For academics who administer, design, and develop courses for online graduate programs, emphasis is placed on creating student-centered experiences that are grounded in scholarly learning and instructional theory using state-of-the art technology. This study sought to identify discussion strategies that would enhance the student learning…

Online education has emerged as an effective and increasingly common alternative to face-to-face instruction in postsecondary education. This article is a summary of effective practices in online instructional methods, including course design, interaction among course participants, and instructor preparation and support.

The purpose of this study was to examine online instructors' experiences and perceptions of online teaching and their communication with students in an online environment. More specifically, the study focused on the questions regarding: (1) instructors' general experiences and perceptions of online teaching; (2) instructors' general experiences…

This study investigated the attitudes of peer tutors who received web conferencing training in preparation for synchronous online tutoring. A quasi-experimental design was employed to evaluate changes in peer tutors' attitudes toward distance learning following participation in an online tutor training program. Peer tutors were found to have: (a)…

Distance learning has become more popular in recent years. Due to concern about the quality of web-based courses, the purpose of this study was to explore the differences in web-based versus land-based courses. In this study, the researcher compares web-based and land-based education courses to explore the strengths and weaknesses of each type of…

This qualitative study is an exploratory, retrospective content analysis (Schwandt, 2007) of 81 debrief statements collected over 3 years and written by graduate students in an educational technology graduate program's educational leadership course taught 100% online. Researchers analyzed students' debrief statements of lessons learned and task…

As online learning continues to grow, it is important to investigate students' overall experiences in online learning environments. Understanding students' perspectives on their online classes or programs moves beyond the sole question of student satisfaction to more nuanced questions about how factors inside and outside of the classroom impact…

Quality education may be termed as the primary way that leads to development of nations and can play an exclusive role in maintaining the standards of education. It is understood that using conventional teaching methods, desired products cannot be achieved; making the need for modern approaches to be evolved for sound qualitative work. The target…

This study explores 465 postsecondary students' experiences in online classes through the lens of connectivism. Downes' 4 properties of connectivism (diversity, autonomy, interactivity, and openness) were used as the study design. An exploratory factor analysis was performed. This study found a 4-factor solution. Subjects indicated that autonomy…

The problem under investigation for this study was to identify a method for determining a student's potential for success in an online communication course using the Readiness for Education At a Distance Indicator (READI) assessment instrument as a predictor. The READI tool focuses on six areas that students should score well on in order to be…

Researchers investigated perceived satisfaction of undergraduate students with high-enrollment online course sections at a research-intensive university. A modified survey instrument was administered to all undergraduate students enrolled in 2 online statistics courses in which interaction was not a central element of course design. Students were…

This study examined student perceptions of teaching presence and communication timeliness in asynchronous online courses. Garrison, Anderson, and Archer's (2000) community of inquiry model provided the framework for the survey research methodology used. Participants were 59 student volunteers taking 1 or more asynchronous online graduate courses.…

Postsecondary distance education has attracted increasing attention in recent years, an understandable change when one considers that innovative approaches to distance education have offered opportunities to overcome some of the key challenges in traditional "brick and mortar" education. Nonetheless, there are a plethora of issues that must be…

This article discusses effective leadership in educational environments and in particular focuses on the current situation at the University of South Africa (UNISA). The end of Apartheid in South Africa has brought many opportunities but also some challenges especially in education. Three conditions that contribute to ensuring strong distance…

The living lab (LL) is an open innovation ecosystem serving to provide opportunities for local stakeholders to practice research and to experiment with meaningful improvements for cities and other organizations. Living labs aim at involving the user as a cocreator. In this article the relationship between the LLs and a variety of stakeholders is…