What's it really like to learn online?Learning Online: The Student Experience Online learning is ubiquitous for millions of students worldwide, yet our understanding of student experiences in online learning settings is limited. The geographic distance that separates faculty from students in an online environment is its signature feature, but it is also one that risks widening the gulf between teachers and learners. In Learning Online, George Veletsianos argues that in order to critique, understand, and improve online learning, we must examine it through the lens of student experience. Approaching the topic with stories that elicit empathy, compassion, and care, Veletsianos relays the diverse day-to-day experiences of online learners. Each in-depth chapter follows a single learner's experience while focusing on an important or noteworthy aspect of online learning, tackling everything from demographics, attrition, motivation, and loneliness to cheating, openness, flexibility, social media, and digital divides. Veletsianos also draws on these case studies to offer recommendations for the future and lessons learned. The elusive nature of online learners' experiences, the book reveals, is a problem because it prevents us from doing better: from designing more effective online courses, from making evidence-informed decisions about online education, and from coming to our work with the full sense of empathy that our students deserve. Writing in an evocative, accessible, and concise manner, Veletsianos concretely demonstrates why it is so important to pay closer attention to the stories of students—who may have instructive and insightful ideas about the future of education.

This volume brings together leading experts from eight countries (the USA, Canada, China, Japan, Sweden, India, Azerbaijan and Nigeria) to discuss how national conditions and institutions have shaped initial policy responses to COVID-19. These decisions and actions will have lasting effects on higher education in different national contexts. The book offers solutions to common pedagogical problems such as Zoom fatigue, compassion fatigue and lack of student engagement. It also addresses techniques and support for online teaching and learning including methods to most efficiently utilize technology. The combination of timeliness and international perspectives makes the volume a necessary addition to educators’ libraries. In addition, the framing of COVID-19 responses in terms of their international context and institutional cultures provides a new perspective and unique contribution to the literature for researchers, higher education administrators and policy makers alike.

Building Online Learning Communities further explores the development of virtual classroom environments that foster a sense of community and empower students to take charge of their learning to successfully achieve learning outcomes. This is the second edition of the groundbreaking book by Rena Palloff and Keith Pratt and has been completely updated and expanded to include the most current information on effective online course development and delivery. A practical, hands-on guide, this resource is filled with illustrative case studies, vignettes, and examples from a wide variety of successful online courses. The authors offer proven strategies for handling challenges that include: Engaging students in the formation of an online learning community. Establishing a sense of presence online. Maximizing participation. Developing effective courses that include collaboration and reflection. Assessing student performance. Written for faculty in any distance learning environment, this revised edition is based on the authors many years of work in faculty development for online teaching as well as their extensive personal experience as faculty in online distance education. Rena M. Palloff and Keith Pratt share insights designed to guide readers through the steps of online course design and delivery.

Are you a K-12 educator who is teaching students over the internet with no face-to-face interaction? Online learning presents new challenges. Author Lindy Hockenbary does not sugarcoat the fact that online learning is different than face-to-face learning. She tackles the most common questions of new online instructors, including:?How do you engage learners in a virtual environment??How do you develop relationships with students whom you never see in person? ?What does classroom management even look like in an online class??How do you assess students when there is no way to know if they are looking up all the answers??How do you ensure clear communication since you cannot stand over a learner's shoulder and ensure a task is accomplished??How do you communicate with and support the families of online learners??How do you ensure equity when students are never in the same physical space?This book addresses each of these questions head-on by presenting key takeaways to guide online learning design. Lindy brings her experience as a classroom teacher and instructional technologist to create a clear picture of online learning strategies. Other classroom teachers, school leaders, and instructional technologists have contributed to the book to provide a well-rounded perspective on the topic of online learning. This book was designed with K-12 teachers in mind, but the majority of information can be applied to higher education/postsecondary learning environments as well.

Students can succeed in school—but they must be in school to do so. Addressing absenteeism is as important as addressing problematic behavior and academic difficulties in the classroom. To address the pervasive issue of chronic absenteeism—that is, missing 10 percent of school days for any reason—educators must begin to move away from a model of reliance on reactive and punitive approaches and toward one that is preventive and positive, and that uses proven principles of behavioral change. Teacher’s Guide to Tackling Attendance Challenges, by nationally known educators Jessica Sprick and Tricia Berg, provides teachers with the information and resources they need to build a strong classroom-based initiative to improve the attendance of all students, creating a classroom culture of attendance with easy-to-implement strategies. Sprick and Berg provide concrete and practical strategies for teachers to implement in their own classrooms to address chronic absence and improve the attendance of all students, including: A framework for implementation Sample lesson plans Examples and reproducibles for reinforcement systems Talking points for use with students and families Real-world examples of successful classroom-based approaches Handouts for parents on establishing routines, dealing with technology and more When teachers apply the easy-to-implement and minimally invasive presented, they will see significant improvements in student attendance. This book is a copublication of ASCD and Ancora Publishing.

With considerations for students, faculty members, librarians, and researchers, this book will explain and help to mitigate plagiarism in higher education contexts. Plagiarism is a complex issue that affects many stakeholders in higher education, but it isn't always well understood. This text provides an in-depth, evidence-based understanding of plagiarism with the goal of engaging campus communities in informed conversations about proactive approaches to plagiarism. Offering practical suggestions for addressing plagiarism campus-wide, this book tackles such messy topics as self-plagiarism, plagiarism among international students, essay mills, and contract cheating. It also answers such tough questions as: Why do students plagiarize, and why don't faculty always report it? Why are plagiarism cases so hard to manage? What if researchers themselves plagiarize? How can we design better learning assessments to prevent plagiarism? When should we choose human detection versus text-matching software? This nonjudgmental book focuses on academic integrity from a teaching and learning perspective, offering comprehensive insights into various aspects of plagiarism with a particular lens on higher education to benefit the entire campus community.

"For students to be successful in school, they first have to be in school." With that simple statement, Jessica Sprick and Randy Sprick launch a compelling case for prioritizing student attendance. This comprehensive guide provides school and district-level administrators and teams with the background information, strategies, and tools needed to implement a multitiered approach to improving attendance and preventing chronic absence. The authors use the results of their work in schools throughout the United States to dispel the myth that educators have little control over student attendance and provide success stories from elementary and secondary schools that have reversed longstanding patterns of absenteeism. Citing extensive research, Sprick and Sprick share details about the shocking prevalence of chronic absence in U.S. schools and its effects on students, teachers, families, and the school community. They explain how to replace punitive approaches to absenteeism with effective methods that begin with universal supports and continue through Tier 2 and Tier 3 interventions for students with more persistent problems. Specifically, they explain how to Build an effective school team to address absenteeism . Create systems to collect accurate data and set priorities. Develop an attendance initiative that generates student enthusiasm as well as staff, parent, and community support. Design and implement strategies that are tailored to specific schoolwide concerns and demographics that reach all students. Equipped with the information and tools presented in this book, educators can ensure wise use of staff and other resources—and create a culture of attendance that is the foundation of successful schools. This book is a copublication of ASCD and Ancora Publishing.