Using Twitter to Support Reflective Learning in an Asynchronous Online Course

The purpose of this study was to further our understanding of the use of Twitter for promoting reflective learning. Specifically, this study investigated how students participate in Twitter-supported activities, what type of knowledge are manifested when Twitter is used to reflect on the course readings, and how students perceive the Twitter-supported activities. The data showed that Twitter was successful in keeping the learners engaged in the reflective discussion activities for a prolonged period compared to Blackboard. Students overall had a positive perception towards the integration of Twitter to support reflection and discussion along with active participation. Twitter was effective in increasing perceived learner-content and learner-learner interactivity along with engagement. We also provide recommendations for educational practitioners and direction for future research

Examining Relationships Between Student Perceptions of Community of Inquiry as a Predictor of Cognitive and Behavioral Engagement Mediated by Self-Efficacy

Online learning was growing in demand prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, due to the pandemic, more are seeing the need to increase the understanding of design strategies that improve student experiences. This study hypothesized a relationship between the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework, representing the design strategies for learning effectiveness in online courses, and cognitive and behavioral engagement with student self-efficacy as a mediating variable between the constructs of CoI and cognitive engagement. Participants for this study were undergraduate students enrolled in an online course from universities all over the United States. The study used a hypothesized model and path analysis. While the model was a poor fit for the data, results of this study indicate a significant positive relationship between cognitive presence and cognitive engagement, cognitive presence and self-efficacy, teacher presence and behavioral engagement, and social presence and behavioral engagement. Results of this study suggest design strategies specifically related to the constructs in Community of Inquiry will have a positive impact on cognitive and behavioral engagement. However, it was found that self-efficacy did not play a mediating role between CoI and cognitive engagement