During the spring of 2020, institutions of higher education (IHEs) closed their buildings but continued to offer instruction through emergency remote teaching procedures in the United States of America. Although students and teaching faculty received much attention for their mutual under preparedness for remote learning using online tools,…

Increasingly, graduate student instructors (GSIs) teach online without prior formal training on how to design online assessments of learning and participation. We present findings from a collective case study of seven GSIs at a university in the United States of America to describe how these novice online instructors learned to enact assessment…

In the current higher education context, offering online programmes is seen as an effective means to recruit more international students. However, supporting online international students studying at a distance is not a simple task for both universities and tutors. The problem mainly stems from a lack of theoretical understanding of online…

Although research has demonstrated that an increased rapport between instructors and learners can positively relate with increased learning gains, perhaps mediated by the positive attitudes toward the course and self-efficacy beliefs in the coursework, little has been done to test what instructional strategies might increase this rapport in online…

The term Tower of Babel has become synonymous with projects that have grand designs but end in confusion. So named in the Bible, the Tower is described in the Qur'an and in Judaic texts also, under different names. Its reputed purpose was to unify the nations of the earth with a common language. The Tower fell, however, and those who collaborated…

Transactional distance has been defined as barriers to students' engagement with learning in the online environment. This research updates Zhang's (2003) scale of transactional distance, which quantified the extent of the barriers, in light of the massive changes in today's web-based learning environment. The resulting revised scale of…

Procrastination, putting off until tomorrow what should have been done today, is a self-regulation failure that is widespread among students. Although plenty of research has emerged regarding academic procrastination, hardly any research endeavor regarding procrastination in distance university settings exists. This lack of research is even more…

We maintain that an understanding of the working contexts of staff is a critical consideration when designing for effective professional development. The process of embedding theory into good practice does not simply depend on the design of a good seminar, because it may also be affected by who else attends, or perhaps by who the participants talk…

Eighty-four students in an online health education doctoral program taking the first course in the program over one year (four quarters) were surveyed in regards to their computer, Internet, and online course anxiety, and overall course satisfaction. An 18-item anxiety tool with domains in computer, Internet, and online learning was administered…

Autonomy in language learning does not simply equate with independence, as language learning is a social activity that requires interaction with others. This also applies just as much to distance language learners, who need to reconcile independent language learning and interdependence with others. This article draws on findings from 43 mid-course…

This paper describes a range of models and methods for synthesizing diverse forms of research evidence. Although this topic is applicable to many contexts (e.g. education, health care), the focus here is on the research traditions of distance education and online learning. Thirteen models and methods are described, and seven examples from distance…

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…

What does it take to be an effective online educator? Can those who teach successfully face-to-face be equally effective online? This article details a descriptive qualitative research study of students' perspectives regarding qualities of exceptional online educators. Participants described interactions they had with online teachers they…

This article discusses whether the very act of accessing online students' experiences of teaching may itself foster students' sense of belonging to a learning community. The article reports and reflects on the application of Brookfield's critical incident questionnaire (CIQ) in postgraduate courses delivered online in 2008-2010 through the…

This article investigates the relationships between social presence, cognitive absorption, interest, and student satisfaction in online learning. A hypothesized structural equation model was developed to study these critical variables that may influence interaction in online learning environments. Contrary to expectations, the study determined…