Despite the massive growth in K-12 online learning, there are no opportunities for teachers to learn and develop skills to succeed as online instructors. This study is the third iteration of an action research project, which focused on improving a graduate instructional technology course and developing teachers with these skills. Previous results…

This article will review the importance of effective communication in fully online courses, to the extent that positive culture and climate are established, and healthy faculty-student relationships are cultivated. Online courses require instructors to utilize diverse pedagogical techniques in order to reach the student audience through…

The forces of globalization and technological advances are driving a need for skilled workers. In many countries, there is a "skill gap" that must be acknowledged. Individuals must increasingly embrace lifelong learning to remain competitive in turbulent times. This paper provides an introduction to the skills gap issue. In addition, the…

Educational researchers have extensively documented the benefits of utilizing learning styles in the processes of teaching and learning from early childhood to Adult Education (Burke & Dunn, 2003; Cicco, 2009). This article examines the need to consider and employ learning-styles instruction in the online classroom. Adult learners are unique…

Quality of higher education is a very important sector for the growth and development of human resource which can take responsibility for social, economic and scientific development of the Indian country. To achieve the outcome of enhanced quality at all levels of education, Government of India has been focusing its attention on quality and…

This paper is based on a qualitative study that investigated graduate student perspectives of online discussions in higher education courses. The data are drawn primarily from interviews and student journal entries. The study examined student experiences of online discussions from a "technorealist" perspective thereby taking into account…

This study identifies factors in distance learning that affect the educational excellence of institutions of higher learning. The main elements of this study are: the examination of benefits and disadvantages of implementing online instruction in institutions of higher learning; investigating the factors that contribute to successful web-based…

This article outlines Canada's first web based/residential Master of Counselling program. Since the program is open to students from around the world, the program is designed to be accessible, innovative and flexible. To meet these operational goals, the program is structured around interactive online discussion forums, video web-conferencing,…

This article outlines how a web based video conferencing system (Marratech) was used in a graduate online counselor education course as part of a blended online graduate degree in Counseling. Since the course is open to students from around North America, a variety of e-delivery methods of instruction is significant to the program's success. A…

This paper provides qualitative student-centered research from an online Research Methodology course taught partly within the immersive, 3-D environment of Second Life with fifty-eight graduate psychology students for the purpose of suggesting a constructivist-based instruction model for immersive environments. A qualitative method approach was…

Due to the anonymous nature of online courses, many instructors require some type of proctored, comprehensive exam at the conclusion of the course. While comprehensive final exams are not unique to the online classroom, the integration of a proctored, high-stakes assessment helps to ensure that the student registered for a course is actually the…

Advances in computers and multimedia technology have changed traditional methods for learning and skills training. Online learning continues to play a major success of any academic program. Such learning can personalize learning needs for students, it can provide an environment where virtual reality techniques are used to create interactive…