Carnegie Units (CU) quantify the time spent by students in and out of class in terms of content engagement. The rule states that for every one hour spent in a face-to-face setting, students spend an additional two hours of study time or engagement with the material). For colleges offering both online and residential courses with the same content,…

This paper describes the design and development of a competency model for online instructors based on literature reviews, student surveys, and other artifacts. The first development phase included a literature review centered around researched-based competencies for online instructors and existing theories used to evaluate online instructional…

As the focus on optimizing the learning experience within online courses has sharpened, the features of Learning Management Systems (LMS) have evolved to allow for more multimodal instruction. While these features have become more sophisticated, there is still much to learn about how to best integrate them into the teaching and learning process,…

College and university professors typically earn a Ph.D. in the subject in which they teach. Yet, many higher education professors have not been taught the pedagogical practices necessary to be successful in the classroom (Boeher & Sarkisian, 1985; Cahn, 1978; Cook, 1965; Ehrlich & Fu, 2013; Mertz & McNeely, 1990; Trautmann, 2008),…

This article examines the use of the phrase "best practices" in academic literature that discusses online learning. Results of our study indicate that, despite the ubiquity of this phrase in academic literature concerning online pedagogy, the majority of articles lack empirical support for promoting certain approaches as "best…

Developing a sense of community (SoC) in college is vital due to its positive impacts on learning and student success. In this study, the researchers examine students' perceptions of SoC in synchronous and asynchronous online courses, with specific interest in the experiences of regional campus students who are often considered to be…

As online learning grows, we have an exciting opportunity and responsibility to create online discussion structures that promote engaging, generative, and discursive conversations that increase critical thinking and reflection. Organic-style discussions that are similar to classroom conversations increase critical thinking skills and offer a…

Since the 1990s, online learning and distance learning have proliferated rapidly. The purpose of this study was to explore recruiters' perceptions regarding nurses with online degrees versus face-to-face (f2f) degrees at the baccalaureate level. This study used a qualitative research approach with a phenomenological research design. A total of ten…

Distance education across all levels of education is growing at a rapid rate. As institutions and governments attempt to guide distance education, working definitions and their meanings conflict. Perhaps this is in part because administrators and practitioners are working from definitions that are decades-old. This paper suggests new definitions…

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the dramatic shift to online learning for professors and students. In addition to rapidly building capacity to teach and to learn online, professors were removed from their professional communities. Social learning opportunities which exist in the workplace are essential to brainstorm ideas, to discuss teaching…

This research study investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, course delivery modality, and student engagement on student performance in data collected from business statistics courses at a medium-sized southeastern public university. Our data analysis suggests student engagement and disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic are the…

This study examines the experiences of online students and faculty when a regional crisis disrupted courses. Students could not access online courses for up to a month, threatening both retention and the financial health of the institution. Researchers share the details of the crisis including the institutional response, the challenges online…

There are many strategies for estimating the effectiveness of instruction. Typically, most methods are based on the student evaluation. Recently a more standardized approach, Quality Matters (QM), has been developed that uses an objectives-based strategy. QM, however, does not account for the learning process, nor for the value and worth of the…

Lower enrollments in the freshman class are forcing institutions to make decisions about how to scale the processes for creating distance learning degrees. However, the scaling up in the migration of face-to-face degrees to online degrees does not need to sacrifice quality. This paper describes the processes used to accelerate the development of…

Online learning in higher education continues to grow due to the flexibility it offers learners. Adult learners choose online learning at a rate much higher than residential learning. Adult learners in the online environment tend to be retained at a lower rate. To counteract lower retention rates, understanding student needs through targeted…