The three research papers completed and compiled to make up this dissertation explore the relationship between social presence and social construction of knowledge in asynchronous online discussion forums in higher education courses in the instructional technology field. Paper 1 is a literature review of the interaction analysis model (IAM)…

Purpose: Social media are increasingly being used in teaching and learning in higher education. This paper aims to explore multiple case studies to better understand how instructors decide to incorporate social media into learning. Design/methodology/approach: This qualitative case study used the technology acceptance model (TAM) to explore five…

This book supports teaching and learning through online discussion in higher education contexts such as universities, colleges, and polytechnics. It presents an explicit focus on popular asynchronous discussion tools and methods, with attention to disciplinary variety and key principles for successful learning-oriented discussion. It tackles the…

Digital technology constitutes a substantial presence in higher education and notions like 'digital natives' and '21st century digital skills' dominate educational discourse. However, within the last decade, scholars have started questioning the prevailing techno-optimism and practitioners have started debating whether and how to regulate the use…

This paper explores the student learning experience using technology as an e-learning tool during the COVID-19 pandemic. This article utilized qualitative methods to examine the quality of student learning using deep and surface approaches to understand what influences student engagement with technology. Interviews were conducted with 21 students…

Collaborative learning is often used in higher education to help students develop their teamwork skills and acquire curricular knowledge. In this paper we test a mediation model in which the quality of group discussions mediates the impact of gender diversity and group motivation on collaborative learning effectiveness. Our results show that the…

With the expansion of higher education and the growth of online course offerings in Sub-Saharan Africa, there is a critical need to support faculty in developing the necessary skills to teach effectively online. The purpose of this qualitative, single-case study was to examine the nature of the discourse in which faculty members engaged within a…

"Form is 'what', Design is 'how'" (Kahn, 1960). Learning about the formal universe and the wide range of possibilities it offers should be one of the purposes of the early subjects in architectural studies. This article aims to explain the contents of a first course of architectural design and demonstrate how, using a methodology based…

There has been increasing attention given to the notion that international education consists of non-linear and multi-directional transmissive exchanges between existing institutional academic conditions and international students. Despite the role of international students' agency being paramount, there is a dearth of research on the…

Although successful collaborative learning requires socially shared metacognitive regulation (SSMR) of the learning process among multiple students, empirical research on SSMR is limited. The present study contributes to the emerging research on SSMR by examining its correlation with both collaborative learners' content processing strategies and…

Instructional activities based on online discussion strategies have gained prevalence in recent years. Within this context, a crucial research topic is to design innovative and appropriate online discussion strategies that assist learners in attaining a deeper level of interaction and higher cognitive skills. By analyzing the process of online…

Affective learning is a key dimension of health professional education and involves teaching topics such as empathy or grief that impact student attitudes and beliefs to prepare them to be novice practitioners. The move in higher education toward online and "blended" learning (a mix of online and traditional, classroom based learning)…

This article examines the online discourse that took place in representative threads from two classes, seeking to document indicators that students did or did not engage in co-construction of knowledge. Stahl's (2006) social theory of computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL) is used along with discourse analysis methods to examine these…

U.S. higher education institutions are enrolling increasing numbers of long-term immigrant students, who belong to Generation 1.5. Essentially beginning college while still in the process of learning English, these students often struggle in higher education, and they present new challenges to college writing instructors. This study explored the…

This paper offers a small group discussion model as a viable alternative for facilitating critical thinking. The paper first review literature discussing what critical thinking is and whether it can be taught. After defining critical thinking as an active process which involves constructing arguments, the paper concludes that an optimally…