Contemporary educational practices impose challenges and necessary changes in teaching and learning processes in which cyberspace and virtual contexts become places of learning. Affection, emotion, perception, and imagination compose the construction of meaningful adult knowledge. Such theoretical assumptions become fundamental for teaching and…

Collaborative learning can be a worthwhile and valuable part of a student's online course experience, and interpersonal exchanges among members of an online course community often rely on greater intentionality within the design of the learning experience. We present a synergistic framework for strategic design of collaborative learning in the…

We offer the concept of "proximate ambivalence" to highlight the ambiguity inherent in the social and spatial relations of higher education's digitally-mediated teaching and learning that replaced in-person seminars during the COVID-19 pandemic. By proximate ambivalence, we refer to one's simultaneous proximity and distance in relation…

The purpose of this study was to contextualize how the communication modes I used, and my presence shape the experiences of students within a single online course. I conducted a qualitative case study in which I collected data from three sources: in-depth qualitative interviews with nine former students of the online course GBA 300, fifteen…

This study used an idiodynamic method to investigate fluctuations in the level of willingness to communicate in a second language (L2 WTC) in an online class. Seven EFL university students took part in four online class sessions (each lasting 20 min). They rated their L2 WTC after each session while watching a video recording of their performance.…

Research has shown that online interaction and technology, which has been used to facilitate interaction, affect the success of online learning (Downing, 2012; Harper, 2018; Keengwe et al., 2013; Moore, 1989; Saadatmand et al., 2017). This dissertation aimed to address how a group of exemplary instructors effectively implement technology to…

Distance learning is becoming increasingly prevalent. If education is a community affair, how do we digitally design the conditions for learning at a distance for our students? This research examines a distance learning environment within a Master's Degree course created using online discussion forums, based upon the Community of Inquiry model…

Effective face-to-face (F2F) classroom discussions are those in which learners discover and explore dissonance or inconsistency among themselves. The learners are the ones asking and answering the questions with the instructors serving as guides on the side. Laughter emanates from these noisy discussions and as the semester progresses, friendships…

Fostering a sense of belonging and a personal connection is seen as fundamental by many educational researchers, regardless of the learning environment. Online learning certainly provides flexible learning opportunities but comes with notable issues. For online learners, nurturing a sense of belonging may present a way of improving their…

Feedback is known to be one of the most important factors influencing learning and achievement (Hattie & Timperley, 2007). However, ensuring that feedback positively influences student learning requires careful curriculum and assessment design by academic staff. This can be challenging in higher education when subjects are delivered in digital…

Increasingly postgraduate courses are delivered online to meet professionals' demands for life-long learning. The research examined the efficacy of students critiquing each other's seminal work, by either direct exchange or via online fora, as a structured part of their formal assessments. A total of 377 students across three experimental and two…

The development of massive open online courses (MOOCs) has proceeded through three generations, and in all three, online discussions have been considered a critical component. Although discussions in MOOCs have the potential to promote learning, instructors have faced challenges facilitating learners' knowledge inquiry, construction, and…

In this preliminary study, we investigate distance Chinese language learners' social strategies in three learning contexts: self-directed learning outside synchronous online classes, assessment task completion online, and synchronous online class participation. In doing so, we hope to advance our understanding of what is involved in social…

This article proposes a gamification approach that aims to motivate students in online discussions. While some efforts have been made in gamification for teaching and learning, insufficient attention has been paid to gamification grounded in "both" theories and evidence from empirical studies. After identifying five motivational needs of…

The present paper tracks the attitudes of the Bulgarian students towards online education provided by the universities during the quarantine period due to the pandemic situation caused by COVID-19. The study presents data and analysis of results from an empirical survey conducted in April 2020 among students in different stages of their tertiary…