In Spring 2013 San José State University (SJSU) launched SJSU Plus: three college courses required for most students to graduate, which used massive open online course provider Udacity's platform, attracting over 15,000 students. Retention and success (pass/fail) and online support were tested using an augmented online learning environment…

The thesis of this paper is that the open and distance education sector is based on a framework of terminology that is typologically inconsistent and which lacks clarity, and open and distance education teaching and learning models are examined to explore these concerns. The findings of this analysis are then used to assist in the articulation of…

The GoNorth! Adventure Learning (AL) Series delivered educational programs about global climate change and sustainability from 2006 to 2010 via a hybrid-learning environment that included a curriculum designed with activities that worked in conjunction with the travels of Team GoNorth! as they dog sledded throughout the circumpolar Arctic. This…

This article reflects on the flexible learning concept through the eyes of the 19th-century industrial activists known as the Luddites. During a period of economic uncertainty, the Luddite perspective provides a sensitive justification for a change-free educational environment, and for a backlash in favour of "inflexible learning" (IL). The…

This article examines peer-to-peer learning--in virtual schools--among the most vulnerable of students. As a description of a comprehensive case study focused on three different students with disabilities, their parents, their teachers, and their school administrators, this article examines the effects of three kinds of variables on the prevalence…

A diploma mill is commonly recognized as an entity that will award a degree for substandard academic work. However, there is no universal agreement among different higher education institutions as to what constitutes minimum standard academic work or minimum knowledge and skills required of graduates. The author states that many of the negative…

Imaginary worlds have been devised by artists and commentators for centuries to focus satirical attention on society's problems. The increasing sophistication of three-dimensional graphics software is generating comparable "virtual worlds" for educational usage. Can such worlds play a satirical role suggesting developments in distance education…

This article proposes a model of presence in e-learning that is based on Garrison & Anderson's (2003) community of inquiry (COI) model. While the proposed model is similar to the COI model, there are some significant differences. It addresses the notion of presence from a different angle, and characterizes and specifies it differently. The article…

The rapidly expanding range of options available for innovative e-learning approaches based on emerging technologies has given renewed importance to teaching and learning issues that have long been familiar to distance educators. These issues arise from the separation between learners, and between teacher and learners, which occurs when learning…

Faculty satisfaction is considered an important factor of quality in online courses. A study was conducted to identify and confirm factors affecting the satisfaction of online faculty at a small research university, and to develop and validate an instrument that can be used to measure perceived faculty satisfaction in the context of the online…

In an earlier study of disabled graduates from campus-based institutions in the UK, students who had previously declared that they had an unseen disability were less likely to obtain good degrees (with first-class or upper second-class honours). The present study investigated the role of disability as a factor in the attainment and experiences of…

Group social structure provides a comfortable and predictable context for interaction in learning environments. Students in face-to-face learning environments process social information about others in order to assess traits, predict behaviors, and determine qualifications for assuming particular responsibilities within a group. In online learning…

For students with disabilities who are at risk of leaving high school without graduating, virtual schools have become a popular alternative to traditional schools. One promising approach to increasing graduation rates is to design learning environments that serve students with disabilities through the 5 Cs framework designed to increase school…

Trust is a key factor in enabling effective team performance and, in online teams, needs to be built quickly and early. As universities expand their online offerings students are increasingly working in online teams. Understanding how trust development may differ in online teams versus face-to-face can have implications for online education…

The Open University of Indonesia (Universitas Terbuka, UT) has over 450,000 students distributed across a vast, diverse archipelago. UT will play a central role in meeting the requirement that over 1 million primary teachers earn four-year postsecondary degrees by 2015. While the Open University has considerable capacity in print-based and…