With postsecondary institutions increasing offerings of online courses, there is much to learn about how online group work is designed to support collaborative learning, particularly for professional certification programs such as education. As part of a case study research, we synthesized data collected from instructors and students at two…

In this study, we investigated the impact of collaborative learning practices on the academic success of first generation college (FGC) students in one section of a general chemistry course. We implemented group problem solving and group quizzes during the lecture sessions of General Chemistry 1. Our focus was on understanding how FGC students…

Students aspiring to become teachers in public schools often find it necessary to complete their college degrees online. They will, of course, need to have the required skills that those graduates from face-to-face institutions possess. One of those skills is to be able to collaborate with colleagues in small group settings. This paper…

As the COVID-19 pandemic surged and resurged across the world, members of a higher education professional group associated with the North American Association of Environmental Education met regularly online to discuss challenges and strategies to cope with the sudden shifts to remote learning. Six environmental education (EE) instructors, from…

This research examined curriculum development in an academic program with respect to graduate education-level methods of teaching. Numerous studies have suggested that educational curricula should be redeveloped based on Web 2.0 technologies. The purpose of this research is to analyze student perspectives regarding curriculum development based on…

The sudden shift to online learning thrust upon universities worldwide by the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis created unique challenges related to effective online education. Challenges were most acute for highly interactive classes that were forced to move to asynchronous online learning environments. In response to these challenges,…

To investigate how physics students perceived the sudden shift to online learning at the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic, 18 semistructured interviews were conducted with university students in Austria, Croatia, and Germany. Based on the interviews, a questionnaire was developed and data from N ¼ 578 physics students from five universities in…

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020 impacted not only how students in our public and private schools were taught, but also how the professors prepared preservice teachers to become future teachers. Striving to build a community of practice among a new cohort of M.A.Ed-Elementary Education preservice teachers, faculty worked…

Online course delivery does not provide the same opportunity for role playing or discussion of controversial topics as traditional courses. Using a virtual organization to facilitate applied learning engages the student in group activities that foster discussion, investigation of root causes and critical analysis resulting in development of short…

Online course facilitation is critical to the success of online courses. Instructors use various facilitation strategies in online courses to engage students. One hundred instructors were surveyed on their perception of helpfulness of twelve different facilitation strategies used in online courses to enhance instructor presence, instructor…

The purpose of this study is to investigate how constant changes in team allocation within a modified flipped team-based learning (FTBL) study can affect student's perception of a course (gathered by an online questionnaire) and academic performance. This teaching strategy is a team-based learning (TBL) approach combined with flipped classroom…

The present study used a unique design in which multiple factors were combined in a multiphase study to find if there are any significant interactions among six factors known to be effective in successful group work. The results indicated that the effectiveness of group work depends on how the effectiveness is measured, how the group is formed,…

Group projects have long been used in face-to-face instruction to improve cognitive learning among its students. Group projects not only provide practical experience and allow students to practice the concepts they have learned, but also teach the students creative construction and group dynamics. As important as group projects have proven in…

Constructionist principles provide fertile ground for developing innovative approaches to learning. Using a grounded theory qualitative research design, we analyzed participant reports of their experience in an online course in which they collaboratively authored a book. Our qualitative analysis suggested that participants experienced…

Learning through a collective experience by taking part in group activities, such as hunting, gathering, and sharing, has always been a natural, "organic," and "experiential" process where new skills and knowledge, if benefitting the whole group, are accepted, shared, and propagated. Nevertheless, in industrialized societies…