Fully online and hybrid study programmes have emerged at a rapid rate across higher education. However, the negative experience of some students, instructors and institutions with emergency remote instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic has led to public concerns over the quality of digital study programmes. As a result, public authorities across…

Today, nearly all states either offer or allow digital learning in some form, with instruction provided by a variety of providers. This instruction typically takes one of three forms: (1) Full-time virtual schools: Students take their entire course load online via an independent, charter, or district-sponsored program; (2) Blended learning models:…

The emergence of COVID-19 in the United States in spring 2020 forced nearly all U.S. schools to transition rapidly to remote learning. However, a minority of U.S. public schools were prepared for a crisis on the level of COVID-19. Using responses to the American Educator Panels, RAND researchers investigate how schools' pre-pandemic planning…

This report captures what might be learnt from a selection of the world's most interesting examples of technology-assisted in-service professional development in lower-income countries and from wider reflections about the potential of technology to enhance the professional learning of teachers. This report explores the literature surrounding…

Among the lessons to take away from COVID-19 in the K-12 sector, one is this: we can never again say that schools haven't changed in a hundred years. After a year in which all schools upended the status quo to support students' learning and wellbeing during a pandemic, the most vocal critics of outdated school systems must acknowledge that even…

When properly employed, technology may enhance and support learning opportunities available to any student, at any location, and at any time. Determining which instructional and delivery methods are best for a specific individual, group of students, community, or circumstance demands that high-quality data be available to students, parents,…

The creation of the massive open online course (MOOC), a new form of digital learning, has enthralled some, infuriated others, and changed the conversation about higher education in the United States and abroad. To some, MOOCs herald the dawn of a new era in human capital, one that will mean the end of college as we know it. Enthusiastic observers…

As the 21st century's first decade draws to a close, America's public school students are participating in online academic classes in increasingly large numbers. More than one million K-12 public school students took online courses in the 2007-2008 school year, according to an estimate in a recent Sloan Consortium survey. This represents a 47…

The paper reports the theoretical underpinnings for the pedagogical role and rationale for adopting 3D virtual worlds for socialisation and knowledge creation in distance education. Socialisation or "knowing one another" in remote distributed environments can be achieved through synchronous technologies such as instant messaging, audio and…

The fact that online learning has been successful for many schools across the country does not mean that it has been free of challenges. Indeed, there are numerous issues and challenges in online learning. Few policymakers anticipated that any space time, any space place learning was possible when most education laws were authored over the past 50…

Most educators, parents, and policymakers think of "online learning" as a subset of distance learning (where the students and teacher are geographically separate), in which content delivery and communication are achieved primarily through the use of computers connected by the Internet. However, online learning can be either distance…

"Keeping Pace" has several goals. First, it strives to add to the body of knowledge about online education policy and make recommendations for advances. Second, it serves as a reference source for information about programs and policies across the country, for both policymakers and practitioners who are new to online education as well as those who…

This report is the third in a series of annual reports looking at the state of online education across the country. The goal of "Keeping Pace" is to be a useful document for policymakers and practitioners, and as such it takes a journalistic approach to research and writing instead of an academic approach. This report has two goals: first, to add…

The goal of "Keeping Pace" is to to serve as a useful document for policymakers and practitioners, and as such, it takes a journalistic approach to research and writing. Most state and program profiles include footnotes that reference state laws, state policies, and websites of programs. However, in some cases, the information is general and was…