Information and Learning Sciences: Volume 121 Issue 5/6

Guest editorial

Rebecca Reynolds, Samuel K.W. Chu

Building a digitally enhanced community of practice

Jonan Phillip Donaldson

Emergency transitions from face-to-face learning environments to digitally mediated learning require robust support networks, particularly in the form of communities of practice…

Promoting interaction in online distance education: designing, implementing and supporting collaborative learning

Sebastian Strauß, Nikol Rummel

Against the background of empirical research on computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL), the purpose of this paper is to advocate implementing collaborative learning…

Reading and connecting: using social annotation in online classes

Xinran Zhu, Bodong Chen, Rukmini Manasa Avadhanam, Hong Shui, Raymond Zhuo Zhang

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many instructors to rapidly shift to online/distance teaching. With a narrow preparation window, many instructors are at a loss of strategies that…

gPortfolios: a pragmatic approach to online asynchronous assignments

Daniel Hickey, Jody Duncan, Courtney Gaylord, Christine Hitchcock, Rebecca Chiyoko Itow, Shelby Elizabeth Stephens

The purpose of this paper is sharing out basic guidelines and examples from an extended collaboration to move educators move online while avoiding synchronous meetings…

Guidelines and tools for promoting digital equity

Stephen J. Aguilar

This paper aims to provide a targeted overview of relevant digital equity gap literature that serves to contextualize the current crisis brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic…

A research-based approach for evaluating resources for transitioning to teaching online

Stephen J. Aguilar

This paper provides a research-based approach for evaluating resources for transitioning to teaching online.

Emergency remote teaching environment: a conceptual framework for responsive online teaching in crises

Clayton Whittle, Sonia Tiwari, Shulong Yan, Jeff Williams

This study aims to provide an educational framework for not only the emerging COVID crisis but also future emergency remote teaching environments (ERTE).

Self-regulated learning in online learning environments: strategies for remote learning

Richard Allen Carter Jr, Mary Rice, Sohyun Yang, Haidee A. Jackson

Many teachers and students in the USA and various parts of the world are migrating some aspects of education online out of necessity. The purpose of this paper is to identify and…

DESIGN-ED: a pedagogical toolkit to support K-12 teachers’ emergency transition to remote online education

Paul Flynn

K-12 educators face persistent and nascent challenges as they grapple with making an emergency transition to remote online modes of engaging with their students. Crossing the…

Social distancing meet social media: digital tools for connecting students, teachers, and citizens in an emergency

Christine Greenhow, Amy Chapman

In a public health crisis where social distancing, or physical distancing while in public spaces, is the new normal, social media offer respite from being alone. Recent statistics…

Promoting individual and group regulation through social connection: strategies for remote learning

Stephanie MacMahon, Jack Leggett, Annemaree Carroll

In a classroom, the teacher and other students play an important role in regulating individual and group learning. However, the sudden shift to remote and online learning, as a…

A “just-in-time” pragmatic approach to creating Quality Matters-informed online courses

Angela P. Murillo, Kyle M.L. Jones

Quality Matters is one of the most widely regarded standards for online course design. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many instructors have needed to quickly convert face-to-face…

Supporting making online: the role of artifact, teacher and peer interactions in crafting electronic textiles

Gayithri Jayathirtha, Deborah Fields, Yasmin B. Kafai, Joseph Chipps

The purpose of this paper is to report changes when a classroom-based makerspace moved from face-to-face to an online setting.

Maintaining rich dialogic interactions in the transition to synchronous online learning

Hyunyi Jung, Corey Brady

The authors present the first author’s recent experience as a design case, capturing approach and principles to transitioning a course from in-person to remote modality while…

Q-Bot, the Quarantine Robot: Joint-media engagement between children and adults about quarantine living experiences

Sonia Tiwari

Information about the COVID-19 pandemic and quarantine can be challenging to communicate to children. The purpose of this study is to understand how a children’s eBook can help…

Loss of brick-and-mortar schooling: how elementary educators respond

Emma Anderson, Avneet Hira

This paper aims to understand how elementary school educators who teach subjects that traditionally require hands-on work in schools are rising to the challenge of losing…

Pandemic designs for the future: perspectives of technology education teachers during COVID-19

Jillianne Code, Rachel Ralph, Kieran Forde

The disruption caused by the pandemic declaration and subsequent public health measures put in place have had a substantial effect on teachers’ abilities to support student…

Education in precarious times: a comparative study across six countries to identify design priorities for mobile learning in a pandemic

Tony Hall, Cornelia Connolly, Seán Ó Grádaigh, Kevin Burden, Matthew Kearney, Sandy Schuck, Jeroen Bottema, Gerton Cazemier, Wouter Hustinx, Marie Evens, Ton Koenraad, Eria Makridou, Panagiotis Kosmas

This paper is based on the emergency changes we have had to make in the European DEIMP Project (2017-2020), “Designing and Evaluating Innovative Mobile Pedagogies” (DEIMP). DEIMP…

Fostering valuable learning experiences by transforming current teaching practices: practical pedagogical approaches from online practitioners

Rebecca Chiyoko Itow

The purpose of this paper is to share lessons learned and tools developed that teachers can use to build pedagogically sound online courses. Transitioning to online instruction is…

Cultivating staff culture online: How Edith Bowen Laboratory School responded to COVID-19

Nathan Justis, Breanne K. Litts, Laura Reina, Shannon Rhodes

As educators across the globe are tasked with taking teaching online, this paper shares a culture-centered approach to transitioning to education at a distance. Specifically, in…

A rapid response to COVID-19: one district’s pivot from technology integration to distance learning

Lana Peterson, Cassie Scharber, Amy Thuesen, Katie Baskin

In March of 2020, Minnesota schools were mandated to transition to distance learning to slow the spread of COVID-19. The charge of providing equitable and appropriate remote…

Emergency remote teaching across urban and rural contexts: perspectives on educational equity

Earl Aguliera, Bianca Nightengale-Lee

While educational shifts in response to COVID-19 at the state, district and school-level may have been grounded in the best of intentions, these decisions may not fully respond to…