Since the mid-1970s, researchers have provided theoretical frameworks that continue to be used today to explain persistence and attrition of nontraditional undergraduate students in higher education. Previous frameworks emphasized specific skills nontraditional undergraduate students need upon admission into an online program to support their…

As the drive to move from traditional face-to-face classroom learning to e-learning is ever in demand, the knowledge corpus exposed to students can be overwhelming because there is a need to automate certain functions of the e-learning framework. One of these functions is the course recommendation feature. Course recommendations help students save…

This report provides a summary of the full "First Look" report, which presents data on students in the United States in kindergarten through grade 12 in a physical or virtual school or are homeschooled for equivalent grades. The focus of the report is on parent and family involvement in the students' education during the 2022-2023 school…

The purpose of this paper is to consider new possibilities for higher education, where the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) provide a framework for creating digital and physical environments that honor every learner's unique lived experiences and support the expectations of learners for their individual life goals. Each learner…

Undergraduate students living on-campus and taking online and face-to-face courses concurrently, are the predominant consumer of online classes (Seaman et al., 2018). However, they have lower rates of persistence for online courses as compared to face-to-face courses (Hart, 2012; Xu & Jaggars, 2011). Part of the reason could be due to the…

Instruction plays a critical role in student success. However, most studies of teachers' effects on student learning focus on face-to-face settings. Some aspects of online courses, such as the choice of synchronous or asynchronous instruction and the course structure, might reduce teachers' influence on their students. For example, online courses…

Online distance education, now commonplace in various countries of the world, is still a relatively new educational modality for learners in Romania. The rapid growth and increased use of a wide variety of computer- and networked-based technologies, as well as the transition in schools between traditional learning methods to more modern modalities…

The 2024 North Carolina Education Primer serves as a fact-based guide to public education in North Carolina. The Primer provides a comprehensive overview of how education policy is made, along with the current state of public education and the policies guiding it. The Forum produces this guide in order to inform current policymakers, candidates…

The flipped class allows the instructor to put materials online that would normally be provided in the traditional lecture format and frees up class time for hands-on learning activities. This paper provides a broad overview of what is required outside of the class via an electronic platform such as Blackboard (Bb) and what is done during class.…

This case study research sought to understand a subset of the next generation in reference to virtual world learning within a game development course. The students completed an ill-structured team project which was facilitated using authentic learning strategies within a virtual world over a period of seven weeks. Research findings emerged from…

The global spread of COVID-19 has led to unprecedented disruptions in schooling around the world that have animated increased interest among policymakers, educators, researchers and the general public in knowing about how education systems have responded to the pandemic and how students' learning experiences have changed. The PISA Global Crises…

University teachers are faced with a problem of "knowing" their learners when teaching on a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). This paper explores and analyses what the University of Edinburgh has come to know about its recent MOOC participants, highlighting one particular course. We draw attention to barriers and enablers from…

The COVID-19 pandemic has given the entire country a crash course in virtual education and digital education platforms. School leaders have been forced to consider a set of very imperfect options as they struggle to reopen their schools. This three-brief collection identifies key issues for school leaders to consider before adopting a digital…

To better understand the reach and impact of private education in Minnesota, the Minnesota Independent School Forum (MISF) contracted with Wilder Research to conduct a study of private schools throughout the state. This is the second time Wilder Research has conducted the study. The results of the study provide a comprehensive portrait of private…

In online distance learning environments military learners may not stand out or be particularly distinctive from their non-military peers. However, military learners do possess a degree of difference that needs to be recognized. The military can be considered to possess a Janusian culture--two distinctive cultural patterns that emerge in different…