This correlational study investigated how secondary educators' engagement in online learning communities relates to their tech-enhanced instructional practices, a relationship that gained importance following the COVID-19 pandemic's acceleration of educational technology adoption. Through the lens of Keller's ARCS Model of Motivation (Keller,…

Contribution: The study examines the predictive and mediating significance of social and teaching presences on cognitive presence in a Community of Inquiry (CoI) mediated by a desktop virtual reality (VR). The findings of this study have implications for how to leverage VR learning environments to support meaningful collaborative engagement.…

This study investigated the relationship learning community participation has with community college students' perceived learning gains and engagement in educationally purposeful activities. Study data were sourced from the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) with a total of 694 institutions and over 107,000 participants. To…

The community of inquiry (CoI) framework is commonly used to study online learners' engagement and satisfaction. However, few studies have examined CoI's ability to predict online undergraduate students' end-of-course grades. The purpose of this quantitative hierarchical multiple regression study was to determine the ability of the CoI framework…

This quantitative research study explored the relationship between the quality of teacher collaboration in Professional Learning Communities and teacher sense of efficacy. The research has demonstrated that collective efficacy and teacher sense of efficacy have direct impacts on student achievement. Studies have found significant relationships…

This research aimed to investigate how achievement emotions predict, mediate, and affect academic achievement in online learning. Online learning has been proliferating, but little is known about how emotion mediates cognition in the Community of Inquiry framework. Recent progress in cognitive neuroscience provided the theoretical foundation for…

Background and Objective: Teacher assessment research suggests that teachers have good conceptual understanding of CT. However, to model CT-based problem-solving in their classrooms, teachers need to develop the ability to recognize when and how to apply CT skills. Does existing professional development (PD) equip teachers to know when and how to…

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) represent an economical and practical way for institutions to equitably offer research experiences to large numbers of students. Although the benefits of CUREs are well documented, most CURE models are not guided by theory and are discipline specific, which limits their application. We used a…

The current analysis foregrounded postsecondary agriculture, food, and natural resources (AFNR) education programs through an analysis of learning community, social community, general self-efficacy, and major commitment. Analysis identified statistically significant differences in major commitment perceived by year in school, with students earlier…

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many college students in developing countries to engage in online learning for the first time, and the sudden transit has raised concerns regarding students' competencies for, perception of, and attitude towards online learning. To address those concerns, this study measured three essential constructs of online…

Learning communities are often associated with higher student engagement and academic achievement. Few studies to date, however, have examined the impacts of these practices among international students. To address this gap, the following questions led the current study: "To what degree is participation in learning communities associated with…

The Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework posits that a collaborative online teaching and learning process can be achieved through three interdependent dimensions of presence: cognitive presence, social presence, and teaching presence. Emotion is considered an important factor in successful online learning. This study explored non-traditional…

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…

Online higher education courses continue to attract students across the U.S. However, online student persistence, particularly in community colleges, continues to lag traditional delivery. It is well known that student engagement may lead to improved academic performance and persistence. Previous research has identified how faculty communication…

Professional learning of teachers and instruction have paramount importance if improved student performance is desired. Despite their recognized importance, there is a clear paucity of research on the field of professional development (PD) and instruction. Moreover, the association between professional development and instruction has not been well…