There has been a growing interest in how teaching might be informed by "learning design" (LD), with a promising method for investigating LD being offered by the emerging field of "learning analytics" (LA). In this study, we used a novel LA for LD methodology to investigate the implementation of LD in an online distance learning…

In their encounter with a virtual or blended learning environment, students are liable to perceive the situation as a challenge or as a threat. The physical separation between teacher and students may lead to "transactional distance," which in turn can cause a sense of threat and create anger, gaps in understanding, or misconceptions…

Online higher education has rapidly expanded in the United States and displays a great opportunity for growth. Coupled with the growth of e-learning is the need for adjunct faculty to satisfy the need for additional online classes. Despite the importance of online adjunct faculty, little research has been performed to determine their work…

Social work educators are challenged with preparing students for international social work and work with immigrant and refugee populations. This pilot project aimed to develop an online global classroom to teach an international social work course to social work students participating from five different locations: United States (N=25), South…

School leaders are to be instructional leaders within a digital environment, just as they are expected to do in the non-digital environment. The purpose of this study was to analyze the factors which high school administrators perceive to influence their knowledge and confidence to lead in a digital school environment. Findings suggest that…

Virtual learning is a rapidly growing space in education policy, driven by state leaders seeking to maximize potential for instructional innovation, prepare students for life in the digital age and meet students' unique needs. Virtual learning takes a variety of forms, including full-time virtual schools, supplemental course offerings and blended…

From the 2013 "Position Statement of Principles and Example Effective Practices for Online Writing Instruction (OWI)," OWI Principle 11 suggests, "Online writing teachers and their institutions should develop personalized and interpersonal online communities to foster student success." Previous discussions of synchronous…

With a growing number of students with disabilities electing to enroll in virtual education programs, it is imperative for teachers in virtual education programs to employ evidence-based practices to ensure that instructional delivery meets the student's needs and facilitates academic success. However, there is a limited amount of quantitative…

Effective instruction derives from collecting and analyzing student data. Data collection can be a series of observations, or progress monitoring assessments, where students are assessed regularly on a targeted skill to see if a program or instructional model is effective, or any other type of collected information that reveals knowledge to…

Using the definition of self-advocacy from M. E. Skinner (1998) as the conceptual framework, and the Self-Advocacy and Conflict Resolution Training developed by Palmer and Roessler (2000) as the foundation, the researchers solicited feedback on the construction of an abbreviated virtual self-advocacy training for traditional freshmen college…

Educational technology evolves constantly, in line with the innovative technologies we implement, but always catering for the improvement of teaching and learning. For this, Smart Learning Environments (SLE) emerge as an optimal alternative to traditional teaching as, through ergonomics, an inclusive outlook which is bound to enhance the…

Studies of how contextual factors influence teachers' approaches to teaching have chiefly focused on face-to-face teaching in physical campus contexts. This study advances understanding of how applicable this knowledge is in digital contexts. The study explores how university teachers perceive the differences between teaching in physical campus…

Loss aversion has been shown to influence decision making in a host of social and economic contexts. This paper presents a novel assessment strategy that seeks to address issues of student engagement and academic integrity through the combination of the concepts of loss aversion and peer-assessment. Students faced the possibility of losing a small…

Learning is facilitated by participation and interaction and can be synchronously or asynchronously in online education. This study investigated the relationship between students' academic success and online interaction and participation and explored their class attendance (synchronous virtual classes and/or watching the recorded virtual classes)…

After Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker issued a temporary school closure last March because of COVID-19, leaders at the LEARN Charter School Network got busy thinking about what remote learning would look like; they had a track record of performance to safeguard. Pre-COVID, the 20-year-old Chicago-area charter school network of 10 college-prep K-8…