Online and distance learning is a practice situated in environments--places, spaces, and times, with particular people, in particular contexts, with particular technologies, within particular institutions. In other words, the practice of online and distance learning is not wholly individual: it is situated within broader environments. In this…

Collaborative learning can be a worthwhile and valuable part of a student's online course experience, and interpersonal exchanges among members of an online course community often rely on greater intentionality within the design of the learning experience. We present a synergistic framework for strategic design of collaborative learning in the…

Increased online learning is helping many appreciate that online grading, formative assessment, and summative testing can cause instructor burnout and leave little time for more productive instructor interactions. We reimagined grading, assessment, and testing in an extended program of design-based research using situative theory to refine online…

The spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) is placing impossible demands on distance education. With the closure of schools and colleges, teachers are being given only weeks to put their courses online regardless of their lack of online experience and support facilities. In the United States of America, international students who fail to continue…

This is a reflexive account of my experiences teaching online and blended doctoral research methodology courses and seminars. Vacillating between skepticism and affirmation, my thoughts mirror the many issues that arise from my daily professional practice and from what I have discovered in my quest to better understand the nature and workings of…

The mandate for K-12 and higher education instructors to teach online during the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a wide range of experiences, preferences, challenges, complaints, and successes; especially in terms of synchronous forms of instruction. For much of 2020, many educators hesitantly and nervously transitioned to online environments while…

Open education has long been forwarded as a producer of equity. However, there currently exists a lack of critical engagement with issues of justice in open educational practices (OEP). Although the affordances of open education have potential for increasing equity, creating knowledge alongside learners is inherently rife with complexities for…

Online learning communities are frequently created for higher education students; however, these are most often designed to cater to a particular unit or subject. In an effort to strengthen the Bachelor of Arts course at the University of New England, the author sought to create an online space that would promote an interdisciplinary and collegial…

The techniques used in massive open online courses (MOOCs) are compared with supersizing in the fast food industry. Similarities include the profit motives, marketing techniques, criticisms, industry defences, and evolution of the two controversies. While fast food restaurants strategically increase the size of their meal courses and consumer…

In 2012-2013, the massive open online course (MOOC) approach has been accepted by universities around the world, and outsourcing companies have been launched to provide the infrastructure for it. Current press and blog coverage of the MOOC trend is examined and the range of reactions to it, most of them enthusiastic. MOOCs vary in their…

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…

In South Africa, poor performance of learners in mathematics across the school system is a problem demanding new solutions. One possible solution is to try to raise standards through the use of open educational resources (OER). This article presents and discusses findings from a case study of a collaborative OER development project initiated by…

Open educational resources (OER) are gaining ascendancy in education, particularly in higher education. Logic suggests that the potential benefits of OER are likely to be greatest in resource-poor contexts such as Africa. However, little is known about the feasibility and sustainability of their use in African institutions. In the Health OER…

The role of learner autonomy and self-regulated learning in distance education has received much attention. The application of these concepts impacts course design and, potentially, learner achievement. In the case of distance language learning, course designers must consider not only how to help learners gain communicative competence but also…

The Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM), established in 2004, is a network of 25 universities at the postgraduate level in 15 countries in Eastern, Central, and Southern Africa. RUFORUM's mission is to strengthen the capacity of universities to foster innovations responsive to demands of smallholder farmers…