The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has changed education dramatically, with the sudden shift from face-to-face to emergency remote teaching. Online learning environments may facilitate data-driven instructional process; yet, our understanding regarding data-driven decisions is still limited. This quantitative study examined types of learners'…

The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast characteristics of use and adoption of mobile learning in higher education in developed and developing countries. A comparative case study based on a survey questionnaire was conducted with 189 students (undergraduate and postgraduate) from Makerere University in Uganda and the University of…

The aim of this study is to compare the role of the tutor in an online and a face-to-face problem-based learning (PBL) session to shed light on potential differences of the tutor role in both settings. In this practice-based study we compared the two groups with the same tutor undertaking the same module. Students completed questionnaires about…

Virtual worlds have affordances to enhance collaborative learning in authentic contexts. Despite the potential of collaborative learning with a virtual world, few studies investigated whether it is more effective in student achievements than teacher-directed instruction. This study investigated the effectiveness of collaborative problem solving…

In an era of shifting social and communication norms, where 76% of Americans surveyed reported they reached for tablets to check online communication before saying "good morning" to partners (Kensington.com, 2014), online education's increased popularity as a "lifestyle" choice is unsurprising (Ragusa, 2007). Qualitative…

In light of the present-day proliferation of digital texts and the increase in situations that require active digital text reading in learning, it is becoming increasingly important to shed light on the comparison between print and digital reading under active reading conditions. In this study, the active reading abilities of 93 university…

In recent years, the use of mobile technologies has increased in a number of fields such as banking, economy, tourism, entertainment, library research, etc. These developments have also led to the use of mobile technologies for educational purposes. The successful integration of mobile learning (m-learning) technologies in education primarily…

Diagnosing student learning barriers has been recognized as the most fundamental and important issue for improving the learning achievements of students. In the past decade, several learning diagnosis approaches have been proposed based on the concept-effect relationship (CER) model. However, past studies have shown that the effectiveness of this…

University students are more responsible than school students for their own learning. The role of self-regulated learning increases in virtual e-learning course environments. Academic help-seeking is an important strategy of self-regulated learning, but many students fail to use this strategy appropriately. A lack of information and a perceived…

This paper focuses on deep and meaningful learning approaches and outcomes associated with online and blended communities of inquiry. Applying mixed methodology for the research design, the study used transcript analysis, learning outcomes, perceived learning, satisfaction, and interviews to assess learning processes and outcomes. The findings for…

Twenty-first century students are expected to utilise emerging technologies such as lecture podcasts as learning tools. This research explored the uptake of podcasts by undergraduate students enrolled in two very different cognitively challenging subjects in the second year of the nursing programme and in the first year of a business programme.…

To date researchers have had difficulty establishing reliable conclusions in studies comparing traditional forms of learning (eg paper-based or classroom based) vs online learning in relation to student learning outcomes; no consistent results have emerged, and many studies have not been controlled for factors other than lesson mode. This paper…

Attainment in higher education tends to be poorer in ethnic minority students than in white students. This study examined whether this attainment gap was affected by the introduction of online tuition. Data were obtained from students who had taken courses in either arts or management with the UK Open University and had opted for either…

As the number of courses offered online increases rapidly, it is important for teachers and institutions to identify specific learner characteristics of successful online students. This paper reports on a study that compared an online group of freshmen computer science majors with an equivalent on-campus group to find if their individual learning…

The use of learning management systems (LMS) has grown considerably in universities around the world. The University of Minho (UM) has pioneered in this area in Portugal, adopting Blackboard as its official LMS. Moodle is also used in UM in scattered initiatives, allowing for interesting comparisons. Previous studies comparing Blackboard and…