Indira Gandhi national Open University (IGNOU) is an apex body for open and distance learning (ODL) system in India. The university has nation-wide operation and pioneer in distance education. IGNOU has an hqrs, 67 Regional Centres and about 3400 Study Centres throughout India. The study centres are the academic contact point for distance learners…

Heterogeneous effects of semantic distance in language production have sparked a debate on the central assumption of many language production models, namely that lexical selection is a competitive process. In the present ERP study, we manipulated semantic distance in the picture word interference (PWI) paradigm systematically within taxonomic…

This work presents 'Dove sta di casa la scuola', an online course for teachers promoted by the Small School Movement during the COVID-19 emergency. The course aimed to provide alternatives to lecture-based distance learning using the domestic environment as a context for 'low-intensity' digital learning. Such an experience, involving 7000 Italian…

We investigate the impact of attending a free school in England -- that is, a new start-up school that enjoys considerable autonomy while remaining in the state sector. We analyse the effects of two secondary free schools with different teaching philosophies: one follows a 'no excuse' paradigm, while the other one adopts a 'classical liberal',…

Statistics is not the subject most psychology students are feverishly looking forward to. Fears and doubts about its relevance are quite common. This is especially pronounced at our institution, a large distance-teaching university with highly heterogeneous students. We recognized three clusters of students that might need special support: (1)…

We examined how the federal Promise Neighborhoods program shapes leadership networks and objectives in diverse tribal and urban settings. The program calls for diverse stakeholders to provide families with resources such as parenting workshops, childcare, preschool, health clinics, and other social services that affect learning and development. We…

This paper addresses the homogeneous/heterogeneous dilemma regarding formal arrangements of university central governance structures. Most topical studies argue that these structures are becoming homogeneous across countries and prove it by adopting purposive sampling techniques. Yet, other scholars stress heterogeneity within countries. This…

In recent years, with the rapid development of communication and network technologies, distance learning has been popularized and it became one of the most well-known teaching methods, due to its practicability. Over the Internet, learners are free to access new knowledge without restrictions on time or location. However, current distance learning…

This work aims to examine how science teachers ensured equity during the COVID-19 pandemic. The participants are six science teachers who were teaching in different middle schools within the Lisbon district. Their classes were heterogeneous, with students from different socio-economic backgrounds and ethnicities, and with diverse levels of…

Given the peculiarities of mobile computer-supported collaborative learning (MCSCL) environments, forming suitable groups in such learning environments represents a hard and time-consuming task. This is because many conditions related to mobile learners, devices, and environment should be considered. Unlike the existing solutions, the present…

This article proposes an automatic group formation method applying the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm to boost the quality of students' online interactions. The groups were heterogeneous regarding their levels of knowledge and their interests, and three different leadership roles were distributed among group members. A case study with…

The acquisition of online interaction competencies is an important learning objective. The present study explored the relationships between the first-language heterogeneity of computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) groups and the development of students' online interaction self-efficacy via a pretest--posttest design in the context of a…

We define educational access as the component of a neighborhood's value that is determined by the set of schools available to its residents. This paper studies the extent to which educational access is determined by sorting based on heterogeneous preferences over school attributes, or local institutions that constrain residential location and…

The article focuses on the issues of teaching turn-taking for ESP students in blended distance learning courses at B2 level. It lays the rationale for the use of film episodes of business interaction in distance learning highlighting turn-taking as an operational meta-discursive category. In multimodal cinematic discourse, turn-taking is performed…

The methodological paper illustrates the "informed grounded theory (informed GT) methodology" by briefly demonstrating a case study about synchronous video communications and teacher presence in distance education. Unlike Glaser, B. G., & Strauss, A. L. (1967). "The discovery of grounded theory." Aldine. GT, the literature…