Online and Distance Education Commons^™

Caring In An Online Graduate Synchronous Learning Environment, Keith Higa

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

This self-study examines how caring practices are understood, enacted, and experienced within a synchronous online graduate teacher-education environment. Although online programs have expanded substantially, limited research addresses how relational approaches translate into mediated instructional spaces. Guided by Noddings’s ethics of care, this inquiry integrates reflective self-study with participant interviews to explore how technological structures, instructor practices, and real-time interactions shape students’ experiences of care. Findings reveal a multidimensional model consisting of (a) technological or structural care, characterized by course organization, predictability, and flexibility, and (b) humanistic care, expressed through relational presence, acknowledgment, responsiveness, and emergent dialogue in synchronous sessions. Together, …

Barriers And Enablers Of Integrated E-Learning In Southern Africa: Student Experiences, Vicente A. Halle, Luzaan Schlebusch

Journal of Global Education and Research

Integrated e-learning is increasingly essential for enhancing higher education globally, yet its implementation in resource-constrained regions such as Southern Africa remains uneven. This study explores the technological, organizational, and environmental factors influencing the integration of e-learning in higher education institutions, using the Technological, Organizational, and Environmental framework. A qualitative phenomenological approach was employed, involving semi-structured interviews with 24 students (12 males and 12 females) from universities in South Africa and Mozambique. Thematic analysis revealed key barriers, including poor connectivity, limited digital literacy, inadequate institutional support, and socio-economic constraints such as power cuts and data costs. Despite these challenges, several enablers …

How Intelligent? Student Success, Student Engagement, And Faculty Use Of Intelligent Agents In Online Classes, Teresa P. Raczek, Anja Bernardy, Audrey E. Garcia, Ulrike Ingram, Laura Mcgrath, Snehal Shirke

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

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In asynchronous online classes, consistent engagement with the course instructor helps students connect to the course and perform better. Automated Intelligent Agent (IA) emails that can be set up in a learning management system allow faculty to send targeted communications to students in the form of personalized reminders, offers of help, words of encouragement, praise, and other tailored messages. To assess the effectiveness of IAs in supporting student success, this study analyzed the use of the technology by 10 faculty across seven humanities and social science disciplines. We examined how IAs …

Navigating Your First Technical Paper In Social Sciences: Understanding Single Case Research Design, Diana Parry-Cruwys, Allen Karsina, Jacquelyn M. Macdonald

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

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Reading and understanding a research article utilizing single case research design (SCRD) may be a particularly challenging hurdle students face when starting graduate level coursework in the social and health sciences. This paper helps ease this challenge by describing what SCRD is and why it is important to understand when interpreting results in SCRD papers. Additionally, it will explain the various parts of a single case research design paper and what should be included in each section. To understand the results of SCRD, it is imperative that students understand experimental design. …

Overcoming Current Challenges In Higher Education Through Team Teaching, Carol Rogers Shaw, Corinne Brion, Katelyn Case

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

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Team teaching in online higher education courses provides an innovative approach to meeting the needs of students and enhancing the teaching experiences of instructors. In this study, two instructors collaborated to team teach a course in an online doctoral program; this article shares their experiences. A multi-method qualitative approach was utilized to explore the benefits and challenges of team teaching. Data included questionnaire responses from students, journal entries written by instructors, and interviews with program administrators. The findings offer possible solutions to common challenges in higher education today such as increasing …

Jete Spring 2026 Introduction, Nichelle Frank

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

An introduction to the Spring 2026 issue of the Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence.

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Full Issue: Journal On Empowering Teaching Excellence, Volume 10, Issue 1, Spring 2026

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

The full-length Spring 2026 issue (Volume 10, Issue 1) of the Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

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This issue of the Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence brings together articles that explore innovative instructional approaches and emerging technologies for strengthening teaching and student learning in higher education. The contributions examine team teaching as a model for building instructor collaboration and reducing burnout in online doctoral courses, cross-curricular instruction in speech-language pathology clinical education, guidance for graduate students undertaking single-case research design in the social sciences, an experiential SNAP Challenge assignment for …

Faculty Engagement Practices With Building A Community Of Care, Cathryn Walker, Richard Penny, Lynne Orr, Kathleen Norris, Judith Blakely

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

Faculty in a virtual online university benefited from employing elements of the community of care, community of inquiry, and social determinants of health frameworks to strengthen a sense of connection and to develop a community of care in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. This article presents an overview of practices at one university related to the design, implementation, and benefits accruing from employing strategies anchored in these frameworks. During 2022, two years after the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, university leaders approached a team of faculty members to facilitate a dialogue series to enhance relationships among faculty, given the …

How To Educate When Deliberation Falls Short? A Response To “Affective Alignment And Hidden Conflicts: Political Emotions In Blended Spaces Of Democratic Education Classrooms”, Anniina Leiviskä, Veli-Mikko Kauppi

Democracy & Education

Here, we explore potential educational strategies in response to the problems of democratic education highlighted in the feature article’s case study. Drawing on deliberative democracy and Deweyan pragmatism, we contend that in settings marked by affective polarization, such as the school examined in the case study, direct conversation over contentious political topics may not be the most effective path toward meaningful educational outcomes. Instead, we propose two alternative approaches: first, fostering dialogue about the social norms that shape the conditions for political deliberation in the classroom; and second, encouraging collaborative inquiry among students who hold opposing perspectives. Both approaches aim …

Artificial Intelligence (Ai) In A Hybrid Dpt Program: Student Opinions On Use, Cheating, And Plagiarism, Jennifaye V. Brown, Keiba Shaw, Otis L. Owens

Internet Journal of Allied Health Sciences and Practice

Purpose: To prepare students with digital competencies needed for modern clinical practice, AI should be responsibly integrated into healthcare education programs. However, concerns exist about students misusing AI for admissions statements and academic assignments. This study examined Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) students' perceptions of ChatGPT use and whether they consider its use cheating or plagiarism. Method: This retrospective multi-methods analysis compared two DPT student cohorts' online essay responses to the following questions: 1) Is using AI or specifically, ChatGPT considered cheating and/or plagiarism? and 2) What are students' opinions on ChatGPT use in the DPT curriculum? One hundred forty-seven …

“Thrown To The Fire”: Exploring The Impact Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On The Education And Self-Efficacy In New Graduate Physical Therapists, Michael Furtado, Gregory Brusola, Dana Wild

Internet Journal of Allied Health Sciences and Practice

Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic significantly disrupted Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) education and practice, leading to emergency transitions to online learning and interruptions in clinical experiences across the United States. These disruptions raised concerns about their impact on new graduate DPTs' self-efficacy and professional readiness. The current issue addressed by this study is the effect of these disruptions on new graduate self-efficacy and confidence in their professional role. This mixed-method study aimed to assess the extent of clinical education disruption, evaluate its effects on self-efficacy, and explore the lived experiences of new graduate DPTs during the pandemic. Method: A survey …

Students’ Perceived Differences, Othering, And Engagement In Online Learning Spaces: A Cross-Sectional Survey Study, Hajeen Choi, Jaesung Hur, Dan He

School of Engineering Faculty Publications

In online learning spaces, students may feel disconnected not only because of limited interaction but also when they notice differences in their backgrounds or beliefs. This survey study examined students’ perceived differences and their implicit and explicit experiences of othering based on their backgrounds and beliefs. Descriptive results showed that political orientation, culture, and socioeconomic status were common areas where students felt different, while race/ethnicity, culture, and religion stood out as stronger points of distinction. Thematic analysis of open-ended responses showed that many students described subtle forms of othering, such as discomfort and self-doubt, while others encountered more direct negative …

The Perception Of Students Toward Post-Pandemic Online Graduate Programs At A Historically Black College & University (Hbcu) In The South, April Ivery

Dissertations

This study examined the perceptions of online graduate students regarding the accessibility and usefulness of support services (Online Academic Advising, Online Technical Support, Online Counseling Services, Online Library Resources, and Online Career Services) at a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) in the southern United States. The study aimed to examine the attitudes of online students towards these support systems and to determine whether these attitudes played a role in their learning process. The primary research question was: What is the relationship between the accessibility of support systems and students' perceptions of those support systems in online graduate programs at …

Software Engineering: Ai-Enhanced Full Stack Development, Huixin Wu, Haiying Xiao

Open Educational Resources

This course provides instruction in full‑stack web application development using modern JavaScript technologies. Students design, implement, and deploy web‑based solutions while applying AI‑assisted development tools in an ethical and effective manner. The curriculum emphasizes problem‑solving, system design, teamwork, and industry‑standard best practices, with dedicated focus on cloud‑native development—including containerization, distributed services, and modern deployment pipelines—as well as API‑first architecture, enabling students to build scalable, maintainable, and interoperable applications aligned with current industry expectations.

Layers Of Representation: A Multidimensional Book Analysis, Mariah Pfundheller, Nikki Logan, Amy E. Lein, Sydney Bueno

Kentucky Teacher Education Journal: The Journal of the Teacher Education Division of the Kentucky Council for Exceptional Children

This study evaluates how educators interpret the Multidimensional Framework for Inclusive Literature (MDFIL), a tool for evaluating and selecting multicultural literature for their classrooms. Participants self-identified as current, former/retired, or student teachers, or as undergraduates pursuing a teaching license at the time of the survey. Incorporating multicultural literature into educational settings has a positive impact on children's development. Multicultural literature fosters feelings of acceptance, cultural awareness, and empathy among students. By exposing children to diverse cultural perspectives, multicultural literature not only enhances their understanding of their own identities but also cultivates a greater appreciation of others' experiences. The benefits of …

Generative Ai And Student Engagement, Motivation, And Learning: Exploring The Use Of Generative Ai In Higher Education Online Courses, Jeffrey L. Simmons

Dissertations

ABSTRACT

The rapid emergence of Generative AI (GenAI) large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT in higher education has left many institutions unprepared to assess their potential benefits and risks. This mixed-methods study examined how ChatGPT and Google’s NotebookLM were integrated into online course development and delivery at a small private nonprofit university in California, and assessed their perceived impact on student engagement, motivation, and learning.

Data were collected from post-course Likert-scale surveys completed by students across three online master’s-level courses and from pre-course prediction surveys by instructors in the two NotebookLM courses. Quantitative analyses included one-sample t-tests against a …

Self-Care Professional Development On Preschool Teachers’ Mindful Self-Care And Burnout: A Quantitative Research Study, Tiffany Gibby

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this quantitative, experimental, pretest-posttest control-group design study with random assignment is to determine if self-care training changes mindful self-care and burnout scores of preschool teachers. The study fills the gap in the literature on whether an ongoing professional development approach to self-care is effective. The issue is more research is needed to determine if there is a difference in self-care activity and burnout scores between preschool teachers who receive self-care training and those who do not receive self-care training, when controlling for pre-test scores. The sample was 125 full-time, preschool teachers working in childcare centers drawn from …

Improving Quality Of Distance Education: An Illustration And Implications For Universities, Sadia Raisa, Ismet Anitsal, Nebil Buyurgan

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

No abstract provided.

Learning In A Hyflex Model, Kirsten Passyn

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

No abstract provided.

A Pedagogical Road Map For Developing And Teaching An Online Mba Course Marketing Strategy, Mee-Shew Cheung, Hema Krishnan, Mina Lee

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

No abstract provided.