This study investigates possible relationships among motivational and learning variables (interest, self-efficacy and self-regulation) and three types of student engagement (behavioural engagement, emotional engagement and cognitive engagement) in a distance education setting. Participants were 203 students enrolled in online classes in the fall…

Geographical inquiry involves collecting, using and making sense of the data to investigate some geographical phenomena. With the increasing number of mobile devices equipped with Internet access capabilities, there is a wide scope for using it in field inquiry where learning can take place in the form of social interactions between team members…

Faculty and student feedback on blended courses is instrumental to improving blended courses and programs. The purpose of this article is to describe the process and results of blended learning outcome assessment at a large, multi-campus, private university. The outcome measures used in this assessment were developed in the context of current…

Facilitating students' critical thinking in asynchronous discussions is important in online learning environments. Since students need to be self-regulated in online learning, the instructors are expected to scaffold students by providing structure and guidance. This paper discusses critical inquiry in two groups of students' online discussions.…

This column posits enhancing professional development through uses of digital tools to create professional learning communities (PLCs) designed to support collective inquiry and action research leading to schoolwide improvement. These digital tools include a social networking/discussion forum for teacher collaboration; teachers' individual…

This article discusses the role of open and distance learning to widen participation and promote social inclusion within Australian higher education, as well as the benefits that open educational resources (OER) could bring to that context. It also explores some of the most relevant social inclusion policies and related initiatives developed in…

Success in open educational resources (OER) has been reported by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the USA and the Open University in the UK, among others. It is unclear, however, how valuable OER are in learning and teaching. Approaches to OER policy and sustainability are just two other key aspects that remain unresolved across the…

Learners' feelings of social connectedness may be a key factor in predicting online course success. However, students attempting to perceive and process the social context in online courses often find themselves engaging in unfamiliar, technology-mediated communication channels. While there have been several empirically based strategies published…

It was found in the two-year study reported in this article that a single collaborative language lesson using "Second Life" can result in a statistically significant increase in student self-efficacy beliefs across a range of specific and general language skills. However, students with different "real life" prior experience…

Pressures in terms of the availability of quality, real-life clinical experiences for students have resulted in increased interest in the use of simulation in a variety of healthcare disciplines. "Te wahi whanau: The birth place" is a Virtual Birth Centre (VBC) that was created in "Second Life" in 2009 as part of the Second…

In recent years, strategic planning has become one of the subjects that many institutions work on to ensure the institutions' appropriate management based on realistic results. Therefore, this planning has to be taken into account and should provide planning direction on the bases of its results. Basically, the manager of strategic planning,…

This study is aimed to explore the social nature of membership in an online community of practice (NETwork, Nurturing Elementary Teachers' work) whose purpose is to support pre-service and in-service teachers with a collaborative virtual space for learning how to teach. Path analysis was employed to explore the relationships among social…

Although there is a growing interest in mobile learning, there are limited studies that focus on student knowledge acquisition. As applications and usages of mobile technology have become more and more accepted, it is important and meaningful that researchers and practitioners of mobile learning understand the potential factors that could…

Facebook and other social media have been hailed as delivering the promise of new, socially engaged educational experiences for students in undergraduate, self-directed, and other educational sectors. A theoretical and historical analysis of these media in the light of earlier media transformations, however, helps to situate and qualify this…

Current e-learning forms are commonly based on improving the learning process through the enhancement of certain skills in students, such as collaborative, competitive or problem-based learning. However, it seems that there is still no e-learning "formula" that gathers the implementation of a number of more generic educational principles in a…