Volume 17, numéro 3, avril 2016

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Social presence is a 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 of social presence in terms of sociability, t(32) = 3.507, p = .001; social space, t(29) = 3.074, p = .005; and group cohesion, t(32) = 3.550, p = .001. We discuss how placing students in small and permanent discussion groups can augment social presence. Designers and educators of online learning can strategically modify group size to promote social presence in asynchronous online discussions.

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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 design and hierarchical multiple regression was used to investigate relationships between community of inquiry factors and perceived learning to determine the predictive validity of these variables for students’ course points (N = 131), while controlling for demographic and course variables. The results of this study clearly supported the foundational constructs of Community of Inquiry (CoI) theory (Garrison et al., 2000) and the role of perceived learning to predict final course points. The entire predictive model explained 55.6% of the variance in course points. Implications, limitations, and recommendations are discussed.

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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 relationship of inquiry. Within these relationships, coachees pass through processes of practical inquiry process while a coach supports the process. In this study, a framework and coding scheme were developed for use in a transcript coding procedure including 3,109 messages from an online coaching case in math for K–12 students. It is found that the elements of cognitive, teaching, and social presence, as well as the newly proposed emotional presence, which outlines a community of inquiry, comprise an effective structure for the analysis of one-to-one online coaching environments. The findings of this exploratory study suggest that a relationship of inquiry framework has the potential to support development of one-to-one online learning.

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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 attitudinal dissonance within the discussion forum, announcements and blog postings in the course. The instructor entered the MOOC with the idea of serving as a co-participant and a facilitation choice was made to address the issue of multiple perspectives and experiences. The instructional design focused on establishing a collaborative community of learners and this was demonstrated through a high number of social presence indicators but with significant use of all three areas in evidence. Findings present a detailed examination of instructor strategies in a MOOC designed to focus on the establishment of a collaborative learning community and can inform future instructional design and instruction of MOOCs in general and MOOCs for attitudinal change specifically.

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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 MOOCs were not offer academic credit, but recently there have been some attempts to offer course credit for MOOCs or MOOC-like courses. However, does earning a credit will affect students’ performance and behavior in MOOCs has not been explored closely. Therefore, the aim of this study is to assess the effect of crediting on students’ achievement, perceived intrinsic and extrinsic goal orientations, and perceived course value. A causal comparative research design was applied. Data was collected via 516 responses to an online survey and achievement tests. Three credit conditions were compared: credit bearing, non-credit bearing, and credit careless. ANOVA results showed a significant difference between the credit bearing groups and non-credit bearing groups for all dependent variables. The credit bearing group also scored significantly higher achievement scores than the credit careless group. Credit clearly and significantly affected all dependent variables investigated in this study. Therefore, various possible models can be adopted by higher education institutions to integrate MOOCs as a credit. Further studies can explore the effects of credit on students’ online behaviors, such as engagement with online activities and user events on MOOC platforms.

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The opinions on MOOCs go to extremes, covering a wide variety of topics, affecting economy, pedagogy, and computer science which makes it hard to keep oversight. Despite the many excellent research reports and articles, an overview of the bigger picture, providing a holistic qualitative summary of the different opinions, is still very welcome. Special attention is given to the broader social, cultural, and technological context in which these developments come about. In this paper, it is discussed how the educational industry has received a “wake up call” provoking a global discussion on learning and teaching, accordingly disturbing established boundaries between formal and informal learning, public and for-profit education, teachers and learners and quite intriguingly, between software and teaching practices. Golden opportunities for Artificial Intelligence and Technology Enhanced Learning are unfolding, evidenced by the digitalization movement of education, gamification, and the stringent need for massively scalable (and therefore computerized) personal learning experiences.

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We present an analysis of 50 repositories for educational content conducted through an "audit system" that helped us classify these repositories, their software systems, promoters, and how they communicated their licensing practices. We randomly accessed five resources from each repository to investigate the alignment of licensing information between the resources themselves, metadata pages and overall site policies. We identified a high level of incongruity that could lead to a limited impact in OER use and reuse. We discuss the lack of guidance in implementation of such repositories, particularly to those who do not have wide institutional support to implement such systems. We finalize with a critical discussion on the emphasis given to licensing in the OER movement, and how it may be an evidence of a clash between the social and legal commons.

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With the emergence of social software and the advance of web-based technologies, online learning networks provide invaluable opportunities for learning, whether formal or informal. Unlike top-down, instructor-centered, and carefully planned formal learning settings, informal learning networks offer more bottom-up, student-centered participatory but somewhat disorganized learning opportunities for students. This paper presents a research study where graduate students are surveyed in their use of informal and formal learning networks in online courses to understand the interaction between the two and how they impact each other. The findings showed that students and professors use both environments often, to optimize learning but online course design is usually not designed to consider informal experiences of the students. The results and illustrated course design framework may contribute to the discussion of blending informal and formal learning for online learning.

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The study buddy is a learning strategy employed in a graduate distance course to promote informal peer reviewing of assignments before submission. This strategy promotes student-student interaction and helps break the social isolation of distance learning. Given the concern by Arum and Roksa (2011) that student-student interaction may be distracting from instead of contributing to academic achievement it was felt important to examine the way peer interaction can contribute to learning in a well-structured collaborative learning activity. This mixed-methods study (n=31) examined both quantitative and qualitative aspects of student perceptions of the study buddy activity. While quantitative findings regarding depth of processing were inconclusive due to the small and homogeneous sample, qualitative analysis showed very high levels of learner support for the activity as well as evidence that the activity encouraged learners to approach their learning with greater depth. 88% of study buddies said they found the activity well worth their time, and would recommend it for other graduate courses. It is thought with greater scaffolding, the quality of buddy feedback might be improved. The few who did not appreciate the activity felt let down by a lack of buddy commitment to the process.

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In recent years, a number of models concerning problem solving systems have been put forward. However, many of them stress on technology and neglect the research of problem solving itself, especially the learning mechanism related to problem solving. In this paper, we analyze the learning mechanism of problem solving, and propose that when designing Web-based problem solving systems, more attention should be paid to the learning mechanism involved in the problem solving process than to the technology itself. On the basis of that, some new ideas on the design of the problem solving systems are put forward in order to promote the rapid development of the Web-based problem solving systems.

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This study presents a case study of asynchronous online discussions’ (AOD) growth patterns in an undergraduate blended course to address the gap in our current understanding of how threads are developed in peer-moderated AODs. Building on a taxonomy of thread pattern proposed by Chan, Hew and Cheung (2009), growth patterns of thirty-six forums were explored on three patterns: Short Thread Pattern (SHTP), Extended Thread Pattern (ETP), and Split Thread Pattern (STP). The impact of peer moderating supports on thread growth was also investigated. Types of peer moderators’ supports were explored utilizing a coding scheme from Smet, Keer, Wever, and Valcke’s (2010) study. STP pattern was found to be more common than the other patterns with 74 (37.94%) out of 195 threaded discussions growing on it. The results also showed that, compared to SHTP, in both STP and ETP the occurrences of ‘Information exchange’ and ‘Knowledge construction’ supports appeared to be more, while the presences of supports stimulating ‘Development’, ‘Access and motivation’ and ‘Socialization’ were less. Furthermore, the use of ‘Access and motivation’ and ‘Socialization’ supports appeared to enhance early thread termination when used individually. Thread continuity was reinforced by the use of ‘Knowledge construction’ support with other moderating supports.

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The goal of this study was to explore how students debate with their peers within a designed context using a digital dialogue game, and whether their epistemic beliefs are significant to the outcomes. Epistemic beliefs are known to colour student interactions within argumentative discourse, leading some students to hold back from interactions. By designing an online small group activity based around an issue both important and controversial to the students, with multiple viewpoints in each group and with the scaffolding provided by a dialogue game, it was examined whether these epistemic effects were still evident within their argumentative discourse. Furthermore, the study examined whether the activity design improves students' willingness to argue with each other, and their openness to attitudinal change. A pretest, posttest design was used with students who were assigned to groups of four or five and asked to argue on a controversial topic. Their aim was to explore various perspectives and to debate the pros and cons of the use of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). While previous research has shown that some epistemic beliefs lead to less critical engagement with peers, the results presented here demonstrate that activity design is also an important factor in successful engagement within argumentative discourse.

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Distance education has historically contained little or no learner–learner interactions. Currently the Internet allows for unprecedented levels of learner–learner interaction and has the potential to transform how students learn online. However, many courses offered online focus more on flexibility and independence than on interaction and collaboration. Often it is up to the teacher to decide how much learner–learner interaction their courses contain. However, little research has examined how online high school teachers perceive, value, and facilitate learner–learner interactions. This case study used teacher surveys and interviews at a full-time online charter high school to examine teacher perceptions of learner–learner interactions. The analysis identified four student behaviors that positively impact student engagement and learning: befriending, motivating, instructing, and collaborating. Teachers also identified several drawbacks to learner–learner interactions such as bullying and cheating. Furthermore, there appeared to be tension between providing for students’ individual needs and requiring collaborative learning opportunities.

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The purpose of this study is to examine graduation and dropout rates for Hispanic or Latino K–12 students enrolled in fully online and blended public school settings in Arizona. The independent variables of school type (charter vs. non-charter) and delivery method (fully online vs. blended) were examined using multivariate and univariate methods on the dependent variable’s graduation and dropout rates for Hispanic or Latino students. The results of this research study found a statistically significant difference when using multivariate analysis to examine school type (charter vs. non-charter) and delivery method (fully online vs. blended) on graduation and dropout rates. This finding warranted further univariate examination which found a statistically significant difference when examining delivery method on dropout rates. A comparison of mean dropout rates shows that Hispanic or Latino students involved in K–12 online learning in Arizona are less likely to drop out of school if they are in a fully online learning environment versus a blended learning environment. Students, parents, teachers, administrators, instructional designers, and policy makers can all use this and related research to form a basis upon which sound decisions can be grounded. The end result will be increased success for Hispanic or Latino online K–12 students not only in Arizona schools, but in many other important areas of life.

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This paper describes a study of success factors in the introductory semester of liberal studies blended courses offered at the bachelor of science level. The influence of student participation in the online course environment was examined, as measured by the number of times students logged into the learning management system (LMS) and average session length. These measures were correlated with final course grades to increase understanding of the participation patterns of successful students. The resulting patterns and their implications are identified. We observe that students with an intermediate number of logins and average session length tended to exhibit the optimal level of course performance with students who logged in near the low or high amount of times tending to receive lower grades.

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There is a substantial increase in the use of learning management systems (LMSs) to support teaching and learning activities in higher education institutions. Despite their benefits, students use them to a limited extend due to a number of factors influencing behaviors. This study executed a three-tier use model to examine the predictors of students’ behavioral intention to use LMSs at a two-year post-secondary military school in Turkey, and the participants consisted of 155 students. The data were collected through an online questionnaire and analyzed through Pearson correlation coefficients and linear regression analyses. Results showed that multimedia instruction had a direct influence on perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, while interactivity had a direct influence only on perceived satisfaction. Perceived satisfaction was also affected by perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. Perceived ease of use exerted a direct influence on perceived usefulness, as well. Moreover, perceived usefulness had a great influence on behavioral intention to use LMSs. As a final point, self-efficacy did not take a position in the model due to its insignificant relationships with the other constructs. It is suggested that an increase in the multimedia features and interactivity of the system could lead to higher perceived usefulness and ease of use among learners, and both factors add to learners’ perceived satisfaction which in turn increases their engagement.

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Academic institutions such as the University of South Africa (Unisa) are using information and communication technology (ICT) in order to conduct their daily primary operations, which are teaching and learning. Unisa is the only distance learning university in South Africa and also in Africa. Unisa currently has the highest number of students on the continent of Africa. In an attempt to bridge the gap between facilitators and students, Unisa introduced a learning management system known as myUnisa. MyUnisa is used by facilitators and students as a tool to conduct teaching and learning, and for communication. To the best of the researcher’s knowledge, factors that influence its acceptance and usage have not been studied prior to this study. The main deciders of the success of technology are the users, as is reflected in the well-established theories and models that exist to evaluate the acceptance of technology and innovation. The objective of this study was to understand the factors that contribute to the usage of myUnisa by students. An online questionnaire was used for data collection, and a quantitative analysis was conducted. Among others, the results reveal that complexity does not have a significant impact on the students' decision to use myUnisa.

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This paper aims to analyse the trends and contents of flipped classroom research based on 20 articles that report on flipped learning classroom initiatives from 2013–2015. The content analysis was used as a methodology to investigate methodologies, area of studies, technology tools or online platforms, the most frequently keywords used and works cited references, impacts for students’ learning, and flipped classroom challenges. The results of the analysis were interpreted using descriptive analysis, percentages, and frequencies. This analysis found that various fields were practiced in the flipped classroom approach, and some technology tools were used as the online platform for its practice. Analysis of the impacts showed that flipped classroom brought positive impacts toward students’ learning activities such as achievement, motivation, engagement, and interaction. Several issues in this discussion become implications that can be taken into consideration for future research. Some challenges found in applying flipped classroom are needed to be addressed by future researchers, such as suitability of the flipped classroom for poor quality of video lectures and untrained instructor. This study also becomes an implication for government or policymakers to determine the flipped classroom as a contemporary model to be implemented in teaching-learning activities for higher education, even K-12 students.

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The purpose of this study was to assess the status of e-learning in public universities in Kenya. Data were collected using questionnaires administered to both students and lecturers randomly sampled from seven public universities. Questionnaire responses were triangulated with interviews from key informants and focus group discussions (FGDs). Data were analyzed qualitatively and through use of descriptive statistics. Findings revealed that e-learning is at its infant stage in universities in Kenya. Majority of universities lacked senate approved e-learning policies to guide structured implementation. A few lecturers (32%) and students (35%) used e-learning and few courses (10%) were offered online. Majority of online uploaded modules (87%) were simply lecture notes and not interactive. Again, universities in Kenya lacked requisite ICT infrastructure and skills. The study recommends that universities partner with the private sector to improve ICT infrastructure, build capacity, and standardize e-learning programs in the country.

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Many research studies have highlighted the low completion rate and slow progress in PhD education. Universities strive to improve throughput and quality in their PhD education programs. In this study, the perceived problems of PhD education are investigated from PhD students’ points of view, and how an Information and Communication Technology Support System (ICTSS) may alleviate these problems. Data were collected through an online open questionnaire sent to the PhD students at the Department of (the institution’s name has been removed during the double-blind review) with a 59% response rate. The results revealed a number of problems in the PhD education and highlighted how online technology can support PhD education and facilitate interaction and communication, affect the PhD students’ satisfaction, and have positive impacts on PhD students’ stress. A system was prototyped, in order to facilitate different types of online interaction through accessing a set of online and structured resources and specific communication channels. Although the number of informants was not large, the result of the study provided some rudimentary ideas that refer to interaction problems and how an online ICTSS may facilitate PhD education by providing distance and collaborative learning, and PhD students’ self-managed communication.