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…

Humanizing research online claims to engage practices that care for human learners. Even so, many of the recommended practices are unreflective about the universalizing ethic from which they draw. We argue that humanizing online learning becomes tangled in broader university aims that expect care to happen aside from underlying histories of…

This qualitative study will explore how MSW faculty describe a community in online courses and what strategies they use in fostering a sense of community within courses from an online Master of Social Work program at the University of South Florida. There is an imperative need to ensure online courses provide a sense of community to support…

The advancement of technology has led to an increase in undergraduate students pursuing degrees online. The translation of undergraduate research to the online environment is relatively new, though gaining momentum, partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Mentoring is a key undergraduate research support, particularly for those engaged online, as it…

Online education has grown and continues to expand, driven by innovative information and communication technologies that facilitate effective interactions both within and outside the online classroom. Post-traditional students with diverse and complex identities face unique challenges in establishing connections within online learning environments…

As online programs become more prevalent, institutions require assurance that learning quality in the online environment is comparable to that of a traditional, face-to-face classroom. This study focused on a single institution over a six-year period where learning is assessed using course learning outcomes (CLOs). Using a paired "t"…

In this work, we study the feeling of membership in undergraduate students who interact with their higher education institution through a virtual environment. We explore the "Centro de Investigaciones en Diseño Industrial" (CIDI) case, in which a virtual environment was built using the Roblox platform to enhance the online experience…

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…

The twenty-eight item Sense of Online Community Scale was completed by 293 online students at a midsized southeastern United States university to ascertain community importance and activities associated with its formation and maintenance on the program and institutional level. A large majority of these students believed that a sense of community…

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the levels of the sense of community among students enrolled in online student communities at Anadolu University Open Education System (OES), as well as their motivations for joining these communities and their expectations. Design/methodology/approach: An explanatory sequential design incorporating mixed…

This study examined various online communication platforms and explored their potential to enhance the online learning experience for college students. As the landscape of education continues to evolve towards digital platforms, understanding the effective utilization of online communication tools becomes increasingly crucial. This study analyzed…

The present study investigated whether online students' sense of community and self-determined need satisfaction predicted online course satisfaction during the COVID-19 pandemic. The sample consisted of 136 Australian university students who were studying online during the COVID-19 pandemic. Students completed online surveys for sense of…

The growth in online education has prompted a focus on ensuring students are engaged, persistent, and successful in their studies. A recognized challenge with online learning is developing a community of learners, where students feel connected to their peers and instructor and experience a sense of belonging. In this article, we highlight using…

Belonging, or the feeling of being a valued member of a community, has been linked to numerous positive outcomes in higher education. Although creating a sense of belonging at the campus level is important, equally important is fostering belonging in the classroom. Research has shown that belonging is more likely to occur in classes where students…

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how online full-time faculty define, implement, and invest in social presence. Purposeful sampling was used to recruit 15 full-time online faculty participants at a private Christian university in the Southwest. The participants of this study met specific criterion, which included…