Gamification is the use of game elements in a non-game context to encourage desired behaviours (Detering 2011a). It has been identified as a promising technique for improving user motivation on e-learning platforms. Since previous literature reviews and meta-analyses only considered gamification and learning effort without focusing directly on…

Learning management systems (LMS) are essential components of courses, yet student engagement on these platforms remains a significant challenge. Traditionally, grades have been used to incentivize student engagement, but this approach comes with drawbacks. In this paper, we explored an alternative form of incentivization, gamification, that has…

In recent years, online education in institutions of higher learning has exponentially expanded the application of digital approaches to learning. The Learning Management Systems (LMS) used by online instruction provide a variety of tools to enhance learning with peers and instructors (Yount & Neild, 2022). One such tool, Asynchronous…

When students are initially immersed into the academic and social community of their program, they are more likely to succeed than if left to navigate graduate school on their own. As such, well-crafted onboarding initiatives are among the highest impact retention practices and key to enhancing the graduate student experience. While George Mason…

Purpose: Digital learning systems are crucial for education and data collected can analyse students learning performances to improve support. The purpose of this study is to design and build an asynchronous hardware and software system that can store data on a local device until able to share. It was developed for staff and students at university…

There are currently approximately 180,000 Registered Behavior Technicians® (RBT®s) (Behavior Analyst Certification Board, n.d.) To become an RBT, one must complete 40 hours of training and pass a competency assessment and an exam. The initial training is frequently conducted though asynchronous online platforms. To our knowledge, there has been…

Examining how people learn in various learning environments is at the core of the science of learning. The more we understand how students learn from different dimensions and aspects, the better equipped we are to support their learning. This study aims to expand our understanding of how learning occurs within the context of an asynchronous online…

Many college students struggle to adopt effective study strategies. Although many academic support centers disseminate resources on study strategies and help students to strengthen these skills, students do not fully utilize the resources or support. This study explored using an online asynchronous discussion (OAD) board as a space to embed five…

Large-enrollment, asynchronous, online courses present significant teaching and learning challenges, particularly in implementing evidence-based practices such as building connections with students and offering personalized support. This Quick Hit explores the use of module conditional release, a feature in learning management systems, which can…

Students' satisfaction, knowledge, skills and attitude towards learning (KSAs), engagement and interaction in online learning are essential indicators in ensuring that the Learning Management System (LMS) is utilised effectively and efficiently. However, most students become passive listeners and observers during online teaching and learning…

Drawing on Freire's Engaged Pedagogy as a theoretical framework, I investigated the manifestation of dialogical relationships between faculty and students in fully asynchronous online courses. Employing a post-intentional phenomenological methodology, I examined how students and faculty held varying expectations for relationships in asynchronous…

This study examines how student and instructor participation in online discussions impacts students' course performance. The context for the study is university introductory online mathematics/statistics courses, which typically have much higher failure rates than their face-to-face counterparts. Using text-mining techniques, we analyze online…

Online-only course design has to balance students' needs to experience (1) competence and (2) autonomy as it may affect their motivation. Lecture units can provide structured guidance by being made accessible in a fixed order, or support students' autonomy by providing free access to all lecture units. Online-only courses with lecture units…

Grounded on cognitive elaboration theory, this study aims to investigate how students' dyadic conceptual elaboration changed with different group compositions, namely presence/absence of instructor and unfamiliar students in online asynchronous discussion. Adopting a repeated measure experimental design, data were collected from third-year…

In this article, I blend a review of existing research, results from an original qualitative study, and a decade of personal experience in order to examine the facilitation of significant learning experiences in asynchronous online courses. Research has repeatedly demonstrated that students who enroll in online courses do so for reasons of…