Despite evidence of practices that support online students in university learning, promoting engagement and building a student sense of belonging continue to be a challenge. To enhance student engagement, a suite of evidence-based learning design strategies was incorporated across online units of study in initial teacher education programmes at a…

This study employs dramaturgical analysis, the study of social interaction in terms of theatrical performance, in examining online student interactions. Region-specific activity--front stage (the course LMS) versus backstage (Facebook)--was examined to determine where students spend their time doing class-related tasks. The context for this case…

This article discusses the practical and ethical challenges and benefits of using social media and video-based research methods -- also known as Photovoice -- to investigate contemporary Communication Design education. The two visual research methods discussed include the social media mobile application Snapchat® and participant-generated GoPro®…

The English classroom is a space in which issues of social justice can be explored through texts, using a critical literacy approach. Indigenous Australians have been subject to racist policies throughout postcolonial Australian history, and racist attitudes toward Australia's original inhabitants prevail. This article suggests that racism in the…

Facebook status updates provided the data for a study about the transition learning experiences of 1st-year university students. Strict ethical guidelines were proposed by the PhD researcher from the outset of the study. Anonymity was considered important for the approved ethical clearance for both the university and the participants.…

There is widespread agreement that collaboration, teamwork and intercultural competence, among others, are essential 21st century skills. Higher education teaching and learning initiatives tend to have a significant focus on developing these skills through assessments and other in-class activities, and yet often do not take advantage of…

This paper reports on a global learning partnership using "the Café: the collaborative application for education" as an e-learning environment within the Facebook framework, for first-year animation students at the University of South Australia (USA) in Australia and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. "The Café" has…

Research into study abroad students' intercultural learning has demonstrated a need to provide pedagogical support before, during and after the study abroad experience. This article reports on the authors' efforts to support the in-country learning of Australian study abroad students through an online guided reflection exercise (blog) with a…

This paper explores the use of emerging Cloud technologies that support real-time online collaboration. It considers the extent to which these technologies can be leveraged to develop complex skillsets supporting interaction between multiple learners in online spaces. In a pilot study that closely examines how groups of learners translate two…

Over the past decade, industry relevance and connectedness have evolved into a key requirement for students and their parents, who increasingly perceive employability upon graduation as a critical factor in the degree selection process. Simultaneously, professional bodies emphasise the need for high levels of industry engagement as a condition for…

Using the example of an undergraduate unit of study that is taught both on-campus and externally, but uses Internet-based learning in both cases, we explore how social media might be used effectively in higher education. We place into question the assumption that such technologies necessarily engage students in constructivist learning; we argue…

Graduates need to be prepared for working in global organisations that increasingly rely on virtual, culturally diverse teams. This paper reports on a qualitative research study concerned with the perceptions of university business students who collaborated on a virtual and international project to learn about intercultural communication. The…

Educators are often torn between impositions of the institution in which they work and the imperatives of their individual courses or units and the impact this tension might have on student satisfaction with the learning experience. It is common to hear that students must graduate with multiple generic attributes or skills, yet these skills may…

Purpose: This paper demonstrates the need for the higher education sector to develop and implement scaleable, quantitative measures that evaluate community and establish organisational benchmarks in order to guide the development of future practices designed to enhance the student learning experience. Design/methodology/approach: Literature…

While the internationalisation of higher education has made learner diversity a key consideration in tertiary pedagogical practice, research into the application of computer-mediated technologies in this domain has rarely taken into account culture. This article responds to this gap in the research by comparing "Confucian-heritage" and…