Even as higher education institutions offer more distance education courses, the attrition rate in these courses remains higher than face-to-face courses. One of the most cited reason by students who drop out of distance education classes is the lack of social interaction. Educational technology researchers have studied this problem from a sense…

The supplemental educational services program is a core provision of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001. The program offers free tutoring in reading/language arts and math from state-approved providers outside of regular school hours. This report explores differences across states and school urban and rural locales in providing…

The paper employs two case studies to develop an approach for using podcasts to enhance student learning. The case studies involve two cohorts of postgraduate students enrolled on a blended course, over two years. In both cases, the institutional learning management system was used as a server to host the podcasts, giving students discretion on…

To be truly innovative, digital pedagogy has to do a better job of giving students the very thing that makes brick-and-mortar schooling so special: It must foster immersive learning communities that connect students to both their instructors and each other. Fortunately, there are ways that online education can do just that, as the authors have…

"Blended learning" is learning facilitated by the effective combination of different modes of delivery, models of teaching and styles of learning, and applying them in an interactively meaningful learning environment. There are four standard modes of blended learning that have proven to meet student academic needs and provide flexibility with…

Virtual school programs--especially online high school courses--are gaining traction in school districts around the country. While offering online courses was once the exclusive province of large state, nonprofit and for-profit organizations and companies, districts and even individual schools are now starting virtual schools of their own. Not…

The purpose of this study is to determine how to react everyday lives problems in general. In the study, a pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design was used. The study group consisted of 37 students who were registered for Teacher Experience Course of Computer & Instructional Technologies Education in their 8th semester. In order to collect…

This study of over 2000 US college students examines the Community of Inquiry framework (CoI) in its capacity to describe and explain differences in learning outcomes in hybrid and fully online learning environments. We hypothesize that the CoI model's theoretical constructs of "presence" reflect educational effectiveness in a variety of…

Fostering problem-solving abilities has long been recognized as an important issue in education; however, past studies have shown that it is difficult and challenging to find effective learning strategies or tools for improving students' problem-solving abilities. To cope with this problem, in this study, a hybrid approach that integrates the…

This edited volume brings together large-scale research as well as case studies from a range of geographical contexts and represents a variety of educational settings involving second language learners and users. Its aim is to explore the interrelated issues of psychology and technology use in second language learning settings as well as in more…

Online higher education has attained scale and is poised to take the next step in its growth. Although significant obstacles to a full scale adoption of online education remain, we will see full scale adoption of online higher education within the next five to ten years. Practically all higher education students will experience online education in…

Videos (including commercial films, films made for teaching and films on public websites) are being used in higher education in many different subject areas. With the arrival of websites such as "YouTube", students can access material of varying quality and content on numerous topics. The purpose of this research has been to investigate…

Blended learning strategies can be employed in innovative ways to solve real-world academic problems across all academic disciplines. This article can provide administrators and faculty with specific examples to guide them when making decisions about academic planning or institutional strategies for any discipline at all levels of higher…

The aim of case this study was to analyze the integration of mobile learning technologies in a postgraduate course in Finance (MSc in Finance) at Dublin Institute of Technology, where econometrics is an important course component. Previous experience with students undertaking econometrics modules supported this analysis, where the researcher…

The history of learning biology through distance education is documented. A review of terminology and unique problems associated with biology instruction is presented. Using published research and their own teaching experience, the authors present recommendations and best practices for managing biology in distance-based formats. They offer ideas…