The advancement of technology has led to an increase in undergraduate students pursuing degrees online. The translation of undergraduate research to the online environment is relatively new, though gaining momentum, partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Mentoring is a key undergraduate research support, particularly for those engaged online, as it…

A weekly professional learning community (PLC) was established for faculty members within a special education department for the 2020-2021 academic year. The goal of the PLC was to support the transition to online classes and to maintain the workplace community. Pre and post surveys using the Sense of Community Index-2 (Chavis et al., 2008b) and…

The purpose of this explanatory mixed methods study was to assess dissertation chairs' current practices to support doctoral students in an online practitioner program from the students' perspective. Findings from a 2020 study on dissertation chair experiences and current practices for meeting with and providing feedback to doctoral students…

Unbundling faculty roles has been a trending topic in higher education for many years. One unbundling method BYUIdaho Online Learning is exploring, is unbundling instruction and mentoring from assessment. This model has freed up more time for faculty outreach to students, led to greater job-satisfaction for our online adjunct faculty and teaching…

This study explored academic advisor use and perceptions of values, motives, and institutional support of SMS texting as a communication channel with students. Theoretical concepts in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and adaptive leadership guided the study as well as existing survey research on Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) in…

As online learning grows, we have an exciting opportunity and responsibility to create online discussion structures that promote engaging, generative, and discursive conversations that increase critical thinking and reflection. Organic-style discussions that are similar to classroom conversations increase critical thinking skills and offer a…

This breakout study reviews the findings of a 2017 study of Penn State University's World Campus undergraduate online students. The study surveyed students to report demographic, academic, preferences, and satisfaction information and sought to develop relationships between these variables by their levels of academic success. This breakout study…

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic in late 2019 and early 2020, universities, schools, and businesses in the United States closed and moved online (CDC, 2020; "A Timeline of COVID-19 Developments in 2020," 2020). By April, 2020, it became clear that the school year would end virtually, (Anderson, 2020). Teachers throughout the United…

This paper examines the role of librarian in replicating classroom experiences in an online environment in Nigeria. This article explores the literature that focuses on the adoption of technology in education, various roles being plays by librarians in the 21st century on use of technology for service delivery. The kernel of this article is that…

Asynchronous discussions in the online teaching and learning environment significantly contributes to the achievement of student learning outcomes, which is dependent upon qualified and engaged faculty members. The discourse within this article addresses how an online university conducted faculty development through its unique Robust Learning…

From a quantitative perspective, this study examined the instructional design knowledge of higher education instructors and others within the instructional design/technology arena who are members of a global educational based Internet forum. Results showed significant difference in opinions between genders, where males were more inclined to…

With a dearth of research on human-robot interaction in education and relatively high non-completion rates of online students, this study was conducted to determine the feasibility of using a virtual assistant (VA) to respond to questions and concerns of students and provide 24/7 online course content support. During a 16 week-long academic…

Classroom discussion boards are a vital part of the online educational experience, providing a venue for peer to peer and student to faculty interactions. However, institutional feedback from students at a large open enrollment university has shown that excess focus on online discussions may lead to fatigue, resulting in lower student…

This study describes interaction patterns observed during a pilot project that explored the use of web-conferencing (WC) software in two undergraduate distance education courses offered to advanced high-school students. The pilot program replaced video-conferencing technology with WC software during recitations, so as to increase participation in…

Asynchronous online threaded discussions are widely recognized as a tool to enhance learning in the virtual classroom. While they can serve as a mechanism for reinforcing material and promoting a deeper understanding of course content, discussion boards often lack rich and dynamic dialogue, and instead serve as a field of obligatory discourse,…