The present study analysed digital literacy issues encountered by elementary school teachers in remote classrooms due to COVID-19. The study sought to derive a plan for cultivating teachers' digital literacy to support students' distance education. To this end, focus group interviews were conducted with five elementary school teachers in charge of…

This study aimed to evaluate the utility of artificial intelligence (AI) in improving the persuasive communication skills of online Master of Business Administration (MBA) students. In particular, this study investigated the influence of personalization through AI using the Google Gemini platform on conventional and online instructional…

Although learner silence in face-to-face classrooms has been the topic of considerable research interest, relatively little investigation has been done into learners' experience of silence in distance education. Guided by a phenomenology of practice approach, this study explores the lived experiences of online silence, using interview data…

Emotion has long been a question of great interest in a wide range of fields. As a general rule, emotions are categorized as positive, which we seek, and negative, from which we turn away. However, empirically-backed connectivists claim that even negative emotions produce positive effects on student performance. What is less clear is how this…

This paper describes the functionality, scalability, and cost of implementing and maintaining a suite of open source technologies, which have supported hundreds of thousands of learners in the past year, on an information technology infrastructure budget of less than US$10,000 per year. In addition, it reviews pedagogical opportunities offered by…

Online learning environments could be well understood as a multifaceted phenomenon affected by different aspects of learner participation including synchronous/asynchronous interactions. The aim of this study was to investigate learners' participation in online courses, synchronous interaction with a conversational virtual agent, their…

Interactions that take place between MOOC users outside of discussion forums, and out of the reach of course designers, have received little attention from the scientific community despite their potential influence on learner retention. Based on an online survey, we found that MOOCs are often used as an activity among friends and family, and not…

Modern learning theories stress the importance of student-centered and self-directed learning. Problem-Based Learning (PBL) supports this by focusing on small group learning centered around authentic problems. PBL, however, usually relies heavily on face-to-face team collaboration and tutor guidance. Yet, when applied in online/blended…

This article presents the implementation and the evaluation of the blended learning program "Training of Lifelong Learning Adult Trainers," which was organized by the Center of Training and Lifelong Learning of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece, during the last two years (2016-2017). The aim of the training program was…

This study aimed to investigate the perceptions of primary and secondary students' parents in Jordan toward the distance learning process implemented in light of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. To achieve the study objectives, the researchers used the descriptive survey method to collect and analyze data and interpret the results.…

The capacity to foster interpersonal interactions in massive open online courses (MOOCs) has frequently been contested, particularly when learner interactions are limited to MOOC forums. The establishment of social presence--a perceived sense of somebody being present and "real"--is among the strategies to tackle the challenges of online…

Today's learners can easily share their thoughts on their social networks, and this movement, undoubtedly, has been affecting their learning. However, learners in such an ad hoc social network environment need a deliberate design to support their idea sharing and concept exchange. Gaining insights into how to stimulate concept sharing in a social…

Rapid development of communication tools has brought about contentious issues in communication management in distance learning (DL) programs. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationships between communication management indicators, namely, communication practices, communication tools, and students' cognitive engagement in distance…

In this research paper, the authors analyse the collected data output during a 36-week cMOOC. Six-week data streams from blogs, Twitter, a Facebook group, and video conferences were tracked from the daily newsletter and the MOOCs' hashtag (#Change 11). This data was analysed using content analysis and social network analysis within an…

Learning through a collective experience by taking part in group activities, such as hunting, gathering, and sharing, has always been a natural, "organic," and "experiential" process where new skills and knowledge, if benefitting the whole group, are accepted, shared, and propagated. Nevertheless, in industrialized societies…