Instructional Design | Distance-Educator.com - Part 49 Distance-Educator.com

Archive for the ‘Instructional Design’ Category

Evaluation of Intelligent Grouping Based on Learners’ Collaboration Competence Level in Online Collaborative Learning Environment

In this paper we explore the impact of an intelligent grouping algorithm based on learners’ collaborative competency when compared with (a) instructor based Grade Point Average (GPA) method level and (b) random method, on group outcomes and group collaboration problems in an online collaborative learning environment. An intelligent grouping algorithm has been added in a […]

The educational problem that MOOCs could solve: professional development for teachers of disadvantaged students

The demographics of massive open online course (MOOC) analytics show that the great majority of learners are highly qualified professionals, and not, as originally envisaged, the global community of disadvantaged learners who have no access to good higher education. MOOC pedagogy fits well with the combination of instruction and peer community learning found in most […]

Twitter-Based EFL Pronunciation Instruction

This paper looks at the use of Twitter as a language teaching/learning tool. It describes the results of a study aimed at testing Twitter’s effectiveness for pronunciation teaching. The purpose of the study was to determine whether Twitter can foster online participation and whether it may have a positive effect on the pronunciation of a number of words commonly mispronounced […]

Language Learning Through Social Networks: Perceptions and Reality

Language Learning Social Network Sites (LLSNSs) have attracted millions of users around the world. However, little is known about how people participate in these sites and what they learn from them. This study investigated learners’ attitudes, usage, and progress in a major LLSNS through a survey of 4,174 as well as 20 individual case studies. […]

Fostering postgraduate student engagement: online resources supporting self-directed learning in a diverse cohort

The research question for this study was: ‘Can the provision of online resources help to engage and motivate students to become self-directed learners?’ This study presents the results of an action research project to answer this question for a postgraduate module at a research-intensive university in the United Kingdom. The analysis of results from the […]

Preservice Teachers’ Perception and Use of Personal Learning Environments (PLEs)

Personal learning environments (PLEs) are Web 2.0 tools and services by which users’ access, construct, manage, and share educational contents in order to meet their learning needs. These environments enable users to manage their learning according to their own personal preferences. They further promote socialization and collaboration with their broad user networks and interaction facilities. […]

Help at 3:00 AM! Providing 24/7 Timely Support to Online Students via a Virtual Assistant

With a dearth of research on human-robot interaction in education and relatively high non-completion rates of online students, this study was conducted to determine the feasibility of using a virtual assistant (VA) to respond to questions and concerns of students and provide 24/7 online course content support. During a 16 week-long academic semester, four hundred […]

Fostering postgraduate student engagement: online resources supporting self-directed learning in a diverse cohort

Being There: Implications of Neuroscience and Meditation for Self-Presence in Virtual Worlds

New discoveries in neuroscience show that the human brain and body work together to experience and evaluate emotions and thoughts and to create a felt sense of presence in the material (or virtual) world. The brain engenders (creates) bodily feelings that represent emotions and thoughts. By directing attention to present moment bodily sensations we experience […]

Should Instructors Require Discussion in Online Courses? Effects of Online Discussion on Community of Inquiry, Learner Time, Satisfaction, and Achievement

Online discussion is a commonly used means to promote student understanding of a topic and to facilitate social interaction among students or between students and instructor; however, its effects on student learning in online learning environments have rarely been investigated. The purpose of this study was to examine the role of online discussion in student […]