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The study aims to explore and explain the affordances and constraints of two-mode virtual collaboration as experienced by a newly forming international research team.

This is self-reflective and action-oriented research on the affordances and constraints of two-mode virtual collaboration. In the spirit of professional development, the authors (nine researchers at different career stages and from various counties) engaged in a joint endeavour to evaluate the affordances and constraints of virtual collaborations in light of the recent literature while also researching the authors' own virtual collaboration during this evaluative task (mid-January–April 2021). The authors used two modes: synchronous (Zoom) and asynchronous (emails) to communicate on the literature exploration and recorded reactions and emotional responses towards existing affordances and constraints through a collective journal.

The results suggest both affordances in terms of communication being negotiable and evolving and constraints, particularly in forming new relations given tools that may not be equally accessible to all. Journaling during collaborations could be a valuable tool, especially for virtual collective work, because it can be used to structure the team supported negotiation and discussion processes, especially often hidden processes. It is evident that the role of a leader can contribute to an alignment in the assumptions and experiences of trust and consequently foster greater mutual understanding of the circumstances for productive team collaborations.

The findings of this study can inform academics and practitioners on how to create and facilitate better opportunities for collaboration in virtual teams as a rapidly emerging form of technology-supported working.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a holistic view on e-learning-related concepts as a basis for an e-learning strategy. Furthermore, it aims to shed light on the level of application of existing open-source learning management systems (LMS) by the public and private universities of Cyprus. Due to a currently existing information gap in the field, the study should rather be seen as an exploratory descriptive snapshot to create initial awareness based on which further hypotheses can be derived for future studies.

Quantitative research has been conducted in this study with an online questionnaire distributed to all the public and private universities in Cyprus.

The conducted research analysis results clearly illustrate the comparisons among different features and services of an e-learning platform. Additionally, the analysis results highlighted the tendency of the participants toward a social learning environment which was considerably high in using social networks and other collaboration platforms, as students were more attracted to those e-learning platforms that integrate social learning elements such as various social media tools.

The only data collection method used was the online questionnaire. Even though it provided the researchers with sound and useful outcomes in a considerably short time, the validity of the results was not properly justified. The findings cannot claim to be representative. The main reason of selecting only one type of data collection method, i.e. questionnaire was the limited time of completing the research. Another significant limitation was the very low co-operation level of some of the universities under study which resulted in having less reliable results, as the response rates of some universities were merely 1 per cent.

This research study provides a comprehensive body of knowledge about LMS and e-learning, in general, within the public and private universities in Cyprus. In other terms, the results of this study enhance the existing knowledge about the e-learning features as well as demonstrating the tendency of the students toward social learning within an LMS.

The chapter discusses pedagogical models of digital learning in the United Kingdom with a focus on online and blended learning, rolled out as a case study in one university. The chapter appraises the effectiveness of the model that implemented and foregrounded the evidence in the wider literature on models of digital learning in higher education. The chapter provides thematic analysis and methodological opportunities for the improvement of practice and presents a set of implementation implications and pitfalls to avoid for higher education institutions in Africa. Furthermore, a number of trends regarding the blending of learning and communication synchrony in digital learning have also been identified.

Information seeking is a fluid and situation dependent activity where a seeker's actions are influenced by access to information, perceived quality (or information fit) and trust in the information source. All of these factors combined create an ever‐changing information‐seeking environment. Generally, traditional models and survey methodologies capture a “snapshot in time” of a particular information‐seeking activity, but fail to capture the multivalent influences of things such as chance, frequency of encounters, strength of source or the introduction of new or multiple influencers. Using the tool of fuzzy control systems, a new conceptual model is introduced that not only diagrams the influences on the information seeker, but also provides a framework to devise (or refine existing) communications strategies.

Since June 1995, the library automation company Fretwell‐Downing (FD) has been collaborating with a group of Further Education (FE) colleges on a project to explore the use of online distance learning techniques and how these might best be applied by this sector. Working under the name of the LE Club (Learning Environment Club), this initiative sits at the intersection of the administration, authoring, mediation, delivery, learning and tracking processes and as such raises a host of strategic, technological, political and implementation issues. Through integrating elements from previous (and ongoing) EU funded projects such as DALI (Document and Libraries Integration), RENAISSANCE (Integration of High Performance Services for Interactive Vocational Training for European Regeneration) and ICW (Integrated Co‐operative Workspace), together with components from FD's Library Automation package, OLIB, FD is in the process of defining an application framework for the Learning Environment. This paper reviews issues in delivering distance learning while outlining the specific architecture and methodologies employed in the LE project. The implications of such initiatives on libraries and library systems and the changing ‘learning environments’ in which they exist are also briefly considered.

Rich Internet Application (RIA) technologies offer designers the opportunity to experiment with novel interaction grammars, whose implications for conceptual modeling still need to be fully understood. An open problem is the ability to characterize the fluid, smooth and organic nature of the user interaction and navigation in ways that allow web engineers to share through a common vocabulary, as well as sketch, explore and specify design decisions in the light of usability requirements and stakeholder's goals. The purpose of this paper is to address this problem.

To meet this challenge, the authors extend IDM (Interactive Dialogue Model), a dialogue‐based approach focusing on the conceptual dialogue flow with the user, codifying a set of key modeling constructs in order to describe the new dialogue features of RIAs.

The approach, called Rich‐IDM demonstrated some relevant features: expressiveness to capture interactive features at a high level of abstraction, semi‐formality to facilitate the establishment of a common ground between designers and web engineers, and traceability of the design to important usability requirements.

The paper proposes a simple way to fill the gap between hypermedia design and user experience design for RIAs, which is an open issue, both from the web engineering point of view and the human‐computer interaction point of view.

The authors have described how Rich‐IDM can help designers to capture and cope with some RIA interface flaws. In this case, the benefits of the approach are directly related to the semantics of its primitives.

The authors' proposal is the first, consolidated step of a promising research avenue.

In recent decades, there has been an increase of public awareness about environmental problems. A simultaneous effort to increase educational course offerings in this area has been made. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the first edition of the blended learning MSc in Environmental Citizenship and Participation that is offered by Universidade Aberta, Lisbon, Portugal. This is the first and only MSc offered in the distance learning mode in Portugal in this scientific area. The Master's programme includes environmental and social sciences contents. Also the programme includes tools and methodologies designed to help the students put into practice their expanded awareness, and knowledge within educational and public participation processes, within environment projects, programs or plans.

Evaluation is performed with the students using three data sources: a questionnaire survey, personal interviews and assessment materials produced by the students. These data are designed to evaluate course performance in terms of: student motivation, student‐content interaction, student‐student interaction, student‐teacher interaction, learning activities, type of evaluation, and student's environmental citizenship attitudes and behaviours.

The qualitative analysis indicates a very high level of student motivation and satisfaction with the programme. The course contents, organisation and learning regime allow students to change their attitudes about environmental domains and to feel they will contribute to others change of attitudes and behaviours.

E‐learning brings new dimensions (to traditional education when it comes to adult learning) and increases the motivation to learn about environmental issues (if the e‐learning for environment course allows for new ways of exploring and solving environmental problems in an interactive way). Moreover, it may increase the readiness to learn if the students are allowed to move into new social roles through the course.

Teleworking, working from home and flexible work have gained popularity over the last few years. A shift in policies and practices in the workplace is required owing to the COVID-19 pandemic accelerating current trends in work-from-everywhere (WFE) research. This article presents a systematic literature review of WFE research from 1990 to early 2023 to understand the transformation of the field.

The Web of Science database was used to conduct this review based on rigorous bibliometric and network analysis techniques. The prominence of the research studied using SPAR-4-SLR and a collection of bibliometric techniques on selected journal articles, reviews and early access articles. Performance and keyword co-occurrence analysis form the premise of cluster analysis. The content analysis of recently published papers revealed the driving and restraining forces that help define and operationalize the concept of WFE.

The major findings indicate that the five established and accelerated trends from cluster analysis are COVID-19 and the pandemic, telework(ing), remote working, work from home and well-being and productivity. Driving and restraining forces identified through content analysis include technological breakthroughs, work–life integration challenges, inequality in the distribution of jobs, gender, shifts in industry and sector preferences, upskilling and reskilling and many more have been published post-COVID in the restraining forces category of WFE.

A key contribution of this pioneering study of “work from everywhere” is the linking of the bibliometric trends of the past three decades to the influencing and restraining factors during the pandemic. This study illustrates how WFE could be perceived differently post-COVID, which is of great concern to practitioners and future researchers.

A wide range of publications on WFE and multiple synonyms can create confusion if a systematic and effective system does not classify and associate them. This study uses both bibliometric and scientometric analyses in the context of WFE using systematic literature review (SLR) methods.

The purpose of this paper is to have an overview of how Indian institutions offering undergraduate architecture programs have responded to the pandemic situation. It seeks to appraise the alternative approaches adopted for teaching-learning, communication, assignment and evaluation and assess their effectiveness for progressive improvisations or integration with pedagogy. The paper articulates a view on the suitability of online teaching for architecture education in India, on basis of educators' experiences of teaching during the pandemic.

An online survey was conducted for obtaining primary data from the educators given the paucity of information. The questions elicited structured information on aspects of the transition process, IT/online platform and tools, the efficacy of online teaching-learning and trajectory of blended learning.

All institutions managed the transition to online teaching without much difficulty. However, the paper raises the need for professional training and feedback from students. One-third of the respondents express satisfaction with online teaching, despite low satisfaction about the effectiveness of online teaching of a design studio. The results convey the need for more engagement with digital tools and representational software on integrated platforms. The study finds consensus on the future potential of blended learning and advocates developing an integrated framework and curriculum for architecture education in India.

The paper synthesizes viewpoints on online teaching-learning of architecture program in wake of the pandemic from an educators' perspective. The emergent perspectives are viewed dialogically in context of global voices to articulate a future trajectory of blended learning in the domain of architecture education.

This paper seeks to outline a time‐based strategy for blended learning that illustrates course design and delivery by framing students' learning opportunities in synchronous and asynchronous modalities.

This paper deconstructs the evolving components of blended learning in order to identify changes induced by digital technologies for enhancing teaching and learning environments.

This paper hypothesizes that blended learning may be traced back to early medieval times when printed material provided the first asynchronous learning opportunities. However, the digitalization of contemporary learning environments results in a de‐emphasis on teaching and learning spaces. When time becomes the primary organizing construct for education in a technology‐supported environment, blending possibilities emerge around five components: migration, support, location, learner empowerment, and flow.

This study enables the readers to conceptualize blended learning as a combination of modern media, communication modes, times and places in a new kind of learning synthesis in place of traditional classrooms and technology with the teacher serving as a facilitator of a collective learning process.

The major implication of this paper is that modern learning technologies have freed students and educators from the lock in of classroom space as being the primary component of blended learning, thereby emphasizing learning rather than teaching in the planning process.

This paper proposes a new model of blended learning in which physical teaching environments give way to time. Time and synchronicity become the primary elements of the learning environments. In addition, the authors suggest that the time‐based model as an educational “new normal” results in technologies as enablers rather than disruptors of learning continuity.