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Online learning can pose challenges to instructors in building relationships with remote students. Subsequently, the student learning experience can be negatively impacted when intimacy and connection are lacking in the online classroom. How can higher education instructors overcome this dilemma? The good news is that an array of technology tools exists to help instructors increase immediacy, decreasing the physical and psychological distance between people in the online classroom and beyond. This article discusses specific tech tools and methods that can be used to build teacher-student relationships with remote students.
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As demand for online courses continues to rise in higher education, many institutions struggle to develop, promote, and sustain high-quality online programs, in part due to limited capacity. In response, Online Program Managers (OPMs), private companies that collaborate with colleges and universities to create and provide online offerings, have become increasingly prominent over the past 15 years. These partnerships allow institutions to scale online courses and programs without having to contribute significant upfront investments. However, there remains a general lack of awareness about what OPMs are, the scope of their services, and the trade-offs involved. This article aims to shed light on the advantages and potential drawbacks of OPM partnerships.
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Between designing courses, answering mundane questions, providing individualized feedback, and grading lengthy papers, a college instructor has little available time to focus on academic pursuits, scholarly research, and service opportunities. Through research and experience, see how one online professor was able to stop wasting time and focus on quality interactions with students and other professional responsibilities.
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The objective of this article is to examine the potential benefits and challenges of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) in e-learning in the Middle East region. Literature review was conducted and revealed several benefits of GenAI, including but not limited to: enhanced teaching practices, understanding, enhanced engagement, personalized learning promotion, flexibility, and enhanced academic performance. Some challenges are ethical and cultural considerations, data privacy, the digital divide, lower accuracy, and misleading information.
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Providing feedback to learners is a key responsibility of educators and is critical in the learning process. Effective feedback helps learners fill the gaps in their knowledge and thinking processes and highlights areas in which the learner excels. Effective feedback is important regardless of the learning environment, but depending on the environment, the methods and processes instructors use to provide feedback to learners may change. This article discusses best practices for giving effective feedback to online learners.
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Just-in-time teaching (JiTT) is an effective educational strategy that enhances student engagement and personalizes learning by integrating active learning with instructional technology. This approach uses pre-class assignments to assess students' understanding, allowing instructors to tailor lessons accordingly. The JiTT method consists of designing targeted assignments, analyzing submissions to identify misconceptions, adjusting classroom activities, engaging students interactively, and gathering feedback to refine teaching strategies. While JiTT improves engagement and learning outcomes, it requires careful time management and adequate technology access for students. These challenges can be managed by gradually implementing JiTT and ensuring technological support for all students.
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This article explores the application of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) in learning and development (L&D) processes, specifically for enterprise training. The author discusses how L&D practitioners can use GenAI tools to drive a complete instructional design process, including training content development and the creation of typical L&D deliverables such as training documentation development, training need analysis, course outline, and lesson plan generation as well as training material development such as presentation slides, case scenarios, assessments, and self-learning content. The article also details how to leverage the power of GenAI tools as a trainer, assessor, and expert mentor. The author also shares a nine-step approach for L&D practitioners to achieve potential time-saving benefits using GenAI to create diverse training content.
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Discussion forums have become a standard element of online courses for a variety of reasons. They provide a way for students and faculty to interact with each other and to discuss course topics effectively and efficiently. Discussions can be separated by thread, meaning multiple discussions can occur at the same time. The asynchronous nature of discussion forums allows students and faculty to review posts and contribute to discussions at any time they are able to do so. They can also meet student needs for socialization and interaction, providing them with a sense of belonging that may be otherwise difficult to achieve in an online course.
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In this interview with eLearn Magazine, Immersive Learning Research Network?s Jonathan Richter, Ed.D, discusses his work in immersive technologies and ponders what the future holds for e-Learning and beyond.
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A mastery learning model can be implemented in any level or content area using educational technology and the Modern Classrooms model to create a systematic and sustainable framework for teachers and students.
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Motivated by the likely scenario that AI tutors will soon become indistinguishable from human educators, this article discusses some of the challenges and opportunities that will arise from this shift and calls for reflection on how the role of human educators could evolve in light of emerging technologies.
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This article introduces a comprehensive open-access online toolkit as a resource for online educators, seeking to engage in continuous improvement of their inclusive teaching practices. The toolkit was created as an output following participation in a three-semester Faculty Institute for Inclusive Excellence. Two of the developers who focus on inclusivity, equity, and culturally responsive teaching acted as mentors, contributing to the creation of the toolkit and ultimately the professional development of the primary creators. All authors have extensive experience teaching online with a minimum of 10 years facilitating online learning in adult and higher education.
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This article offers a concise exploration of the profound impact of asynchronous learning on modern education. Delving into its core characteristics and benefits, the authors reveal how asynchronous learning offers flexibility, structured guidance, tailored content delivery, and opportunities for learner autonomy. Reflective practices and boundary-breaking interactions are key elements that enhance engagement and understanding. Real-world examples underscore its effectiveness.
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In online programs, simulation is crucial for bringing complex scenarios to life, providing real-world application of knowledge, and bridging the theory-practice gap. At Drexel University, we use innovative virtual simulations in non-clinically focused online nursing programs. The examples presented illustrate the effectiveness of virtual simulations. The scenarios presented can be modified for use in online programs with students in a variety of disciplines to provide opportunities for real-world application and formative feedback.
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Intelligent learning management systems (ILMS) are transforming education by integrating artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. These systems automate administrative tasks, offer personalized learning experiences, and boost student engagement. This article explores the benefits and challenges of ILMS, highlighting how AI can predict learner behavior, customize educational content, and optimize curriculum management. It also delves into the ethical considerations of AI in education, such as data privacy and algorithmic bias. Finally, the article provides insights into the impact of ILMS on teaching and learning and concludes with a discussion of the future of ILMS.
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Any teacher worth their salt knows the importance of communication and its connection to improved learning. In online courses, communication is much more important due to the lack of face-to-face contact between teacher and students, students and students, and students to content. K-12 learners are the least experienced with online learning. For this reason, communication is especially important for K-12 learners so they can create a relationship with their teachers and classmates.
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Student groups coexist on individual and team levels toward learning symmetry within two zones: the zone of proximal development (ZPD) for new knowledge co-construction and the zone of proximal flow (ZPF), which occurs once a balance between the learner's skill and challenge of the task emerges. Thus, each group functions within the ZPF, especially for K-12 students engaging in social behavior and collaborative learning activities.
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Assumptions are made around the digital literacy and digital capabilities of students in higher education. It is important that these assumptions are dismissed, digital literacy becomes a true consideration in curriculum design, and students are supported in their development rather than expected to develop the digital skills they need. Supporting students in their development of digital literacy through curriculum integration not only allows them to succeed in education, but also work toward obtaining the skills they need for their future career and joining a workforce in a digital society.
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The rapid integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into various sectors has raised significant ethical concerns, particularly in academic writing. This article examines the impact of generative AI (GAI) tools, such as ChatGPT, on the academic writing process. While these tools offer the potential to enhance efficiency and creativity, they also present challenges related to authorship, plagiarism, and academic integrity. The article explores key concerns, including privacy, validity, and bias, associated with GAI tools. It further provides guidelines for the ethical use of AI in academic manuscripts, emphasizing the importance of transparency and the careful documentation of AI contributions.
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Within higher education, digital learners are confronted with antiquated classifications of digital natives and immigrants, first introduced by Marc Prensky (2001), which make assumptions about their proficiency in digital literacy. This article provides a code of ethics and practical guidelines for critically examining the assumptions presented. The author has coined the term "e-ethical-learning" to refer to a set of ethical principles and practical guidelines, which is a portmanteau of "ethical education" and "e-learning."
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eLearning, while seemingly democratizing education, carries colonial biases in curriculum, language, and technology. Decolonization requires recognizing these constraints, disrupting the status quo, and embracing alternatives. Strategies include decentering Western voices, co-creating learning experiences, challenging linguistic hegemony, bridging the digital divide, and leveraging technology for decolonization. This ongoing process fosters inclusive and equitable education by acknowledging the colonial legacy and actively dismantling it.
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Course syllabi are often long, text-heavy documents that learners find difficult to engage with. This paper proposes a syllabus abstract--a one-page infographic-style syllabus that summarizes key course elements and includes interactive elements such as audio and video explanations. This approach aims to make syllabi more visually appealing and accessible for learners.
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Drawing on his recent book, Autonomy-Supportive Teaching in Higher Education: A Practical Guide for College Professors (Rowman & Littlefield, 2023), Whitehead describes how to apply the evidence-based principles of autonomy-support into asynchronous online courses. These include, among others, being patient with students as they adapt to the learning system, designing surveys where students choose course topics, and creating opportunities for students to interact with one another.
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Educational technologies are now an integral part of the educational milieu. All educators are expected to be able to use technologies and design courses using these technologies. One framework that can guide the course design process using various technologies is the Learning Ecology Matrix (LEM). The LEM, focusing on learner autonomy and instructor guidance, aids in tailoring courses to be learner-centered or teacher-centered. This article reviews the LEM and explores how the LEM can be used in practice to design courses.
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Harnessing the power of instructional technology, educators can drastically enhance the learning experience by infusing their curriculum with digital tools specifically chosen to align with their teaching objectives. The article highlights 15 such technologies--Canva, Genially, Waklet, Quizizz, Flip, Flipsnack, PowToon, Anchor, Bitmoji, Loom, Padlet, Google Jamboard, Moovly, Edpuzzle, and Clarisketch--each providing unique opportunities for creating engaging content, fostering interaction, and enabling collaboration in the digital classroom.
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In an era of rapid digitization of higher education, innovative online assignments that engage students, foster critical thinking, and mitigate academic dishonesty are paramount. Unique, experiential, and collaborative tasks such as digital storytelling, virtual field trips, interactive infographics, and more can bridge the interpersonal gap in virtual classrooms, inspire active participation, and bolster students' motivation, thus countering challenges such as student disengagement and plagiarism.
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The value of assignment feedback in enhancing student learning is significant, not just in rectifying conceptual misunderstandings but also in engaging and motivating students and strengthening their belief in their academic capabilities. This article outlines 13 strategies to provide effective, efficient, and engaging feedback, including the use of feedforward guidance, one-to-many feedback, peer-to-peer feedback, multimedia feedback, feedback banks, automation, formative classroom assessment techniques, rubrics, assignment exemplars, generative AI, proactive notifications, automated mastery learning opportunities, and student self-feedback, all of which holistically empower students towards academic success, meaningful instructor-student interaction, and a richer online learning experience.
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The clerkship phase in medical school is pivotal for clinical training. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the adoption and implementation of educational technology in medical education became inevitable, leading most medical schools to shift toward distance learning. While technologies cannot entirely replace hands-on clinical teaching, faculty members have devised effective ways to utilize technology, such as virtual patients, virtual reality, first-person video streaming, simulators, gamification, and mobile apps. This article provides a summary of the technologies employed, the challenges associated with them, and the advantages and instructional outcomes resulting from their use.
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Providing opportunities for students to lead and shape class, alongside an instructor, takes into account the unique cultures, needs, and experiences of each student. A co-leading model was used during a blended Instructional Technology course and findings revealed that this model was engaging and gave students an opportunity to share their own experience. Student reflections also indicated some challenges, such as group collaboration and technical issues.
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Online education's success hinges greatly on the implementation of a robust social presence, akin to a perfect "no skip" music album, fostering an interactive and connected learning community. These 12 strategies--being authentic, recognizing students as individuals, ensuring availability, fostering higher-order thinking, intending social presence, creating community cohesion, acknowledging the reciprocity of social presence, strategically implementing technology, leveraging curiosity through gamification, promoting immediacy and intimacy, focusing on affective association, and understanding chronemics--offer a comprehensive guide for educators to improve online engagement, thereby improving the student's learning experience and reducing feelings of isolation.
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This article focuses on learning experience design (LXD) as an emergent concept and professional practice in need of greater clarity. At a 2023 national learning and development conference three prominent learning leaders were interviewed and asked to share their unique perspectives on LXD (Michael Allen, David Kelly, and Megan Torrance). Excerpts from these interviews are featured throughout the article. The author also provides background information on LXD, an analysis of perspectives, and a concluding synthesis on the current state of LXD where it is approached within the context of digital transformation as an emergent new form of learning design.
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Online learning can greatly benefit learners with disabilities, provided that inclusive teaching practices and effective support systems are implemented. This article highlights 11 best practices for supporting these learners, including fostering relationships, identifying individual needs, using proactive teaching strategies, ensuring course alignment, providing emotional safety, implementing differentiation strategies, monitoring engagement, encouraging a growth mindset, establishing preferred communication modes, soliciting feedback, and adjusting teaching methods based on that feedback.
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Online education, while alleviating geographic constraints, amplifies the challenge of transactional distance, exacerbating students' sense of isolation during the learning process. This article suggests 10 strategies for enhancing instructional presence in a digital learning environment, including creating one-on-one spaces, establishing a reasonable response timeline, leading the class as a collective, using a consistent "voice," showing your face, being genuine, communicating expectations, sharing personal experiences, keeping course resources updated, and regularly checking-in; these strategies aim to mitigate the absence of physical proximity, fostering a more engaging and collaborative virtual classroom experience.
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Creating a meaningful and engaging online learning environment requires the deliberate fostering of social relationships, tapping into the inherent social nature of learning. Nine key strategies include sharing professional experience and expertise, demonstrating empathy and compassion, maintaining a visible online presence, integrating personalized videos, offering warm welcomes and farewells, providing one-on-one support, establishing rapport, and incorporating synchronous components to facilitate real-time interaction, all aimed at humanizing the online learning experience and effectively supporting learner engagement.
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To enhance student engagement and learning in the online classroom, instructional videos need to be thoughtfully created, curated, and integrated. Key considerations include making the videos learner-centered and relevant, ensuring easy access, keeping video length short, focusing on clarity over perfection, providing alternative means of accessing the information, fostering student interaction, and personalizing videos to enhance the sense of class participation and connection.
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Teaching in an online environment demands efficient time management and a focus on activities that maximize student learning and engagement. To this end, seven key strategies are suggested: reflect on and prioritize your instructional time, create a teaching calendar to manage tasks, integrate tools for streamlined communication, leverage analytics to focus attention, automate repetitive tasks, utilize video technology for efficient instruction and feedback, and foster collaboration among learners and colleagues.
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This article explores how generative AI tools can be used in the different steps of creating a podcast, from the planning stage to publicizing the podcast. Educators can find podcasting a daunting task. The suggestions in this article will walk a person through the process of creating a podcast and provide examples of tools that can be used to make the process easy.
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Building vibrant, online professional learning communities (PLCs) is crucial to combat the isolation experienced by online faculty and facilitate their professional growth, with strategies such as prioritizing relationship building, empowering all faculty with a voice, recognizing their achievements, ensuring relevant and targeted content, teaching best pedagogical practices, and accommodating faculty needs. By nurturing a supportive and collaborative online environment, institutions can help faculty overcome remote teaching challenges, connect them to valuable resources, and enhance their professional and personal fulfillment in their roles as online educators.
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To maximize online student learning, instructors should prioritize their time towards instructional strategies that students deem most impactful, such as providing individualized, one-to-one feedback; adopting a holistic feedback approach; engaging in asynchronous discussion forums; curating relevant content resources; and presenting instructional content in efficient, versatile formats. As research reveals, learners value instructor feedback and engagement in online discussions above all else, thereby guiding where educators should focus their limited instructional time.
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One might say that Watermark's Vice President of Product is on a mission of continuous improvement. Or rather, his passion is helping institutions implement and experience the benefits of the continuous improvement cycle. With philosophies based on human-centered approaches to design, it's clear that Brian Robinson understands the theoretical foundations of and practical approaches to this critical work in institutional evaluation and effectiveness. This interview takes readers on a journey through the underlying components and future of continuous improvement through the eyes of a leading educational technology executive.
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A common challenge for instructional designers and administrators of online programs is ensuring that projects are completed within the development timeframe and course content meets high standards for quality. This article describes a training course that was developed to meet those challenges. The course prepares subject matter experts (SMEs) to work with a design team made up of instructional designers and instructional technologists so that SMEs can plan their course content using a backward design framework. SMEs participate in a fully asynchronous online course with other SMEs where they can collaborate and brainstorm ideas. Having SMEs take an online course that resembles the online course they will later be designing allows them to gain insight from a learner perspective, which can help them design a learner-centered course.
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In a standardized curriculum, it is essential to design courses that maximize the unique qualities of each instructor while maintaining curricular consistency. By adopting a collaborative approach to course development, integrating technology intentionally, creating opportunities for instructor personalization, and supporting instructional growth, educators can ensure the benefits of unique instructor differences are utilized, resulting in an enriched online learning environment.
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In an era of rapid technological advancements and explosion in eLearning, it is with great enthusiasm that I start my term as the new Editor-in-Chief of eLearn Magazine. I am honored to lead the magazine through these exciting times.
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Gamification has been dismissed by some as a passing fad and buzzword in education; however, if approached as part of mindful course design, gamification can enhance student learning and engagement. This article introduces a gamified redesign of a technology-based graduate course using Yu-Kai Chou?s ?actionable gamification.? Chou?s Octalysis Framework defines eight-core drives that describe the psychological motivators found in common gaming mechanics. Adding elements of ?white hat gamification? to the course?which focused on building a sense of accomplishment, empowerment, and meaning making?created an environment that allowed students to overcome their anxieties related to technologies, build digital literacies, and overcome the fear of failure in the classroom.
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In response to the advent of AI technologies like ChatGPT in academia, educators should not merely react with plagiarism policies but proactively integrate such tools to enhance learning. By cultivating AI literacy, integrating AI into assignments for interactive learning, and leveraging it for idea generation, we can prepare students for a digitally advanced future, promoting critical thinking and digital literacy while ensuring thoughtful use of technology to support student growth.
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This editorial provides an annual review of eLearn Magazine including a high number of published articles, the addition of new topic series, increased partnerships, and an effective editorial board strategic plan.
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This study aims to comparatively analyze students and professors' perceptions regarding the development of competencies through the online format of a bachelor's degree program in hospitality management during three semesters of stay-at-home learning. The goal is to understand whether the tools and teaching resources used by faculty adequately met the objectives of the bachelor program, which has as one of its main objectives the development of competencies. Using the two variables from the TAM Model (i.e., perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness) and the types of technological resources that students and professors used, we found both groups saw the accessibility and ease of use of technological tools as simple and believe that they are useful or very useful for learning.
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Learner agency, premised on making education meaningful and relevant, involves fostering two critical aspects in online classrooms: voice and choice. By providing students with a say in the teaching-learning dynamics (such as setting course policies or assignment deadlines) and offering them decision-making capacity in mastering course content (like choosing individual learning paths or formats to demonstrate understanding) educators can create a personalized learning experience that enhances student motivation, engagement, and investment.
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Gamification, the application of game elements in non-game contexts, is being embraced in higher education, particularly in online classrooms, to foster engagement, participation, and satisfaction. As a quick and effective way to gamify, digital badges serve as virtual rewards for accomplishing specific tasks or goals, stimulating student motivation, promoting community, encouraging critical thinking, developing skills, and bolstering incremental learning, thus making learning tangible and shareable, and driving competition.
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Teaching online learners with social skill, mental health, and communication disabilities requires post-secondary instructors to become more than content experts. The purpose of this article is to provide recommendations for postsecondary instructors for building inclusive communities, focusing on accessible course design, and increasing specialized professional knowledge that serves all learners, saves planning time, and diminishes frustration from excessive individualization of instruction.
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Josie Ahlquist's book "Digital Leadership in Higher Education" provides stakeholders in higher education with strategies to establish authentic personal connections using social media.
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Asynchronous learning has taken on new significance in the era of COVID-19 social distancing. The learning curve for students and faculty members to adapt to the new distance learning environment has been a dynamic experience. In this article we review some of our experiences with asynchronous curriculum in the pre-clerkship curriculum at the Uniformed Services University. We review student and faculty perceptions of virtual, asynchronous curriculum as well as tangible solutions for implementing asynchronous curriculum and pitfalls to be aware of.
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This article reviews Training magazine's 46th Annual Conference and Expo held February 13 through 15 in Orlando, Florida. It summarizes highlights from keynote presentations, expo hall events, and numerous concurrent sessions relevant to learning and development professionals
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Although concerns around academic integrity and plagiarism have been raised, ChatGPT can be used constructively as a learning tool. Several examples are included to guide educators on how to integrate ChatGPT in their teaching, such as answering questions, designing interactive lessons, starting discussions, and providing personalized learning experiences. However, it's imperative for educators to post guidelines for proper and improper use of ChatGPT, as well as teach students to use AI tools effectively and ethically. Embracing AI tools like ChatGPT could provide students with a dynamic and responsive learning experience.
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Panopto is a screen and lecture capture tool that can create in-video quizzes. By following guidelines, creating quizzes in Panopto can effectively keep students watching and help the lecture content stick in learners' memories.
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In 2020, as the entire world, including the U.S., experienced the rapid restraints and uncertainties of the COVID-19 pandemic, innovative teaching and assessment methods had to be utilized to achieve pre-pandemic goals and objectives of graduate education. This article describes how faculty implemented virtual oral exams as an assessment methodology to evaluate students' cumulative knowledge of essential women's health content. Course faculty administered a 25-minute virtual oral examination to students enrolled in a second-year advanced women's health course. All enrolled students (25 in 2020 and 19 in 2021) completed the virtual oral examination. The method was successfully implemented for two consecutive years, demonstrating the potential feasibility, applicability, and sustainability of implementing oral examinations utilizing the evaluation method in graduate education.
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Organized asynchronous discussions are a common feature in online, formal higher-education courses. Discussions can take place learner to learner or instructor to learner and are situated in small group projects, processing content in message boards, and games. Within these learning settings, conflict can emerge. Conflict may foster deeper learning about ideas, or it may be destructive and create a negative learning environment. The purpose of this article is to identify conflict challenges present within asynchronous online discussions and to present evidence-based strategies to mitigate conflict within these higher education instructional settings. Conflict challenges may involve navigating effective online collaboration, participating in small group discussion, and developing discernment for health conflict.
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We missed in-person learning due to the pandemic. Three years later some form of virtual learning is here to stay, so how can we replicate that in-person feel?
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This article looks into the impact of COVID-19 on the digitization of work and learning, specifically for adult educators (post-secondary educators and trainers) around the world. It provides a comparison of adult educators in Singapore and their international counterparts from the United Kingdom, European Union countries, and the United States. Results show international respondents tended to view transition to online learning, teaching, and assessment (LTA) as a temporary response to the emergency due to COVID-19, while the perceptions of respondents from Singapore seemed to represent a general sentiment toward a more permanent shift to online LTA rather than an emergency response.
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Quick response (QR) codes allow for quick and easy accessibility of just-in-time training (JiTT) for a variety of online materials. They are becoming more widely utilized to share educational materials, with potential vast applications for health professions education. In this article, we describe the development of a novel video-based equipment skills training curriculum incorporating QR codes and discuss the broader implications for educators.
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Conferences offer a venue to share ideas, present and hear about current research, and network. Medical conferences include an added dimension of being a form of continuing medical education. The COVID-19 pandemic made it impossible to conduct traditional in-person conferences, and, out of necessity, everyone had to transition to a virtual platform. Organizing a conference requires a tremendous amount of planning, preparation, and persistence to ensure the intended vision is met. But there is insufficient evidence and guidance on conducting effective conferences. This paper will discuss my experience planning and conducting a virtual medical conference.
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Many medical residency programs have attempted to equip their trainees with tools to combat burnout using wellness curricula. One often-overlooked aspect of burnout is the support person's lack of understanding about the stress residents face as well as what is required of them. We describe a program, known as the Family Anesthesia Experience, with a focus on the conversion of the in-person event to a virtual format and comparing learning experience in the two formats. The goals of this program are to improve residents' support persons' understanding of anesthesiology residency and combat physician burnout via a social-relatedness approach. This program was conducted in-person in 2019 and converted to a virtual format in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Developing pediatric resident trainees' proficiency in managing and troubleshooting tracheostomy issues is critical for the intensive care of children with medical complexity. Tracheostomy management, involving a set of complex technical and non-technical skills, are traditionally taught in simulation centers. The COVID pandemic, however, has posed a challenge to our in-person coaching, prompting us to explore the innovative use of VoiceThread to teach these skills using a blended approach. In this paper, we report the evolution from VoiceThread-based completely asynchronous coaching towards blended coaching, and we discuss the optimization of blended coaching into Just-in-Time Coaching. We demonstrate that the development of instructional approach was based on our critical analysis of different modes of teaching, reflection on lessons learned and best practices from implementation, and review of relevant literature.
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Blended learning in pain education is an effective teaching method to help learners grasp complex didactic and clinical topics. In this report, four educational strategies are examined that were successfully utilized to teach a postgraduate dental orofacial pain course. These strategies included using virtual presentations, hands-on training, virtual interactive case-based learning, and student created multimedia and peer-to-peer feedback.
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Healthcare professionals (doctors, nurses, dentists, etc.) use cutting-edge technologies in patient care. They interact with technologies daily. However, the use of technology for education has not been widely adopted by healthcare professions educators. This special issue explores how educators in different healthcare professions have adapted their teaching to the online environment. The articles in this special issue showcase the use of educational technologies in a broad health professions landscape: dental education, nursing education, medical school, and medical residency programs.
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In Educational Duct Tape, Jake Miller compares, contrasts, and selects a plethora of technology tools for educators in a creative and entertaining way. By offering snapshots from his personal and professional life, the author created a pleasant and easy-to-read book. He emphasizes that technology should not be employed as the end objective, but rather as a means to an end. Throughout the book, he argues that educational technology tools should be utilized to solve classroom problems, address learning objectives, and accomplish specific goals exactly as we use duct tape to mend minor problems in our daily lives.
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Stakeholders in digital assessments have requirements and expectations that technology implementations do not always meet. This is the "Assessment Excellence Gap." This article explains why digital assessment is important and focuses on two particular aspects with a call to action to make assessments more inclusive and to write questions that go beyond recall when creating assessments.
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Higher education is faced with a shifting milieu that actively embraces online education. This environment requires robust faculty support. Enter the faculty concierge model of faculty support, which extends the instructional designer-focused concierge model of online support proposed by McCurry and Mullinx through a faculty-centered lens. The faculty concierge model aims to provide high-touch, individualized faculty support. Faculty concierges respect the experiences and expertise of the faculty members they work with; they start with small changes and focus on offering simple and accessible support.
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Profound Learning (PL) can result from online interactions that support practices for deep, lifelong learning. Distance educators can initiate, facilitate, and maintain PL by encouraging thoughtful rather than superficial learning using Universal Design for Learning (UDL). The inclusive nature of UDL provides multiple mechanisms to find that deeper meaning. In this article, concepts and practices drawn from Profound Learning Theory are integrated into UDL guidelines and connected to distance learning to support the development of deep, meaningful, and robust online learning.
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With so much technology-enabled innovation in assessment, one area has often had too little attention--the exam development phase, often called the "hardest job in publishing." Writing exams is so challenging and so important, not just for the validity of tests but also for the ability of exam providers to innovate their services and operate efficiently. With genuinely enterprise scale solutions finally becoming available in this area, the authors offer a checklist guide for assessment providers to review their authoring processes.
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Learners with disabilities can face certain challenges that require accommodations in educational settings. High-quality educational intervention could tap into these learners' potential by immersing them in multimodal learning opportunities. In this interview, Dr. Simos Retalis discusses the approaches and characteristics of educational technology tools that can help accommodate learners with disabilities.
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This article provides a summary and review of "Make It Meaningful: Taking Learning Design from Instructional to Transformational" by Dr. Clark Quinn. The book consists of a section on principles and a section on practices for designing learning experiences that engage learners intellectually and emotionally. The book provides a primer and a playbook for educators to reflect upon and improve their personal practice.
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Mass production of test items involves numerous steps and takes time. Technology can play a key role in supplementing human resources whether gathering and storing source materials, communicating with subject matter experts, or synchronizing and coordinating activities during a complex or fast-paced development cycle. Our work in automated item generation (AIG) using natural language processing is one example of this process unfolding in practice. Over the past few years, there has been a surge in developments in the fields of natural language understanding and generation (NLU/NLG) regarding applications of language models developed via machine learning techniques that have yet to be applied to the area of AIG.
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The primary focus in developing and providing equitable assessment should be the student who will engage with the assessment. Students' diverse experiences and individual needs are key to centering them in their assessment. New practices and greater emphasis are needed to provide an assessment environment that enhances student agency. Performance assessment, current innovative and emerging technologies, and considerations for marginalized students and students with disabilities, all grounded in research-based practices can promote equity in assessment. Some of these approaches already exist in some schools, which can serve as an illustrative example of what can be accomplished.
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Because of high economic volatility, ongoing competition intensification, and the recent COVID-19 global pandemic influence, more and more education institutions are looking for efficient ways to serve their adult learner population. This article introduces a peer-mentoring framework of practice to help education institutions develop healthy cross-institutional leadership collaborations. This framework builds on three pillars: Developing a shared vision, respecting diversity and differences, and streamlining communications. An adult distance education consortium located in the U.S. is discussed as an example to illustrate how this three-pillar peer-mentoring framework of practice can be used to help make cross-institutional leader collaboration a success.
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This is the first in a series of articles covering advancements in eAssessment. The series will feature educators, developers, and researchers from around the world who are innovating how learning is assessed while meeting the challenges of efficiency, scalability, usability, and accessibility.
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The highlight of this past year was new community initiatives. In this annual review of the magazine, the Editor in Chief details her accomplishments and goals.
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Oftentimes, when we consider the current, traditional higher education experience, we neglect to give thought to whether our institutions are providing the necessary resources to all learners. Are we truly helping those from under-served populations, or those who want to attend college, but can not find the time or money to attend? Are higher education institutions addressing these concerns, or are the traditional institutions leaving it to those who are outside of academia to figure it out? Who is best suited to helping learners learn?
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To improve the quality of online teaching, institutions typically provide structured professional development in the form of institutional teaching or learning center programming. This programming typically focuses on teaching and learning quality, transitions to online teaching, pedagogies, and new technologies. This article reports on the use of outsourced professional development along with faculty responses to the program. Use of an outsourced program was attractive to faculty who wanted to have another institution's name on their vita. Seventeen faculty completed the professional development program and eight shared their reflections on this inquiry.
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There is a multitude of terminologies in the field of learning and training to refer to how we design and approach learning experiences: two of them being instructional design and learning design. Online searches and forum discussions among practitioners and researchers reveal the confusion surrounding the use of these terms. Both terms have sometimes been used interchangeably, but the fact that there is more than one term implies that both terms might be used to encompass different aspects of the learning and training discipline. The term instructional design has been a commonly used term until recently, but now learning design made its way to the literature and to our practices.
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This interview with George Ubachs conducted by Dilek Şenocak and Şeyda Kır focuses on the concept of micro-credentials and their impacts on higher education and online learning. Ubachs is Managing Director of The European Association of Distance Teaching Universities (EADTU), which is one of the pioneer university networks for open, online, and distance higher education in Europe. He is also coordinator of the European MOOC Consortium (EMC). In this interview, he discusses his experiences on benefits of micro-credentials from different perspectives, possible challenges in implementing micro-credentials, and how micro-credentials support equity and inclusion in education.
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This article reports on an interview with Dr. Ronald Wagner founder and CEO of Relearnit OPM.
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