Menu

Distance-Educator.com

Premier Portal for Professionals Since 1995, Covering Technology-Based Education

Posts Tagged ‘Learning Systems’

Does Formal Credit Work for MOOC-Like Learning Environments?

Although a number of claims have been made describing massive open online courses (MOOCs) as a disruptive innovation in education, these claims have not yet been proven through research. Instead, MOOCs should perhaps be considered as an integrative model for higher education systems, but to do so will require recognition of credentials. Initial experiments of […]

Effects of Web-Based Collaborative Writing on Individual L2 Writing Development

This study investigated the effect of repeated in-class web-based collaborative writing tasks on second language writers’ (L2) individual writing scores. A pre-test post-test research model was used in addition to participant surveys, class observations, and teacher interviews. Participants included 59 L2 writers in a writing class at a large U.S. university. The 32 participants in […]

The Pygmalion Effect in Distance Learning: A Case Study at the Hellenic Open University

The Pygmalion Effect is the positive form of self-fulfilling prophecy and shows how teacher expectations influence student performance. According to this phenomenon, higher expectations can lead to an increase in performance. In this research qualitative methodology was adopted both in data collection, and in analysis, in order to investigate the impact of the Pygmalion Effect […]

Instructor’s Use of Social Presence, Teaching Presence, and Attitudinal Dissonance: A Case Study of an Attitudinal Change MOOC

This study examines a MOOC instructor’s use of social presence, teaching presence, and dissonance for attitudinal change in a MOOC on Human Trafficking, designed to promote attitudinal change. Researchers explored the MOOC instructor’s use of social presence and teaching presence, using the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework as a lens, and examined the facilitation of […]

Revising the Community of Inquiry Framework for the Analysis of One-To-One Online Learning Relationships

In online learning research, the theoretical community of inquiry framework has been used extensively to analyze processes of inquiry among learners and instructors within a community. This paper examines a special case of community of inquiry consisting of only one learner and one instructor. Together they en­gage in an online coaching discourse to form a […]

Accreditation and competency-based education

Competency-based education or CBE is, an approach to teaching and learning that awards credit on the basis of mastery of clearly defined competencies or skills (EDUCAUSE, 2014). The current increased emphasis on CBE is resulting in institutions and programs taking fresh approaches to their academic activity. The Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) sought to […]

How did we get here? A brief history of competency-based higher education in the United States

Competency-based education (CBE) programs have spread briskly in higher education over the past several years and their trajectory continues to rise. In light of the spread of competency-based models, this article provides a brief history of CBE in the United States. The Journal of Competency-Based Education 

The Predictive Relationship Among the Community of Inquiry Framework, Perceived Learning and Online, and Graduate Students’ Course Grades in Online Synchronous and Asynchronous Courses

The Community of Inquiry framework has been widely supported by research to provide a model of online learning that informs the design and implementation of distance learning courses.  However, the relationship between elements of the CoI framework and perceived learning warrants further examination as a predictive model for online graduate student success.  A predictive correlational […]

Increasing Social Presence in Online Learning through Small Group Discussions

Social presence is difficult to achieve, but an imperative component of online learning. In this study, we investigated the effect of group size on students’ perceptions of social presence in two graduate-level online courses, comparing small group versus whole class discussions. Our results indicated that when in small group discussions, students perceived a higher level […]

A Review of Research on Intercultural Learning through Computer-Based Digital Technologies

Intercultural communication is now a crucial part of our globalizing lives; however, not everyone has an opportunity to engage in an intercultural interaction with people from different cultures. Computer-based technologies are promising in creating environments for people to communicate with people from diverse cultures. This qualitative synthesis of quantitative and qualitative research therefore aimed to […]