Studies in online STEM education have shown that instructional platforms enhance communication and students' engagement. Despite the relevance of these platforms as communicative tools to support online learning, we cannot neglect the impact of the human connection if we want to ensure an equitable learning environment for online asynchronous…

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, online learning has become a central component of higher education in the United States, elevating the importance of the Chief Online Learning Officer (COLO) role in implementation, leadership, and strategic development. This national study builds on previous COLO research conducted in 2017 and 2018, as well…

Online learning has become a popular form of education, particularly accelerated by the COVID19 pandemic, providing flexibility but posing challenges like reduced collaboration, limited student-faculty interactions, and decreased engagement. Therefore, there is a pressing need to implement effective instructional modalities, designs, and…

Higher education institutions increasingly promote course quality reviews (CQRs) to enhance the quality of online learning. However, limited research has examined the factors influencing faculty participation in these initiatives. This study used the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) as a theoretical framework to inform faculty intentions to…

In the context of online and distance learning, active student engagement in online synchronous tutorials is important for students' development; yet it can be challenging to achieve. The research reported in this paper explored why some students do not participate actively in online synchronous tutorials, instead preferring passive participation.…

As the novel coronavirus began to rapidly spread worldwide in March 2020, emergency transitions to the remote education processes were adopted in all institutions so as not to interrupt students' learning. In this study, we intended to investigate the extent to which factors of online course design and student learning impact students' success…

This qualitative study explored the perceptions of 20 online literacy tutors within the United States on the benefits and challenges of implementing synchronous, one-on-one online tutoring for literacy intervention to kindergarten through Grade 6 students and what they feel are elements contributing to success as they engage in this instructional…

Online discussion based on the community of inquiry (CoI) framework has received considerable popularity due to its potential benefits for enhancing problem-solving skills and achieving deep understanding in the long term. However, it is challenging to make learners actively conduct a discussion using typical environments (e.g., asynchronous…

Student attrition in online courses remains a significant concern, particularly in STEM disciplines. Common pedagogical practices in STEM, such as timed, high-stakes "traditional" exams, may contribute to attrition by adversely affecting cognitive development, student attitudes toward their discipline, and various aspects of motivation.…

Post-secondary institutions are seeing the need and searching for ways to prepare their students for life in an increasingly complex and often polarized society. Since its development in the late 1980s, intergroup dialogue (IGD) has become a prominent dialogic pedagogy that brings together small, diverse groups of college students to dialogue on…

The use of mobile technologies has increasingly changed how students learn in the digital age. This study examined the effectiveness of using a mobile application called Shanbay Dan-Ci (SBDC) for acquiring new English vocabulary. Participants included 70 Chinese undergraduate L2 learners. Following a quasi-experimental design, two groups of L2…

Fully online courses and degree programs are popular with students. These courses should provide the rigor and value of traditional learning in a face-to-face classroom to ensure mastery of concepts and learning objectives. This research expands previous work to investigate the effectiveness of online laboratory exercises in enhancing student…

Through a hierarchical multiple regression analysis, this study investigated how dimensions of online learning readiness and online connectedness influence students' intentions to continue to take online courses. Data from 369 students who took at least one online course at a four-year public university showed that online learning readiness had a…

This study examines the impact of interaction-oriented instructional practices on student performance and racial achievement gaps in college online courses. By linking survey data from almost 400 online instructors with student-level transcript records at a state community college system, we examine the relationship between six domains of…

While extant literature reveals various factors associated with student engagement in online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, the findings are inconsistent. A systematic review of the factors influencing student engagement in online learning during the pandemic will provide state-of-the-art knowledge of existing literature and offer future…