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Archive for the ‘Higher Education’ Category

Insights for future assessment policy: Open access online higher education

This research offers recommendations for higher education online assessment policy and procedure design, which should improve learner satisfaction and help to reduce online student attrition. The study involves over 200 qualitative interviews to identify the main driver of student attrition in open access online tertiary education in Australia. The extent to which degree programme assessment […]

An evaluation of the accessibility of top-ranking university websites: Accessibility rates from 2005 to 2015

Accessibility evaluation is an important equity step in assessing effectiveness and usefulness of online learning materials for disabled students. With popular uptake of blended and online learning it is timely to evaluate the accessibility attained by universities in their websites and Learning Management Systems (LMS) .The present study considers this question for the period 2005 […]

An Investigation into Cooperative Learning in a Virtual World using Problem-Based Learning

Three-dimensional multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs) have the potential to provide deeply experiential learning qualitatively similar to that found in the real world. MUVEs offer a pedagogically-driven immersive learning opportunity for educationalists that is cost-effective and enjoyable. A family of digital virtual avatars was created within Second Life® to investigate the implementation of a problem-based learning […]

Exploring Digital Badges in University Courses: Relationships between Quantity, Engagement, and Performance

Digital badging research is gaining momentum as instructors and administrators consider new models for assessing learning in nontraditional contexts (e.g., informal science learning programs, flexible online courses, adaptive learning systems). While many studies are examining the effectiveness of digital badges for pedagogical functions, such as motivating students, few attempts have been made to identify relationships […]

The Origins of Innovation in the Edtech Ecosystem

The learning management system as we have known it is fading in its importance. Supplanting it are hundreds of tools and innovations, created by a plethora of vendors, institutions, students, and instructors in a frothy, bubbling world known as the edtech ecosystem. EDUCAUSE 

Penn State World Campus Taps VR for Educating Teachers

A project at Penn State World Campus immersed teachers into a virtual classroom as part of a graduate-level special education course. Students could use a virtual reality headset to watch 360-degree videos or view them as regular videos on YouTube. Campus Technology 

China: Research could suffer as internet controls tightened

Chinese internet restrictions, known as the ‘great firewall of China’, have often been an issue for Chinese academics who find their access to overseas research restricted. They have become more concerned as new internet controls – particularly on virtual private networks or VPNs, which circumvent national censorship of the internet – look set to be […]

Could Georgia Tech Use Online to Shave Time Off Bachelor’s Degrees?

University uses model from closely observed master’s in computer science on undergraduates for first time, finds notable success and sees path to shaving a year or more off in-person instruction. Inside Higher Ed

Communicating with the Online Student: The Impact of E-Mail Tone on Student Performance and Teacher Evaluations

Students are more commonly completing coursework online and as such many professors teach online courses. Due to the popularity of online courses and the need for professors to teach in a format varying from the traditional classroom setting, it is important to evaluate whether or not certain teaching approaches, such as establishing rapport, should be […]

A Cross-Sectional Study to Describe Academics’ Confidence, Attitudes, and Experience of Online Distance Learning in Higher Education

Previous research, mainly from North America and Asia, has highlighted how many academics in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are concerned about the academic integrity of online distance learning (ODL) compared with face-to-face-teaching and its impact on their work and the student learning experience. Far less is known about this topic for HEIs in the UK, […]