In this article, we introduce instructional choice as a simple, feasible, effective strategy for teachers and families to increase student engagement as well as decrease off-task and disruptive behaviors in range of contexts. We provide step-by-step guidance to illustrate how instructional choice can be used by teachers in in-person and remote…

Higher education students are attending online classes more now than ever in history. Many institutions have temporarily converted their traditional face-to-face to online classroom settings. This raises many challenges as it relates to having to rely on Computer Mediated Communication (CMC). A virtual learning survey was sent out to all First…

This paper examines the differences and challenges encountered when trying to create informal blended (virtual and hands-on) engineering design STEM activities. It contrasts the creation of STEM activities for formal and informal learning environments, stressing that the differences extend far beyond the length of the activity or depth of any…

The purpose of this action research was to improve reading comprehension and student engagement in a hybrid learning environment as measured by performance on reading comprehension assessments and student self-reporting surveys. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I conducted classes for the 2020-2021 school year in a hybrid model. In my ninth grade…

Given the rise of social media engagement within society, there are challenges for tutors in blended and online contexts to provide opportunities for social constructivist learning experiences within their institutional learning environments. This article proposes a module approach to teaching, learning and assessment for learners undertaking…

Blended learning (BL) is still in its infancy in the United Arab Emirates, but is gaining growing attention and acceptance. The particular university under investigation offers its nationally accredited graduate programs with a BL format that makes use of synchronous virtual classrooms, asynchronous self-study, and face-to-face sessions. The…

The total number of students in the United States attending online and blended schools is unknown. A reasonable estimate is between one and two million students, or roughly 2-4% of all students in the country. More than half of all states allow online schools that draw students across district boundaries; perhaps 350,000 students attend these…

Nowadays three-dimensional (3D) multi-user virtual worlds (VWs) are the most well-known candidate platforms in Higher education. Despite the growing number of notable studies that have presented VWs as valuable platforms for the e-Education, there is still a paucity of a comparative study in order to be determined the degree of the students'…

Asynchronous online threaded discussions are widely recognized as a tool to enhance learning in the virtual classroom. While they can serve as a mechanism for reinforcing material and promoting a deeper understanding of course content, discussion boards often lack rich and dynamic dialogue, and instead serve as a field of obligatory discourse,…

This paper describes a study of success factors in the introductory semester of liberal studies blended courses offered at the bachelor of science level. The influence of student participation in the online course environment was examined, as measured by the number of times students logged into the learning management system (LMS) and average…

This paper describes an observational study of the introduction of Sakai's Learning Management System (LMS) into several liberal arts courses at a women's college in the Middle East. Student participation in the CLE was tracked over the course of the semester and summarized by their number of logins and average session length. These measures were…

International postgraduate students are important to the higher education sectors of many countries. They arrive from all over the world with diverse cultures and prior experiences. Such students present additional challenges in terms of programme-based learning and teaching support. This action research was undertaken at a large university…

An analysis of data from the Community College Survey of Student Engagement and multiyear analysis of pretest/posttest scores in introductory criminal justice courses revealed there was a systemic decline in student engagement and achievement. Because of this analysis, a commercial virtual learning tool (CJI) that purported great success in…

Interaction is crucial to student satisfaction in online courses. Adding synchronous components (virtual classroom technologies) to online courses can facilitate interaction. In this study, interaction within a synchronous virtual classroom was investigated by surveying 21 graduate students in an instructional technology program in the…

Previous research on blended course offerings focuses on the addition of asynchronous online content to an existing course. While some explore synchronous communication, few control for differences between treatment groups. This study investigates the impact of teaching a blended course, using a virtual, interactive, real-time, instructor-led…