There has been much interest in how to develop a sense of belonging to an academic institution over the last twenty years, given the evidence that this improves student retention, satisfaction and attainment. Fostering a sense of belonging involves both psychological and sociological aspects; students need to feel like they belong and are valued…

The aim of this study is to compare how two different Virtual Exchanges (VE) contribute to language learning in a Japanese university context. Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) using VE has been a focus in this study. There are huge advantages of using technology in language teaching such as increasing language use opportunities, feedback, and…

The purpose of this exploratory case study was to gather undergraduate students' perceptions of anonymous racist messages found on Yik Yak and to better understand the implications of anonymous platforms on campus racial climate. Given the limited research surrounding students' use of anonymous social media platforms, as well as the predominant…

Conducting qualitative research in any discipline warrants two actions: accessing participants and eliciting their ideas. In chemistry education research (CER), survey techniques have been used to increase access to participants and diversify samples. Interview tasks (such as card sorting, using demonstrations, and using simulations) have been…

This study emphasized understanding how student veterans experience and what they do with social media. Student veterans typically have a much different college experience than nonmilitary students. A qualitative method was used to perform this research. The researcher adapted Colaizzi's and Moustakas's phenomenological methods to create a data…

E-tandem language exchange is an online learning method that positively influences learners to gain knowledge and improve their linguistic and communicative competences. The main aim of this qualitative research was to analyze the advantages and drawbacks of an institutional, non-integrated e-tandem developed between a group of English learners…

This article presents the outcomes of a pilot study investigating factors that supported and constrained collaborative learning in a blended reality environment. Pre-service teachers at an Australian university took part in a hybrid tutorial lesson involving a mixture of students who were co-located in the same face-to-face (F2F) classroom along…

The terms used to designate ordinary relational identities seem easy to learn and translate. However, these interpersonal identities reflect complex mental constructs that are very sensitive to the variables that interact in human communication, particularly cultural variation. This paper describes a pilot project developed at the University of…

Centers for teaching and learning (CTL) have traditionally relied upon on-campus programming to support faculty professional development, but as increasing numbers of faculty access resources and collaborate online, CTLs could do more to build online community. To meet this challenge, our team developed a website, EdTech Commons, which features…

This article uses the case study of developing a collaborative "out-of-hours" virtual enquiry service by members of the Northern Collaboration Group of academic libraries in the north of England to explore the importance of communication and collaboration between academic library services in enhancing student learning. Set within the…

The challenges of the doctoral journey can create social and academic isolation. Student support is normally facilitated through the supervisory team and research training programmes. There is little empirical evidence on the role group supervision and peer learning can play in nurturing and sustaining doctoral scholarship. This article explores…

This article presents a prototype social Mobile Assisted Language Learning (henceforth, MALL) app based on Kukulska-Hulme's (2012) conceptual framework. This research allows the exploration of time, place and activity type as key factors in the design of MALL apps, and is the first step toward a systematic analysis of such a framework in this type…

The newly formed Linguistics and Modern Languages subject area at University of Huddersfield sought to revamp our curriculum to embed employability into our teaching so that students could understand the relevance of their subject to life outside and after university. To this end, we decided to adapt and specialise the generic placement module…

At its base, advertising is the process of using visual images and words to attract and convince consumers that a certain product has certain attributes. The same effect exists in electronic communication, strongly so in online courses where most if not all interaction between instructor and student is in writing. Arguably, if consumers make…

This article discusses some practical ideas associated with a pilot intercultural telecollaboration project. The aim of the project was to connect students from five countries: Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Poland and Spain, and to make them interact using social media, such as Facebook, Skype, Google Hangouts, etc. There were success stories…