In seeking out a means of encouraging eighth-grade readers in their literacy and communication development, a university professor and middle grades educator collaborated in an action research study focused on expanding connection and collaboration amongst and between students. Through a theoretical lens grounded in social constructivism, this…

What makes a leader in an online learning environment? This question is approached from three angles in this study: online activity, language quality, and social background. This study examines the simulation data of the 2015 GlobalEd 2 Project, which consists of 337 7th and 8th grade students representing 18 countries. The three dimensions were…

Structured argumentation support environments have been built and used in scientific discourse in the literature. However, to the best our knowledge, there is no research work in the literature examining whether student's knowledge has grown during learning activities with asynchronous argumentation. In this work, an intelligent computer-supported…

This research project examined how to develop and sustain online, asynchronous learning communities in continuous intake, distance education environments for learners in grades 7 through 10. The study is an action research project that is based upon in-depth, qualitative data. Interviews were conducted with distance education teachers,…