In Spring 2020, East Tennessee State University, along with colleges and universities around the world, was forced to abruptly transition from face-To-face, on-campus courses to online courses in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic. This contribution reflects on the faculty and student experience of transitioning general chemistry lecture and laboratory to an online format.

Distance learning is facing a critical moment finding a balance between high quality education for remote students and engaging them in hands-on learning. This is particularly relevant for project-based classrooms and makerspaces, which typically require extensive trouble-shooting and example demonstrations from instructors. We present RobotAR, a teleconsulting robotics system for creating Augmented Reality (AR) makerspaces. We present the hardware and software for an AR-compatible robot, which behaves as a student’s voice assistant and can be embodied by the instructor for teleconsultation. As a desktop-based teleconsulting agent, the instructor has control of the robot’s joints and position to better focus on areas of interest inside the workspace. Similarly, the instructor has access to the student’s virtual environment and the capability to create AR content to aid the student with problem-solving. We also performed a user study which compares current techniques for distance hands-on learning and an implementation of our system.

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The Oklahoma State Legislature and the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education have partnered to put forth an initiative to strengthen the state's intellectual power in hopes of preparing its citizens to compete in the global, knowledge-based economy of the 21st Century. As a starting point for the Oklahoma Learning Site Initiative, the Oklahoma State Regents set forth two goals: (a) to improve the quality of life of the citizens of Oklahoma and (b) to improve Oklahoma's rankings on national economic indicators to achieve a condition in which Oklahoma's growth rate on national economic indicators is consistently above the national average (National Center for Higher Education, 1998). This descriptive study examined the barriers to implementation of the Oklahoma Learning Site Initiative and provided research data concerning the learning sites and the response to the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education Policy. Questions were addressed through focus group interviews with students, faculty, and administrative staff as well as indepth interviews with 14 chief academic officers of the state institutions in the state of Oklahoma. Policies and procedures were examined and participants were asked to respond as to how they functioned and took responsibility for ascertaining and aggressively meeting the educational needs in their respective communities. In serving those needs, these institutions were examined concerning use of the programmatic and course expertise of sister institutions. Four barriers were identified from the collection and analysis of the data: communication, faculty buy-in, money, and technology. Evident in each barrier was a sense of collaborative effort on the part of students, faculty, administrative staff, and chief academic officers. The initiative represented a collaborative effort on the part of all institutions involved in the study. It appeared that implementation of the Oklahoma Learning Site Initiative was well underway.

This case study focused on students who had matriculated in online courses in the Business Management Program. The setting for the study was a Virginia community college. The purpose of this study was to examine the social, faculty and administrative, and technology influences on students' perceptions of online learning. Students' conveyed experiences and perceptions of the tools and practices faculty used to implement online learning were coded and categorized to generate grounded theory that may be used to govern distance learning implementation. Data were collected through document reviews, semi-structured interviews, and field studies. The interview participants were selected from the 2008 graduates of the Business Management Program. Data from personal memos and field studies were collected through students' comments on individual courses. Interview data included descriptions of all the distance learning courses in which the interviewees had participated. The constant comparative method was used to analyze and code the data into themes that emerged and were applied to establish grounded theories that may prove to be useful in governing the tools and practices of distance learning in higher education. The findings of the study indicated that as the number of online courses that a student successfully completed increased, so did the student's preference of distance learning over the traditional classroom environment. The study also revealed that students were reluctant to participate in distance learning if their first experiences in this method of delivery had been negative; therefore, administrators should be more supportive and evaluative in selecting online faculty. Findings also indicated that even though students enjoyed the time and place flexibility and convenience of distance learning, they still expected instructors to create and implement an environment that cultivated students' social and academic success within the educational environment.

Online education is popular from a consumer perspective, but there are elements of face-to-face instruction and assessment that are difficult to reproduce online (Bassoppo-Moyo 2006). The difficulty of reproducing valued elements of a face-to-face setting leads to concerns regarding the overall quality of the online learning experience. Videoconferencing is one technology that has been used to incorporate elements of a face-to-face environment. However, videoconferencing over the Internet is fraught with technical difficulties and live discussions remove one of the main benefits of distance education: time flexibility. A more recent development has been to use asynchronous video as a communications method in online courses. Griffiths and Graham (2009) described several pilots using asynchronous video in online courses at Brigham Young University. Asynchronous video conveys the verbal and nonverbal signals necessary for immediacy and social presence and retains the time flexibility benefit of distance education. Following the pilot studies, a prototype design theory titled the Asynchronous Video Learning Model (AVLM) was created for the use of asynchronous video in online courses. A study was designed to study a practical implementation of AVLM. The major purpose of the study was to observe and analyze the practical experiences of participants and improve the AVLM model. A class named IPT286 (Using Instructional Technology in Teaching) taught by the department of IP&T at BYU was redesigned to be an online class using AVLM. Data were gathered during the semester and then analyzed according to the methods described in this study. Results showed that many of the principles of the AVLM model were successfully implemented and led to positive experiences. Some elements of the model were not adequately implemented which led to some negative experiences. In addition, experiences led to new elements being added to the model. The study also revealed some interesting principles related to general learning theory. The data consistently revealed the importance of relationships in the learning process. Relationships between students and the instructor were shown to influence the student learning experience, and therefore the personality and style of the instructor impacted overall student learning to some degree.

This study examined factors affecting withdrawal rates using a selection of high school and college-level courses from BYU Independent Study (BYU IS). Exposure to BYU Open Courseware (OCW) curriculum prior to registration had no significant effect on withdrawal rates. Prior enrollment in a BYU IS course had a statistically significant positive effect on withdrawal rates, a surprising result. Further HLM analysis of 83,707 students indicated that at least some of the variability in student withdrawal behavior at the high school level was influenced by prior enrollment, the online course format, and courses offered in the fine arts. For both high school and college courses, students enrolled in an online (rather than paper-based "correspondence") course were less likely to withdraw than their paper-based peers. Finally, for college courses, students enrolled in lower division courses were more likely to withdraw from their courses. Students enrolled in Career and Counseling, Engineering Technology, Life Sciences, Family Home and Social Sciences, College of Fine Arts and Communications, Marriott School of Business, or Religious Education courses were less likely to withdraw from their courses than students enrolling in courses from other colleges.

For most students, playing video games is a popular, enjoyable activity to do in their leisure time. While many people play video games for fun, some do develop problems associated with their play. Excessive engagement in video game play can lead to significant impairment and clinically significant levels of harm. However, there are several important gaps in the research literature which limit understanding of potential harm. First, little is known about the gaming behavior of students, ranging from middle-school to graduate school, specifically as it relates to their reasons for playing video games and their time spent playing. Second, concerns regarding the readability of measures of Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) have been identified in past research that informed the creation of an enhanced literacy assessment of IGD. Third, given the novel COVID-19 pandemic significantly altering day-to-day life and directly decreasing the amount of time individuals were able to spend outside their home, it was not yet known how gaming behavior may have been fundamentally altered. Via a three-study design, the current project addressed gaps in the literature regarding video game use of students, established the reliability and validity of a measure of IGD with enhanced literacy, and provided summative data regarding perceptions of distance learning and potential changes in gaming behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Med bakgrund i covid-19 pandemins nedstängning av skolor krävdes det ändringar i undervisningen. Denna studie grundas i egna erfarenheter av distansundervisning samt frågor kring elevers och lärares upplevelser av pandemins inverkan på skolan med fokus på matematik. Genom att undersöka befintliga studier som skrivits under pandemins gång har några slutsatser dragits kring distansundervisningens för- och nackdelar. Resultatet visar att fördelar som flexibilitet, tillgänglighet av material och en annan möjlighet till mindre elevgrupper. Nackdelar är att både elever och lärare har problem med tekniken och mer erfarenhet krävs för ett effektivt arbete, elevers motivation brister och intresset sjunker under en längre tid och att elever upplever en minskad interaktion med läraren därmed svårare för lärare att avläsa engagemang. Studien syftade också till att undersöka olika metoder som använts i matematikundervisningen när undervisningen har bedrivits på distans. Den främsta metoden som använts under distansundervisning i matematik är försök till att simulera katederundervisning. I nuläget saknas tillräcklig forskning och erfarenhet för att visa att distansundervisning trumfar katederundervisning. Är lärare endast ute efter flexibla alternativ kan distansundervisning vara ett bra komplement men risker som sämre motivation och att intresset sjunker finns om elever inte får den variation de är vana vid.

There is a large demand for the use of e-learning tools to support student learning, in the form of distance or blended learning. The need for e-learning environment that encourages learners to learn independently or in groups in virtual settings is crucial. Some e-learning environments provide repositories of `resources¿. They neither facilitate a strategy for learning or teaching, nor they guide students through the resources, and tutors in constructing their courses. E-learning environments need to incorporate pedagogical practices which support and allow students to learn by removing any barriers that might inhibit their learning. Therefore, one of the most important aspects in developing e-learning environments is defining appropriate models where technology and pedagogy are integrated. This thesis provides such a framework for developing e-learning applications; it aims to make it easier for tutors to implement their lesson content and engage learners to achieve the course objectives. The proposed model incorporates constructive alignment, assessment and feedback and unlike other e-learning environments guides the tutor to construct lessons and help learners to use effective learning environment. Furthermore, the thesis investigates on how supported learning can help students adapt to the different approaches to learning. The empirical work undertaken investigates the role of constructing a well designed self-assessment and feedback unit within a learning environment.