This paper focuses on the experiences of Indigenous learners at Athabasca University. Having access to online education provided a sense of normalcy for students during the global pandemic while many post-secondary institutions and Indigenous communities were closed. The purpose of the research was two-fold: (1) to determine the dynamics of…

With the COVID-19 pandemic, post-secondary institutions pivoted to providing hybrid or fully online courses and recognized the need to mitigate the challenges faced by faculty in navigating this shift. This study was conducted at one Western Canadian university and followed a Design Based Research approach that included three phases and utilized…

Adaptive help-seeking as a learning strategy can influence learners' learning outcomes. Learners in online learning environments need more self-regulation and especially more help-seeking strategies. A systematic review was conducted to explore help-seeking strategies in online learning environments. A search on help-seeking strategies in online…

Traditionally, education has been largely delivered in an in-person format; however, an increasing number of courses are being delivered entirely online or with a blend of online and in-person components. These formats differ along various dimensions, such as the quantity and quality of interpersonal interactions and connections, which will likely…

Households with school-aged children worldwide were affected by school closures caused by COVID-19. Using a sociomaterial orientation and collective biography methodology, this study examined the household curricula of diverse families in Ontario, Canada with children in pre-school through Grade 12. It found two distinct curricular phases to the…

We examined students' perceptions of mattering during the pandemic in relation to in-person versus online learning in a sample of 6578 Canadian students in Grades 4-12. We found that elementary school students who attended school in-person reported mattering the most, followed by secondary school students who learned part-time in-person and the…

COVID-19 pandemic led to temporary closures of public schools and increased need for technology to support students' access to learning capabilities. The situation created enormous burdens for all education stakeholders with teachers struggling on how to package learning materials that are easily accessible to students at home, and parents…

Psychological and social adjustment and academic success in post-secondary institutions are supported by a sense of belonging to a social group and having meaningful relationships with other students, staff, and faculty members. This exploratory study used a qualitative approach to investigate post-secondary students' sense of belonging in the…

Prior research has established the importance of the supervisor-doctoral candidate relationship and highlighted the importance of mentoring practices for the successful completion of doctoral theses/dissertations in the online environment. This article presents the findings of a survey with faculty members who work as supervisors in online and…

An appreciative inquiry approach oriented eight semi-structured interviews conducted with teachers from Australia, New Zealand, Austria, Italy, Spain, Canada, Bangladesh and India to identify their intrinsic and extrinsic strengths and understand how they were able to translate them into practice during the first COVID-19 lockdown in 2020.…

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented shifts to higher education globally, including Canadian universities. In this paper I utilize an extended photo essay method and narrative response to document the changes seen in my local university environment during the months of April through September 2020. Emerging literature and survey results…

This paper presents the findings of our exploration of our open educational practices (OEP) with graduate students. As reflective practitioners, we used a self-study methodology and collaborative autoethnographic methods to interrogate our open approaches to teaching and supervision. We draw on our developing competencies to support the wisdom,…

For better and worse, the COVID-19 crisis will necessarily advance a number of instrumental responses for online education under the global shutdown of face-to-face classrooms. COVID-19 has accelerated but did not begin the move to online education. This essay asks its readers to consider the online environment and the shutdown of face-to-face…

This study explored the impact of learner characteristics on the multi-dimensional construct of social presence as measured by the computer-mediated communication questionnaire. Using Multiple Analysis of Variance findings reveal that the number of online courses taken and computer-mediated communication experience significantly affect the…

This research focused beyond the student, course, program, or institution by examining the conceptions of adults at the moment in time that they evaluated their choice to engage in furthering their post-secondary education by examining the possibilities provided through online learning. To capture their experience, not as students but as members…