In recent years, there has been a tremendous increase in the popularity of distance education among higher-education administrators. Students in growing numbers are also taking advantage of the flexibility and accessibility that distance education offers. This growth, however, has been a mixed blessing since it derives from using the Internet…

This study focused on technology usage among community college faculty. Overall technology use among older faculty was slightly less than younger faculty; older faculty were no less likely than younger respondents to use technology. Both age groups used similar technologies and reported equivalent degrees of perceived skill with those…

Student retention in higher education has become a critical focus in recent years. This paper describes the efforts of Lone Star College-Online and its Online Student Support Services unit to build and implement a comprehensive suite of services for online students with the intention of enhancing the online student experience and ultimately,…

This study is a secondary quantitative analysis of the 2004 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF) data. It examines the ability of human capital, intrinsic rewards, extrinsic rewards, and gender/race demographics to predict full-time community college faculty teaching on-line courses. Findings indicate that those faculty with higher…

The study addressed two questions: what is the ICT level of confidence of the course specialists handling Open University classes, and to what extent do course specialists integrated ICT applications such as word processing, electronic spread sheet, presentation software, YouTube and etc. in their OUS classes? The instruments were administered to…

This paper looks at three areas impacting online education at the community college level. Community colleges account for more than half of all online students in the United States as of 2006. This makes the success of online learning at the community college level a critical part of the growing online learning movement. Using data for…

The purpose of this research was to determine the extent that computer-related factors affect the success of nontraditional college students. Since nontraditional students typically have fewer skills than traditionally-aged students, they may be less efficacious regarding their ability to use technology. Unfortunately, such reduced confidence may…

Face-to-face instruction has been held as the gold standard of a quality academic program. But using information technology to redesign traditional courses can actually improve the quality of teaching, cut costs, and improve access and success. A strong redesign often involves active learning opportunities; individualized, on-demand assistance; a…

In its first decade (2001-2010) the OER movement has been carried by numerous relevant and successful projects around the globe. These were sometimes large-scale but more often not, and they were primarily initiated by innovating educational institutions and explorative individual experts. What has remained, however, is the quest for a sustainable…

Computer literacy is increasingly important in higher education, and many educational technology experts propose a more prominent integration of technology into pedagogy. Empirical evidence is needed to support these theories. This study examined community college students planning to transfer to 4-year universities and estimated the relationship…

Technology has become an integral part of the educational experience for many students and teachers, and institutions of higher education have invested heavily in its acquisition. Instructors tend to adopt new technologies when they perceive the benefits and usefulness of this implementation for their teaching. To facilitate the adoption process…

In a diverse classroom, there are students who are in need of both mathematics and English as a second language instruction. One of the challenges faced at Lake Washington Institute of Technology (LWIT) was the development of a pathway for English language learners into core academic courses at the college. In addition, English language learners…

This study hypothesizes that course passing rates in remedial mathematics classes can be improved through early identification of at-risk students using a department-wide midterm, followed by a mandated set of online intervention assignments incorporating immediate and elaborate feedback for all students identified as "at-risk" by their…

In today's world where tuition fees continue to rise rapidly and the demand for higher education increases in both the developing and developed world, it is important to find additional and alternative learning pathways that learners can afford. Traditional education as we have known it has begun to change, allowing for new parallel learning…

This study explored the potential effect of college students' self-generated computerized mind maps on their reading comprehension. It also investigated the subjects' attitudes toward generating computerized mind maps for reading comprehension. The study was conducted in response to the inability of the foundation-level students, who were learning…