The first comprehensive national survey of all academic libraries in the United States which were conducting chat reference service was carried out to determine: what practices were being used to prepare personnel for chat reference service, what competencies were being taught, how and why training practices may have changed over time, and what…

The Guide to Blended Learning is an introduction using technology and distance education teaching strategies with traditional, face-to-face classroom activities. This Guide has been designed to assist teachers adopt blended learning strategies through a step-by-step approach taking constructivist and design-based approach and reflecting on…

Communication among adolescents with cerebral palsy can be restricted with traditional Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) device coupled with environmental and social barriers. The advance of communication technology offer solutions to reduce such barriers. Given that there is limited research in communication behaviours of…

In 2013 five universities from across Europe undertook an innovative project "Media Culture 2020", combining skills and forces to develop new practices that would face the challenge of the convergence of digital media, taking full advantage of social media and cloud-based technologies. The aim of the Media Culture 2020 project was to…

Online fora have become not only one of the most popular communication tools in e-learning environments, but also one of the key factors of the learning process, especially in distance learning, as they can provide to the students involved, motivation for collaboration in order to achieve a common goal. The purpose of this study is to analyse data…

Young people are increasingly turning to online support, especially when traditional mental health services are not immediately available. Using a cross-sectional design, sociodemographic information and self-reported perceptions of the strength of the working alliance and client satisfaction were collected from a sample of participants (n = 78)…

This paper focuses on issues concerning in-service English as an additional language or dialect teachers' views on professional development (PD) in an online environment. On the basis of the data collected via a questionnaire survey and a series of interviews, this study finds that intrinsic and extrinsic incentives compel or impede teachers…

The TILA project originated from the need to explore whether and how telecollaboration affects language learning processes for communication, intercultural understanding and motivation of youngsters learning foreign languages at secondary schools and to empower teachers to pioneer meaningful pedagogical innovation in the curriculum of foreign…

Objective: To better understand the technology being used today in pharmacy education through a review of the current methodologies being employed at various institutions. Also, to discuss the benefits and difficulties of asynchronous and synchronous methodologies, which are being utilized at both traditional and distance education campuses.…

Questionnaires administered manually can cause surreptitious peer pressure on the candidate to finish when 'the others" have completed theirs, forcing students to rush or skip individual items or may hinder the ability of noticing participants who may be having difficulty understanding certain items. These drawbacks can have serious…

Online learner profiles have diversified such that now, they include all types of participants from a variety of backgrounds. This study analyzed online learner profiles in regard to their entry characteristics, participation behaviors and achievement of course outcomes. The sample consisted of 186 participants from an online course that required…

Although distance language education has been widely adopted in university learning, very few researchers to date have looked at off-screen behaviors of second/foreign language learners in their physical environments while they engage in synchronous (real-time) online courses. This study examined one focal student's off-screen behaviors while…

Organizing and implementing telecollaboration projects in foreign language curricula is not an easy endeavour (Belz & Thorne, 2006; Guth & Helm, 2010), as pedagogical, organizational and technical issues have to be addressed before cross-cultural interaction sessions can be carried out (O'Dowd & Ritter, 2006; O'Dowd, 2011). These issues make many…

Purpose: The main aim of this study is to gauge international offshore students' perceptions of virtual office hours (VOH) to consult with their offshore unit coordinators in Australia. Design/methodology/approach: This paper employs a quantitative and qualitative approach where data was sourced from three offshore campuses over a 12-month period…

This paper reports on a study investigating the potential effect of synchronous and asynchronous text-based computer-mediated communication (CMC) on oral fluency development of second-language (L2) learners. Sixty-three intermediate learners of English were randomly assigned to one of three groups (two experimental groups and one control group),…