Debates over the promising change Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) might offer to traditional online learning now produce significant attention and discourse among the media and higher education. Ample articles discuss the potential benefits of MOOCs from the perspectives of faculty and administration. However, little is known about students'…

This book aims at discussing the development of MOOCs in China in relation to MOOCs in other countries or areas. Based on the history of MOOCs, we summarize and compare the development of MOOCs in China and other countries with empirical evidence from a comprehensive investigation about MOOCs in Asian, United States, and Europe. Then we discuss…

When Okema Owens Simpson, the sixth-grade Multi-Classroom Leader (MCL) for English language arts (ELA) at Ranson IB Middle School in Charlotte, North Carolina, plans her schedule for the coming week, she provides what her teachers need most: daily, on-the-job coaching; lesson planning; practice in delivering lessons; co-teaching or modeling a…

It can be difficult to foster focused and effective communication in online discussions within large classes. Implementing protocols is a strategy that may help students communicate more effectively, facilitate their learning process, and improve the quality of their work within online discussions. In this exploratory research study, a protocol…

Being able to construct simple sentences is necessary for effective written expression. The present study investigated effects of a sentence construction intervention on small groups of middle school students with disabilities and writing difficulties. The intervention entailed sentence instruction and frequency building to a performance…

Nowadays the College English course in China is in the deep blue sea which arouses the deep concerns from all walks of life in the society including the students, teaching experts and the English teachers. Based on the MOOC appearing three years ago, the College English class can be more diverse and beneficial by the means of providing the…

Courses: Small group communication or any courses with units on group/team work. Objective: In this single-class activity, students will use reality TV to identify Tuckman's five phases of group development: forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning. Students analyze how phases of group development manifest through group interaction…

The purpose of this qualitative case study is to examine small group, peer-led discussion as it connects to meaning-making of informational texts for diverse learners. Since students in the United States are currently struggling to meet informational text requirements outlined by the Common Core State Standards (National Governors Association…

The emergence of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) has enabled new research to analyze typical behaviors of learners. In this paper, we investigate whether this research is generalizable to other courses that are backed by a learning management system (LMS) as MOOCs are. Building on methods developed by others, we characterize individual…

The debate about Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) mainly resulted from their "scale-efficient tradeoff" - low retention rate. Researchers have endeavored to increase the retention rate and found completing students outperformed in interactions within the MOOC. The research thus explored completing students' perceptions of interactions…

Engagement in MOOCs is based on students who self-organize their participation according to their goals and interests. Visual materials such as videos and students' use of discussion forums are basic ways of engaging students in MOOCs. Using logit regression models we present the degree to which student engagement with MOOC videos and forum posts…

Active learning (or learner-centered) pedagogies have been shown to enhance student learning in introductory biology courses. Student collaboration has also been shown to enhance student learning and may be a critical part of effective active learning practices. This study focused on documenting the use of individual active learning and group…

Typically, introductory physics courses are taught with a combination of lectures and laboratories in which students have opportunities to discover the natural laws through hands-on activities in small groups. This article reports the use of Google Drive, a free online document-sharing tool, in physics laboratories for pooling experimental data…

Objective: Group health education is an important aspect of medical rehabilitation. While interaction and active involvement are important characteristics of group health education, little is known about patients' understanding of their role in this form of education. This study explored patients' understanding of their role in group health…

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have seen enormous growth throughout the last four years. This format has fundamentally enriched the traditional method of web-based teaching and e-learning. Nevertheless, there have always been skeptical voices who announce the "death of MOOCs". We do not believe in this pessimistic scenario and in…