Research into asynchronous online discussions (AOD) produced conflicting, contradictory results. A central problem was AOD often did not produce a high level of engagement and critical thinking. Synthesizing best practices, a dialectical framework was developed around concrete, actionable levers to improve thinking in online and remote courses.…

The three research papers completed and compiled to make up this dissertation explore the relationship between social presence and social construction of knowledge in asynchronous online discussion forums in higher education courses in the instructional technology field. Paper 1 is a literature review of the interaction analysis model (IAM)…

This dissertation uses a discourse studies approach to investigate key communicative processes by which digital technology is given situated meanings within the institution of public education, including at the level of official discourse, administrative textsp, and the spoken discourse of professional educators. The discursive processes under…

The purpose of this study was to examine the use of social media, specifically Twitter, as a way for women in higher education to connect with one another. Seven women who developed a specific hashtag were interviewed in a semi-structured initial process followed by a reflective follow up. These interviews were transcribed, coded, and sent to the…

This paper is based on work carried out during the first six months of 2021, a year into the COVID-19 pandemic and a time by which the practices of online learning and teaching had become familiarised and -- to some extent -- even standardised in our institution, as in most others. We are chiefly concerned here with the online teaching space as a…

This study examines the influence of varying levels of online enrollment on community college students' likelihood of degree completion, with a particular focus on completion outcomes among traditionally underserved subgroups of students. Using institutional transcript data from a high-enrollment community college and a propensity score weighting…

Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies have been progressing constantly and being more visible in different aspects of our lives. One recent phenomenon is ChatGPT, a chatbot with a conversational artificial intelligence interface that was developed by OpenAI. As one of the most advanced artificial intelligence applications, ChatGPT has drawn…

In this paper, we investigate how highly ranked business schools construct their legitimacy claims by analysing their online organisational communication. We argue that in the case of higher education institutions in general, and business schools in particular, the discursive formation of these legitimacy claims is strongly connected to the…

Feeling safe in school is important for students' learning, well-being, and quality of life. Variables possibly associated with feeling unsafe in school, such as mental health problems, traditional bullying, cyberbullying, and various health problems, were explored. Altogether, 2,028 adolescents (M[subscript age] = 14 years, 50% boys) from 72…

ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence language model introduced in November 2022, is potentially applicable in many contexts, including higher education. Although academics are already using it to draft papers or develop search queries for systematic reviews, its use as a tool aiding the learning process has not been examined. To address this…

A violent conflict, known as the Anglophone Crisis has been occuring in the Northwest and Southwest Regions of Cameroon since 2016. This conflict and associated consequences have affected the way healthcare is provided. To help meet the needs of healthcare workers and other service providers, a community of practice called 'The Forum' was…

Digital tools have evolved into a way of life, and as a result, they have become a growing area of interest for academics who research teaching and learning. Scholars increasingly agree that because digital tools affect human-to-human connection, a greater emphasis on understanding their function in engagement from an interdisciplinary viewpoint…

This study draws from personality psychology and linguistics of written communication to explore the characteristics of self-selected well-written email communications (N=273) solicited from Polish managers who organized and supervised the (remote) work of their units during the COVID-19 period. The focus is on the writing of managers with…

The response to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 necessitated changes in the working practices of many organisations such that online meetings suddenly became the norm. Governing board meetings were no exception. However, little is known about the impact of online meetings on the work of boards. Here we draw on empirical evidence from observations of…

Online trolling is online behavior in which the troll provokes, harms, and pretends to be someone else to achieve their goals. The purpose of trolls may be to harm the other person, but they can also be for entertainment purposes. Online trolling, for whatever purpose, can have significant psychological effects on individuals and people who are…