Distance learning technologies offer a multitude of ways to build interaction into online courses to support learning. Based on social constructivism theory, this study explored which types of interaction are most predictive of students’ sense of community in online graduate courses at a regional comprehensive university. More...

Interaction plays a critical role in the learning process. For online course participants, interaction with the course content (learner-content interaction) is especially important because it can contribute to successful learning outcomes and course completion. More...

E-learning development for enterprises is still in its infancy in that scholars are still working on identifying the critical success factors for e-learning in organizational contexts. This study presents a framework considering how organizational factors affect the quality and service of e-learning systems and how these factors influence organizational benefits in the view of IS success model and resource-based theory. More...

Student retention and progression has exercised the HE sector for some time now, and there has been much research into the reasons why students drop out of Higher Education courses. (Allen, 2006; Buglear, 2009;). More recently the Higher Education Academy Grants Programme Briefing (HEFCE, 2010) , outlined a number of areas that emergent project data revealed as being important to both the retention and progression of students, including areas outlined by a number of researchers as being essential to student success: expectations, support, feedback and involvement. More...

The objective of this study is to examine factors influencing e-learning adoption and the moderating role of gender. This study extends the technology acceptance model (TAM) by adding attitude and social interaction. More...

This study investigated communication patterns and behavior in problem-solving groups in a graduate online course. An inductive qualitative analysis method was employed to analyze 732 messages that were retrieved from small group forums. The current study identified a temporal pattern of group development was in comparison with existing theoretical models: the traditional group development model. More...

Distance education in the present Russian Federation and former Soviet Union has a long tradition that prevails to this day. The majority of students in Russia are enrolled in distance learning programs. The numbers indicate the existence of a well-established system for distance education, of which little is known in Western literature. A review of distance education research in the Anglo-American sphere showed that within the past 10 years not a single article dealing with the Russian system was published. More...

Enrollments in online programs are growing, increasing demand for online courses. The perception that teaching online takes more time than teaching face-to-face creates concerns related to faculty workload.  To date, the research on teaching time does not provide a clear answer as to the accuracy of this perception. More...

With the growth of online courses and programs in higher education, considerable concerns emerge about student feelings of isolation and disconnectedness in the online learning environment. A research study was conducted to develop and validate an instrument that can be used to measure perceptions of connectedness of students enrolled in online programs or certification programs in higher education. More...

Table of Contents

Editorial

Research Articles

Book Notes

Book review - Quality assurance and accreditation in distance education and e-learning: Models, policies and research Kay Shattuck

HTML PDF MP3 EPUB 314-318

Book review - The publish or perish book: Your guide to effective and responsible citation analysis Michael Barbour

HTML PDF MP3 EPUB 319-321

Full Issue

IRRODL Volume 13, Number 3

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