Which learning analytics (LA) approach might be the best choice for your teaching and learning context? Learning analytics as a field of research and application seeks to collect, analyze, report, and interpret educational data with the goal of improving teaching and learning. But hasty adoption of learning analytics tools and methods that are…

Connectivism, a learning theory that reveals a new learning in the Internet environment, has become a popular academic topic at the forefront of online learning. The MOOC Research Team at the Distance Education Research Centre at Beijing Normal University designed and developed the first massive open online course in China, adapting a connectivist…

Games have been socially entrenched throughout history as a form of entertainment. Current rapidly changing technological advances have permitted an increasingly prominent means of utilizing these entertainment sources in an instructional capacity for educational purposes. As a result, serious games focus on engaging learners in activities which…

This study explores the concept of "transactional distance", a term coined by Moore (1993), which relates to the distance that exists in all learning relationships and can be more evident and potentially problematic in online learning environments. Reducing this psychologically perceived distance to help learners develop social presence…

This paper critically reviews various learning preferences and human intelligence theories and models with a particular focus on the implications for online learning. It highlights a few key models, Gardner's multiple intelligences, Fleming and Mills' VARK model, Honey and Mumford's Learning Styles, and Kolb's Experiential Learning Model, and…

A brief review shows several suggested ways in which cultural historical activity theory has proved valuable to technology supported learning environments. Three of our own design cases are then described (evaluating a peer to peer interface for learning objects, designing an on-line school, and rethinking a public science centre). These are…

In the context of continued growth in the accessibility of information through the internet, recent advances in theories of self-regulated learning present an opportunity to reexamine how learners work with networked resources in constructivist approaches such as problem-based learning, project-­based learning, and collaborative problem solving.…

This paper examined a particular online learning activity, embedded within a computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environment incorporated as part of the larger context of participation in a unique national agricultural leadership development program. Process outcomes such as a high level of collaboration and active peer facilitation…