Many universities implemented blended and hybrid delivery for the first time during the COVID-19 pandemic, and as such, the use of terms that relate to various manifestations and implementations of blended learning has increased significantly by all higher education stakeholders. However, the meaning ascribed to these terms is often inconsistent…

To advance WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies' (WCET) work on digital learning modalities, a survey was conducted in summer 2023 to gather insights on institutional definitions, policies, and their impact on students. We also conducted follow-up interviews with participating institutions to delve deeper into their policies and…

Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) is often framed as an example of a broader practice known as Virtual Exchange (VE). The term Virtual Exchange has increasingly been used as an attempt to unify a fragmented field of Higher Education practice and is often used interchangeably with the term COIL. However, the design of COIL, with…

Educational directors and teachers have shown tremendous interest in developing interactive learning environments in educational contexts. This study examined the conceptualization of face-to-face teachers (n = 35) and online teachers (n = 26) in implementing interactive learning. A mixed-methods design using questionnaires and interviews was…

There has been longstanding contention about how terms related to online and hybrid learning should be defined. In this study, we report survey findings on how administrators and faculty apply the following terms in practice: online learning, hybrid learning, hyflex learning, in-person learning, synchronous learning, and asynchronous learning.…

There has been a policy push in K-12 educational settings towards personalized learning in the last decade. Commercial platforms and learning designers have responded, offering learning tools to support teaching and learning through data-driven insights and recommendations. Trending towards the augmentation or replacing human teachers with…

Digital and innovation competencies are nowadays highly required for students and faculty members in higher education institutions. We therefore need environments that incubate innovative learning scenarios to develop these competencies. We conducted a design-based research with the dual objective to develop learning labs in four universities and…

Social presence is an important construct in online group learning. It influences the way how social interaction unfolds online and affects learning and social outcomes. However, what precisely social presence is has been under debate, as presently a plethora of different definitions and measures exist preventing the development of a coherent…

This paper discusses the importance of definitions in the context of academic discussion, highlights the inconsistent terminology used to describe e-learning, and examines a range of different definitions of e-learning used by academic authors since 2011. Following an outline of the methodology, the paper identifies 15 unique definitions of…

"Online learning"--learning that involves interactions that are mediated through using digital, typically internet-based, technology--is pervasive, multi-faceted, and evolving, creating opportunities and challenges for educational research in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this special issue, we advance an interdisciplinary agenda…

This paper is basic research focused on the analysis of scientific advances related to Smart Learning Environments (SLE). Our main objective is to single out the common aspects to propose a new definition which will constitute the starting point to design an innovative model which we can apply to the analysis of real cases and good practices. For…

The purpose of this study is to define learning analytics, to introduce concepts related to learning analytics and to introduce potential study topics related to learning analytics. Today's education model has changed with evolving social and economic conditions over time. This change in education has created such new situations as individualized…

For years, there has been a sense of confusion and contention about the meanings of key terms such as online learning and hybrid learning. Additionally, there has been a lack of consensus on how to name different variations of online and hybrid learning (e.g., hyflex learning, synchronous online and hybrid elements, and asynchronous online and…

Mentoring is suffering from a shortage of trained mentors which compromise the efficacy of novice mentoring or mentoring between a senior clinician and a junior clinician. E-mentoring is proposed as a means of supplementing this dominant form of mentoring in medicine by providing accessible, timely and longitudinal support for mentees. However,…

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the incorporation of Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) into educational settings has become a universal trend. This study shed light on the new urge to focus on E-learning which serves a fundamental role in language teaching and learning not only in Iran but also in all countries. To help readers surmise the meanings…