Introduction: Virtual worlds (VWs) are immersive three-dimensional environments, accessible simultaneously to multiple users, and described as shared, simulated spaces, whose inhabitants represented as avatars. VWs enable freedom of expression. Using VWs in educational contexts requires a shift from teacher-centered instruction to facilitation of…

Background: Data-driven educational technology solutions have the potential to support teachers in different tasks, such as the designing and orchestration of collaborative learning activities. When designing, such solutions can improve teacher understanding of how learning designs impact student learning and behaviour; and guide them to refine…

Background: Dialogic engagement is instrumental in promoting higher-order thinking, motivation, and learning. Despite their dramatic uptake in the US in the past decade, there is limited evidence that online high school courses offer sufficient opportunities for students to communicate and collaborate with teachers and peers. Objectives: This…

Background: Small private online courses (SPOCs) are one of the strategies to introduce the massive open online courses (MOOCs) within the university environment and to have these courses validates for academic credit. However, numerous researchers have highlighted that academic dishonesty is greatly facilitated by the online context in which…

Emergency remote teaching refers to the unanticipated, involuntary shift to a virtual learning environment due to, for example, a natural disaster or political instability. The sudden nature of this transition creates additional challenges to effective learning. In this article, we investigate one such challenge, namely the potential for…

Background: With the growing integration of technology in education, the adoption of blended learning (b-learning) has gained attention. B-learning combines traditional classroom teaching with online components, holding potential to enhance student outcomes and educational efficiency. Yet, current research predominantly concentrates on higher…

This study investigated how students designed English academic oral presentations via a blended language learning environment. Data were collected from focus group interviews, observations of students, and instructor perspectives to explore how students develop academic presentation skills. In addition, a total of 36 oral presentations were…

Background: In Norway, games were introduced into the 2020 English curriculum; acknowledging games as language learning resources alongside other text-based material. However, little is known about the type of games selected by English teachers, reasons for doing so, or how games are actually used in teaching. This is particularly relevant in…

Background: The existing literature has predominantly focused on instructor social presence in videos in an asynchronous learning environment and little is known about student social presence on webcam in online learning in the context of COVID-19. Objectives: This paper therefore contrasts students' and teachers' perspectives on student social…

Background: In a context where synchronous online teaching has become a new trend of instruction for online education due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is valuable and insightful to examine what factors contribute to teachers' satisfaction with synchronous online teaching. Objective: Informed by the technology acceptance model (TAM), this study…

Background: The growth of teaching practices conducted to promote cognitive activation and active participation in the classroom in recent years has become the epicentre of an active debate regarding their effectiveness. Objectives: This study is aimed to shed some light on this topic by empirically analysing the causes and consequences of more…

Background: The global COVID-19 pandemic turned the adoption of on-line assessment in the institutions for higher education from possibility to necessity. Thus, in the end of Fall 20/21 semester Tel Aviv University (TAU)--the largest university in Israel--designed and implemented a scalable procedure for administering proctored remote…

Background: Video lectures which include the teachers' presence have become increasingly common. As teacher enthusiasm is a nonverbal cue in video lectures, more and more studies are focusing on this topic. However, little research has been carried out on the interactions between teacher enthusiasm and prior knowledge when learning from video…

Blended synchronous learning (BSL) represents several contexts that enable to bring remote students into the classroom, in real time, by the means of videoconferencing, web conferencing and virtual world. As BSL seems to be more and more implemented in many higher education institutions, especially in the current context of the COVID-19 pandemic,…

The lockdown due to COVID-19 in Italy resulted in the sudden closure of schools, with a shift from traditional teaching to the online one. Through an online questionnaire, this survey explores teachers' experience of online teaching, the level of risk factors (e.g., stress) and protective factors (e.g., locus of control) and their impact on…