Persistence in doctoral programs has historically been low with less than 50-75% of students graduating from their programs. Though research has been conducted on self-directed learning and doctoral programming, research is scant on self-directed learning readiness in doctoral students and mode of learning (i.e., online or in person). The purpose…

In March 2020, emergency school closings as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic initiated a sudden widespread use of virtual learning and brought new challenges that affected teaching and learning across multiple contexts. The complex change caused school district leaders to make plans to reinvent and reimagine schools and created a need for teacher…

We examined students' initial and concluding attitudes toward statistics based on course delivery methods. Students enrolled in either traditional or online undergraduate statistics courses (N = 196) completed the Survey of Attitudes Toward Statistics-36. At the beginning of the semester, students in traditional courses felt better about the…

Much has been written concerning large, public universities and their utilization of graduate teaching assistants (GTAs). However, most small, private colleges and universities do not use teaching assistants for online instruction. Therefore, providing online graduate students opportunities to build and hone their teaching practice is vitally…

Developing creative, impactful methods for delivering research-based Extension educational material is often challenging. However, options have increased as technological advancement has made online learning accessible to stakeholders, producers/farmers, and the general public alike. An interactive timely topics web tool (TTW) can enhance…

The COVID-19 pandemic rapidly changed the context of higher education during the Spring 2020 semester. As the virus began to spread across the United States, colleges and universities canceled inperson classes and activities, closed campus, and moved all operations online. Within the communication discipline, introductory communication course…

As online learning continues to grow and became an integral component of many higher education institutions, the role of leadership in guiding those online learning initiatives differs from institution to institution. This paper explores the experiences of leaders in centers for teaching and learning who have a role in online learning leadership…

This article describes Tennessee Extension's creation and implementation of a competency assessment and development program for new Extension agents. The program is based on results of a Delphi study that identified critical soft skill competencies new Extension agents need to be successful in building partnerships and delivering Extension…

The purpose of this non-experimental, quantitative case study was to compare the academic success of community college students over three academic years (2016-17 through 2018-19) before the onset of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) based on final grades and the influence of student factors, class size, and faculty characteristics using archival…

This paper presents the results of a nationwide survey of educators for grades 6-12 who specialize in family and consumer sciences education (N=380). The paper examines teacher reports about their self-efficacy in online learning during the switch to off-campus instruction. Data revealed that district communication to teachers indicating that they…

In this article, we studied net neutrality as a complex sociocultural phenomenon that can affect the works of distance education scholars and online learners. We decided to take part in this research because many distance education scholars and learners take net neutrality for granted. We engaged in a qualitative investigation of US public…

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic in late 2019 and early 2020, universities, schools, and businesses in the United States closed and moved online (CDC, 2020; "A Timeline of COVID-19 Developments in 2020," 2020). By April, 2020, it became clear that the school year would end virtually, (Anderson, 2020). Teachers throughout the United…

The growing impact of online research communities and emerging technologies is creating a significant paradigm shift and consequently changing the current research landscape of higher education. The rise of online research communities exemplifies a shift from traditional research engagements, to online research communities using "Web…

This paper compares the perceptions of two groups of students who participated in the first cohort of the WebIT online Master of Science Degree in Instructional Technology at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville over a two-year period. The program completers (n=11) are the students who completed and graduated from the WebIT program. The…

Understanding the impact of workshops that include mobile demonstrations for describing technical applications can be useful when planning an Extension program on new energy technologies. We used a mobile demonstration in a workshop that provided information on small-scale on-farm biodiesel production. Evaluation of the workshop outcomes…