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Archive for the ‘Higher Education’ Category

Moving Forward with Learning Analytics: Expert Views

Learning analytics involve the measurement, collection, analysis, and reporting of data about learners and their contexts, in order to understand and optimize learning and the environments in which it occurs. Since emerging as a distinct field in 2011, learning analytics has grown rapidly, and early adopters around the world are developing and deploying these new […]

Validation of the Instructional Materials Motivation Survey: Measuring Student Motivation to Learn via Mixed Reality Nursing Education Simulation

Motivation to learn is an important component of education, particularly in the field of educational technology in which the instructor’s physical presence is increasingly absent. The complexity of the many factors that contribute to student motivation renders this domain difficult to measure. The Instructional Materials Motivation Survey (IMMS) instrument was created to measure and identify […]

Instilling purpose and value in the implementation of digital badges in higher education

This qualitative multi-case study examined digital badge programs being used at three higher education institutions, at the course level, the department level, and the university level. The study sought to explore the adoption of badges in higher education using Rogers’ (2003) innovation diffusion theory to identify factors associated with the adoption process in order to […]

A Batch of One: A Conceptual Framework for the Personalized Learning Movement

Variation in definitions and models of personalized learning has created confusion and disagreement among practitioners and scholars. However, personalized learning continues to be broadly promoted and funded within schools. This paper offers an inclusive definition of what is happening within the personalized learning movement and aims to be inclusive of diverse epistemologies and cultures. To […]

Student Perceptions of Engagement in Online Courses: An Exploratory Study

Given the increasing numbers of students who choose to learn online, educators should understand the conditions necessary for student success in this environment. Previous studies have documented that student engagement is essential to student learning, retention, persistence, and satisfaction. In this descriptive qualitative study, we sought to understand how students conceptualize engagement in online courses […]

Predictors of Online Doctoral Student Success: A Quantitative Study

Online doctoral education is expanding; however, there is a paucity of research on the predictors of student success in these programs. Institutional leaders struggle to provide the academic environment and interventions to help online doctoral students make continual progress and complete their doctoral research, especially in open enrollment environments. In this study, a primarily online doctoral-granting […]

Evaluating the Impact of a First-Year Experience on Student Success at a Distance Learning University

This study evaluated the impact of a First-Year Experience (FYE) program on student success at a small, private, faith-based distance learning university serving a predominantly nontraditional student population. Student data (N = 399) from two groups were compared to determine if the FYE made a difference in student success as measured by persistence and first-year […]

Evaluating Online Learning Orientation Design With a Readiness Scale

Student online learning readiness (SOLR) has been identified as being closely associated with the success of learning in online environments. Online learning orientations have also been used as a key intervention to support students. However, the evaluation practice and research of online learning orientation design are limited. This research studied the effects of an orientation […]

How College Students’ Achievement Goal Orientations Predict Their Expected Online Learning Outcome: The Mediation Roles of Self-Regulated Learning Strategies and Supportive Online Learning Behaviors

The purpose of this study was to examine the underlying mechanism between goal orientations and academic expectation for online learners. We simultaneously studied the structural relationships among 2×2 achievement goal orientations, self-regulated learning strategies (SRL), supportive online learning behaviors, and expected academic outcome in various online courses with 93 respondents (70 undergraduate and 23 graduate […]

Frugal MOOCs: An Adaptable Contextualized Approach to MOOC Designs for Refugees

There is a growing body of literature that recognizes the role Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) can play in improving access to education globally, and particularly to thousands of people in developing and developed countries. There is increasing concern, however, that the millions of displaced refugee learners throughout Europe, the Middle East, and other regions […]