The purpose of this study was to examine graduate students' perceptions of online synchronous and asynchronous courses in peer engagement, teacher presence, and course design and materials. It further compared differences in synchronous and asynchronous courses, and whether graduate students' perceptions differed due to student age, number of…

Current approaches to assessing digital competence in education may be too broad to support teachers in developing their online learning designs in specific subjects. During the pandemic, studies have identified that the development of teaching practices (and subsequently their learning designs) has taken a leap. However, because digital cultures…

In this descriptive analysis, we consider the experiences of students who prefer face-to-face (F2F) classes but, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, had no alternative other than taking their introductory biology class online during the 2020-2021 academic year. We conducted focus group interviews with 12 college students who enrolled in an asynchronous…

Easily accessible, asynchronous professional learning can support new career technical educators' instructional skill development from their 1st day of employment. This two-cycle action research inquiry aimed to improve special education student engagement in the licensed trades curriculum by exploring the connection between teacher induction…

Background: Social annotation has emerged as a promising educational technology that fosters collaborative reading and discussion of digital resources among learners. While the positive impact of social annotation on students' learning process and performance is widely acknowledged, students' behavioural patterns in social annotation are…

This research study delves into the multifaceted realm of social presence in online education, encompassing the existence and manifestation of social presence indicators in students' engagement with discussion boards within asynchronous online courses. Social presence manifests when individuals perceive themselves to be simultaneously present with…

With the development of technology and the normalization of COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control, asynchronous online learning is becoming popular. However, it is still to be explored on how to enhance students' learning engagement and knowledge construction. Based on this, we used content analysis to explore the roles of teaching strategies…

Without a strategy in place, online discussions in asynchronous courses rarely rise above the level of information sharing. As a result, it is important to design discussion strategies that push students further in their interactions with both the content and each other. In this case study, the role-play strategy was examined to determine whether…

Research into asynchronous online discussions (AOD) produced conflicting, contradictory results. A central problem was AOD often did not produce a high level of engagement and critical thinking. Synthesizing best practices, a dialectical framework was developed around concrete, actionable levers to improve thinking in online and remote courses.…

The purpose of this study was to explore higher education faculty's perceptions of factors that influence dynamic decision-making when choosing opportunities for student engagement in asynchronous online courses. More specifically, this study sought to understand how faculty in higher education perceived these factors to prevent and facilitate…

This study sought to address the gap in knowledge about the effect of UDL features on asynchronous online postsecondary learners' achievement, engagement, and self-efficacy. The study also described a process for redesigning an online course to incorporate UDL components and provided specific examples of the implemented UDL guidelines. The study…

Asynchronous online discussion (AOD) can provide an interactive educational experience through formation of learning communities that enable students to develop professional knowledge and critical thinking skills as they engage with colleagues and instructors. We find significant differences between undergraduate and graduate student perceptions…

Virtual Literature Circle (VLC) shows promise in developing critical reading skills among EFL students, but limited empirical research addresses the specific challenges in fostering collaborative learning, engagement, and learning outcomes. To address this gap, a sequential mixed-method study involving 25 EFL students was conducted. The findings…

Regulatory Sciences courses taught in an online asynchronous environment pose challenges for sustaining student engagement and encouraging active learning. Impediments include limited contact with the instructor and classmates, inadequate interaction with learning materials, content that can be ever-changing, and limited tools for assessing…

This article describes how to design an entangled literacy model, which blends verbal skills with multimodal features of visual, auditory, and other sensory cues to enable students to experience online classes with authentic and comprehensible material; paying attention to modes of communication in online classes also helps approximate…