges, as two of his courses were online.
[Andrew looks at his laptop screen at the same warm-colored columns. The laptop screen then changes to say “Module 4: Complete the diagram below.” Grey columns are incomplete. Andrew's worried reflection is seen over red text that reads “Incorrect.”]
FEMALE NARRATOR: The course content itself did not appear to be much more difficult than his first semester, yet there was a significant difference in his performance and attitude.
[Andrew appears on the left side of the screen. His face expresses uncertainty. A blurred image of his instructor with audio symbols (indicating feedback) appears on the right side. This image fades away and the three icons representing goal setting; plan, prioritize, & organize; and problem-solve, appear, in focus.]
FEMALE NARRATOR: Without face-to-face interaction with an instructor, Andrew had to navigate through the course with more autonomy.
[Andrew and his instructor sit in the center of the screen. The table in front of them is covered in organized papers. Andrew's laptop is in the center. The calendar is in the upper left corner. The feedback icon is next to the instructor's mouth. The screen changes to show Andrew's laptop on a desk covered in disorganized papers. The laptop screen says “Module 4: Complete the diagram below.” Grey columns are incomplete. The laptop screen changes to say “Module 4 of 10” and has Module 1 to Module 6 listed in order. To the right of each module are progress bars. Modules 1 through 3 are green to indicate completion. Module 4 is red. Modules 5 through 6 are grey, showing that they have not been covered yet. An arrow to move to the next page is in the lower right part of the laptop screen.]
FEMALE NARRATOR: The scaffolds and supports that are typically present in a face-to-face classroom were not present in the online environment. Andrew noticed that he had a harder time moving through the course at an appropriate pace.
[Andrew appears in the center of the screen, looking uncertain.]
FEMALE NARRATOR: His understanding was not as clear as the first semester. Andrew's laptop rests on a desk covered in disorganized papers. The laptop screen says “Student Progress” and shows a progress monitor with a green goal line moving upwards and a purple line with seven points. The first three points are moving upwards and the fourth point moves downwards. Points five through seven are on the same axis. Andrew appears on screen, looking worried.
FEMALE NARRATOR: Andrew's scores were lower than the first semester and he felt overwhelmed. He is considering withdrawing from the course.
[The screen changes to Andrew's point of view. He looks at the progress monitoring page. His reflection appears on his laptop screen. He is very worried.]
FEMALE NARRATOR: He recognized that this would put him behind in receiving his degree.
[Andrew appears on the left side of the screen. The three icons sit to his right: a graph with an upward arrow for “Goal Setting,” a clipboard with a checklist for “Prioritize, Plan, & Organize,” and the two detached puzzle pieces for “Problem-Solve.” Andrew and the icons fade out.]
FEMALE NARRATOR: There are many ways in which we can support a learner like Andrew that will help him succeed in an online learning environment.
[The background remains showing the following credits:
A Production by CAST
Story and narration
by Alyssa Boucher
Editing and animation by Rhianon Gutierrez
Additional editing by Justine Agaloos
Developed as part of the Open Professionals
Education Network
(Logos for OPEN, CAST, and Creative
Commons)
(Logos for Creative Commons
CC, BY, and SA)
This work is licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0)
license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
UDL On Campus: Universal Design for Learning in Higher Education]
Supporting executive functioning in an online environment
Who may have challenges with executive functioning?
All of us from time to time experience difficulty with executive function. Old learners in new contexts may have difficulty developing plans to navigate through a learning experience. Executive functioning skills may also be compromised as a result of a learner being fatigued or stressed. A learner may also have a disability that affects these functions (e.g., autism spectrum disorders, traumatic brain injury, ADHD, dyslexia).3,4,5
Considerations for Executive Function & Online Environments
Although many students struggle with executive functioning in a traditional classroom, students with disabilities that significantly impact their executive functioning skills often find themselves at a greater disadvantage once they participate in online learning. Typically, in a traditional face-to-face learning environment, students receive continuous support from their instructor. Support may differ from student to student, but each learner typically experiences ongoing instructional support at some level. This may include direct feedback, structured guidance to develop learning goals, redirection during problem solving and prioritizing, and prompts for self-reflection. These supports may be as subtle as a question posed to the class during a face-to-face discussion, or a re-phrasing of an important concept when students express confusion. Support may also be as overt as a structured review of learning strategies between the instructor and the student. In addition, face-to-face courses allow students to access one another's strategies for succeeding in that course. For example, students often benefit from hearing other students’ questions, either adding depth to the discussion or providing clarification. They also witness peers asking about due dates and support for assignments which may increase others’ awareness and serve as a model for their own queries.
While executive functioning is relevant for learning in general, EF processes are particularly critical for postsecondary students who participate in online learning as students are required to be far more autonomous.6,7 In online learning environments, students are required to:
- Move through material independently
- Learn and apply learning strategies
- Reflect upon their learning
- Demonstrate a great deal of self-regulation by monitoring their cognition, motivation, and behavior
Supports for Executive Functioning in an Online Environment
There are a number of different ways to provide support within an online environment. Some supports are designed to be embedded within the learning management system (LMS) on which a course is built. Other supports can be tailored by an instructor in the way in which he or she designs the course and structures the material. Learn more about how to collect data from an LMS to become more informed about student activity. Additionally, there are third-party tools that instructors and/or students can use to support executive functioning.
Instructors can support EF by increasing communication and shared experiences. These include the following:
- Establish shared expectations between instructor and student. Use synchronous events when possible (e.g., webinars)
- Establish opportunities for peers to interact in a common space to pose and receive answers to questions about course content, learning strategies, and course processes so that everyone can benefit. Opportunities such as these allow students to model executive functioning strategies for others.
- Establish routines within the course to allow for student planning and organization. For instance, the instructor may ask students to read a chapter and respond to a prompt twice a week on the discussion board.
Below are some examples in which an instructor can use specific strategies in the online environment to support executive functioning:
Strategies to Support Executive Functioning Online
Planning & Organization
Design clear, interactive course headings and icons.
Group content into logical learning units and divide information into small segments. Limit modules to 8–10 pages in length.
Goal Setting, Prioritizing, & Progress Monitoring
Provide checklists for making progress
Provide self-check quizzes.
Give immediate feedback on quiz responses and activities.
Apply Learning Strategies
Provide options to create notes, annotate material, and organize materials and resources.
Provide models and hints to help students get started on a problem.
The following video demonstrates some ways to support executive functioning online with various features from different platforms.
[White text appears on magenta background: “UDL On Campus.” The colors are inverted and a wave of orange slides over the “UDL On Campus” magenta text. Grey text appears below: “Universal Design for Learning in Higher Education.”]
FEMALE VOICE: On Campus: Universal Design for Learning in Higher Education.
[The title appears on a white background.]
FEMALE NARRATOR: Supporting Executive Functioning Online: Examples within the Learning Environment.
[A black and white dashboard appears onscreen. It is the dashboard of a student, Donte Collado. The header says “Skyline.” Above it is a persona banner with the user's name and a few icons. Within the page, there are three visible sections: “Tasks,” “News,” and “Calendar.”]
FEMALE NARRATOR: There are a number of features on a student's homepage or dashboard that can support planning and organization. A clear, personal banner at the top helps to organize mail and other communication. A task bar and calendar supports planning and time management and the upcoming tasks helps students to manage short-term goals.
[The screen transitions to show two “Did I Get This?” comprehension check windows that a student would encounter in an online course. One window shows a question with a correct response and the accompanying feedback. The second window shows a question with an incorrect response and the accompanying feedback.]
FEMALE NARRATOR: There are also ways to support executive functioning within the content of the course. One way is to include immediate feedback, which gives the learner the opportunity to reflect upon their performance in real time and monitor progress. Here are two examples of immediate feedback a learner receives while completing a comprehension check called “Did I Get This?”
[The screen fades out to reveal a page in a digital Biology textbook with a few pictures, some highlighted text, and several embedded hyperlinks in the text. The “Binder” function is a purple half-circle overlaid on the page containing several icons. Gradually, a screen within the “Binder” function appears and shows several different document thumbnails.]
FEMALE NARRATOR: Some learners need prompting to apply learning strategies as they move through a course. This function called “Binder” allows the learner to annotate and organize information. Tools such as this make it easier for learners to manage information within a course.
[An interactive rubric appears on screen. The header reads: “About Healthcare Data Exchange and Standards” and below it the learner is asked to evaluate their ability to perform certain tasks. There are five tasks listed and columns that ask about learners’ levels of independence in completing each task: “Not At All Yet,” “With a Lot Of Support,” “With Some Support,” “With Minimal Support,” “On My Own.”]
FEMALE NARRATOR: Here is another example of progress monitoring. This example explicitly asks the learner to evaluate their performance on a recently completed module. This prompts the learner to think about the level of supports they needed and what concepts or topics remain unclear.
[The screen transitions to reveal two pages side by side that are full of various menus, text boxes, numbers, and graphs. Gradually, the frame zooms in on the left hand page and we see some grade percentages as well as data visualizations pertaining to a student's performance on two assignments. There is also a block of text the instructor has written to provide feedback to the student and windows showing learning objectives. The screen focuses now on the right hand Summary page, which contains similar information in addition to numeric figures related to student activity in the course.]
FEMALE NARRATOR: This last example shows a global view of student progress. The report on the left includes multiple presentations of progress for each class by using both percentages and data visualization. There is also a place for instructors to provide feedback in response to their progress. Further along the page, progress is broken down by assignments and learning objectives. The summary page provides an overview of their progress, along with user activity, including number of visits to the content, time spent on the material, and discussion participation.
[A white background appears with the following credits:
A production by CAST
Story and narration by Alyssa Boucher
Editing by Rhianon Gutierrez
Special Thanks
Desire2Learn
Stanford Open Learning Initiative
Developed as part of the Open Professionals
Education Network
(Logos for OPEN, CAST, and Creative
Commons)
(Logos for Creative Commons
CC, BY, and SA)
This work is licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0)
license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
UDL On Campus: Universal Design for Learning in Higher Education]
Review
- Executive functioning skills are those that are involved in goal setting, planning, organization, and applying strategies to achieve goals.
- It is critical to support these skills in online learning environments because dynamic supports typically found in face-to-face environments are absent.
- Instructors can support EF skills in online learning environments by providing immediate feedback, providing checklists for goal setting and progress monitoring, and by including participatory activities such as web conferences so that students may engage with their instructor and their peers.
Notes
1Huizinga, M., Dolan, C. V., & van der Molen, M. W. (2006). Age-related change in executive function:Developmental trends and a latent variable analysis. Neuropsychologia, 44(11), 2017-2036. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2006.01.010
2Miyake, A., Friedman, N. P., Emerson, M. J., Witzki, A. H., Howerter, A., & Wager, T. D. (2000). The unity and diversity of executive functions and their contributions to complex “frontal lobe” tasks: A latent variable analysis.Cognitive Psychology, 41(1), 49-100. Analysis. http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/cogp.1999.0734
3Fossati, P., Amar, G., Raoux, N., Ergis, A. M., & Allilaire, J. F. (1999). Executive functioning and verbal memory in young patients with unipolar depression and schizophrenia. Psychiatry Research, 89(3), 171-187. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s0165-1781(99)00110-9
4Ylvisaker, M. & DeBonis, D. (2000). Executive function impairment in adolescence: TBI and ADHD. Topics in Language Disorders, 20(2), 29-57. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/00011363-200020020-00005
5Parker, D. R. & Boutelle, K. (2009). Executive Function Coaching for College Students with Learning Disabilities and ADHD: A New Approach for Fostering Self‐Determination. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 24(4), 204-215. DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-5826.2009.00294.x
6Artino Jr., A. R. & Stephens, J. M. (2009). Academic motivation and self-regulation: A comparative analysis of undergraduate and graduate students learning online. The Internet and Higher Education, 12(3), 146-151. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2009.02.001
7Dabbagh, N. & Kitsantas, A. (2004). Supporting self-regulation in student-centered web-based learning environments. International Journal on E-learning, 3(1), 40-47. http://www.editlib.org/noaccess/4104/
Video is the recording, reproducing, or broadcasting of moving visual images.
Executive functioning refers to a set of cognitive capabilities, associated with the prefrontal cortex in the brain, that allow humans to overcome impulsive, short-term reactions to their environment and to instead set long-term goals, plan effective strategies for reaching those goals, monitor their progress, and modify strategies as needed.
UDL is an educational approach based on the learning sciences with three primary principles—multiple means of representation of information, multiple means of student action and expression, and multiple means of student engagement.
Audio, in this context, is a digital form or representation of sound. It is a format that stores, copies, and produces sound according to the data in its file(s).
Self-regulation is the ability to strategically modulate one’s emotional reactions or states in order to cope or engage with the environment more effectively.
A learning management system is a software application or suite of applications or a web-based system that provides educational programs and their components such as classes, resources, assessment, tools, and communication, etc.; as well as organizational tools for administration, record-keeping, information sharing, database management, etc., with the intention to manage all parts of a learning process.
