The idea of social capital as the value obtainable from an individual's social relationships has been used to study many organizational and social settings, but rarely virtual environments. We used data from an online higher education institution to examine how an individual's social capital derived from her position in the social structure…

In this study, we work towards a strategy to measure and enhance the quality of interactions in discussion forums at scale. We present a machine learning (ML) model which identifies the phase of cognitive presence exhibited by a student's post and suggest future applications of such a model to help online students develop higher-order thinking. We…

Student engagement and group work are critical to developing competencies, deeper learning, and attributes that align with 21st-century skills. In an increasingly competitive and dynamic workforce, the ability for employees to engage in collaborative workgroups is essential. A new capstone group-work assignment using Online Human Touch (OHT)…

Engagement in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) is based on students who self-organize their participation according to their own goals and interests. Visual materials such as videos and discussion forums are basic ways of engaging students in MOOCs. Student achievement in MOOCs is typically measured using assessments distributed throughout the…

Teaching presence facilitates students' social and cognitive presence in online courses. Instructor interaction in discussion forums, a widely adopted instructional strategy, establishes teaching presence but research on the optimal frequency and content of instructor interaction in discussion is underdeveloped. This research evaluated 1625…