In this "Distance Learning" Special Issue, Errol Craig Sull introduces the "Try This" series of articles to assist with Becoming a Better Distance Learning Instructor. Sull notes, in this article, what the distance learning educator does in the first few days in a course can go a long way in setting the tone for the entire…

This study examines the self-reported critical experiences that undergraduate pre-service teachers (PSTs) choose to share when writing a letter directly to "Math" and creating a self-portrait of a math learning experience. The letters sought to initiate a personification of math and the self-portraits to further explore math learning…

This paper describes a neural network model that can be used to detect at- risk students failing a particular course using only grade book data from a learning management system. By analyzing data extracted from the learning management system at the end of week 5, the model can predict with an accuracy of 88% whether the student will pass or fail…

How often do students get to delve deeper into the lives of the scientists that are typically mentioned in a general chemistry class? Most of the time, the scientist's name is mentioned, and then their scientific contribution becomes the main topic of discussion. A Scientist Report writing assignment has been used in a General Chemistry I course…

The quality of metadata has a direct effect on the ability to find, identify, select, obtain, and explore information; therefore, training to create high-quality metadata is an important, yet challenging, task for LIS educators. To provide such training effectively, instructors need to develop a vision for where best to focus their efforts,…

As they navigate academic life, students must decide whether the acts of copying they encounter constitute plagiarism, and whether those acts are wrong. The present study investigated students' perceptions, evaluations, and reasoning about copying. In interviews about hypothetical scenarios involving copying, undergraduates (N = 60) reported…

As writing teachers at the community college level, we have a unique opportunity to teach writing that is infused with passion, but we must begin by first reconnecting with those writers who we read and admired as students and recall why we became community college composition teachers in the first place. We must remember that we write to make…

Contribution: This article shares the learning ecosystem of a project-based safety-critical systems (SCS) course, identifying course contents that support self-directed learning and how assignments develop students' knowledge and understanding toward meeting the demand of industries. Background: The syllabus for undergraduate and postgraduate…

This paper gives an example of an inductive Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) process, adapting Anthony Ciccone's five conditions of a meaningful SoTL question. Presenting a study on pre-class reading in an undergraduate religion class, I describe how my question went through five life stages. I began with nine different pre-class…

This article sketches the scaffolded three-phase "My Story" assignment, which unfolds over the course of a semester, is embedded in the context of local lived interreligious encounter, and aims at developing interfaith leadership and interreligious wherewithal. The "context" (large urban Catholic university),…

Access to the Internet and digital technologies has become the primary source of information used in academic papers, and, according to numerous studies, is therefore accountable for the greatest number of cases of cyber-plagiarism. The aim of this study is to determine whether the type of format used by university students for their academic…

This article documents the time taken to assess two different types of final year engineering courses -- a more traditional course in which the purpose of assessment is mostly to measure performance, and a second, that uses a multi-stage assessment process to implement an assessment for learning perspective. The research question is to determine…

In spring 2019, senior methods teacher candidates at Southeastern Louisiana University designed and implemented social emotional learning (SEL) assignments in grades 1-8. This study investigated the usefulness of assignments and impact on classroom environment. Research shows integrating SEL into school curricula reduces disruptive behavior and…

Keeping students motivated during an introductory computer programming can be a challenging task. Looking at its varied complexities, many students who are introduced to computer programming for the first time can easily become demotivated. This work looks at the value-expectancy motivational model of student learning and presents our experiences…

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced higher education institutions worldwide to shift from face-to-face (F2F) to emergency remote teaching (ERT), which has led to an increased concern about academic integrity. This study examines the relationship between learning environment and academic integrity via plagiarism detection software in different…