Following Moore's conceptual framework of the three types of interactions: (1) Learner-Instructor; (2) Learner-Content; and (3) Learner-Learner, the following sequence of three articles discuss applications of core practice principles in online higher education kinesiology courses. Specifically, this article focuses on core practice principles…

This empirical study is conducted in a blended learning setting of a technology-focused private university in Bangladesh to offer a model that could help attain a comprehensive goal of blended learning. The main objectives of this study are to examine course design in a blended learning setting, strategies adopted by the course teachers to…

What are the perceived effects of Telecollaboration (TC), compared to other types of communication-scenarios with peers (i.e. local peers in small groups and Erasmus students abroad)? This is the question this exploratory study tackles within a blended language learning course. The analysis of students' perceptions paints a rather contrastive…

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.…

Blended learning is an effective approach to instruction that combines features of face-to-face learning and computer-mediated learning. This study investigated the relationship between student perceptions of three types of interaction and blended learning course satisfaction. The participants included K-12 teachers enrolled in a graduate-level…

We analyzed students' patterns of participation, interaction and knowledge construction in asynchronous online case-based discussions in two Educational Psychology classes with different participation and interaction guidelines. We conducted quantitative analyses of the outlines of postings and transcripts of online messages from these group…

This research was conducted as a field experiment that explored the potential benefits of anchoring in asynchronous online discussions for business statistics classes required for information systems majors. These classes are usually taught using traditional methods with emphasis on lecturing, knowledge reproduction, and treatment of students as…

This design-based research study explored whether "sense of community" was maintained while flexibility in the course was increased through an adoption of a unique blended learning model. Data collected in this study show a significant drop in the sense of connectedness score from a mean of 50.8 out of 66 to a mean of 39.68 in the first…

Asynchronous online threaded discussions are widely recognized as a tool to enhance learning in the virtual classroom. While they can serve as a mechanism for reinforcing material and promoting a deeper understanding of course content, discussion boards often lack rich and dynamic dialogue, and instead serve as a field of obligatory discourse,…

Disinhibition is recognized as an effect that prompts online users to communicate with less constraint than in face-to-face discussion. This article describes how disinhibition may affect more than individual instances. In a blended learning environment, disinhibition may alter the entire context of discussion by disrupting established patterns of…

Teaching and instructing is one of the challenging manifestations of informing, within which distance learning is considered harder than face-to-face instruction. Student retention is one of the major challenges of distance learning. Current innovative technologies enable widespread use of video lectures that may ease the loneliness of the…

There has been an unquestionable upsurge in distance education in recent years. Given this, it is extremely important to understand the experience of online courses from students' perspectives. The purpose of the current qualitative study is to understand student attitudes about distance education in a specific context, namely that of a…

There has always been a debate around the issue of what it is that improves learning: the instruction itself or the media used for it (Clark 1983; Kozma 1994). It has also been said (Kulik and Kulik 1991; Andrewartha & Wilmot 2001) that computer mediated learning, as opposed to traditional instruction, positively influences the students'…

This research investigates students' peer interactions in the Design and Technology (D&T) environment supported by "Knowledge Forum". The sample comprised of 15 students who had no prior experience in using "Knowledge Forum" to mediate their D&T learning. Their interaction with peers occurred in three stages: design situation, ideation and…

Peer facilitation is proposed as a solution to counter limited interaction in asynchronous online discussions. However, there is a lack of empirical research on online peer facilitation. This study identifies, through cross-case comparison of two graduate-level blended courses attended by Asian Pacific students, the actual peer facilitation…