After a discussion of the state of both misaligned and informative online and distance education research, the authors in this special issue (hereafter called the collective) extract evidence-based principles about strategies that work. Both are addressed in this article. First, their criticisms centered on the value of comparative research. Those…

Purpose: The primary purpose of this research paper is to understand the role of national cultural dimensions on e-learning practices in India. India is considered a major player in the world economy today. US multinationals are significantly increasing their presence in India and understanding cultural preferences will help global companies…

The intent of this study was to learn about students' perceived barriers and the impact of those barriers on the quality of online discussions between two distinct cultural groups in Eastern and Northern Siberia (Russia). A mixed-methods approach utilizing surveys and interviews was used to investigate (1) the types of barriers the students…

This study incorporated a look at asynchronous distance education and the college-educated African American's perception of asynchronous distance education. This important study has many implications on African American population growth in areas of finance, sociological standing, and success. Educational level is a determinate of future income…

The move toward offering more online instruction at many academic institutions frequently takes the form of conversion of a traditional course to online format. Despite its prevalence, this special form of course development has received little research attention. This paper presents the results of an exploratory study of the faculty perspective…

This paper is based on a qualitative study that investigated graduate student perspectives of online discussions in higher education courses. The data are drawn primarily from interviews and student journal entries. The study examined student experiences of online discussions from a "technorealist" perspective thereby taking into account…

Based on the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) and following a blended learning approach (a supplement model), this article reports on a quasi-experiment where writing was taught evenly with other language skills in everyday language contexts and where asynchronous online activities were required from students to extend learning beyond…

The social-media news website "Reddit" boasts a huge readership with over 35 million unique visitors for December 2011 alone. Content is generated by users, who submit links from other websites to the various sub-forums. Users also have the ability to comment on links, providing the means for a community to be developed. Both content and…

In recent research, little attention has been paid to issues of methodology and analysis methods to evaluate the quality of the collaborative learning community. To address such issues, an attempt is made to adopt the Activity System Model as an analytical framework to examine the relationship between computer supported collaborative learning…

Blended learning is a newly emerging trend in higher education and is defined as the purposeful integration of synchronous and asynchronous learning to provide educational activities that maximize the benefits of each. This paper describes the development of a graduate social work foundation-year practice class in a blended online environment in…

This empirical study explored the impression management techniques and standardized performances college students use on their Facebook profiles to ensure their peers believe they are fully participating in the undergraduate experience. Employing an ethnographic research design and data collected using participant-observation and interview…

This article addresses educators' concerns about using asynchronous online discussions in lieu of face-to-face discussions. Drawing from research on asynchronous online education and Bloom's taxonomy, the authors introduce the system of "original examples" and "value-added comments" that they have developed to promote engaging and meaningful…

In order to prepare new online students to be successful in the virtual classroom, many institutions opt to provide them with an orientation course. Academic institutions must understand the needs of their students in order to develop an orientation course that is best suited to prepare their students for success. In this study, online graduate…

This paper examines how students learn to collaborate in English by participating in an intercultural project that focuses on teaching students to work together on a digital writing project using various online tools, and documents their reflections working in an intercultural context. Students from Université Paris Sud Orsay and Bonn…

Teaching and instructing is one of the challenging manifestations of informing, within which distance learning is considered harder than face-to-face instruction. Student retention is one of the major challenges of distance learning. Current innovative technologies enable widespread use of video lectures that may ease the loneliness of the…