Online learning is a growing field of education with a corresponding increase in the use of asynchronous discussion. Asynchronous discussion is a form of interaction that is mediated rather than direct and where there is a time lag in the interactions between discussants. In this paper we conducted a brief narrative review of the literature on…

In order for faculty to make a successful transition to teaching in the online classroom, they must receive professional development specifically geared toward this challenge. Bay Path College offers a faculty development program that incorporates three distinct components all geared toward aiding faculty to adjust to teaching online and providing…

Faculty development is a critical process, enabling instructors to remain abreast of new discipline specific content and innovations in the scholarship of teaching and learning. The explosion of online higher education and advances in technology provide examples and rationale for why faculty development for e-learning is needed. Literature on…

Educational technology is developing rapidly, making education more accessible, affordable, adaptable, and equitable. Students now have the option to choose a campus that can provide an excellent blended learning curriculum with minimal geographical restraints. We explored ways to maximize the power of educational technologies to improve teaching…

Given the importance of administrative attention to blended learning, this article adumbrates the institutional benefits but also the institutional challenges of this integration of online and on-campus instruction. The reasons for engaging in blended learning determine how it will play out, so the "why" is given precedence over the "how". But…

The purpose of this article is to propose a blending with purpose multimodal conceptual model for designing and developing blended learning courses and programs. A blended learning model is presented that suggests teachers design instruction to meet the needs of a variety of learners. Specifically, "Blending with Purpose: The Multimodal Model"…

Adopting a new teaching approach is often a daunting task especially if one is an early adopter in a limited-resource environment. This article describes the challenges encountered and the strategies used in pilot testing a blended instructional method in a large size class within the college of education at a medium-sized university. The main…

The 2008 Sloan Blended Workshop evaluation track provided participants with ideas, methods, and resources with which to design and evaluate their courses, programs, and blended initiatives. The many questions that arose from participants at the Workshop provided the motivation to document our University's evaluation experiences at course, program…

Developing and delivering curricula that are integrated and that use blended learning techniques requires a highly orchestrated design. While institutions have demonstrated the ability to design complex curricula on an ad-hoc basis, these projects are generally successful at a great human and capital cost. Model-driven design provides a…

Development of critical thinking abilities is essential for students in clinical disciplines of the health sciences. Past research has shown that critical thinking is a learned skill that can be fostered through teaching strategies. Ten educational strategies that were developed and tested by the authors in online courses are presented to assist…

The authors contend that blended learning represents a boundary object; a construct that brings together constituencies from a variety of backgrounds with each of these cohorts defining the object somewhat differently. The Sloan-C Pillars (learning effectiveness, access, cost effectiveness, student satisfaction, and faculty satisfaction) provide…

The study compared the effects of a professional development course delivered in an online and a face-to-face format. The effects examined included changes in teachers' pedagogical beliefs, instructional practices, and understanding of teaching number-sense and related mathematical concepts. The study randomly assigned participants to either the…

The purpose of this research was to perform a three way comparison of delivery modes for an introductory Management Information Systems course to determine if there existed a difference in student success among the delivery modes. The research compares student exam and final grade results in this class that was taught by the same instructor using…

The integration of online technologies in educational practice is rendering new opportunities for teaching and learning. It is known that instructors who have taught fully online courses have acquired new skills and have had the opportunity to implement novel pedagogical practices in the online environment. However, it is unclear whether direct…

The growing demand for higher education worldwide, along with global expansion of telecommunication technologies, give online distance education a potential world-wide reach for institutions in many countries. Given the persistent international digital divide and the potential for the host institutions and languages to be those of wealthy,…