Online education has been implemented in Turkiye as well as in many countries of the world in recent years and is becoming more widespread day by day. Being able to take place anytime and anywhere, eliminating the limitations of time and space, and providing lifelong learning can be described as the most basic factors in the spread of online…

The formulation of a sense of community (SOC) among students has received significant attention in the literature in recent years. However, digitally enhanced learning and COVID-19 have amplified the challenges vis-à-vis connecting students and making them feel involved and recognized in virtual learning ecologies for higher educational…

Growing enrollment in full-time, K-12 virtual public schools has pushed education leaders to reexamine the strengths and weaknesses of online learning through the lens of child development and adolescent needs. This quantitative study informs K-12 education stakeholders and policymakers at the high school level on decisions regarding online…

This research study delves into the multifaceted realm of social presence in online education, encompassing the existence and manifestation of social presence indicators in students' engagement with discussion boards within asynchronous online courses. Social presence manifests when individuals perceive themselves to be simultaneously present with…

Belonging is important for student motivation, retention and engagement. However, belonging is difficult to foster in the online environment, and the pandemic necessitating a shift to online learning has meant that many senior students may not feel that they belong at university. Drawing on qualitative data obtained via two online questionnaires,…

Despite the increasing number of non-traditional doctoral researchers, this population's experiences remain largely understudied and their voices unheard. Through in-depth interviews with 24 part-time online doctoral candidates, we explored the perceived facilitators and barriers to academic integration and sense of belonging, as well as how…

Psychological and social adjustment and academic success in post-secondary institutions are supported by a sense of belonging to a social group and having meaningful relationships with other students, staff, and faculty members. This exploratory study used a qualitative approach to investigate post-secondary students' sense of belonging in the…

This study examined the factors affecting minority students' learning experience in Wiki-based environments. These factors included perceived collaborative learning, sense of community, Wiki self-efficacy, and perceived learning experience. The relationships of these factors were explored. The participants were 45 African American students…

Learning environments that support a sense of belonging have been shown to help students fully and meaningfully participate in their learning. Less is known, however, about the social organization of online learning environments that support a sense of belonging, particularly in postsecondary contexts. With an explicit attention to issues of…

Increased demand in the online environment prompted IHEs to evaluate if student feelings of connectedness can predict student satisfaction. The purpose of this quantitative correlational predictive study was to examine if and to what extent student comfort, community, facilitation, and collaboration predict student satisfaction for undergraduate…

This study aimed to determine the opinions of science teacher candidates about their experiences in the process by examining the effect of using Instagram in online learning environments on the sense of community. The study involved 41 teacher candidates, 21 in the experimental group and 20 in the control group. Convergent parallel design, one of…

This article invites scholars of teaching and learning in higher education to consider the ways in which instructors can use practices of inviting inclusion to create an environment in which students can feel -- and be -- included in online classrooms, especially since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Using the analogy of a "block…

The purpose of this paper is to consider new possibilities for higher education, where the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) provide a framework for creating digital and physical environments that honor every learner's unique lived experiences and support the expectations of learners for their individual life goals. Each learner…

Research conducted on online learning during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, clearly showed that a sense of community plays an integral part in creating a conducive learning environment. This has consequently influenced current perspectives on teaching practice and learning climate. From an African perspective, this is noteworthy as it…

Drawing on transformative, critical, and culturally responsive and sustaining traditions of pedagogy and instructional design, we present a technology-focused framework for decentering normative forces along the lines of race, ethnicity, class, language, religion, ability, sex, and gender in online higher education learning spaces that honors each…