The two main trends in the development of higher education worldwide are universal access and digital transformation. These trends are bringing about an increase in class sizes and the growth of online higher education. Previous studies indicated that both the large-class setting and online delivery threaten the quality, and the exploration of…

A barrier to using head mounted display (HMD) virtual reality (VR) in education is access to hardware for large classes. This paper compares students' learning when engaging with an HMD VR simulation as the operator and as the observer, to evaluate whether benefits of HMD VR can be achieved without requiring all students to operate the equipment.…

The overarching goal of this design-based research was to explore WhatsApp's potential for facilitating and supporting speaking and pronunciation instruction in an EFL large-class speaking course. More specifically, this paper explored the perceived learning outcomes of WhatsApp-supported pedagogy in large English-speaking classes. Ninety-nine…

This paper reports on the utilization of an online community networking platform designed to deliver a MOOC. A customized Elgg social software platform, implemented as the Curtin Learning Commons, was developed with social networking tools organized to support personalized learning. The MOOC, titled Participating in the Digital Age (PDA), engaged…

This paper is a report of an investigation in which mobile technologies were used during large lecture-type sessions in tandem with the Textwall™ software. This online program is able to receive and present messages from students' devices that the lecturer may then share. It also can be used to collect student votes on multiple-choice questions,…

Essays that are assigned as homework in large classes are prone to cheating via unauthorized collaboration. In this study, we compared the ability of a software tool based on Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA) and student teaching assistants to detect plagiarism in a large group of students. To do so, we took two approaches: the first approach was…

MOOCs are a recent phenomenon, although given their impact, they have been subject to a large debate. Several questions have been raised by researchers and educators alike regarding their sustainability, both economically and as an efficient mode of education provision. In this paper we contribute to this discussion by presenting a case study of…

Positive student-instructor relationships are important for student engagement, motivation, retention and achievement. Yet, as class sizes grow, these relationships can be increasingly difficult to develop. This study explores LectureTools--a web-based student response and learning platform that facilitates communication between instructors and…

Accelerated Reader (AR) is a whole-group reading management and monitoring program that aims to foster the habit of independent reading among primary and early secondary age pupils. The internet-based software initially screens pupils according to their reading levels, and suggests books that match their reading age and reading interest. Pupils…

A central challenge for science educators is to enable young people to act as scientists by gathering and assessing evidence, conducting experiments, and engaging in informed debate. We report the design of the nQuire toolkit, a system to support scripted personal inquiry learning, and a study of its use with school students ages 11-14. This…

This article recounts the experiences of a team of faculty, graduate students, and instructional technologists facilitating Rhetorical Composing, a writing-focused Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). When first offering the MOOC, we recognized quickly that we needed to emphasize the global makeup of our learning cohort to foster a stronger sense of…

Backchannel technology can be used to allow students in large lecture courses to communicate with each other and the instructor during the delivery of lecture content and class discussions. It can also be utilized by instructors to capture, summarize, and integrate student questions, ideas, and needs into course content both immediately and…

This article briefly reviews the history of assistive technologies in American and Canadian postsecondary education starting in the 1990s, discusses the accessibility of e-learning and information and communication technologies (ICTs) currently popular in postsecondary education, and highlights emerging trends. Increasing use of universal design…

The 13th iteration of the International Conference on Educational Data Mining (EDM 2020) was originally arranged to take place in Ifrane, Morocco. Due to the SARS-CoV-2 (coronavirus) epidemic, EDM 2020, as well as most other academic conferences in 2020, had to be changed to a purely online format. To facilitate efficient transmission of…

This paper discusses the implementation of a new e-learning environment that supports non-rote learning of exploratory and inductive statistics within the pedagogical paradigm of social constructivism. The e-learning system is based on a new computational framework that allows us to create an electronic research environment where students are…