Archive for the ‘Instructional Design’ Category

Stop! Grammar time: University students’ perceptions of the automated feedback program Grammarly

Universities are increasingly looking towards online technology to assist their students. Grammarly advertises itself as the world’s most accurate online grammar checker, yet little research exists on its performance as a feedback tool in universities. This paper reports on a study investigating students’ perceptions of Grammarly when used in conjunction with advice from an academic […]

A comparative study on the traditional and intensive delivery of an online course: design and facilitation recommendations

In this paper, we present findings from a comparative study on a fully online postgraduate course offered in traditional (i.e. 13-week academic session) and intensive (i.e. 6-week academic session) delivery formats. Keeping the course curriculum, structure and quality consistent in both delivery modes, the study investigated student participation and academic performance given different facilitation techniques […]

Mindful Online Teaching and Learning: A Conversation with Tiffany Guske

At last year’s Distance Teaching and Learning Conference in Madison, Wisconsin, Tiffany Guske, a coach, speaker, and expert in personal growth techniques, provided an unexpected introduction at the first general session. She led an excited and restless ballroom of nearly 800 attendees in a mindfulness exercise. The group began by taking three slow full deep […]

Nonverbal Communication in Text-Based, Asynchronous Online Education

Does nonverbal communication exist in asynchronous, text-based online education? It is commonly believed that it does not due to the absence of body language and paralanguage. An examination of the definitions and forms of nonverbal cues suggests the possibility for some of them to be transmitted through asynchronous, text-based online human interactions. To explore the […]

The Impact of Text-Based and Video Discussions on Student Engagement and Interactivity in an Online Course

Learning in an online classroom can be optimized when teaching methods focus on student engagement with course content and student-student interactivity. Social learning is a challenge in any online learning environment, but it is realistic with the appropriate selection of discussion modalities. Text-based discussions have been traditionally used, but is this the most effective format […]

Planning the Development and Maintenance of Online Distance Learning Courses

Development and maintenance of online distance learning Masters courses in a higher education institute Medical School Graduate School involves the interaction of an e-learning team with subject specialists, all of whom are time poor. To allow course development to proceed smoothly it must be a managed process. Challenges were revealed during an ethnography of the […]

Teachers’ First Experiences with Global Projects: Emerging Collaboration and Cultural Awareness

Two cohorts of teachers recently participated in a professional development program focused on incorporating global perspectives and activities into K-12 classrooms using contemporary technologies. One part of this program requires teachers to plan and carry out a global project with an international classroom as a means to introduce them to a host country’s education system […]

Two Pedagogical Models of Video Integration in Multiparticipant Courses

To respond to needs arising from the field and institutional constrictions, various video-integrated teaching methods were offered to students in multiparticipant courses. Two hundred ninety-five students studying in two Sociology of Education courses agreed to participate in the research. One hundred sixty-two students participated in Course 1, in which all the lectures were recorded and […]

The Relationship Between Students’ Personalities and Their Perception of Online Course Experiences

Minimal research is available in the literature about the relationship between student personality, based on the Big Five model, and online course experiences, based on the Community of Inquiry framework. It was hypothesized in this study that the five personality factors of extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness correlate collectively or singularly to students’ perceptions […]

Student Questions: A Path to Engagement and Social Presence in the Online Classroom

Within the vast search for ways to enhance the online classroom learning environment and to engage students fully, researchers often turn to discussions concerning instructor-student interactions that take place daily in the online classroom. Although students interact with other students and with the content, it is the student-instructor interaction and connection that appears to support […]