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Connectedness is essential for student success in online learning. By projecting themselves as real people through video, instructors support connectedness. In this chapter, researchers apply the theory of social presence (Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 2000) to case studies from two public higher education institutions: a four-year university and a large research university. Analysis identifies video as a humanizing element of online courses. Findings suggest video could be used in a variety of ways (e.g., video lectures, synchronous office hours, weekly overview videos), and no single use of video was perceived to be more or less effective in developing social presence and humanizing the learning experience. However, participants especially perceived connectedness when video was used in a variety of ways. Students from the second case study validated a perception of connectedness to the instructor that faculty in our first case study hoped to achieve. However, one instructor’s perception of disconnect illustrates that video is just one of several pedagogical practices necessary to create a satisfying learning experience for both students and instructors. While video is not the only way to establish social presence, findings suggest video is an effective practice toward creating a humanized and connected online learning community.

This study analyzed segment differences of student preference for video use in lecture classes and university use of video lecture classes. The authors then conducted novel gap analyses to identify gaps between student segments' preferences for videos versus their level of exposure to in-class videos. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used to identify significant factors that explain the gaps.

Segment differences of student preference for video use in lecture classes and university use of video lecture classes were analyzed. Novel gap analyses were then conducted to identify gaps between student segments' preferences for videos versus their level of exposure to in-class videos. MANOVA was used to identify significant factors that explain the gaps.

Gap analysis of video preference relative to video exposure showed a bimodal distribution, with an approximately even split between students with an overall deficit (44.5%) and surplus (47%) of in-class videos. Deficit means students preferred to see more videos than what the lecturer showed them. Surplus means the lecturer showed students more videos than they preferred to see. Further analyses break down the deficits and surpluses based on the type of videos shown.

Results are useful as an effective diagnostic tool for education managers because they are not at the individual student level but rather by course level. One implication for educational managers is that a one-size-fits-all approach for all courses will benefit some students and annoy others.

This paper extends Alpert and Hodkinson’s (2019) findings by identifying preference clusters and performing segmentation analyses based on finer-grained disaggregated data analysis.

The purpose of this paper is to describe an online faculty development pilot course on how to engage students online. A framework was used, referred to as the Trifecta of Student Engagement, for the design of the course. The Trifecta of Student Engagement proposes that students, in order to be fully engaged in a course, need to be engaged with their course content, with their peers and with their instructor. The course has three units of content that each correspond to the Trifecta of Student Engagement. This course has gone through one pilot with faculty and has impacted students and faculty positively.

An online faculty development course was piloted with eight faculty members across a range of disciplines who participated in the program. After taking the course, they had to apply the Trifecta of Student Engagement framework to a course they taught and share what they did via written report, webinar, or web presentation. This study summarized the faculty participants’ written reports and presentations as well as provided a qualitative evaluation on the impact this course had on students and faculty.

After faculty applied the Trifecta of Student Engagement framework to courses taught, faculty saw an improvement in student engagement, satisfaction, learning and achievement. Three faculty surveyed students to determine their engagement and satisfaction and found students to respond positively to the use of tools and activities for student-to-content engagement, student-to-student engagement and student-to-instructor engagement. Two faculty examined student grades to determine if there were changes in student outcomes. One professor saw average grades increase by 11 percent. Another professor saw grades improve by 8 percent. She also found that student assessment of learning increased by 0.57. Both faculty attributed the improvement to the effectiveness of the teaching strategies employed.

This research is limited to the eight faculty who participated in the pilot. Some faculty used methods to attempt to measure the impacts of their teaching practices by surveying students and looking at student performance data. A second pilot is needed for additional faculty to take the course and apply the Trifecta of Engagement framework to generate more data for impact.

Institutions looking to create an online teaching professional development course for faculty can utilize the Trifecta of Student Engagement framework for their course design. Additionally, faculty can read about tools and strategies that they can immediately apply to create more student-to-content engagement, student-to-student engagement and student-to-instructor engagement.

Faculty can be more intentional in how they engage students in their online course experience.

This paper adds to the literature on faculty development regarding student-centered teaching practices. Other institutions looking to create a faculty development course or program that utilizes a student-centered framework may find aspects of this paper useful for their own online teaching professional development initiatives.

Assistive technology can support and enhance the learning, independence, and daily living skills of students with disabilities, including students with intellectual disability (ID). Assistive technology is not generally disability dependent; however, for students with ID we decided to focus on assistive technology across two areas: instructional aids – with a focus on reading, writing, and mathematics – and transition and independence. Throughout our focus on these two categories of assistive technology, we discuss low-tech, mid-tech, and high-tech options to support students with ID.

Mathematics can be a challenging content area for all students and especially for students with disabilities. Assistive technology can support the access, participation and achievement of students with disabilities in mathematics in general and in inclusive mathematics settings in particular. In this chapter, assistive technology to academic and functional mathematics will be discussed; particularly, manipulatives, calculators and other technology-mediated mathematics interventions (e.g., apps or computer programs) will be highlighted.

This chapter reviews the intervention research literature – particularly interventions deemed evidence-based – for students with intellectual disability across academic and life-skills instruction. Although the focus of this chapter is the spectrum of students covered under the term “intellectual disability,” the majority of research on evidence-based interventions for students with intellectual disability focus on students with more moderate and severe intellectual disability, rather than students with mild intellectual disability. The majority of the interventions determined to be evidence-based within the literature for students with intellectual disability – across both academic and life skills – tend to be those that fall within the purview of systematic instruction.

Self-assessment (SA) and peer-assessment (PA) are considered useful tools in the development of lifelong learning and reflective skills. The authors implemented a teaching intervention using SA and PA amongst a large cohort of final year undergraduate students. The purpose of this study was to investigate students' perceptions of online SA and PA in order to understand the differences between these perceptions and to allow instructors to adopt differentiated instruction in developing a diverse student group's professional skills.

The research design adopted a mixed methods approach through the use of surveys that were administered before and after the SA and peer-assessment intervention in a taxation module taught at a large public South African university. Through the use of a series of open and closed questions students' perceptions on SA and peer-assessment were analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively.

The findings show that student perceptions of SA and peer-assessment differed significantly, where perceptions of SA were more positive than those towards PA. The findings indicate that SA and peer-assessment still present a challenge in an online context for large student cohorts, despite improved tracking, faster feedback and anonymity.

The study contributes to the literature by analysing students' perceptions about SA and peer-assessment in an accounting education context and in an online setting in South Africa.

Despite the expansion of e-learning, higher education still involves live lectures, which students often see as “boring”. Lecture classes can be made more engaging and effective by including videos. However, empirical research is yet to report on current video use in lectures, or on student perceptions of and preferences for videos. The purpose of this paper is to fill that knowledge gap.

A two-stage mixed-method study used focus groups to gain a rich understanding of student’s video experiences, preferences and the types of videos they are shown. These understandings were utilised in a detailed on-line survey questionnaire, which was completed by a diverse sample of 773 university students, who responded about their recent in-class video experiences.

Students report that about 87 per cent of lecture classes included one or more videos. This paper reports on instructor practices, develops a video typology and reports on students’ preferred frequency, type of video, video source, video length and existing vs preferred video integration methods.

The results provide useful information for educational administrators. Recommendations are made for effective use of videos in lectures by instructors.

This is the first qualitative and survey research investigating current practice and student perceptions of video use during lecture classes. The authors also conduct the first survey with a broad sample across universities and academic disciplines using the unit of analysis of videos seen per course last week. Typologies of sources of videos, instructional functions, video facilitation techniques and types of videos used during lectures are proposed and then measured.

The purpose of this research study is to validate an instrument that measures the importance instructors and students place on online student engagement strategies.

The online student engagement strategies survey was completed by 160 faculty and 146 students. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics and an exploratory factor analysis. The factor structure was examined using a principal component analysis with an oblique rotation.

Results show that the Online Engagement Strategies Questionnaire has a valid and reliable structure. Based on the exploratory factor analysis, four engagement constructs emerged including peer engagement, multimodal engagement, instructor engagement, and self-directed engagement. Results and discussion assist in identifying key engagement strategies within this online student engagement framework.

The validated instrument fills a gap in the literature, and it has value to practitioners, researchers, administrators and policy makers because it has practical applications.