In 2023, researchers explored the relationship between Design Principles for K-12 Online Learning (Crichton & Childs, 2022) and quality standards for K-12 online learning, publishing a report on the intersection between design principles and standards (LaBonte et al., 2023). Design principles refer to the fundamental concepts and guidelines…

Learning Objects (LOs) have long aimed to make digital education scalable and reusable, yet their alignment with constructivist learning remains contested. This study offers a structured comparison of traditional LO design principles and constructivist learning metaphors--acquisition, participation, and knowledge creation--to examine how emerging…

This research assesses the extent to which asynchronous online STEM courses at a public university integrate Merrill's First Principles of Instruction. Through a quantitative content analysis of thirty unique online courses within the College of Arts and Sciences, the study investigates the extent, if any, to which these courses embody principles…

Recent technology advancements and the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the need for educators to transition from in-person to virtual and blended learning experiences, requiring instructors to take on multiple roles, including acting as instructional designers in many cases. To address this challenge, the Cross-Modalities Instructional Design Model…

Purpose: The purpose of this conceptual paper is to advocate the adoption of heutagogic principles within management education and to show how it could be implemented. Design/methodology/approach: This paper is the outcome of a review of the literature on learning theory and management education. Findings: This paper demonstrates how heutagogic…

The purpose of the study is to understand which of the seven principles by Arthur W. Chickering & Zelda Gamson (1987) are amenable to graduate students in a virtual or other online learning environment, and to evaluate the external validity of the seven principles in the context of online teaching. It concludes with a Hierarchical Principles…

In this design-based research study, in-service educators participated in a grant-funded professional development (PD) project to increase district capacity for multilingual learner instruction. Initial data indicated teacher comfort with technology but difficulty tailoring it to the unique multiliterate practices of culturally and linguistically…

Academics' experiences of transitioning assessments to emergency remote teaching (ERT) during COVID-19 were investigated in a Block Model (BM) higher education context. Students studied one subject at a time in small classes over four weeks. Evaluation cycles were short. An institution-wide qualitative survey highlighted three themes impacting on…

The unpredictable nature of the COVID-19 pandemic created unprecedented challenges including a need for new curricula, pedagogy, and more accessible forms of professional development (PD). A gap in research exists regarding professional development of educators. This qualitative study used data collected from two surveys, a focus group, and a…

Learning is a complex, subjective process. An important perspective on learning is that anyone, regardless of their level of education, can participate in learning about science and contribute to their community. The public increasingly looks towards online resources to find answers to challenges, so it is necessary that people become empowered to…

In this naturalistic design-research study, we tracked 172,417 learning journeys of students who were interacting with an online resource, the Indiana University Plagiarism Tutorials and Tests (IPTAT) at https://plagiarism.iu.edu. IPTAT was designed using First Principles of Instruction (FPI; Merrill in Educ Technol Res Dev 50:43-59, 2002,…

This study examined studies focusing on student engagement in distance education using a trend analysis technique. 154 studies published in web of science database were included in the study. Analysis showed that there is an increasing effort to understand student engagement. Researchers are mostly focusing on instructional design and educational…

"In Creating Inclusive Learning Opportunities in Higher Education," Sheryl Burgstahler provides a practical, step-by-step guide for putting the principles of universal design into action. The book offers multiple ways to access, engage with, and transform the higher education environment: making physical spaces welcoming to students of…

"Online learning"--learning that involves interactions that are mediated through using digital, typically internet-based, technology--is pervasive, multi-faceted, and evolving, creating opportunities and challenges for educational research in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this special issue, we advance an interdisciplinary agenda…

With the proliferation of free and easy-to-use tools to make online tutorials, many libraries have been creating online tutorials for their users. These cover everything from showing users how to navigate the databases to covering issues like copyright and evaluation. While the tutorials range from entertaining to rather dry, many of them,…