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Distance universities are of great importance for establishing sustainability literacy, as they operate as multipliers for thousands of students. However, despite several advantages of e-learning environments compared to traditional class-teaching, there are still challenges regarding suitable e-learning tools and didactical models. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness of several e-learning tools on students’ knowledge and skills growth and to compare two learning paths, synchronous vs asynchronous, exploring how each affects the level of students’ knowledge achievement and skills acquisition.

The empirical analysis is based on an online course “Participatory processes in environmental politics”. International MSc and PhD students who enrolled in the course were from FernUniversität in Hagen (Germany) and Aberta University (Portugal). The course was designed as the flipped classroom, applying different e-learning tools and activities, some synchronous and others asynchronous. A pre- and post-evaluation questionnaire was applied to evaluate students’ knowledge and skills. Descriptive statistical analyses were carried out on this data.

Results showed that in the synchronous group, knowledge about theoretical approaches to citizen participation and sustainable environmental governance improved to a greater extent, whereas the asynchronous group showed greater improvement in nearly all skills related to intercultural communication and e-learning. Also, in the synchronous path, students enhanced their knowledge on “research application” to a greater extent.

Evaluating the effectiveness of different e-learning tools on students’ sustainability knowledge and information and communication technologies skills is a fundamental issue. The study discusses these issues, contributing to enhancing the use of adequate and grounded e-learning models on sustainable development in higher education.

Internet technology in the classroom has become the primary demand of every student in this era. Moreover, information and communication technology aids students' learning involvement and progress by providing learning assistance by improved instructor, pupil and interactions with fellows. Using an asynchronous Web-based learning environment (WBLE) is one way to manage such assistance. This study aims to identify to what extent the asynchronous WBLE affects students' interest and motivation in learning mathematics at Shah Abdul Latif University (SALU), Khairpur.

This research uses a survey research design under a quantitative approach. Therefore, data are collected through a questionnaire about students' motivation and interest in learning mathematics via asynchronous WBLE. Data are collected from the students of four departments (BEd, BSCS, BBA, BS Mathematics) of SALU, Khairpur. However, as the nature of this study is quantitative, both descriptive and inferential statistics were used in the results and discussion, and a one-way ANOVA test was used. The Cronbach alpha test was also used to assess the item's reliability, and the items were found to be acceptable.

The findings of this study discovered that asynchronous WBLE has a significant impact on students' intrinsic, extrinsic and interest levels. The results indicated that there is a positive impact based on the level of mean range of asynchronous WBLE on mathematics students.

The outcome of this study can be used as a guideline to understand and further plan or develop educational interventions based on the level of motivation and interest of mathematics students towards asynchronous WBLE in other contexts.

This is first study of its nature in the context of Khairpur district of Sindh that emphasizes on the motivation and interest of mathematics students toward asynchronous WBLE.

This paper aims to examine Socratic dialogue in asynchronous online discussions in relation to constructivism. The links between theory and practice in teaching are to be discussed whilst tracing the origins of Socratic dialogue and recent trends and use of seminar in research based institutions.

Many online degree courses employ asynchronous discussions where the teacher, acting as a moderator, is seen as the guide on the side rather than the sage on the stage. Such an approach, employing collaborative learning, is often described as constructivist. Practitioners may see the term constructivist as simply a convenient label to describe a range of effective teaching practices. Even when it is said that knowledge is constructed, this may be viewed as little more than a metaphor. There are however, behind these labels, epistemological theories such as radical constructivism and social constructivism which pose serious challenges to traditional views that perception is guided by contact with an independent reality and that science involves a search for objective truth. Many significant philosophical objections can be raised against these theories. The links between the theory and teaching practices of proven value are tenuous. There is an alternative explanation of the origins of teaching practices associated with asynchronous discussions.

Asynchronous discussion makes it possible for all students to make an initial written contribution based on both research and industry experience, as well as an extensive participation in a written debate. The relative ease of assessing contributions to a written debate helps overcome the problem of the seminar where only one person may get credit for his or her contribution. Contributions can to a great extent be made when it is convenient for both moderator and students.

The present study has considered the case of one institution; it will be useful to examine it for many.

Asynchronous online discussion is one of the highest forms of Socratic dialogue.

This is a different approach to the traditional belief and new ideas for consideration are presented. The Socratic dialogue has been developed as both an oral and written tradition from the works of authors like Plato, through to the development of the medieval university with its disputations and oral examinations, the introduction of seminars in research based universities inspired by Humboldt, the development of scholarly journals, and on to the asynchronous online discussions in the era of the Web.

In an online executive education setting, online discussions are seen as a frequently used pedagogical tool that promotes higher level of learning and critical thinking. A teacher's role is seen more as a moderator or facilitator of learning than as a lecturer or preacher. This shift of roles enhances the online students’ opportunities to critically think and reflect; and encourages co-creation of knowledge by way of peer discussions. It is imperative that students apply their critical thinking as well as soft skills to effectively participate and contribute towards making the discussion forum as self-regulated. However, in reality it needs explicit planning and effort on the part of the teacher to motivate them towards this positional shift. This chapter presents the motivation and techniques for improving student engagement by way of assigning them the role of moderator in a predominantly asynchronous online course for management graduates. A qualitative analysis of the observations made based on the application of three techniques of student moderation on student cohorts is shared and implications are discussed.

This research aims to study the students' perspectives on synchronous and asynchronous learning during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Both synchronous and asynchronous learning approaches used in online education have positive and negative outcomes. Hence, the aim is to study online education's positive and negative consequences, reflecting sync and async approaches. This research followed a mixed research approach. The key stakeholders of this research are the Indian educational institutions and students.

This research collected data from the students undergoing synchronous and asynchronous learning amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic. The data were collected (N = 655) from various students taking online classes during the pandemic. A questionnaire survey was distributed to the students through online platforms to collect the data. In this research, the authors have collected data using simple random sampling, and the same has been used for data analysis using SPSS version 26. The collected data were exposed to a factor analysis using a principal component analysis technique to reduce the vast dimensions.

The study findings show that synchronous learning is sometimes stressful, placing more responsibility on students mainly because of the increased screen time. At the same time, asynchronous learning allows the students to self-explore and research the topics assigned to them. Students also felt that asynchronous activities create a burden because of many written assignments to be submitted within a short period. Overall, the COVID-19 pandemic has been challenging for the students and the teachers. However, teachers have helped students to learn through digital platforms. The majority of the respondents opined that technological disruptions and death in the family circle had been significant reasons for not concentrating during online classes. However, the combination of synchronous and asynchronous learning has led to a balanced education.

Higher education has undergone multiple transformations in a short period (from March 2020, 2021 and beyond). Educational institutions underwent a rapid transition in remote teaching and learning in the initial stages. As time progressed, educational institutions did course navigation where they relooked into their course plans, syllabus and brought a structural change to match the pandemic requirements. Meanwhile, educational institutions slowly equipped themselves with infrastructure facilities to bring academic integrity. At present, educational institutions are ready to face the new normality without disrupting services to society.

Educational institutions create intellectual capital, which is important for the development of the economy. In the light of COVID-19, there are new methods and approaches newly introduced or old methods and approaches, which are reimplemented, and these approaches always work for the benefit of the student community.

The authors collected data during the COVID-19 pandemic; it helped capture the students' experience about synchronous and asynchronous learning. Students and faculty members are newly exposed to synchronous and asynchronous learning, and hence, it is essential to determine the outcome that will help many stakeholders.

This paper aims to investigate the following questions: What are the types of discussion prompts in a fully online graduate course? What are the key characteristics of students’ discussion initial posts and replies in a fully online graduate course? In what ways, if any, do discussion prompts influence the types of initial posts and replies in discussion threads?

This study adopted a qualitative approach to explore the dynamics of students’ knowledge construction through using asynchronous discussion boards. A total of 20 discussion prompts and 115 discussion threads from nine archival discussion boards in a fully online library science course were collected and analyzed.

The findings identified open-ended, explanatory and reflective prompts in discussion boards. Students engaged in simply stating, paraphrasing, elaborating, extending, reflecting, socializing and sharing emotions in discussion posts. These findings highlighted the interconnectedness of reflection and socio-emotional interactions in a community of inquiry and pointed out their important roles to support richer and deeper online discussions. The study further observed linkages between the types of discussion prompts and the types of discussion posts.

This study addressed an urgent need to understand the use of online discussion boards in an emergency remote teaching condition in a pandemic. The findings of this study offered educators insights into evidence-based design recommendations for prompts to support students’ knowledge construction and deep learning through using discussion boards.

Founded in sociocultural theories of learning, the authors argue that engaging learners in collaborative knowledge building is critical. When responding to others’ ideas, research shows that learners in online settings more frequently focus on surface-level aspects of colleagues’ contributions – sharing, comparing and praising – rather than engaging in knowledge building. Collaborative, knowledge-building discourse includes generative interactional practices that feature disagreeing, negotiating meaning, testing and reflecting on co-constructed ideas, summarizing conversations and making metacognitive contributions to discussions. The purpose of this paper is to review studies that show evidence of key design features and pedagogical practices that support collaborative knowledge building by promoting generative interactional practices and particular patterns in interaction.

This conceptual paper presents pragmatic design and instructional guidelines for online course discussions. The purpose is to synthesize existing research and share a detailed framework for supporting generative discussion in asynchronous online work.

The authors review studies that show evidence of key design features and pedagogical practices that support collaborative knowledge building. Design features to promote generative discourse include using the asynchronous nature of online settings to have students work privately, share their work, discuss their work with the class and then revise; providing instructions/discussion criteria that scaffold knowledge building; and using appropriate digital tools that mediate interaction around content. The pedagogical practices that affect patterns of interaction include modeling generative discourse, promoting increased interactions by and between participants and using opportunistic grouping strategies.

The authors include examples from one of their existing online courses that include these design features and pedagogical practices and discuss results from their ongoing work regarding the generativity of learner interactions in this course.

This article discusses the use of online asynchronous discussion boards as a valuable tool for connecting students to leadership concepts, theories, and models in introductory leadership survey courses. Recommendations are given for designing effective discussion boards that engage students and enhance their learning. Student outcomes include construction of knowledge, relevant connections between course material and personal lives, and critical reflection.

To explore the use of asynchronous and synchronous text‐based communication using the internet as a means of promoting discussion among a knowledge‐building community of school students carrying out a science investigation.

Activity theory is used to bring together the various theories associated with the study, both those framing the context and those concerned with data analysis. Logfiles from both asynchronous and synchronous discussion forums were analysed to identify critical incidents – sequences of interactions between students indicating significant discussions concerned with knowledge‐building – which were then the subject of critical incident recall through group interviews with the students involved. This method of data analysis allows the subjects of the research to engage in the construction of meaning, giving access to aspects of the discussions that are otherwise not available from the transcripts of online discussions.

Although it was not expected that synchronous interactions would yield significantly rich interactions between students, logfile analysis shows this is not the case. Critical incidents from synchronous interactions can lead to a large amount of information about the social processes of knowledge‐construction.

The significance of synchronous text‐based interactions in this study suggests that an appropriate pedagogy may prove valuable for teachers employing this strategy, providing a way to reveal students' tacit understandings as they engage in knowledge construction.

There is little comparable work involving school students undertaking knowledge‐building in a synchronous, text‐based environment.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss how web‐based technologies (WBT) can be applied to theater arts courses.

Through a review of the literature and parallels drawn between theater and online pedagogy, the paper proposes ideas for incorporating asynchronous and synchronous discussions, collaborative projects, and ways to utilize authentic and alternative assessments in addition to or in place of pen‐and‐paper tests.

WBT can be used as an effective enhancement to any theater course, though not in the same way for each area of theater. Almost any class can benefit from expanding the social dynamics through using asynchronous communications, but the true decision of the best way to utilize the benefits of WBT in a theater arts class is the same as for the integration into any class. The instructor must look at their own teaching style, the class objectives, and determine what usages will best enhance the learning process for the students in the particular course.

The paper offers insight into how WBT can help create a social online presence.