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In the last two years, faculty who used active learning faced many challenges in adopting their preferred techniques and materials to the online context with very limited preparation. This study explores instructor experiences and strategies to implement active learning in their online classes by applying the Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM) which has helped researchers understand and monitor developmental processes for individual instructors adopting changes in educational institutions. Thirty-two STEM instructors participated in eight focus-group interviews about barriers to their implementation of active learning in an online context. Through a two-cycle coding analysis based on "Levels of Use", a diagnostic dimension of the CBAM framework, we demonstrate that most of the instructors were struggling with the initial steps of logistical implementation and acquisition of new skills. We further determined three types of logistic issues: 1) having issues beyond instructors' control in online environments, 2) struggling with classroom management and organization, and 3) lacking necessary technical skills. In addition, we identified instructors' advanced skills related to implementing active learning in online classes. This research provides a deeper understanding of STEM instructors' experiences with respect to adopting active learning in online environments. Our results imply that STEM instructors should be flexible and creative, meanwhile, institutions need to provide on-demand support that is tailored to the Level of Use instructors have mastered when it comes to pedagogical knowledge of online delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Charles Sturt University makes its underpinning technical curriculum available to its students using an on-demand online system they call their Topic Tree. The tree is a directed acyclic graph where nodes represent topics to be learned, and edges represent the prerequisite relationships that exist between the topics. Branches on the topic tree represent concentrations in an area of knowledge, sub-branches (water quality, fluid mechanics, etc.) represent distinct subsets of knowledge - specialty. Delivery of the technical content is in three-hour modules, and students are free to choose the order in which they engage with these topics. Previous work has identified that students engage with the on-demand curriculum much as they engage with on-demand entertainment platforms such as Netflix, completing long sequences of topics with short periods between them - the traditional "binge" model of consumption. This paper presents a more fine-grained analysis of students' pathways through the topic tree, focusing on the distance between successive topics completed by the students. Students' progress is characterized by a three-dimensional framework - time, distance, and purpose. In general, pathways through the tree fall into one of four patterns: - Forward movement along a branch of the tree, - Movement backward along a branch of the tree, - Repeating the same topic, - Switching to a different branch of the tree (backward distance to the junction of the branches combined with a forward distance along the new branch) Different students engage with the topic tree using different combinations of these pathways, distance absolute distance traveled through the topics, and different time gaps between activities on the topics. This paper will identify the different combinations that can be found in the student log data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]