Abstract This study investigated the relationships among socio-emotional climate, positive interdependence, and group outcome among pre-service teachers participating in an eight-week online collaborative instructional planning (CIP) project. Furthermore, it examined the moderating effects of group composition – gender and group history – on these relationships. Participants completed the Group Processes Scale assessing their perceptions of socio-emotional climate and positive interdependence. Considering the nested data structure, hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) analyses were conducted to predict socio-emotional climate, positive interdependence, and group outcome. The study revealed a significant and strong positive relationship between socio-emotional climate and positive interdependence, indicating that each mutually enhances the other in online CIP. Both socio-emotional climate and positive interdependence were significant predictors of group outcome, while their effects were especially evident in “all-male” groups, as well as in groups with no prior collaboration history, suggesting that group composition factors can amplify the benefits of group dynamics. These findings underscore the importance of fostering both positive interdependence and a strong socio-emotional climate, while strategically considering group composition to enhance the success of online CIP.

Abstract Despite vast experience in face-to-face teaching, faculty and graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) still have a need to develop an online teaching skill set. Emergency remote teaching resulted in an avalanche of professional development opportunities. Post COVID-19, very few faculty can say that they have not been challenged by the need to teach online. Unfortunately, reacting to emergency situations in higher education comes at the expense of online pedagogy. Furthermore, instructors and GTAs prefer online resources over face-to-face training because of time constraints. This demonstrates a critical need to offer easy-access, on-the-job, self-paced, and theoretically-sound support to instructors who struggle with teaching online courses. This study reports on the results of a design-based research project to create and implement Purdue Repository for online Teaching and Learning (PoRTAL). Our guiding research questions focused on faculty and GTAs need for support, the affordances needed for PoRTAL, its effectiveness, and the barriers for implementation, replication, and escalation. The research process included four major phases and each phase comprised two development steps. The four phases were: 1) needs analysis and exploration, 2) internal evaluation, 3) expert evaluation, and 4) implementation. Each phase resulted in design principles to contribute to theory. Six design principles were identified: accessibility of open educational repositories, human performance technology principles for faculty training, attainable universal design for learning guidelines, online pedagogy vs technology training, content and design balance, and cultural and institutional barriers for project replication. Recommendations for practice and limitations of implementation are given.

Abstract Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) offers potential solutions to educational challenges by personalizing learning experiences for diverse learners. However, it also introduces complexities around issues of ownership of learning. As an indicator of empowered learning, ownership is a multifaceted but underexplored concept. In this study, the authors adopted a mixed-methods multiple-case study design to explore non-traditional online students’ perceived ownership of learning when using ChatGPT for instructional design. The authors adopted the psychology ownership construct consisting of self-efficacy, accountability, belongingness, and self-identity as the theoretical framework. Findings revealed students’ prior AI experiences and educational levels played a significant role in their perceived ownership. In contrast, no significant differences were observed for students in different learning modalities (synchronous vs. asynchronous) or with different neurodivergent conditions. This multiple-case study also explored how students used ChatGPT within and outside the courses, perceived challenges, and the role of GenAI in promoting educational equity from students’ perspectives. As one of the first studies exploring students’ ownership of learning in GenAI-facilitated educational contexts, the implications for practice and research were discussed.

This study aims to validate the mediation effects of assessment engagement and its constructs on the relationship between online rating ability and critical thinking. This study involved graduate students from a university who enrolled in the “Research Methods” course and utilized an online peer assessment system to rate the project report of each other. This study, based on social cognitive theory and self-determination theory, proposes and validates a concurrent mediation model—“online rating ability◊assessment engagement/its constructs◊critical thinking.” The findings are summarized as follows: (1) Rating ability significantly and positively influences assessment engagement, and assessment engagement significantly and positively influences critical thinking. (2) Rating ability significantly and positively influences all four assessment engagement constructs, and assessment behavioral engagement and assessment cognitive engagement significantly and positively influence critical thinking. (3) Rating ability not only significantly and directly influences critical thinking, but also simultaneously exerts a significant indirect influence on critical thinking through assessment engagement (significant indirect effect and partial mediation). (4) Rating ability can exert a significant and indirect influence on critical thinking concurrently through both assessment behavioral engagement and assessment cognitive engagement (significant indirect effect and full mediation); however, at this point, rating ability no longer significantly and directly influences critical thinking, nor does it significantly and indirectly influence critical thinking through assessment emotional engagement and assessment agentic engagement. (5) Assessment engagement exhibits a significant and partially competitive mediation effect in the influence of rating ability on critical thinking, with a substantial mediation effect size. (6) In the concurrent mediation model, assessment behavioral engagement and assessment cognitive engagement both exhibit complete and concurrent mediation effects in the influence of rating ability on critical thinking. The research results provide significant implications for academic theory and educational practices.

Abstract Disabled students are increasingly choosing to attend higher education. Online learning has the potential to meet the needs of disabled students in unique ways. However, questions remain about how well online learning is meeting the needs of disabled students and in what ways institutions are prepared for and actively providing students with accessible and inclusive online learning opportunities. This paper presents the results of a literature review of 91 sources focused on accessible and inclusive online learning. Themes that emerged from the literature are discussed, as are future implications for research and practice.