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Archive for the ‘Research’ Category

Blogging for Academic Purposes with English Language Learners: An Online Fieldwork Initiative

This research investigated the use of blogs to promote collaboration between teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) teacher candidates and Adolescent English teacher candidates and to sensitize them to the writing demands placed on secondary English language learners (ELLs). Blogs offered an authentic experience for teacher candidates to interact with each other and […]

Collaboration indices for monitoring potential problems in online small groups

The purpose of this study is to test the validity and reliability of three collaboration indices (quantity, equality, and shareness) proposed by Jahng et al. (2010). The present study repeated the quantitative assessment of Jahng et al., and performed a further qualitative analysis to identify possible factors that might be associated with the results of […]

A Comparison of Participation Patterns in Selected Formal, Non-formal, and Informal Online Learning Environments

Does learner participation vary depending on the learning context? Are there characteristic features of participation evident in formal, non-formal, and informal online learning environments? Six online learning environments were chosen as epitomes of formal, non-formal, and informal learning contexts and compared. Transcripts of online discussions were analyzed and compared employing Transcript Analysis Tools for measures […]

On-the-job e-learning: Workers’ attitudes and perceptions

The use of e-learning for on-the-job training has grown exponentially in the last decade due to it being accepted by people in charge of businesses. Few papers have explored virtual training from the workers’ standpoint, that is, the perception they have about the different training methodologies (face-to-face vs. virtual) and the attitudes they have towards […]

A predictive study of student satisfaction in online education programs

This paper is intended to investigate the degree to which interaction and other predictors contribute to student satisfaction in online learning settings. This was a preliminary study towards a dissertation work which involved the establishment of interaction and satisfaction scales through a content validity survey. Regression analysis was performed to determine the contribution of predictor […]

Green Curriculum: Sustainable Learning at a Higher Education Institution

The United Nations (UN) constituted 2005–2014 as the decade for educational sustainable development when bridges have to be built between academic institutions and their communities. In this article I will therefore do a literature search from 2005–2011 on what it means to be a sustainable university with a sustainable curriculum by looking at case studies […]

Planning and Managing Distance Education Systems: Hardware Systems

Dr. Farhad (Fred) Saba Founder and Editor, Distance-Educator.com In a previous article in this series, I presented a model of distance education consisting of seven interrelated nested system levels. These system levels have been present in most distance education organizations that I observed, or planned and built over the past 30 years. In this article […]

From the development of online resources to their local appropriation: a case study

Sharing resources questions the capacity of different institutions to collaborate in a meaningful way. Different steps in the sharing process are to be taken into account as we contend that teaching resources, despite their intrinsic qualities, can remain unexploited otherwise. The present contribution proposes to study both the development of online resources, the challenges that […]

An Open, Online Class to Prepare Faculty to Teach Online

Professional development opportunities are too limited for faculty who are learning to teach online. Preparation is typically provided in the form of technology training, with little focus on the pedagogy of teaching over the web. In addition, most professional development programs offer their workshops on campus instead of providing an opportunity for faculty to be […]

‘As a student, I do think that the learning effectiveness of electronic portfolios depends, to quite a large extent, on the attitude of students!’

Lynch and Purnawarman (2004:50) point out that ‘a solid electronic portfolio can show reflection, evolution of thought and overall professional development’. Research shows that electronic portfolio assessment, if implemented thoughtfully, can successfully engage learners in critical thinking and problem solving, promote lifelong education, encourage self evaluation and allow learners to have a higher degree of […]