Background: Online learning has become a popular form of education. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, online learning was mainly associated with higher education, with an incremental growth at the K-12 level. The pandemic changed this situation rapidly. Online instruction has been increasingly integrated into secondary schools and has significantly…

The purpose of this study is to explore how groups decide to use asynchronous online discussion forums in a non-mandatory setting, and, after the group decision is made, how group members use online discussion forums to complete a collaborative learning project requiring complex data gathering and research processes. While a large body of research…

This study investigates how university students on distance learning courses experience interaction with their peers. Students on two distance learning courses at The Open University (UK) were interviewed, to investigate learners' experience of interaction on these courses. The analysis, using a grounded-theory approach, reveals disparities…