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This study aims to establish a framework for student evaluation of online teaching and learning (SEOTL) through an analysis of SEOTL instruments implemented by universities and colleges. From a list of 131 R1 and 135 R2 institutions, we searched, reviewed, and identified 27 instruments for student evaluation of online teaching. A five-dimensional evaluation framework with 24 categories of elements was developed through an analysis of these instruments. There were 278 evaluation elements among the 27 instruments. We found that most instruments focus more on the Course and Instructor dimensions, with Instructor Facilitation and Learning Goals and Objectives elements occurring most frequently. However, Organization and Technology dimensions with Advising Availability and Adequacy, Registration Procedures, Support Services, and Online Help Desk elements were least included. This study has implications for administrators, instructors, instructional designers, and students.

Online Learner Collaboration (OLC) supports the development of knowledge and skills through social construction. In this systematic review of research spanning a decade, authors examined 63 articles for publication patterns, participant and context trends, and research methodology trends using an online learner collaboration framework consisting of the following elements: collaborative technologies, design, facilitation, and outcomes. The higher education context and education discipline had the most research conducted on OLC among the studies reviewed. All three research methods (quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods) were used equally in the articles. The most commonly used technologies for OLC were learning management systems (LMS), discussion boards, writing tools, and synchronous tools. The most commonly used collaborative methods were group projects and discussions. The most common grouping size was small groups, and groups were commonly formed through random assignment, based on criteria, or student-formed. Instructors mostly assumed roles as designers, facilitators, supporters, and evaluators during OLC. Increased learning, communication and collaboration skills, and relationship building were the top three opportunities that OLC offered. Time, technical issues, and anxiety/fear/stress were challenges that appeared most frequently. Most of the research on OLC focused on cognitive and affective outcomes. The review has implications for online instructors and instructional designers who design and facilitate collaborative online courses.

With the growth in digital teaching and learning, there has been a sharp rise in the number of cybersecurity attacks on K-12 school networks. This has demonstrated a need for security technologies and cybersecurity education. This study examined security technologies used, effective security practices, challenges, concerns, and wish list of technology leaders in K-12 settings. Data collected from 23 district websites and from interviews with 12 district technology leaders were analyzed. Top security practices included cloud-based technologies, segregated network/V-LAN, two-factor authentication, limiting access, and use of Clever or Class Link. Top challenges included keeping users informed, lack of buy-in from staff and decision-makers, lack of expertise to implement modern best practices, and cost of resources. Top concerns included possible cyberattacks, leaked student data, and lack of user awareness. Finally, their wish list included technology personnel, access to Clever of Class Link, external system diagnostic checks, professional development for staff, and replacing aging infrastructure. The findings have implications for K-12 administrators, technology leaders, and teachers.

The Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework describes three essential presences (i.e., teaching presence, cognitive presence, and social presence) and how these presences interact in providing an educational experience in online and blended learning environments. This meta-analysis examined 19 empirical studies on the CoI Presences (teaching presence, social presence, and cognitive presence) and their correlations with learning outcomes, including actual learning, perceived learning, and satisfaction. It was found that teaching presence and actual learning were moderately positively correlated, (r = 0.353). There was a weak correlation between cognitive presence and actual learning, (r = 0.250) and social presence and actual learning, (r = 0.199). For the correlation between the presences and perceived learning, cognitive presence and perceived learning was found to be strongly correlated, (r = 0.663), followed by the moderate correlation between social presence and perceived learning (r = 0.432), and teaching presence and perceived learning, (r = 0.392). With respect to satisfaction, the correlation between cognitive presence and satisfaction (r = 0.586), and between teaching presence and satisfaction was strong (r = 0.510), but the correlation between social presence and satisfaction was moderate (r = 0.447). The findings have implications for designers and instructors who design and teach online and blended courses to include these presences.

Online instructors adopt various roles and perform various competencies in the design and delivery of online courses. In this study, online instructor roles are categorized into eight types including Subject Matter Expert, Course Designer and Developer, Course Facilitator, Course Manager, Advisor/Mentor, Assessor/Evaluator, Technology Expert, and Lifelong Learner. Through survey-based research with 141 online instructors, this study examines competencies that online instructors perform based on various roles. When rating competencies, overall categorical means for all the roles were rated above 4.00, which showed that they used all these roles. The highest rated items and lowest rated items are discussed in addition to the connection between research and practice in online teaching. Online instructors who participate in training and who collaborate with instructional designers rated the frequency with which they perform the competencies to be higher. This study has implications for online instructors, instructional designers, and administrators who design and deliver online learning and offer professional development for online instructors.

Synchronous online learning (SOL) provides an opportunity for instructors to connect in real-time with their students though separated by geographical distance. This meta-analysis examines the overall effect of SOL on cognitive and affective educational outcomes, while using asynchronous online learning or face-to-face learning as control groups. The effects are also examined for several moderating methodological, pedagogical, and demographical factors. Following a systematic identification and screening procedure, we identified 19 publications with 27 independent effect sizes published between 2000 and 2019. Overall, there was a statistically significant small effect in favor of synchronous online learning versus asynchronous online learning for cognitive outcomes. However, the other models were not statistically significant in this meta-analysis. The effect size data were normally distributed and significantly moderated by course duration, instructional method, student equivalence, learner level, and discipline. Implications for educational practice and research are included.

This study examined the level of readiness of faculty in designing and delivering accessible online courses to meet the needs of all learners, including students with disabilities. A total of 182 tenured/non-tenured full time, part-time, adjunct and clinical faculty from three public universities of different sizes were surveyed to gauge their awareness, understanding, and practices related to disability laws, quality standards, utilization of tools, and professional development support. Results from the study indicated an uneven level of readiness by faculty regarding online learning accessibility. Results from the study showed that professional development training in online learning had a very significant influence on accessibility knowledge and practice. Also, high perceptions of knowledge for institutional policy and terminology and low perception of accessibility laws and standards were found. It is also found that training on disability-related laws and regulations provided by higher education institutions was insufficient and at times, does not align with the faculty's schedule. Given the results of the study, it is recommended that higher education institutions reorient their approach to supporting faculty who teach online and develop a comprehensive strategy to reach the goal of helping all students, including students with disabilities, to fully engage online learning. The findings from this study have implications for course development and implementation to support students with disabilities.

Course design is critical to online student engagement and retention. This study focused on the development and validation of an online course design elements (OCDE) instrument with 38 Likert-type scale items in five subscales: (a) overview, (b) content presentation, (c) interaction and communication, (d) assessment and evaluation, and (e) learner support. The validation process included implementation with 222 online instructors and instructional designers in higher education. Three models were evaluated which included a one-factor model, five-factor model, and higher-order model. The five-factor and higher-order models aligned with the development of the OCDE. The frequency of use of OCDE items was rated above the mean 4.0 except for two items on collaboration and self-assessment. The overall OCDE score was related to self-reported levels of expertise but not with years of experience. The findings have implications for the use of this instrument with online instructors and instructional designers in the design of online courses.

Elementary school children are spending more time using digital technologies. Teachers and schools are concerned about the student's digital safety. We interviewed ten elementary school teachers virtually to understand their concerns and understand the actions they take regarding elementary school children's digital safety. Using thematic analysis, we identified themes of concerns and actions of teachers and schools on elementary school children's digital safety. Some digital safety concerns discussed by the teachers included content-related concerns such as accessing inappropriate content, contact-related concerns, inappropriate contact with others online, sharing personal information, lack of understanding of danger, conduct-related concerns regarding cyberbullying and digital footprint, contract-related concerns such as digital security and privacy, and home-related concerns. Teachers and schools have taken several actions to address these concerns. Some of the digital safety actions included security measures and limits, monitoring student activities, providing education on digital safety, and support from guidance counselors. This study has implications for elementary school educators, administrators, parents, and students on the safe use of digital technologies.

This study reports the transitional lived experiences of work-from-home parents, uncovering their roles and activities while balancing duties of working, parenting, and assisting children with remote learning. Using a phenomenological approach, a three-step coding process was applied to organize a macro-micro view of parent engagement emerging from ten semi-structured interviews with parents from the Philippines. Parents demonstrated a positive mindset amidst balancing five academic roles including organizing learning, facilitating learning, monitoring learning, motivating learning, nurturing learning, and a sixth role in supporting learning. The role of "supporting learning" was deemed most important and central to the success of other roles. Parents assumed a primary instructor role as teachers were less prepared and performed activities distinctive to student needs. Parents served as digital classroom managers who organized schedules, assisted with assignments/projects and participated in online chat groups. Parents repurposed living spaces and furniture for makeshift study and work areas. Parents helped children develop an online learning mindset but faced challenges motivating children to focus and finding the right mix of screen-time. Parents valued children's well-being, bonding time, socialization, and life skills. This research is a novel contribution of work-from-home parent experiences and adds to the literature on remote/ online education during COVID-19.

K-12 schools utilize a growing number of technologies to operate effectively, ranging from technologies for learning to technologies that manage student and personnel data. We share findings from an analysis of 23 school district websites for technologies used in a number of K-12 school districts surrounding a public, research university in a southeast region of the United States. In addition, we also share findings on technologies used in K-12 school districts from interviews with 12 technology directors. We propose a technology classification framework including educational technologies, management technologies, support technologies, networking technologies, and security technologies in addition to identifying various technologies that are currently used by school districts based on this framework. This framework has implications for K-12 technology adoption and clarifying the roles of school technology personnel.

This study examines 105 pre-service and in-service teachers' perceptions of the importance and helpfulness of digital technologies for their learning and their teaching as well as their perceived competence and level of interest in digital technologies. The descriptive statistics from an online survey show that all respondents (n = 105) found collaboration tools, learning management systems, and supplemental video the most helpful for both teaching and learning, and found podcasts, social media, and mobile apps to be the least helpful and important for both teaching and learning. The findings of this study have implications for in-service teachers, pre-service teachers, school administrators, and teacher educators. This study indicates a need to further examine how pre-service and in-service teachers' beliefs about digital technologies influence their process of designing instruction and choosing whether to or how to use these technologies in their classrooms.

There continues to be an abundance of research conducted and published about online learning in K-12 settings. In this systematic review, 386 articles on K-12 online teaching and learning published between 2000 and 2019 were reviewed for research themes, participants, school type, research methodologies, and data collection methods. The data was analyzed by the two decades 2000 to 2009 and 2010 to 2019 and showed significant increase in the second decade. There was an increased growth in the number of publications until 2016 after which it stabilized. About 60% of the studies were published in the United States. Areas that are most and less frequently researched are reported and discussed. The article provides implications and recommendations for future research for online learning in K-12 settings.

Based on a current Research to Practice Partnership (RPP) between a southeastern public university and a state virtual public school in the United States, ten high school teachers from a virtual school who teach Computer Science (CS) online participated in a summer workshop to collaborate through a participatory action research project regarding design, facilitation, and evaluation strategies to be included in effective professional development. The questions were posed through an online collaborative Jamboard during the summer workshop. The teacher posts were qualitatively analyzed to identify common themes. Recommendations for professional development on design included CS content, how to teach CS, and CS tools and activities. For facilitation, they recommended resources for supplemental instruction and feedback tools for providing feedback in various modalities and a tool repository. For assessment, they recommended content knowledge assessments, including lab assignments, single and pair programming, and coding assessments. Overall recommendations for a professional development course to teach CS online were also offered.

This survey study examined student readiness for online learning in 2018 through the dimensions of importance placed by the student in online learning and the student's confidence in their ability as measures of readiness. An instrument with four subscales of competencies (online student attributes, time management, communication, and technical) that measure student readiness for online learning (SROL) was developed. Reliability of student responses on the online readiness instrument and factors related to student perception of readiness were examined. Descriptive statistics and item level means for the competencies are provided. Repeated measures analyses of variance were conducted to examine differences between participants' ratings of importance and confidence. Online student attributes, time management, and technical competencies were rated high for importance compared to communication competencies. Students were confident in online student attributes and technical competencies compared to time management and communication. Data were also analyzed based on demographic differences. MANOVA showed significant differences based on the race (white and nonwhite) of the students and course format (asynchronous, synchronous, and blended) on their perceptions of online learning competencies.