Social presence is an important construct in online group learning. It influences the way how social interaction unfolds online and affects learning and social outcomes. However, what precisely social presence is has been under debate, as presently a plethora of different definitions and measures exist preventing the development of a coherent…

This chapter describes best practices for the peer evaluation process in online team-based learning (TBL). Formative peer evaluation is an essential element of effective course delivery for online TBL classes, and when done well, shapes a group of individuals with a shared set of tasks into an interdependent team of learners. More generally,…

Online courses have become an important educational delivery tool for institutions of higher learning throughout the world. While popular among students and administrators, many faculty members have expressed concerns with online courses. Therefore, this article highlights online team teaching as a potential solution to many of the concerns…

The depth of learning resides in collaborative work with more engagement and fun. Technology can enhance collaboration with a higher level of convenience and cloud computing can facilitate this in a cost effective and scalable manner. However, to deploy a successful online learning environment, elementary components of learning pedagogy must be…

Group projects have long been used in face-to-face instruction to improve cognitive learning among its students. Group projects not only provide practical experience and allow students to practice the concepts they have learned, but also teach the students creative construction and group dynamics. As important as group projects have proven in…

Facilitating meaningful interaction among students is a significant challenge of teaching in the online environment. This paper presents a semester-long approach that enables quality interaction among group members within undergraduate online group communication courses while experiencing the challenges of working with geographically dispersed…

This article offers a vision for technology supported collaborative and discussion-based learning at scale. It begins with historical work in the area of tutorial dialogue systems. It traces the history of that area of the field of Artificial Intelligence in Education as it has made an impact on the field of Computer-Supported Collaborative…

This paper presents the design and application of a major individual assessment task created in part to develop students' capacity for lifelong assessment, a key element of lifelong learning. Additionally the task contributes to fostering a sense of community in asynchronous online learning environments. The task is a supra disciplinary report,…

With the advent of online learning, questions have arisen as to which format for leadership may be most appropriate given the technological and social evolution within online discussion. Emerging perspectives on the nature of interaction between those who lead and those who learn in this new environment pose difficult questions for both providers…

Over recent years, educational institutions have been making increasing use of virtual environments to set up collaborative activities for learners. While it is recognized that teachers play an important role in facilitating learner collaboration online, they may not have the necessary skills to do so successfully. Thus, a small-scale professional…

This article contributes to the debate about e-learning as a form of adult education. It is based on the experiences of South African students, describes and analyses group interaction in an intercontinental Masters in Adult Education Programme which uses a computer electronic platform as the primary medium for learning and teaching. The article…

Face-to-face library instruction sessions for academic courses usually have a captive audience because of required attendance, while online sessions for distance learners are often optional. Is it possible to provide such a great online learning encounter that students (both on campus and distance) will choose to attend even an optional session?…

Collaborative learning environments provide a set of tools for students acting in groups to interact and accomplish an assigned task. In this kind of systems, students are free to express and communicate with each other, which usually lead to collaboration and communication problems that may require the intervention of a teacher. In this article,…

Group social structure provides a comfortable and predictable context for interaction in learning environments. Students in face-to-face learning environments process social information about others in order to assess traits, predict behaviors, and determine qualifications for assuming particular responsibilities within a group. In online learning…

Social software, such as blogs, wikis, tagging systems and collaborative filters, treats the group as a first-class object within the system. Drawing from theories of transactional distance and control, this paper proposes a model of e-learning that extends traditional concepts of learner-teacher-content interactions to include these emergent…