Journal Center

There is an abundance of literature that explores current issues, emerging trends, and the management of education technology, as well as discusses how information technology continually impacts distance education and the student learning experience. DEAC's Journal Center provides a compilation of key articles reviewed and recommended by the DEAC staff. Learn about the issues and take a broad look at current trends in distance education.

The Lumina Foundation
Released by the Lumina Foundation's Quality Credentials Task force, the report calls for a coordinated national response to defining and assuring the quality of postsecondary programs while eliminating inequities in access to programs that lead to earning quality credentials.

Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP)
Authored by the Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP) and EducationCounsel, this report illustrates model practices, and identifies actionable opportunities for accreditors to strengthen their data-use to ensure that their institutions are promoting student success and serving students equitably.

OSU Ecampus Research
The Online Learning Efficacy Research Database, curated and hosted by members of the Oregon State University Ecampus Research Unit, offers a comprehensive array of higher education studies that compare the equivalency of student outcomes in online courses to student learning outcomes in traditional "on ground" courses.

Campus Technology
A recent study shows that how instructors use an LMS in a classroom influences student activity and engagement with the system. Students either used the LMS in a limited fashion (approximately 15 hours on average) or were highly engaged (70 hours on average). Instructors may increase LMS engagement by employing the LMS in a more holistic fashion rather than supplemental.

EdSurge News
No one owns the term "master's degree," but some education providers, such as Udacity and EdX, want to trademark the next generation of online graduate certifications. What will the future of such credentials look like and how will this impact students?

Campus Technology
A new study from Oregon State University says that students use video captions and video transcripts to help themselves improve focus, retain information, and engage with material and improve comprehension. However, many institutions do not offer captions or video transcripts despite a legal obligation to do so. Campuses should offer transcripts and closed captions for all videos as they are not only necessary and required as a disability accommodation but are helpful to all learners.

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Through a partnership with the Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP), Lumina is developing a metrics framework that represents how leading institutions and states are measuring their performance. This paper describes how the framework offers a set of metrics that are currently in use by major initiatives to measure institutional performance related to student access, progression, completion, cost, and post-college outcomes.

The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Chronicle frequently publishes varying perspectives about this evolving approach to teaching and learning. A downloadable booklet that compiles research, articles, and essays on this topic offers a succinct primer on the subject.

Academica Group
The great question facing education today is how best to serve the masses demanding a postsecondary education that is relevant to their career and life aspirations and that provides the life skills they need to survive and thrive in a digital world. The Conference Board of Canada's Centre for Skills and Post-Secondary Education (SPSE) is a major five-year initiative that examines the advanced skills and education challenges facing Canada today. The Centre addresses Canada's advanced skills needs by helping to renew the roles, structure, activities and impact of post-secondary education, while ensuring Canada's skills development and sustainability, competitiveness, and quality.

Ithaka S+R
This literature review assesses the current state of research on online teaching and learning. The most methodologically rigorous studies in this review join a growing list of similarly rigorous research finding that students in online and hybrid formats perform about as well as their counterparts in face-to-face sections.

Education Policy Analysis Archives
How much do people in advocacy-focused organizations dominate and distort policy debates via media influence? The report from this study explores the relationship between academic expertise, advocacy groups, and media influence in education policy issues.

Educause Center for Analysis and Research
This study explores faculty and student perspectives on learning management systems in the context of current institutional investments. The researchers analyzed data from 2013 and 2014 survey results, summarizing the responses of more than 27,000 respondents at hundreds of U.S. Institutions.

The Internet and Higher Education
A study that examines different expectations and perceptions of learning environment labels.

eLearn Magazine
Examines several free or low-cost tools for providing feedback to students at all levels of education who submit e-documents for assessment, grading, and instructor review.

European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning (EURODL)
Reports findings from a year-long pilot study on the use of online textbooks and other digital materials to replace traditional textbooks.

Teaching & Learning: Strategies for Teaching Face to Face and Online
Describes six characteristics of authentic assignments and activities.

Educause Review
Discusses the emergence of six new educational delivery models in relation to issues of access, affordability, and personalized learning in higher education.

Journal of Interactive Media in Education
Describes the short history of MOOCS (Massive Open, Online Courses) and explores their implications within the wider context of the evolution of educational technology and open/distance learning.

Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education (CITE)
Reports results of a national survey of high school principals investigating whether online degrees and traditional degrees hold equal weight in hiring decisions for entry-level teaching positions.

Faculty Focus 
Briefly compares the differences between deep and surface learning and explains the importance of helping students to understand how they learn.

Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology
Analyzes key themes emerging from contemporary research on the Net generation as digital natives and compares common assumptions to empirical evidence about the nature of digital learning.

International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning (IRRODL)
Investigates the types of interventions that make a positive difference in students' progression and success in online courses, including factors that influence their expectations, motivations, and support. Also in this issue, see Exploring Learner to Content Interaction as a Success Factor in Online Courses.

Interdisciplinary Journal of E-Learning and Learning Objects
Uses advanced data analytics techniques, including visualization and slicing, to examine the impact of procrastination on online exam performance and grades.

Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration
Identifies concerns about self, task, and impact experienced by 103 new online instructors and provides practical teaching strategies to address them. 

International Journal of e-Learning and Distance Education
Reports study results suggesting that students in online discussions can engage in deep and meaningful learning, even when there is no facilitator interaction, if learning environments are designed to support student interaction and students have motivation, regulatory skills, and a willingness to collaborate.

European Journal of Open, Distance, and E-Learning (EURODL)

Describes three generations of distance education pedagogy (cognitive–behaviourist, constructivist, and connectivist) along with related technologies, instructional designs, and outcomes.

THE Journal
Describes five Web 2.0 tools that can facilitate implementation of activities requiring students to use skills for analyzing, evaluating, and creating.

Educause Review
Discusses the potential of learning analytics to enable learning experiences that are more personal, convenient, and engaging and that may foster student retention.

Faculty Focus
Describes the MUSIC model of student motivation that comprises eMpowerment, Usefulness, Success, Interest, and Caring. Also see Five Characteristics of Learner-Centered Teaching.

Journal of Interactive Online Learning
Examines the challenges of providing virtual clinical experiences and environments that are rich in diversity yet safe for experimentation and student learning.

Campus Technology Magazine
Discusses survey results indicating that higher education in 2020 will be quite different from the way it is today, driven by new methods of teaching, economic concerns, and student/parent demands.

Campus Technology Magazine
Discusses results of a recent study finding no significant difference in learning outcomes between blended online and traditional classroom formats.

Inside Higher Ed
A professor shares his experiences and observations about teaching online in light of faculty perspectives voiced in a new study on Conflicted: Faculty and Online Education, 2012.

Australasian Journal of Educational Technology (AJET)
Reports study results on student experiences and reactions to an online orientation program, including patterns of student activity, evaluation responses, program limitations, and recommendations.

European Journal of Open, Distance, and E-Learning (EURODL)
Examines two formats for massive open online courses -- including differences in pedagogies, tools, and student participation -- and discusses issues that should be addressed in future research.