Online learning is now a common practice in higher education. Because of the continued online enrollment growth, higher educational institutions must prepare faculty throughout their teaching career for learning theory, technical expertise, and pedagogical shifts for teaching in the online environment. This study presents best practices for…

The purpose of this study was to determine what a panel of 15 experts would identify as critical factors affecting student retention in online courses that will serve as implications for educational leaders to guide their student retention strategies, online organizational structures, institutional policies, and online instructional activities. A…

This paper explores the associations between gender, collaboration and research methods in distance education research. Following a bibliometric approach, collaboration is operationalised through co-author relationships. The study is based on a review of 695 papers published in five prominent distance education journals between 2000 and 2008. It…

Pressure exists to attract and retain students in higher education. Online programs educational programs have the potential to increase the number of students who can enroll in degree-bearing institutions. Explored in the qualitative study using a modified three-round Delphi technique was the phenomenon of consistently lower student retention…

Despite the growing prominence of Facebook in the lives of college students, few studies have investigated the potential of these innovative web-based communication tools for engaging students in academic discussions. This study used a pre-test, post-test design in two introductory-level courses at a large public university to compare students' (n…

Building on the results of a prior study, the purpose of this qualitative study was to further explore where there is agreement on the effects of e-­learning technologies in higher education learning experiences. The results confirm that (1) there are many varied and polarized perspectives about e­learning, and each position should be carefully…