In this brief article, Stephen Kotok discusses the impact of COVID-19 public-school districts across the U.S. and the shift overnight from in-person learning to remote learning in May 2020. Herein he argues that full-time remote learning is mostly devoid of genuine peer-to-peer interaction but acknowledges that it does introduce some supplemental…

Blended synchronous learning has the potential to increase students' co-presence and improve upon the flexibility and accessibility of course offerings if designed well. This method of instruction, however, has yet to realize that potential. This exploratory study used qualitative methods to iteratively design, assess, and refine the technological…

Prior analyses of face-to-face contacts in collaborations have focused on one substitute only. Instead, we analyse various potential substitutes for face-to-face contacts in collaborations. Based on 45 interviews with academics from five leading European universities of technology our findings show that face-to-face contacts are closely…

Chinese international students often face daunting challenges of building intercultural networks and receiving support from outgroup members. To facilitate their social integration, this study proposed a research model investigating the relationships of online and direct intergroup contact to social capital in intercultural networks (social…

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted education at all levels worldwide. This personal account documents some of the details of the shift to remote teaching in a South African context and discusses some opportunities and challenges present in this shift. The focus is on those issues that specifically apply to developing countries and some of these…

Video is a rich medium that conveys more social cues than text. Use of video in an online discussion forum therefore has the potential to increase social presence in online learning environments. This experimental study compared a group using video for a portion of the required discussion posts to a group using only text in an online undergraduate…

The present study used a unique measure of self-perceived gender typicality to better examine the association of gender with cyber victimization and perpetration. Participants were 297 adolescent males and females recruited from independent schools in grade 8 (M[subscript age] = 13.8) and grade 10 (M[subscript age] = 15.8) who completed a…

Within the process of progressive digitization of materials and tools for teaching and distance learning of a subject of introduction to Microeconomics (quarterly, in year three of the Degree in Social Work), taught by the authors at the National University of Distance Education (UNED), a virtual assistant in the form of "chatbot," or…

In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, on 18 March 2020, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the immediate closure of schools in England. (The closure was not absolute: schools would remain open for vulnerable children and the children of key workers. In practice, though, very few children have continued to attend.) In what follows, nine English…

The introduction of online-supported teaching and learning in education calls for a better understanding of how online support is experienced by South African students (many of whom encounter this technology for the very first time at university) and how their experiences of online support may influence their learning. The mixed-methods approach…

Research stresses the importance of social components in learning. The social contact with peers and tutors stimulates reflection and supports higher processes of learning necessary for the internalisation and application of new knowledge. However, merely proposing opportunities for interaction does not necessarily lead to fruitful discussion and…

This study sought to investigate the impact of using Cambly, a computer-mediated communication tool, on the speaking proficiency of English as a foreign language (EFL) learners. Further, it aimed to explore the participants' perceptions of using Cambly. The study employed an experimental design featuring a mixed-methods approach to data collection…

This study examined bullying and cyberbullying among 185 middle school students in 4 urban middle schools in Ohio. Nearly 60% of the sample was female, and 67% of the sample was not Caucasian. The results indicated that bullying and cyberbullying are prevalent in this population. Approximately 44% of 6th-grade students felt terrible about…

New internet technologies have not only transformed communication but also revolutionized teaching and learning. One of the greatest steps forward in this area was Web 2.0 technology. In addition, new technologies such as podcasts, social networking, and online learning communities started to shape communication between teachers and students, and…

Feedback plays a central role in learning. Crucial to this is the nature and timing of the feedback. This experimental study explores the efficacy of immediate computer-mediated feedback within a virtual reality environment designed to facilitate the development of pre-university students' presentation skills. Two conditions were established to…