Constructing a meaningful learning network with online students can be challenging for many reasons. First, because there is literally a distance between the instructor and the student, and second, because the majority of online students rarely communicate specific details to their instructors about what aspects of the course are effective or…

This case study used qualitative and quantitative methods to investigate challenges of learning and teaching research methods by examining graduate students' use of collaborative technology (i.e., digital tools that enable collaboration and information seeking such as software and social media) and students' computer self-efficacy. We conducted…

This case study reports on an Erasmus+ Virtual Exchange (E+VE) course at the University of Bordeaux. VE enables students to develop communication skills in an English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) environment (Helm, 2016; Kohn & Hoffstaedter, 2017). The present study reports on student language and content learning experiences through E+VE, where…

The case study focuses on the interactional mechanisms through which online collaborative teams co-construct a shared understanding of an analytical geometry problem by using dynamic geometry representations. The collaborative study consisted of an assignment on which the learners worked together in groups to solve a ship navigation problem as…

This chapter aims to answer some of the questions that emerge when carrying out educational ethnography in a blended learning environment. The authors first outline how Virtual Ethnography (VE) has been developed and applied by other researchers. Then, to better illustrate the approach, they describe a doctoral research project that implemented…

Increased recognition of the role of the body and environment in cognition has taken place in recent decades in the form of new theories of embodied and extended cognition. The growing use of ever more sophisticated computer-generated 3D virtual worlds and avatars has added a new dimension to these theories of cognition. Both developments provide…

This paper reports on an exploratory case study of learner participation within the context of online language learning in virtual world platforms. Data for this investigation was collected through a case study of a Business English course within a qualitative Case-Study Research framework. This study examines learner activity in virtual worlds in…

This case study describes two iterations of a cross-disciplinary Virtual Exchange (VE) project developed between the Universities of Bordeaux (France) and León (Spain), involving students of Applied Physics and Measurement Engineering (APME), and Electrical Engineering. The students worked together on designing a real garden in Bordeaux within…

This qualitative case study used Wenger's (1998) communities of practice (CoP) framework to analyze how the ongoing electronic learning community (eLC) process at an established state virtual high school (SVHS) supported online teachers in building relationships with online students. Lave and Wenger's (1991) concept of legitimate peripheral…

Students with disabilities represent a growing number of learners receiving education in K-12 fully online learning programs. They are, unfortunately, also a large segment of the online learning population who are not experiencing success in these environments. In response, scholars have recommended increasing instruction in self-regulation skills…

In business education advanced collaboration skills and media literacy are important for surviving in a globalized business where virtual communication between enterprises is part of the day-by-day business. To transform these global working situations into higher education, a learning scenario between two universities in Germany and Austria was…

Virtual worlds have become an invaluable space for online learning and the exploration of digital cultures. Communication departments can benefit from using these spaces to educate their students in the logistics of virtual worlds and as a way to better understand how the process of interpersonal and global communication functions in both online…

This article reports on the cognitive and affective development of students being mentored in virtual reference interview skills by professional librarians. The authors present a case study which examines the impact on student learning resulting from librarian mentor participation and collaboration with students on a course assignment. This study…

This study investigated the relationship between cultural values and effectiveness of virtual team processes. In order to render an acceptable degree of comparison, four specific team outcomes of virtual team effectiveness were aligned on Hofstede's cultural dimensions of power distance and individualism. The lack of awareness of how power and…

Currently, virtual teams are being used exponentially in higher education and business because of the development of technologies and globalization. These teams have become an essential approach for collaborative learning as well as task completion. Team learning, especially in an online format, can be challenging due to lack of effective…