This essay expounds on the merits and demerits of two social studies instructional strategies (cooperative learning and discussions) through virtual means in the current COVID-19 global pandemic, and offers eight helpful guidelines in addressing the strategies for social studies instructors. The merits of virtual cooperative learning and…

We report on an experiment to investigate the effect of an online asynchronous marketing simulation on student engagement and GPA. Engagement was measured in terms of conscious attention, enthused participation and social connection. The participants were 45 students undertaking marketing management at an American university over one semester.…

Faculty learning communities (FLCs), established prepandemic to disseminate and discuss evidence-based teaching practices as part of an NSF-funded project, Investigating Student Success Using Evidence-Based Strategies-eXpanded (ISSUES-X), proved effective at facilitating learning during a pandemic. As our university made the decision to operate…

This case study examined the current assessment practices in the math school of a large research university in the United States. After reviewing a sample of course syllabi offered in the spring 2021 semester, we descriptively summarized the use of 19 assessment methods in the school and examined the assessment patterns by subjects, class…

Background/Context: Schools are increasingly using scripted curricula that limit teacher autonomy. These limitations are exacerbated when scripted curricula are enacted in fully standardized, asynchronous online course environments with no mechanisms for student--teacher communication. Purpose: This study extends understanding of how teacher…

The majority of my students are either out of state or international students who live on campus during the regular academic year and return home during the summer months. Thus, most students cannot attend face-to-face summer classes held on campus. In 2015, I developed a flipped, completely online human physiology course to meet the needs of…

Using William Golding's "Lord of the Flies" as a stimulus, researchers from Norway, Pakistan and the United Kingdom explored the potential of a literary text to encourage intercultural dialogue. The innovative research method used was to combine Literature Circles and Google Documents to provide a platform for asynchronous online…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is sharing out basic guidelines and examples from an extended collaboration to move educators move online while avoiding synchronous meetings. "gPortfolios" are public (to the class) pages where students write responses to carefully constructed engagement routines. Students then discuss their work with…

This qualitative study examined how teachers fostered student engagement in blended learning (BL), i.e., blended, blended online, and blended synchronous courses that combine synchronous and asynchronous activities. Twenty semi-structured interviews with teachers in various disciplines, at the undergraduate or graduate level in four universities,…

With the pandemics still an ongoing issue and the sudden shift to full distance learning, English language learning in Indonesia has been severely impacted. The current study sheds light on the current teaching practices within Academic writing Classes of Full-time online learning in Indonesian Higher Education Context during the pandemics. The…

The purpose of this study was to explore the types of online tools and strategies used with problem-based learning. The target population for this study consisted of instructional designers who were currently working in the field and have four or more years of experience in designing problem-based curriculum using synchronous and asynchronous…

This project produced an online astronomy course based on the free, online OpenStax textbook. When this project was conceived, about a year before the COVID-19 pandemic, the authors had no idea that in a short period of time, most college and university classes would be online. This abrupt change in modalities of courses, from traditional,…

Word processing is a fundamental skill for efficient computer literacy. E-learning has been introduced to ensure wide dissemination of such fundamental content and skills, even beyond school. However, best methodologies need to be identified for efficient instructional delivery. This study therefore investigated the effects of synchronous and…

Online learners face a different set of obstacles than their classroom-based counterparts as they seek to develop clinical skills solely through interaction with the content of an independent learning curriculum. While ground campus learners benefit from classroom content such as lectures or roleplay activities with their peers to rehearse…

Does nonverbal communication exist in asynchronous, text-based online education? It is commonly believed that it does not due to the absence of body language and paralanguage. An examination of the definitions and forms of nonverbal cues suggests the possibility for some of them to be transmitted through asynchronous, text-based online human…