The purpose of this study was to evaluate the quality of research-based learning conducted remotely through the use of the Moodle learning management system using the Context, Input, Process, and Product (CIPP) evaluation model. Data sources include lecturers, students, faculty documents, study program materials, and Moodle learning management…

To create a satisfying social learning experience, an emerging challenge in educational data mining is to automatically assign students into effective learning teams. In this paper, we utilize discourse data mining as the foundation for an online team-formation procedure. The procedure features a deliberation process prior to team assignment,…

Distance students are time poor and some drop out of their studies because they fall behind with coursework. This raises the issue of how course teams decide upon how many study hours should be included in a course. This article presents a number of Open University projects that have addressed student workload management and relates how learning…

Research skills are a valued commodity by industry and university administrators. Despite the importance placed on these skills students typically dislike taking research method courses where these skills are learned. However, training in research skills does not necessarily have to be confined to these courses. In this study participants at a…

The practice of documentation is discussed as a means of making learning visible in the LC classroom. A documentation heuristic consisting of a four-stage cycle was used to capture, analyze and report what Bass and Eynon (2009) refer to as the "visible evidence of invisible learning" (p. 5). A variety of documentation samples are…

The task of synthesizing descriptive data from the "root social sciences" to form a usable model for applied research is quite different from the task of employing, verbatim, the theoretical and methodological constructs of those same sciences. This study conceptualizes the instructional encoding conditions that potentially effect and/or affect…