Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to create a "go-to-guide" of best practices in the creation of asynchronous courses. Due to the global pandemic, millions of students around the world transitioned from in-class instruction to online programs, which ranged from completely synchronous classrooms to completely asynchronous classrooms.…

The COVID-19 pandemic has been devastating in terms of the loss of human lives, damage to the economy, and upheavals in the fabric of society. It has also drastically impacted higher education and academic institutions throughout the world. This article analyzes the impact of the pandemic on the higher education industry and its stakeholders;…

In this position paper, I argue that a focus on achieving and increasing social presence in online courses tends to derail a consideration of the ethical implications and dimensions of the essential facelessness of asynchronous education. Drawing upon the work of Emmanuel Levinas and Nel Noddings, who contended that the face is the basis of…

Brittany Brannon is an MLIS candidate in the School of Library and Information Science at Kent State University. In this essay, she makes an argument for incorporating a rhetorical approach when assisting students with their information seeking and use. A rhetorical approach focuses on how the student will use the information they seek, and thus…

Teacher professional development and course work using asynchronous online environments seems promising, yet little is known about how mathematics teacher educators (MTEs) develop practices for such spaces. Research has shown that views of learning impact design of online learning spaces, enabling and constraining particular student action. More…

Over the last decade online education has emerged as a way for students and faculty to collaborate more freely, attain greater flexibility, and utilize new media to learn. The burning debate lies in whether online educational options are harmful to traditional education or offer endless benefits necessary to accommodate a 21st century learner.…

This paper builds on Grossman's notion of approximations of practice as scaled-down opportunities for preservice teachers to learn to teach by doing. The authors propose the use of media rich, collaborative web-authoring tools for preservice teachers to create, complete, or edit scenarios in which they practice particular activities of teaching,…

Academic dishonesty in the online cheating environment of distance education learning has gained traction in the past decade. By a few simple keystrokes, students' can find a wide array of online services for hire to write research papers, complete homework assignments, or enroll on behalf of the student on record to take the entire online…

This paper presents results from using an asynchronous Web-based discussion forum coupled with an integrated student peer rating system as one component of an introductory Information Systems (IS) course with high enrollment (e.g. a class with over 100 students). There are two major issues with the typical introductory IS course: it covers too…

The facilitation of critical thinking is one of the most frequently discussed potential benefits of the asynchronous online discussion environment, but many studies have reported that it does not occur to any great extent. This study investigated the effect of information provided to students on the facilitation of their critical thinking outcomes…

This case study offers a strategic model of methods and services resulting in relatively high student success rates as defined by course completion of introductory first and second semester online courses. This strategic model is presented in the context of Sloan-C's "Five Pillars of Quality Online Education."

In the U.S., only 38 of every 100 ninth graders enroll in college; of these 38, only 18 complete bachelors' degrees within six years. Asynchronous learning networks (ALN)--asynchronous, highly interactive, instructor-led, resource-rich, cohort-based learning--can yield high success rates. Growing demand for online education and the expectation…

The University of Cincinnati (UC) is a premier, public, urban research university dedicated to undergraduate, graduate, and professional education, experience-based learning, and research. The University also maintains a deep commitment to accessible education. Distance learning is an integral part of the University's 21st century approach to…

Online delivery of university-level courses has grown exponentially in the last decade and is increasingly being recognised as a viable and effective alternative to face-to-face classroom teaching. Many scholars have already written about the benefits and best practices of online teaching in general. However, not many studies have paid specific…

RIT Online Learning courses have an overall course completion rate of 94%. For lower-division courses the rate is 92%, undergraduate 93%, and graduate 96%. In this case study we will share additional measurements we have used to monitor student success and describe strategies we have used to promote online discussion as a key component of…