Online learning, especially in higher education, has grown in recent years and the study of its didactic implications has also increased. Online experiences have been found to be as successful as face-to-face ones, but there is a concern about a lack of social interaction among students. This makes it necessary for teachers to plan collaborative…

In the construction of learning objects, as digital instructional material that is delivered to students, the level of learning to which they are directed must be considered first of all, according to the Bloom taxonomy or any other that is used, applicable to the e-learning, taking advantage of the digital resources that are currently available,…

Digital education, now common in higher education, is particularly evident in the expansion of blended and fully online offerings at universities. Central to this expansion are educational developers, staff who support teaching and learning improvement in courses they do not themselves teach. Working closely with staff, students, and the…

What does it mean to teach with empathy? Whether it's planning and delivering instruction or just interacting with others throughout the day, every action you take is an opportunity to demonstrate empathy toward your students, your colleagues, and yourself. "I'm already empathetic to my students and their stories," you may be thinking.…

This paper diffracts a curriculum design workshop via online collaboration of a collective emerging from that event. Through the workshop, involving theory, conceptual art, writing, photography and curriculum planning, and the subsequent sharing of words and images, we move beyond interrogating designs for future subjects to asking how the…

High-quality digital learning experiences are built on the foundational principles of providing equitable, inclusive, accessible learning environments for all students. In addition, high-quality digital learning experiences are well-organized and thoughtfully designed. These experiences rely on instructional design principles and strategies to…

Interest in gamification in higher education has been growing steadily in the past decade. Using games and game elements has been shown to increase student engagement, motivation, and autonomy. This article draws parallels between game elements, instructional design, and the teaching of business and professional communication. It suggests ways…

Many learners who have not chosen to identify as having physical, sensory, and learning disabilities still may struggle to learn in the online learning environment due to diverse abilities and backgrounds, differing cultural and linguistic backgrounds, and other factors that affect perception, learning ability, and engagement. Given the apparent…

Transitioning Learners to Calculus in Community Colleges (TLC3) is a research project aimed at transforming institutional approaches to matriculating underrepresented racial minority (URM) students into and through Calculus II in the nation's 1,023 public associate degree-granting institutions (community colleges). The broader goal of the TLC3…

Deeper learning promotes students' active engagement in learning environments, so they can continuously explore, reflect and produce information to build complex knowledge structures. Consequently, deeper learning has become a major focus of scholarly investigation and debate. Multiple studies have been conducted to describe the…

While the use of Twitter for communication and assessment activities in online courses is not new, it has not been without its challenges. This is increasingly true of high enrolment courses. The use of a Twitter Evaluation application which leverages a Learning Management System's (LMS's) application programming interface (API) provides a…

Backward design provides a framework for curriculum planning that can be used at unit, course or school level. The approach places assessment at the heart of the planning process. In this article the ideas of backward design are outlined and their application to a current curriculum development project, York Science, is described.

Ill-structured problems abound that require sophisticated problem-solving skills, knowledge across multiple domains and the abilities to think critically and communicate effectively. Despite the abundance of rhetoric supporting the need to build these skills in our students, the acquisition of domain-specific knowledge is still the primary focus…

This case study deals with the implementation of ongoing training, offered wholly through distance and online learning, and conducted within the framework of an inter-university partnership linking two European countries. The case story relates the experience of several instructional designers (called "Academic Advisors" in this part of…

One of the most memorable achievements of adolescence is the independence gained from obtaining a driver's license. Students are highly motivated to study the rules of the road, hone their skills behind the wheel, and meet all the state requirements to reach their goal. They are invested in the process because they value the outcome. The Driver's…