The College of Technology at Wilmington University launched the Virtual Instructor Pilot Program (VIPP) in Fall 2022 to address the shortage of qualified adjunct instructors for on-campus courses following the COVID-19 pandemic. This study assessed the VIPP's effectiveness by analyzing student academic performance in on-campus courses with remote…

This paper will provide a methodology and progress report from a multivocal thematic synthesis being conducted on an extensive, diverse body of empirical studies. The study data includes a corpus of peer-reviewed empirical literature sharing a common reference published in English between 2000 and 2014. In this study, data to be synthesized share…

Questions often arise spontaneously in a curious mind, due to an observation about a new or unknown environment. When an expert is right there, prepared to engage in dialog, this curiosity can be harnessed and converted into highly effective, intrinsically motivated learning. This paper investigates how this kind of situated informal learning can…

This paper reports in brief the pilot study, Distance Education Regulatory Frameworks, undertaken by the International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE) in 2010-2012 and the implications for openness for higher education in Southwest Pacific/South East Asia region nations. The project developed a methodological approach to…

Our pilot project created blended/online courses to accommodate the growing needs of precollegiate and collegiate students interested in learning Korean and Japanese. In the initial phase, we conducted a survey of students' experiences with and perceptions about blended/online Asian language learning. We found a general lack of familiarity with,…

Learners' feelings of social connectedness may be a key factor in predicting online course success. However, students attempting to perceive and process the social context in online courses often find themselves engaging in unfamiliar, technology-mediated communication channels. While there have been several empirically based strategies published…

Asthma remains one of the most challenging chronic illnesses faced by school nurses both nationally and in the State of West Virginia. There is a clear need to provide ongoing continuing asthma education to school nurses. However, nurses face many barriers to receiving this education. The purpose of this pilot project was to develop and evaluate…

This paper describes a pilot study in using Facebook as an alternative to a learning management system (LMS). The paper reviews the current research on the use of Facebook in academia and analyzes the differences between a Facebook group and a regular LMS. The paper reports on a precedent-setting attempt to use a Facebook group as a course…

Distance education is among the significant fields for the application of educational technology. Distance education in China has gone through three phases, namely: correspondence-based education, radio and TV-based education and online education. This paper was based on educational technology application, and the historical, dialectic and…

This study reports findings from a year-long pilot study during which 991 students in 9 core courses in the Virginia State University School of Business replaced traditional textbooks with openly licensed books and other digital content. The university made a deliberate decision to use open textbooks that were copyrighted under the Creative…

This paper attempts to compare the availability, quality, similarities and differences of students' support services in United Kingdom Open University (UKOU) and Sri Lanka Open University (SLOU) and also to identify and enlist the deficiencies that SLOU students are facing in the student support services. To get the desired end four hundred…

As part of the formative evaluation of Alabama's pilot of its virtual schooling system (the Alabama ACCESS Distance Learning Program), the Alabama State Department of Education examined outcome data from courses offered in the two distance delivery systems: web-based course management and interactive videoconferencing (IVC). In light of Bernard et…

Training health professionals within university environments has traditionally focused on face-to-face methods. Practitioners working within the UK National Health Service (NHS) have found it difficult to gain leave from work to attend for study due to the demands of the NHS and staff shortages. In response, the authors developed a distance…

Describes a pilot study at the Open University of the United Kingdom that used a computer mediated communication (CMC) tutor group for a distance learning course. Highlights include the role of the tutor; benefits perceived by students; comparisons with face-to-face tutorials; and tuition issues. (LRW)

The development of computer-mediated asynchronous platforms for the delivery of online coursework brings college professors new questions about the features these platforms offer and the degree to which each feature is significant to the achievement of students. Are all features designed in the same way across platforms? Are there some features…