This study explored the impact of role-playing on the quality of peer feedback and learners' perception of this strategy in a case-based learning activity with VoiceThread in an online course. The findings revealed potential positive impact of role-playing on learners' generation of constructive feedback as role-playing was associated with higher…

Distance learning programs in higher education are evolving into the preferred model for how we educate learners in the 21st century. The traditional role of an instructor was focused on creating an effective learning environment based in a physical classroom setting. In this decade, institutions are educating and training online instructors to a…

Question answering systems have frequently been explored for educational use. However, their value was somewhat limited due to the quality of the answers returned to the student. Recent question answering (QA) research has started to incorporate deep natural language processing (NLP) in order to improve these answers. However, current NLP…

Middle and secondary schools have increasingly offered distance-learning classes as a means of meeting diverse student needs and curriculum requirements while using instructional and budget resources efficiently. Little emphasis has been placed on the readiness of students to participate and succeed in these less conventional learning…

Behind every educational concept an opposing notion is waiting for recognition. Despite their avowed objectives, however, academic debates do not always encourage the discussion of opposing views. A review of sessions at the December 2011 Online Educa Conference illustrates that point and others about academic meetings. Opposing viewpoints may be…

The purpose of our research was to examine the influence of an online protocol on asynchronous discussions. A mixed-methods study compared two online graduate classes: one that used a protocol and one that did not use a protocol for the same discussion about a complex reading. Analysis of the data revealed that the online protocol more evenly…

La Trobe University is committed to improving the first year experience, and to developing its online teaching portfolio in response to increasing student demand. This article will acknowledge that these two objectives will remain contradictory if online learning systems are used predominantly as repositories of information with little thought…

This article presents the findings of an eTandem Chinese-French exchange course during two academic years, the year 2010-2011 when the course was not credited, and the year 2011-2012 when the course was credited in one university but not in the other. It focuses on the students' perspective about the language exchange experience. The participants…

This article discusses the possibilities that tacit knowledge could provide for social constructivist pedagogies; in particular, pedagogies for online learning. Arguing that the tacit dimension of knowledge is critical for meaning making in situated learning practices and for a community of practice to function, the article considers whether…

Research is limited on how metacognition is facilitated and manifested in socially situated online learning environments such as online discussion forums. We approached metacognition as the phenomenon of interest partly through a methodological objective to evaluate the relevance of a metacognition construct and partly through a content objective…

Online coursework is common across the United States, and many institutes of higher education include it in their strategic plans (Allen & Seaman, 2011). Special education has embraced distance education technology--especially personnel preparation programs that are in rural areas and/or prepare teachers who will work in rural areas.…

An increasing array of diverse instructional models is being made available to all students due to school reform through publicly funded charter schools. Emerging at the intersection of innovations in technology, shifting theories of learning, and the changing perception of schools as the situational broker of education, non-classroom…

This study aims to compare the single cyber asynchronous learning approach with the blended cyber learning approach in distance English education. Two classes of 70 students participated in this study, which lasted one semester of about four months, with one class using the blended approach for their English study and the other only using the…

In many ways, specialized computer labs are the black holes of IT organizations. Budgets, equipment, employees--even space itself--are sucked in. Given a choice, many IT shops would engage warp drive and escape their gravitational pull forever. While Captain Kirk might have looked to Scotty for a fix to the problem, colleges and universities are…

It isn't a stretch to say that the definitions of "teaching online" and "teaching with technology" vary, even from instructor to instructor. Whatever the level of technology, and regardless of teachers' comfort level with it, one has to remember that for all that educational technology can offer through new communication methods and the ability to…