Engaging and motivating learners to successfully complete their studies are crucial elements for the success of distance educators around the world. The researchers' AIM newsletter, which is formatted in accordance with motivational learning theory, has been delivered to first-year learners in economics at Open Polytechnic of New Zealand from 2010…

While most educators will agree that an on-ground classroom education is the preferred pedagogic method, circumstances don't always allow for this. Most traditional survey of art history courses have relied upon the time tested pedagogical model built on the darkened classroom dual side-by-side slide projector format. This approach dates back to…

With increasing interest in competency and outcome-based education, and the blending of formal and informal learning, there is increasing need for credentials to match these learning paradigms. In this article, the authors discuss the benefits, challenges, and potential future directions for open digital badges--one potential alternative…

Group construction of wikis in an environmental chemistry course provided an effective framework for students to develop and to manage collaborative communities, characterized by interactive projects designed to deepen learning. A sequence of assignments facilitated improvement of the students' wiki construction and editing skills and these…

Using effective assessment techniques can improve an instructor's understanding of student needs and support learner-centered classrooms. Evaluating student learning takes on a new meaning in online classroom environment where students and instructors do not share physical proximity. According to Garrison (2011), the assessment strategies used to…

This article shows the potential for using video responses to specific questions as part of the assessment process in an organic chemistry class. These exercises have been used with a postbaccalaureate cohort of 40 students, learning in an online environment, over a period of four years. A second cohort of 25 second-year students taking the…

The paper proposes a contingent, learner-centred usability evaluation method and a prototype tool of such systems. This is a new usability evaluation method for web-based learning systems using a set of empirically-supported usability factors and can be done effectively with limited resources. During the evaluation process, the method allows for…

Assessment is an important part of distance education (DE). As class sizes get larger and workloads increase, the IT infrastructure and processes used for DE assessments become more of an issue. Using the BS ISO/IEC 23988:2007 Standard for the use of technology in the delivery of assessments as a guide, this paper describes a rational approach to…

This article discusses whether the very act of accessing online students' experiences of teaching may itself foster students' sense of belonging to a learning community. The article reports and reflects on the application of Brookfield's critical incident questionnaire (CIQ) in postgraduate courses delivered online in 2008-2010 through the…

Although technology has become embedded in our everyday life, researchers and practitioners constantly strive to find ways of incorporating technology in education, with language learning being one of those fields (Garrett, 2009). Numerous publications on this subject are available, mostly on condition that one is affiliated with a university, and…

How can the average educator who teaches online, without experience in evaluating emerging technologies, build on what is successful and modify what is not? Written for educators who feel ill-prepared when required to evaluate e-learning initiatives, "Evaluating e-Learning" offers step-by-step guidance for conducting an evaluation plan of…

The laboratory component of undergraduate engineering education poses challenges in resource constrained engineering faculties. The cost, time, space and physical presence requirements of the traditional (real) laboratory approach are the contributory factors. These resource constraints may mitigate the acquisition of meaningful laboratory…

Higher education institutions are under significant pressure to provide affordable, sustainable approaches that will prepare their students with the skills they will need after graduation to achieve success in the 21st Century workplace. Digital Media Simulations are among the new technologies that have emerged with the promise to help…

With contemporary requirements for objective measurement, program evaluation is a certain necessity. Most program evaluation is designed in response to external demands for assessment. Moreover, such evaluation is typically developed only after programs already exist. However, the proliferation of online learning provides new opportunities for…

This article details two ways in which web-based practice activities were used to support instruction and enhance preservice teachers' learning in a course on teaching reading to students with learning disabilities. First, we describe two performance-based assessments used to evaluate the integration of preservice teachers' knowledge and skills…