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With the advances in mobile network technology, the use of portable devices and mobile networks for learning is not limited by time and space. Such use, in combination with appropriate learning strategies, can achieve a better effect. Despite the effectiveness of mobile learning, students’ learning direction, progress, and achievement may differ. Thus, the enhancement of learners’ opinions on the usability and interactivity during mobile learning are challenging issues to overcome. This study developed a sharing mind map-oriented mobile learning system integrated with valuable information preserved in a digital archiving system. In addition to the functions of traditional mind maps, this system also enabled students to complete and record relevant information that they had found onto the mind map and further improve the integrity of their own knowledge. To investigate the effectiveness of this teaching approach, this study added digital archive data and used mind map sharing to help learners develop knowledge.  By using the proposed approach, students were able to perform self-assessment on learning content, choose appropriate learning directions, and progress according to their level of learning. At the same time, they could collaboratively learn with peers to engage themselves more deeply in their learning. That is, their learning motivation could be constantly triggered through the observations and sharing of mind maps from one to another. This study selected sixth graders as its research subjects in two classes at the school where one researcher works. There were 31 and 30 valid samples in the experimental group and control group, respectively, with a total of 61 students. The experimental group was conducted by using sharing mind map with corresponding geographical archived information to investigate the effectiveness of sharing mind map (SMM) in mobile learning; on the other hand, the control group was conducted by using a traditional learning approach. The outcomes indicate that students’ learning performance could be enhanced by using archived information SMM mobile learning.

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Previous studies have described many scales for measuring self-regulation; however, no scale has been developed specifically for self-paced open and distance learning environments. Therefore, the aim of this study is to develop a scale for determining the self-regulated learning skills of distance learners in self-paced open and distance learning courses. Participants of this study were 1279 distance learners who were part of self-paced distance learning courses in a public open and distance teaching university in Turkey. The items of the scale were prepared based on the literature review, expert opinions, and learner questionnaires. The items of the scale were reduced from 62 to 30 after expert opinions and validity and reliability analyses. For the validity of the scale, the exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted. The total variance was found to be 58.204%. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient calculated for the reliability of the scale was found to be .937. Five factors composed of goal setting, help seeking, self-study strategies, managing physical environment, and effort regulation emerged in the 30-item scale. Thus, it was concluded that the scale has a high validity and reliability. This scale is intended to help teachers and instructional designers in developing strategies that will enable learners to either enhance their existing self-regulated learning skills or help them to acquire new skills in self-paced open and distance learning environments.

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In this research paper, the authors analyse the collected data output during a 36 week cMOOC. Six-week data streams from blogs, Twitter, a Facebook group, and video conferences were tracked from the daily newsletter and the MOOCs’ hashtag (#Change 11). This data was analysed using content analysis and social network analysis within an interpretative research paradigm. The content analysis was used to examine the technology learners used to support their learning while the social network analysis focused on the participant in different spaces and their participation patterns in connectivist learning. The findings from this research include: 1) A variety of technologies were used by learners to support their learning in this course; 2) Four types of participation patterns were reveled, including unconnected floaters, connected lurkers, connected participants, and active contributors. The participation of learners displays the participation inequality typical of social media, but the ratio of active contributors is much higher than xMOOCs; 3) There were five basic structures of social networks formed in the learning; and 4) The interaction around topics and topic generation supports the idea of learning as network creation after the analysis of participation patterns that are based on some deep interactive topic. The aim of this study is to gain insight into the behaviors of learners in a cMOOC in an open and distributed online environment, so that future MOOCs designers and facilitators can understand, design and facilitate more effective MOOCs for learners.

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Semi-formal learning is used to describe learning that is directed towards the goals of a formal learning institution but outside of the learning structure of a specific class. Students studying online may form semi-formal groups to increase their knowledge of the content by interacting with other learners taking the same class. This study of cyber university students (n = 2042) involved looking at the relationship between semi-formal learning groups and levels of germane load.  Furthermore, this study sought to understand what role group work plays in moderating the relationship between motivation and germane load. This study found that highly motivated students had higher levels of germane load, and that group work negatively moderated that relationship. In other words, while all students benefited from group work, students with lower levels of motivation benefited more than students with high levels of motivation. This research fills an important gap by showing the value this type of group work can have for all learners, particularly those who may otherwise struggle.

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Within a constructivist paradigm, the virtual reality technology focuses on the learner's actively interactive learning processes and attempts to reduce the gap between the learner’s knowledge and a real-life experience. Recently, virtual reality technologies have been developed for a wide range of applications in education, but further research is needed to establish appropriate and effective learning techniques and practices to motivate meaningful learning. Results showed that perceived self-efficacy and perceived interaction are two crucial factors affecting perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and learning motivation. Furthermore, learning motivation is also a predictor to affect perceived usefulness. After that, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and learning motivation are three important factors affecting learner intention to use the virtual reality learning environment.

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Inspired by open educational resources, open pedagogy, and open source software, the openness movement in education has different meanings for different people. In this study, we use Twitter data to examine the discourses surrounding openness as well as the people who participate in discourse around openness. By targeting hashtags related to open education, we gathered the most extensive dataset of historical open education tweets to date (n = 178,304 tweets and 23,061 users) and conducted a mixed methods analysis of openness from 2009 to 2016. Findings show that the diversity of participants has varied somewhat over time and that the discourse has predominantly revolved around open resources, although there are signs that an increase in interest around pedagogy, teaching, and learning is emerging.

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There is a substantial increase in the use of learning management systems (LMSs) to support e-learning in higher education institutions, particularly in developing countries. This has been done with some measures of success and failure as well. There is evidence from literature that the provision of e-learning faces several quality issues relating to course design, content support, social support, administrative support, course  assessment, learner characteristics, instructor  characteristics, and institutional factors. It is clear that developing countries still remain behind in the great revolution of e-learning in Higher Education. Accordingly, further investigation into e-learning use in Kenya is required in order to fill in this gap of research, and extend the body of existing literature by highlighting major quality determinants in the application of e-learning for teaching and learning in developing countries. By using a case study of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), the study establishes  the status of e-learning system quality in Kenya based on these determinants and then concludes with a discussion and recommendation of the constructs and indicators that are required to support qualify teaching and learning practices

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The aim of the study was to examine the determining factors of students' video usage and their learning satisfaction relating to the supplementary application of educational videos, accessible in a Moodle environment in a Business Mathematics Course. The research model is based on the extension of Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), in which the core TAM constructs – perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, attitude – and internet self-efficacy were included as the explanatory factors of video usage. As regards the determinants of learning satisfaction, beside the core TAM constructs, the role of learning performance, learner-learner interaction, and learner-teacher interaction was examined. Data were collected from 89 students using a questionnaire, on which the partial least-squares structural equation modelling approach was used to evaluate the research model. The results confirmed that perceived usefulness, attitude, and internet self-efficacy had a direct effect on the video usage. Learning satisfaction was directly influenced by learner-learner interaction, perceived ease of use, and learning performance. Furthermore, the results indicated that video usage had a significant effect both on learning performance and on learning satisfaction. The findings show that the extended TAM model can be applied for predicting the university students' video technology usage and their learning satisfaction regarding the usage.

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This paper discusses the influence of cultural dimensions on Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) introductory videos. The study examined the introductory videos produced by three universities on Coursera platforms using communication theory and Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. The results show that introductory videos in MOOCs are influenced by the national culture of the country in which the university is based. Based on this finding, this paper raises interesting questions about the effect of these cultural elements on potential learners from different countries and cultures around the world. The paper also makes suggestions about introductory video production in MOOCs.

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In Saudi Arabia, gender-segregation is a known issue within higher education that often deprives female tutors from providing online learning and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). As well, students may not be getting the benefit of their experience and teaching. The purpose of this study is to develop an Avatar tool to represent a female tutor in a MOOC course with the aim of alleviating the issues of a gender-segregated society in online learning. This project will undertake and analyse a case study concerning the experience of females teaching a MOOC course on “Rwaq” the first Saudi Arabian platform, which was launched in September 2013. The literature on gender-segregation and education technology is reviewed. As an example, gender-segregated in higher education and online learning in Saudi Arabia, Virtual Learning Environments (VLE), Avatar technology in higher education, and finally the adoption of an Avatar tool in MOOCs platforms in SA are examined. One of the objectives of the study is to develop a social interaction environment with learners in online learning within MOOCs. The ultimate objective of this study is to examine if this Avatar tool could alleviate issues of gender-segregation for female lecturers in online learning courses within MOOCs in higher education in Saudi Arabia.

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Mobile devices are increasingly coming to penetrate people's daily lives. Mobile learning (m-learning) is viewed as key to the coming era of electronic learning (e-learning). In the meantime, the use of mobile devices for learning has made a significant contribution to delivering education among higher education students worldwide. However, while m-learning is being widely adopted in developed countries, the adoption of such an approach in developing countries is still immature and underdeveloped. Developing countries are facing several challenges and lagging behind in terms of adopting m-learning in higher education. Thus, this paper explores the factors that have an impact on students’ intentions and readiness to adopt m-learning in higher education in Jordan. Based on the data collected from the field, we examine Jordanian students' requirements and preferences in terms of m-learning design, and we also investigate their concerns about adopting m-learning. This empirical study collected data from students using a paper-based questionnaire. The results reveal that students' intentions to adopt m-learning is influenced by several factors that include the relative advantage, complexity, social influence, perceived enjoyment, and the self-management of learning. By providing a picture of students' willingness to adopt m-learning, this study offers useful and beneficial implications for developers of m-learning applications and for educational providers to guide the design and implementation of comprehensive m-learning systems.

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Since the first offering of a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) in 2008, the body of literature on this new phenomenon of open learning has grown tremendously. In this regard, this article intends to identify and map patterns in research on MOOCs by reviewing 362 empirical articles published in peer-reviewed journals from 2008 to 2015. For the purposes of this study, a text-mining tool was used to analyse the content of the published research journal articles and to reveal the major themes and concepts covered in the publications. The findings reveal that the MOOC literature generally focuses on four lines of research: (a) the potential and challenges of MOOCs for universities; (b) MOOC platforms; (c) learners and content in MOOCs; and (d) the quality of MOOCs and instructional design issues. Prospective researchers may use these results to gain an overview of this emerging field, as well as to explore potential research directions.

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Prior to undertaking a descriptive study on attrition and retention of students in two online undergraduate health administration and human service programs, a pilot test was conducted to assess the procedures for participant recruitment, usability of the survey questionnaire, and data collection processes.  A retention model provided the conceptual framework for this investigation to identify and organize various factors that influenced students’ decisions to either discontinue or continue their educational programs.  In an attempt to contribute to the body of research in this area and to enrich pedagogical practices, the authors describe the pilot testing processes and feasibility issues explored, and the improvements made to the instrument and methodology before commencing the main research study on attrition and retention.

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As the popularity of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) continues to grow, studies are emerging to investigate various topics in this area. Most have focused on the learners’ perspective, leaving a gap in the literature about MOOC instructors. The current research—conducted in the field of tourism and hospitality—explored early experiences of MOOC instructors as they progressed through three stages of the innovation-decision process: decision, implementation, and confirmation. The tourism and hospitality field was chosen because its related industries contribute significantly to global employment, and training is one of their critical success factors. MOOCs possess a good potential to benefit tourism and hospitality education, yet tourism and hospitality MOOCs are under-researched. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six instructors who offered tourism and hospitality MOOCs between 2008 and 2015. Findings revealed that: (1) the instructors’ decisions to offer MOOCs were mostly influenced by their institutes’ interests in MOOCs; (2) when the instructors implemented MOOCs, a pattern of action emerged, which included six phases and one cross-phase element—prepare, design, develop, launch, deliver, and evaluate—and across phases—support and train; (3) most instructors chose to avoid risk in their adoption and implementation of the MOOCs, staying away from innovative teaching or learning activities such as peer-review assessments and collaborative activities; and (4) half of the instructors intended to repeat the experience of teaching in the MOOCs format in the future.

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Many educational organizations are employing instructional videos in their pedagogy, but there is a limited understanding of the possible video formats. In practice, the presentation format of instructional videos ranges from direct recording of classroom teaching with a stationary camera, or screencasts with voice-over, to highly elaborate video post-production. Previous work evaluated the effectiveness of several production styles, but there has not been any consistent taxonomy, which would have made comparisons and meta-analyses possible. Therefore, we need a taxonomy of instructional video formats that facilitates the understanding of the landscape of available instructional video production styles. For this purpose, we surveyed the research literature and examined contemporary video-based courses, which have been produced by diverse educational organizations and teachers across several academic disciplines. We organized instructional video styles in two dimensions according to the level of human presence and to the type of instructional media. In addition to organizing existing instructional videos in a comprehensive way, the proposed taxonomy offers a design space, which should facilitate choice, as well as the preparation of novel video formats.

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Traditional school districts do not have a lot of experience with virtual schools and have lost students to state and charter virtual schools. To retain students and offer alternative learning opportunities, more public districts are starting their own virtual schools. This study was an examination of foundational processes at three California virtual schools in traditional school districts.  An analysis of the findings revealed that sites perceived the establishing founder, preliminary research, district support, teacher and staff selection, financial evaluation, and curriculum decisions as keys to the founding process.  The analysis also led to surprising conclusions, including the need for virtual schools to constantly change and adapt and the focus in this study of organizations over technology.  The findings have implications for traditional districts starting virtual schools. The study also indicates that changes in policy could reduce the need for organizational adaptation among virtual schools in traditional school districts.

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Although the number of online academic degree programs offered by universities in Turkey has become increasingly significant in recent years, the current lack of understanding of administrators’ motives that contribute to initiating these programs suggests there is much to be learned in this field. This study aimed to investigate administrators’ perceptions of motives for offering online academic degree programs in universities in Turkey in terms of online associate degree programs, online master's degree programs, online bachelor's degree completion programs, and online bachelor's degree programs. A qualitative research method was employed for this study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 administrators from different universities’ distance education centers in Turkey and thematic analysis was applied to the data.  The research found that administrators’ motives for offering online academic degree programs mainly involve in answering to the high demand of prospective students. Six major themes were identified with regard to influencing factors for administrators’ motives: demands for programs, mission to support education, readiness of infrastructure, teaching staff as well as applicability of content, overcoming the shortage of classroom space and teachers, obtaining revenue, and gaining prestige.