Preparing for back-to-school is essential, and it is also complicated because it involves different groups of people, and they have different needs. Pandemics, like COVID-19, make the situation even more difficult. Better preparation during a pandemic needs a comprehensive understanding of the situation. However, few studies have provided such…

Instructional strategies can be helpful in facilitating students' knowledge construction and developing advanced cognitive skills. In the context of collaborative learning, instructional strategies as scripts can guide learners to engage in more meaningful interaction. Previous studies have been investigated the benefits of different instructional…

Instructional activities based on online discussion strategies have gained prevalence in recent years. Within this context, a crucial research topic is to design innovative and appropriate online discussion strategies that assist learners in attaining a deeper level of interaction and higher cognitive skills. By analyzing the process of online…

The researchers engaged in cooperative inquiry in order to explore screencasts as online instructional tools. In total, each researcher analyzed 37 screencasts, which provided over two hours of instruction. The content area of these screencasts concentrated on teaching specific computing procedures (e.g., how to install web server software or how…

Based on a three-semester design-based research study examining learning and teaching in a web-conferencing environment, this article identifies types of synchronous collaboration competencies and reveals their influence on learning processes. Four levels of online collaborative competencies were observed--operational, interactional, managerial,…

The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to explore the impact of asynchronous discussion on the quality and complexity of college students' arguments. Three different cohorts of students registered in a physical science course in 2009 Fall, 2010 Spring, and 2010 Fall semesters were briefly supported with scaffolding in class and then…

This paper illustrates the experience gained within an online course, where a collaborative technique, namely Role Play, was used within an asynchronous text-based environment to trigger collaboration and interactions among students. In a pilot study, the technique was analyzed using an evaluation model and two different means: on the one hand,…

This study determines whether an activity system provides a systematic framework to analyse collaborative group work. Using an activity system as a unit of analysis, the research examined learner behaviours, conflicting factors and facilitating factors while students engaged in collaborative work via asynchronous computer-mediated communication.…

In many of the secondary classrooms across the country, including the research site for this study, students are passively engaged in the mathematics content, and academic performance can be described, at best, as mediocre. This action research study sought to bring about improvements in student engagement and performance in the secondary…

Based on a series of videoconferences held between two universities, one located in China and another in the United States, this pilot curriculum study illustrates how successful interglobal communication via synchronized educational technology requires detailed planning and the use of a substantial number of pedagogical strategies. Achieving the…

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…

Case-based learning has long been used to bring students into contact with the complexity of real-world situations. Despite this popularity and considerable history, research into how case analysis can support future problem-solving has been limited. The study reported in this paper investigated learners' understanding of multimedia instructional…

Blended learning is increasingly introduced in classrooms worldwide. Nonetheless, studies are not unanimous as to its impact on student performance and its benefits to enhancing the learning experience. In this article, it is argued that a focused approach, taking into account the particular requirements of the course and the students'…

In this case study, the researcher observed the social interactions within a Web 2.0 learning environment to examine the nature of the learner social presence. Social presence is essential to facilitate group cooperation and plays a central role in establishing learners' sense of belonging and social cohesion to the group. Social presence is…

In this article we describe the MentorBlog project, which facilitated the mentoring of trainee teachers in the postcompulsory education sector through the use of blogs. In an experimental design, the study compared their experiences with students who received traditional mentoring. Blogs were used by the trainees to communicate with their mentors…