E-learning is becoming a major component in academia today. Therefore, the success of e-learning online communities is crucial in order to ensure their permanency and effectiveness. There is a need for formalized guidelines in e-learning that instruct the designer (course instructor) on how to design, maintain, and manage a course. Some research…

This paper describes a final year biosciences module consisting of workshops to which web-based tools were introduced. The ability of the online tools to facilitate group work and assess the students was investigated. The online module was delivered via WebCT as the VLE (Virtual Learning Environment). The initial concept was to enhance rather than…

It is often stressed that the pedagogic models and approaches of Collaborative Online Learning support a learner's shared knowledge building within collaborating groups of learners, the individual construction of knowledge and the formation of an ongoing learning Community of Practice. Based on a recent case study of a Danish Master's programme,…

This paper evaluates an approach to dissertation supervision, designed to assist international students with their academic writing. It argues that a blended approach to supervision within a Virtual Learning Environment can provide high quality individualised care not otherwise available. This leads to deeper, critical learning and more meaningful…

This study sought to investigate four separate issues regarding student performance in a blended learning environment in the delivery of a Psychology course to 140 University undergraduates. Firstly, to investigate the relationship between student performance on three different coursework assignments and their performance on interim online…

The focus of this study was twofold: one, to determine if students could increase their physics content knowledge through the completion of an online hands-on Microcomputer-Based Laboratory (MBL) unit on motion; and two to determine if the demonstrated learning gains were equivalent to those of students who completed the same MBL activities in a…

This paper addresses the controversial issues of improving the reading skills of young learners through technology-assisted reading programmes. On reporting the results of primary school learners from grade 2 to grade 7 who participated in a computer-based reading programme for seven months, we try to answer the critical questions of whether…

Literature suggests that developing a community of learners is the key to a successful online-learning experience. In this study, the instructor of a multimedia authoring course adopted a synchronous communication tool (Yahoo Messenger) to interact with learners orally on a weekly basis and, thereby, to establish a sense among the learners that…

Building on the results of a prior study, the purpose of this qualitative study was to further explore where there is agreement on the effects of e-­learning technologies in higher education learning experiences. The results confirm that (1) there are many varied and polarized perspectives about e­learning, and each position should be carefully…

An increasing number of online graduate study programs require students to participate in collaborative work projects. And yet, educational research examining instructional strategies that facilitate learning in small groups online is limited. This article describes findings from a qualitative research project that investigated instructor…

In our recent research we have explored possibilities to scaffold collaborative learning in higher education with wireless networks and mobile tools. The pedagogical ideas are grounded on concepts of collaborative learning, including the socially shared origin of cognition, as well as self-regulated learning theory. This paper presents our three…

Transactional Analysis (TA) of teaching and learning process reveals actions and reactions triggered from the ego-states of teacher and learner. The teacher has to switch between these ego-states to achieve effective communication and learning results. Ego-states of teacher and learners are worth studying in the context of e-learning, as the…

In the past ten years the Web has attracted many educators for purposes of teaching and learning. The main advantage of the Web lies in its non-linear interaction. That is, students can have more control over their learning paths. However, this freedom of control may cause problems for some students, such as disorientation, cognitive overload and…

Privacy is a requirement that has not received the required attention in most e-learning platforms. Based on the results of a survey we identified weaknesses of e-learning platforms and describe improvements we made in Moodle as a proof-of-concept.

This paper describes a mechanism developed by the authors to gather student feedback from formative revision Multiple Choice Questionnaires (MCQs) within an on-line learning system. The MCQs provided first year Computer Science students with instant formative feedback, while data was also gathered about student responses, such as the percentage…