In early 2020, the world was thrown into chaos with no organization, country, or individual escaping the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Just a year before in 2019, community colleges, universities and schools were thriving. 2020, however, was a year that none of us predicted, marked by the pandemic, as well as, other cataclysmic disrupters and…

This paper provides an overview of best practices and challenges for deans and department heads of online programmes in the ever-changing world of higher education. It concentrates on the challenges for small private universities and tertiary education institutions in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand. Department heads must consider…

As distance education models in social work education continue to grow, this study addresses prevalence and type of models in graduate social work programs and the perceptions of deans about the future of e-learning models of curriculum delivery. The study was an exploratory sequential mixed-methods design including a national survey of 121…

This dissertation presents a qualitative case study of students enrolled in online courses and how they perceived the orientation program they completed before starting these courses. The study was based on the perspectives of students enrolled in a fully online program at a small community college in western Maine. They were interviewed…

This study was instigated when 12 teacher education students expressed four concerns about their hybrid courses (part online, part face-to-face) to the college dean. In an effort gain the perspective of the broader population of students so instructors could improve this delivery method in the college, faculty-researchers sought input related to…

"Class Differences: Online Education in the United States, 2010" represents the eighth annual report on the state of online learning in U.S. higher education. The survey is designed, administered and analyzed by the Babson Survey Research Group with support from Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Data collection is conducted in partnership with the…

With continued advances in web-based learning, colleges and universities strive to meet the needs and interests of students, faculty, and staff. New instructional technologies have at least one thing in common: the learning curve associated with users becoming adept. Mastery requires significant time and attention. Providing the best quality…

Most of the time, technology in the classroom is a "we" or "they" issue: On one side are the people who deploy and operate the systems, on the other, the academics and staffers who use them. But, typically, on both sides, everyone is so busy trying to prepare for the next class or the next term that there's little opportunity…

The research literature on online learning has grown significantly in the past decade. Many studies have been published that examine the extent, nature, policies, learning outcomes, and other issues associated with online instruction. While much of this literature focuses specifically on postsecondary education with approximately three million…