Whilst the practitioner field around current student communications has developed in recent years, most published research still focuses either on prospective students, theoretical benefits of student communications or usage of individual channels of communication. This paper contributes to policy and practice by providing the first UK-wide look…

First-generation (FG) college students (i.e., those for whom neither parent/guardian obtained a bachelor's degree) experience more barriers in college, compared with continuing-generation students. These barriers are compounded by subtle messages from instructors that convey the idea that natural talent is necessary for success in scientific…

School attendance is strongly associated with academic success and high school completion, but approximately one-in-seven students miss nearly one month of school each year. To address absenteeism, we partnered with four public school districts in the metro-Atlanta area and experimentally deployed email and text messages to inform parents about…

Self-regulated learning (SRL) is associated with university student academic success outcomes, however students often need support to develop these skills. Technology-mediated feedback is one strategy that may aid educators in supporting students' SRL development. This study aims to explore whether a technology-mediated feedback strategy targeting…

Out-of-class communication between teachers and students is essential throughout university engineering courses for in-depth explanations of the concepts covered in class. This study evaluates this aspect throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, a survey that addressed this issue was administered to students at the beginning (March 2020) and at the…

Mastery-based assignments typically provide students with multiple opportunities to improve their performance, but getting students to take advantage of these opportunities is difficult. We report on the implementation of a two-part series of nudges designed to improve students' engagement with and performance on mastery-based assignments in…

Background: Addressing chronic absenteeism is a policy priority, with 36 states and Washington D.C. referencing attendance in ESSA accountability plans (Jordan & Miller, 2017) and a body of research establishing the connections between attendance, achievement, and social development (e.g., Gottfried, 2014; Ginsburg, 2014). The need to find…

This research article examines the accuracy of using Google Translate as a means to offer native language, e-mail communication between teachers and parents of Latino English Language Learners (ELLs). To this end, an elementary teacher's e-mail message was translated by Google Translate and certified translators and then evaluated and compared…

Background: The teachers in one sub-district in the North West province lacked technological knowledge and skills thus did not adopt a blended learning approach in their daily teaching. A partnership between the University of South Africa (Unisa) and schools in the district was forged to train teachers to acquire technological knowledge and…

Test input has often been taken as a given in test design practice. Nearly all guides for test designers provide extensive coverage of how to design test items but pay little attention to test input. This paper presents the case that test input plays a crucial role in designing tests of soft skills that have rarely been assessed in existing tests.…

We estimate how much the average grade of students enrolled in introductory macroeconomics changes when the professor sends a reminder email. We utilize observational data to implement a difference-in-differences strategy and identify the plausibly causal effect of email nudges on the student's grade. The professor's reminder email boosts…

Engagement with online media among learners is closely linked to language proficiency and cultural comprehension, offering a platform for enhancing English language skills. This has given rise to the field of online informal learning of English (OILE), with numerous studies exploring learners' habits in this domain and indicating positive impacts…

Objectives: During the early COVID-19 pandemic, college students had to switch to an online learning and online communication environment facing the chances of information overload, misinformation or conflicting information about COVID-19. This study aims to assess the communication needs that have arisen among college students to shed light on…

The present study focuses on email communication in the multilingual university setting. Previous studies dealing with similar settings point to the lack of politeness markers in students' email messages [Bjorge, A. (2007). Power distance in English lingua franca email communication. "International Journal of Applied Linguistics", 17(1),…

Email etiquette is an important skill, especially in professional settings. Research demonstrates that undergraduate students follow email rules when given written instructions plus an example. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effects of computer-based email instruction on undergraduate students' email etiquette and to assess…