Social learning analytics (SLA) tools are designed to visually demonstrate online discussions with a goal to foster student engagement. However, empirical studies indicate controversial results of the effect of SLA tools on student engagement. This design-based research designs a student-facing SLA tool to demonstrate discussions from three…

Courses: Undergraduate courses in interpersonal communication, nonverbal communication, relational communication, computer-mediated communication (CMC), and intercultural communication, as well as basic communication courses. Objectives: The purpose of this activity is twofold: (1) to demonstrate how nonverbal communication shapes content and…

This research assessed instructors' usage of emojis in distance education for high diploma students. A quantitative approach was employed comprising an e-survey consisting of 11-items, one closed-ended question, and two open-ended questions. The participants were a randomly selected sample of 343 high diploma students, 243 attending Al al-Bayt…

Employers provide their interpretation of the meaning of "communication skills" in this qualitative study of 22 managers. Employers understand written communication to be types of documents, a way to write, and a mode of communication. Oral communication skills mean a style of interacting, presenting, and conducting meetings. Visual…

The number of publications on live online teaching and distance learning has significantly increased over the past two years since the outbreak and worldwide spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, but more research is needed on effective methodologies and their impact on the learning process. This research aimed to analyze student interaction and…

This article presents an exploratory research study about the influence of word clouds on critical thinking when they are incorporated into online discussions. In an online discussion, students were asked to critically analyze two speeches, being assigned to one of two conditions: one in which the text was linear, and one in which the text was…

Previous research suggests that the affordances (van Lier, 2000) of asynchronous computer-mediated communication (ACMC) environments help reduce foreign language anxiety (FLA). However, FLA is rarely the focus of these studies and research has not adequately addressed the relationship between FLA and the affordances that students use. This study…

Being actively engaged in a task is often associated with critical thinking. Cultivating critical thinking skills, such as purposefully reflecting and analyzing one's own thinking, is a major goal of higher education. However, there is a challenge in providing college students opportunities to clearly demonstrate these skills in online courses.…

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the potential of LOw LAtency (LOLA), a low latency audio visual technology designed to allow simultaneous music performance, as a distance learning tool for musical styles in which synchronous playing is an integral aspect of the learning process (e.g., jazz, folk styles). The secondary purpose was…

This study seeks to examine the existence of Instant Messaging language phenomenon among female teenagers in some Jordanian private schools and its influence on their learning experience, mainly literacy. It also raises questions about the characteristics of textese as well as teachers' attitude towards their students' use of SMS language in their…

The information technology educational programs at most universities in Egypt face many obstacles that can be overcome using technology enhanced learning. An open source Moodle eLearning platform has been implemented at many public and private universities in Egypt, as an aid to deliver e-content and to provide the institution with various…

This article examines the degrees of collaborative language learning that were supported in cyber face-to-face interaction. The concept of "cyber face-to-face" is used here to encapsulate the kind of environment in which a combination of real-time oral/aural, visual, and text-based interaction happens simultaneously via the various…

This study explored the benefits and drawbacks of synchronous voice-based computer-mediated communication (CMC) in a blended course of English for specific purposes. Quantitative and qualitative data from two groups following the same syllabus, except for the oral component, were compared. Oral tasks were carried out face-to-face with same L1…