This article describes a set of differentiated strategies for supporting the needs of online learners. Ways to combine technological tools with self-directed learning supports are explained.

This article reviews the strategies discussed in this special issue using the framing of knowledge synergies for effective online facilitation. Guidance and resources for continuous professional improvement through self and peer assessment, creating spaces for professional learning, and managing workload are explored.

Educational-theoretical discussions of open-mindedness and closed-mindedness focus on the moral benefits and hazards of these dispositions in pedagogical encounters with the new and hitherto alien. Such discussions often employ spatial metaphors of openness and rely on politically safe examples to illustrate ambiguous enactments of open-mindedness…

The current heightened social awareness and anxiety triggered by escalating violence against Black Americans in the United States demands a safe space for reflection, education, and civil discourse within the academic setting. Too often there is an unmet need paired with a collective urgent desire to better understand the chronic existing…

Over the last few years, Texas, Connecticut, and California have led the way in approving courses in ethnic studies to provide high school students with engaging, culturally relevant instruction. Texas blazed the trail in 2018 when its state board of education approved an elective course in Mexican American studies. Then in April 2020, the board…

The conventional approach to teaching blackbody radiation in introductory modern physics courses relies on an oversimplified explanation of Wien's displacement law, which does not uphold students' conceptual understanding of Planck's law and can lead to well-known misconceptions. Thus, there is a need to clarify the pedagogical role of this…

Different developmental mathematics programs are offered at various institutions across the United States. Many vary from state to state, and even college to college within states. One of the designs that has emerged as a frontrunner is the co-requisite model. This pilot study builds on previous success of the model by exploring the effect of pass…

Our climate is changing due to anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases from the production and use of fossil fuels. Present atmospheric levels of CO[subscript 2] were last seen 3 million years ago, when planetary temperature sustained high Arctic camels. As scientists and educators, we should feel a professional responsibility to discuss major…

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) which enable large-scale open online learning for massive users have been playing an important role in modern education for both students as well as professionals. To keep users' interest in MOOCs, recommender systems have been studied and deployed to recommend courses or videos that a user might be interested…

This instrumental case study explored 12 public-school teachers' perceptions of mandatory professional development (PD) during times of educational reform efforts in the state of Colorado. The participants in this study represented five unique school districts in suburban and semi-rural settings who had experienced 14 hours or more of mandated PD…

This dissertation studied the role of online student engagement on academic achievement in online courses. Besides, it investigated some factors that influenced online student engagement as suggested by previous studies. The sample and context of the study are in Taibah University, Saudi Arabia. The researcher used multiple linear regression to…

This practice report describes a 12-week stand-alone course designed to address the challenges university students face in foreign language classes. Adopting principles of transformative language learning, course content, activities and resources were designed and implemented to dispel myths and preconceptions regarding language instruction,…

It is essential for modern medical students to continuously enhance their clinical thinking abilities. This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of the combined World Café discussion and case-based learning (CBL) approach within the clinical thinking training course. The clinical thinking training course incorporated the combined World Café…

Recommender systems in educational contexts have proven to be effective in identifying learning resources that fit the interests and needs of learners. Their usage has been of special interest in online self-learning scenarios to increase student retention and improve the learning experience. In this article, we present the design of a hybrid…

Committing to a major is a fateful step in an undergraduate education, yet the relationship between courses taken early in an academic career and ultimate major issuance remains little studied at scale. Using transcript data capturing the academic careers of 26,892 undergraduates enrolled at a private university between 2000 and 2020, we describe…