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This study addressed several outcomes, implications, and possible future directions for blended learning (BL) in higher education in a world where information communication technologies (ICTs) increasingly communicate with each other.

This study tested 3 instructor presence features in learning from video lectures: dynamic drawings, eye contact with the camera, and instructor visibility.

Faculty development efforts for supporting online instructors represent a growing concern for higher education administrators. Providing online faculty with enriching experiences designed to improve practice, combat isolation, and share knowledge and resources is a challenge. This review examines the use of a community of practice (CoP) approach for online faculty support. The literature was reviewed with a focus on finding the faculty voice by extracting results from research studies on the use of professional development CoPs. Six themes of faculty perception of benefit emerged from the review and are discussed along with the pros and cons of three delivery methods for CoPs. The research supports the idea that collaborative faculty groups provide fertile ground for processing ideas and co-creating new knowledge, where productive conversations between eLearning faculty help improve teaching by identifying strengths, discussing challenges and finding solutions.

Open online courses are becoming more prevalent at local level and for and professional development objectives. Proper instructional design combined with use of online tools can promote learner interaction in online environments. Using the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework, this study aimed at examining learners' interaction and their perceptions of teaching presence, social presence, and cognitive presence in an open online course offered for professional development in three Swedish universities

In this qualitative case study of one teacher moving from face-to-face to online teaching, I explore how such teachers' subjectivities change within online teaching spaces. I do so by contrasting identity and subjectivity and then analyzing my participant's relationships with colleagues, her teaching practice, and her descriptions of her own work and identity. I suggest that ultimately online teaching spaces may be important potential sites for the demarginalization of ciswomen, transgender, and gender queer teachers.

An excellent study of the hidden curriculum that still stands today

Using survey responses from more than 2,800 colleges and universities and IPEDS data for 4,891, this study is aimed at answering fundamental questions about the nature and extent of online education some of which include: Who Offers Online (Distance) Courses? How Many Students are Learning Online (at a Distance)? Is Online Learning Strategic? Are Learning Outcomes in Online Offerings Comparable to Face-to-Face? Do Students Require More Discipline to Complete Online Courses? Is Retention of Students Harder in Online Courses? and What Will Drive the Future of Higher Education? The survey analysis is based on a comprehensive sample of active, degree-granting institutions of higher education in the United States.

I do not use the term neoliberal here lightly, it is one of those terms which is so widely and loosely used that it is in danger of becoming a detached signifier. What I mean by it here is 'a complex, often incoherent, unstable and even contradictory set of practices that are organized around a certain imagination of the "market" as a basis for the universalisation of market-based social relations, with the corresponding penetration in almost every single aspect of our lives' (Shamir, 2008, p. 3).

Exploring the challenges and opportunities associated with the concepts of community and communication in online higher education, this paper reconsiders the intention to replicate face-to-face learning and teaching strategies in online learning environments. Rather than beginning with the assumption that face-to-face education is the prototype for quality, the authors appraise the online learning environment as a unique medium which, by its nature, necessitates unique communication, community-building, teaching and learning strategies. This paper proposes an in-depth analysis of the potential unique affordances associated with online learning contexts as existing in their own right. The concepts of community and communication are explored in relation to online Communities of Practice (CoPs). The nature of face-to-face and online learning contexts are considered, especially in the light of the possibility of redefining "face-to-face" within the online realm, in addition to physical learning contexts. The paper identifies unique ways in which online communication (in the context of learning) is different from face-to-face communication, and consequently four ways in which this can be an advantage for students; namely, there is a measure of social egalitarianism, emphasis on verbal/written proficiency, time for reasoned response, and social agency. The paper provides grounding for further research into strategies that forge rich online learning experiences and suggests an empirical study as a next step.

This study focused on nursing student perceptions of sense of community in the online classroom. Using qualitative analysis of data gathered from five student focus groups, themes related to the affective domain in online learning were identified: aloneness, anonymity, nonverbal communication, trepidations, and unknowns. This article provides detailed examples of student experiences under each theme and suggests that greater attention to the affective domain is needed, particularly in asynchronous online learning. Pedagogical strategies that foster a sense of community in online courses between students and faculty enhance cognition through affective engagement of students. Strategies for instructors are given.