Online discussion boards are commonly used to help students collaborate and engage in interpersonal and social behavior. However, students often report dissatisfaction with discussion boards which can have a negative impact on course dissatisfaction due to the students' lack of motivation to complete the learning activity. Based on…

The need to improve math instruction in the United States has led to a variety of reactionary reform efforts. Often, these reforms require teachers to step away from deeply embedded instructional practices, which are difficult to change. Professional learning communities (PLC) are a common form of professional development in education that have…

Computational risk detection holds promise for shielding particularly vulnerable groups from online harm. A thorough literature review on real-time computational risk detection methods revealed that most research defined 'real-time' as approaches that analyze content retrospectively as early as possible or as preventive approaches to prevent risks…

The purpose of this quantitative action research study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an organization-wide book study in the K-12 environment. A growing charter school network was working towards an improved organizational culture to meet its mission. This study examined whether an organization-wide book study can make a difference in…

Online learning environments and activities via learning management systems have become the new normal in most educational institutions after the COVID-19 pandemic. An online discussion forum is ideal for online and hybrid courses to enhance collaborative participation between learners and instructors. The problem addressed in this study is the…

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are purely online learning environments that are typically available for free for anyone with internet access. These courses have attracted hundreds of thousands, if not millions of learners around the world and the number of users has increased rapidly along with the growth of new platforms and a wide diversity…

The purpose of this Action Research study was to examine, understand, strengthen, and improve how virtual platforms can be used to support the challenges novice teachers face. This document will outline the study's objective for collecting data within the initial stages of this action research study. By fostering deeper relationships between…

In this ethnographic study, I explored two discussion groups and discovered Third Space elements such as cultural hybridity, counterscript, and sharing of experiences and resources contributed to a safe learning environment existing at the boundaries between participant personal and professional spaces. The groups operated under the auspices of a…

The numbers of students coming to school who carry trauma require intentional and thoughtful support and care. Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) and Trauma- Informed Practices (TIP) have grown in popularity as research-based ways to help schools structure their response to this challenge. However, care must be taken to carefully evaluate SEL as…

This research study delves into the multifaceted realm of social presence in online education, encompassing the existence and manifestation of social presence indicators in students' engagement with discussion boards within asynchronous online courses. Social presence manifests when individuals perceive themselves to be simultaneously present with…

This narrative research study explores the reading responses of eight intermediate-grade girls reading global children's literature in an after-school literature circle over a five-month period. Situated in sociocultural perspectives and transactional theory in an aesthetic stance to the text, this study considers the power of critical dialogue in…

One of the primary aims of this action research study was to understand what happens when engineering faculty, staff, and faculty mentors engage in a professional development opportunity focused on improving instructional practices and faculty-student interactions. Since action research is aimed at using innovation to engage with a local problem…

Incivility in the college classroom distracts from the learning process. Students who are uncivil to their peers often shame and embarrass them in front of others, and uncivil students distract from learning opportunities by arguing with professors and coercing them for grades that were not earned. Incivility by students is counterintuitive to the…

This mixed method action research study sought to empower teachers from Kenya and the United States together in a community of practice online. Three research questions were asked: 1) How might participants' awareness of their teaching situations and their roles within their systems grow? 2) How might dialogic engagement in a cycle of critical…

Despite increasing opportunities for teachers' teamwork in schools (MetLife, 2010; Wei, Darling-Hammond, & Adamson, 2010), few studies have examined how teachers' team discussions generate benefits that may support instructional improvement or how and why teams may vary in their capacity to generate such benefits. In this study, I…