Cal State San Bernardino was well-represented at the recent 2024 Pan-Pacific Business Research Conference, which was held on campus at the Santos Manuel Student Union South.

Faculty in the Online Learning & Education Research Program (OLERP) and students participated in the conference that took place April 25-26, hosted by the OLERP and the Institute for Academic Research. The OLERP has a $200,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to investigate best practices in online learning in STEM courses.

The OLERP was established in 2018 by Anna Ni, associate dean and professor of public administration, and Monty Van Wart, professor of public administration, with the express goal of “Making CSU a World-class Best Practice Leader in Equity Online Education.” It began as a Jack H. Brown College of Business and Public Administration research group, and later expanded to a fully integrated university research team involving all colleges. 

The Institute for Academic Research’s Pan-Pacific Business Research Conference is a highly interactive business conference that provides the opportunity for participants to share their research in an interdisciplinary setting and to disseminate research findings with others in the academic and business community.

Four papers on online learning and education were presented by CSUSB faculty:

  • “Revealing Students’ Perceptions on Rehearsal and Testing in An Online Education Setting: Evidence from Students in An URM Serving University,” presented by Yu Liu from the accounting and finance department;
  • “Lectures in Online Courses,” presented by Jesus Canelon from the information and decision science department;
  • “Post-COVID Student and Faculty Perceptions of Online Computing Labs: Better Targeted, Better Perceptions, but Still Need Improvement,” presented by Yunfei Hou from the School of Computer Science & Engineering; and
  • “Hispanic-Serving Institutions as Catalysts for Belonging and Community in Online STEM Education,” presented by Pamela Medina from the public administration department.

In another session, eight students from various majors were interviewed about their “candid” opinions of the strengths and weaknesses of online courses.