Sense of belonging is associated with postsecondary student success outcomes and has largely been studied within face-to-face course contexts. The increasing demand for online courses after the COVID-19 pandemic necessitates identifying ways instructors can foster belonging in their online courses. This study experimentally tested the effect of…

Background: Students face many challenges completing a postsecondary education program, including both administrative hurdles (e.g., course registration) and course management challenges (e.g., scheduling study time, finding academic support). Text-based nudging in the postsecondary context has been a particularly effective tool when targeting…

Restrictions on in-person teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic severely challenged higher education practices worldwide. While didactic delivery of course content is easily achievable with virtual teaching technologies, promoting critical engagement with this material can be more difficult, particularly with classes of larger size and lower…

This paper proposes a comprehensive redesign of the introductory public speaking course for 100% online and asynchronous delivery, emphasizing peer review-based assessment. Research from the post-pandemic educational age informs this approach, which aims to meet the changing demands of online education for digital native students despite the…

This paper examines the use of technology in the development and assessment of interpersonal communication skills in an online second language (L2) Spanish classroom. The study explores the use of synchronous and asynchronous communication tools and strategies to promote interaction among learners, while also considering the challenges and…

The combination of the COVID-19 pandemic and social unrest turned education on its head this quarter. To keep students engaged, a plethora of techniques were employed, ranging from synchronous lectures and activities via the Zoom platform to the asynchronous online discussion board Piazza. Consideration of students' nonacademic struggles also…

Discussion forums provide a channel for students to engage with peers and course material outside of class, accessible even to commuter and nontraditional populations. Forums can build classroom community and aid learning, but students do not always take up these tools. We use network analysis to compare three semesters of forum logs from an…

Since student retention in online courses is related to the students' community, this dissertation explores the effect of discussion board prompt format on students' sense of community of inquiry (CoI). The quasi-experimental study design examined the participation levels, sense of CoI (i.e., social, teaching, and cognitive presence), and final…

In online discussion forums, many students' posts never receive a response, but it remains unclear whether this makes them feel ignored and causes emotional pain, negative social perceptions, and threatens fundamental psychological needs. Two studies support this prediction. Using an observational design, Study 1 showed that when students felt…

We completed a qualitative study focusing on our students' use of Discussion Roles in our general and entry level online classes and presented the information at a Brown Bag presentation for University of Phoenix instructors and staff in October 2016. The following contains the results of the study including: (1) ways to use Discussion Roles in…

Social media has quickly become an integral part of day-to-day interaction for many university students. This exploratory study investigated the use of the social media site Instagram for written discussions in three introductory French classes (n= 83). Specifically, student perception on the role of image as a mediational tool (Vygotsky, 1978) to…

This article discusses the use of online asynchronous discussion boards as a valuable tool for connecting students to leadership concepts, theories, and models in introductory leadership survey courses. Recommendations are given for designing effective discussion boards that engage students and enhance their learning. Student outcomes include…

Asynchronous online discussion (AOD) is used in many tertiary education courses, and assessing it has been shown to enhance critical thinking outcomes. There has, however, been debate on what should be assessed and how the assessment should be implemented. The most common form of assessment involves grading the individual discussion contributions,…

More and more educational institutions are moving towards online distance learning. Although asynchronous online learning overcomes the constraints of time, place and pace, online distance learners feel isolated due to the lack of real-time communications. One possible solution for overcoming this sense of isolation is regulating student online…

For most students in the introductory World Civilization I course that Courtney Luckhardt teaches online, this is likely their first (and perhaps only) university history course. Persuading students that history is valuable, even just for the skills they need in critical reading and writing, is a difficult task. It is harder still when they view…