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This study explored how course instructional format (i.e., online, face-to-face, or hybrid) is related to the frequency and duration of out-of-class communication (OCC) between college instructors and students, to student motives for communicating with teachers, and to perceived teacher approachability for conversation outside of class. Though differences in frequency of and student motives for engaging in OCC were not significant, students enrolled in face-to-face courses reported significantly more ongoing/durative OCC with their instructors compared to students enrolled other course types (i.e., online or hybrid). Students in fully online courses reported instructors to seem less receptive to but also less discouraging of OCC than students in face-to-face or hybrid courses. Overall, this study offers a sense of how students who seek informal interaction with instructors beyond the classroom are faring amid the increased reliance on web-based learning environments in higher education.

Online communication forums allow students to collaborate and construct understandings of course material together, but little is known about students' discussion participation across online and blended (hybrid) classroom environments. This study begins to address this research gap by examining students' asynchronous discussions (number and length of "initial" and "subsequent" discussion posts) that took place in three online and two blended courses offered at two different universities. Students in each of the online and blended learning environments produced over two pages (greater than 500 words) of posts for each of three topic discussions (called "conferences" for each course), and mean word counts were compared. In this exploratory study, "course format" as a variable did not influence the amount of students' asynchronous talk in any predictable way. Although more comparisons are needed to draw conclusive results, these preliminary findings reveal no pattern of participation across course types (i.e., online and blended) and thereby reinforce the constructive nature of classrooms as well as the importance of student place, group size, and subjectivities. We argue that students' experiences across course formats are infused with social dynamics and relational performances that may mitigate cross-format research endeavours and also that might challenge assumptions practitioners make about classroom environmental design. Computer-mediated communication (CMC) among students as a part of formal classroom time has become familiar part of the contemporary educational experience. Whether a course is offered completely online, in a blended (sometimes called "hybrid") format, or in a face-to-face classroom, students interact with others via computers. Of interest for researchers and practitioners in areas such as education, sociology, and communication is how students use these online opportunities to engage with others in their classes. Indeed, scholars have emphasized the importance of student-student talk in online learning contexts (e.g., Ertmer et al., 2007), and previous studies have compared the online communicative experiences of students in different classroom formats (e.g., Rovai & Jordan, 2004; Sullivan & Pratt, 1996; Vess, 2005). However, few researchers have examined online participation across online and blended (or hybrid) environments. This study fills this gap by assessing students' asynchronous discussions (number and length of discussion posts) stemming from teacher-posed questions across multiple online and blended courses. Specifically, this study examines college students' discussions that took place in three online courses (one a face-to-face campus, two at a virtual institution) and two blended classes (both on a face-to-face campus). The instructor, course level (upper-division undergraduate college), and content were the same across all courses included in this analysis, but student-group size, assignment worth, and geographical location varied. Therefore, this research is preliminary in nature, but raises the possibility that a number of important factors (e.g., student group size, course location, and institutional mission) vary along with classroom format (i.e., online versus blended) and will likely influence student participation in online discussions with their peers. The following section begins with a discussion of the role of student-student communication in the learning process and how the availability of online environments has altered the dynamics of instructional interactions. Next, we discuss how students experiencing different course formats have varying opportunities to engage themselves in with others in their classes. In doing so, we identify the broad range of literature that begets a need for comparison of students' discussions across online and hybrid courses. Third, we present the research question guiding this investigation and we delineate our methods by describing the course sections as well as the participants involved in this study. Ultimately, we offer our results and discuss the study limitations as well as ideas for future research. In our conclusion, we highlight the implications for teachers and administrators. (Contains 2 figures.)

Self-determination theory (SDT) underpins research on learner empowerment, but it is rarely discussed in empowerment-related literature. In addition, a motivational measure stemming from SDT has received little visibility in communication research. To address these concerns, this study focuses on motivational theory and measurement in an attempt to tease out the relationship between motivation and learner empowerment as well as how these constructs are related to students' choice-making opportunities in the classroom. In essence, this study aims to offer a strong synthesis of the literature related to these constructs, and also to make methodological and practical advancements in understanding student motivation, learner empowerment, and how freedom in the college classroom shapes students' enthusiasm for learning. (Contains 3 tables.)

In this essay, disciplinary "convergence" is offered as a construct that references the blurring of disciplinary walls, academic borders and institutional divisions, a construct that can frame conversations about the role of disciplines in addressing today's student needs in higher education. Convergence as a construct allows for a consideration of converging academic structures as well as the obligation of scholars and practitioners in higher education to address the needs of contemporary students aiming for life and work in a converging and increasingly mediated world. Ultimately, this work suggests that contemporary problems in an information society can be best addressed with broadly trained experts who can think, imagine and solve problem across traditional academic boundaries.

Set within the context of a global pursuit towards the internationalisation of higher education, this paper critically examines student discourse in a globally connected classroom between learners in the USA and Singapore. It makes salient some of the cultural assumptions and tensions that undergird students' discourse in collaborative international exchanges. We argue that technological innovation can enhance campus internationalisation efforts by providing opportunities for groups of students to intersect and interact across cultures. Such opportunities for social connection can bring about a transformative third space wherein domestic students and their international peers can engage in meaningful and productive dialogic exchanges. However, as this analysis suggests, the mere opportunity for connection will not necessarily manifest outcomes consistent with ideals of internationalisation and may instead result in superficial exchanges and reified stereotypes. Specifically, findings from this study demonstrate several tensions in US students' discourse, revealing ways in which they simultaneously reject and represent American identity, challenge and reify national stereotypes, and pursue open-mindedness while maintaining "strong convictions". Finally, as a practical application of findings, we suggest training students to self-reflect through critical examination of their own and others' discourse as a means for pushing beyond the superficial towards genuine cultural learning.

This research focused on teacher communication behaviour as an influential factor in students' educational experiences. This study examined students' perceptions of emotion (involving teachers' emotional support, students' emotional work and students' positive emotional valence toward class and teacher) as influenced by a variety of predicting variables: perceptions of teacher affinity-seeking as well as teachers' positive behaviour alteration techniques, verbal immediacy and teacher online presence (involving the three factors of instructional design, organisation facilitating discourse and direct instruction). Relying on survey data collected from undergraduate and graduate students across disciplines enrolled in course offerings at a large public university, quantitative analysis examined relationships among existing factors previously studied in educational and communication research. Although this study uncovered multiple significant relationships between variables in the data set, students' perceptions of their teachers' verbal immediacy and presence in their instructional design were found to be most predictive relative to students' emotions in online classrooms. Ultimately this project addresses and emphasises the need to more fully examine students' emotions and related social experiences with virtual teachers and course content in higher education.

Scholars have yet to gain a sense of how students perform their disparate identities of intellectual and worker as they navigate the potentially dueling aims of content learning and professional job training in internship courses. The author focuses on students in two internship courses in order to ascertain how they socially perform their roles and identities as they negotiate the potentially competing environments of college classrooms and professional organizations. In particular, this project uses discourse analysis to investigate how a professional internship experience can influence students' concept of self, as well as their social performances across contexts and communities.

This paper analyses the online talk of students working in groups collaboratively in a hybrid university course. In particular, this study investigates how students situate themselves relationally through their use of language and how particular moments of talk contribute to the construction of community in an online classroom environment. The data suggest a strong sense of community across groups of learners, with student-student encouragement and peer acceptance emerging as the most salient themes. These findings are considered theoretically in relation to contemporary literature on accounts, facework, politeness and apologies. Practical issues and research avenues tied to classroom format and computer-mediated student culture are also discussed.

This manuscript begins with a synthesis of research on communities, communities of practice (CoPs), and the potential for their development in online forums, while specifically discussing the value of virtual CoPs for educational professionals in higher education. Working within constructivist and sociocultural frameworks, this manuscript addresses how online forums for faculty support can be beneficial in ways distinct from face-to-face environments. Further, this paper presents an argument for the hybridisation of faculty development by suggesting that online forums for collegial interaction are viable and culturally sensitive complements to traditional face-to-face faculty support, socialisation, and mentoring programmes. In conclusion, resources that can assist in designing a hybrid model of faculty development are offered.

This study used "The Competent Speaker", a rubric developed by the National Communication Association (S. P. Morreale, M. R. Moore, K. P. Taylor, D. Surges-Tatum, & R. Hulbert-Johnson, 1993), to evaluate student performance in general education public speaking courses as a case study of student skills and programmatic assessment. Results indicate that students taking the general education public speaking course are below satisfactory standards on five of the eight competencies defined by the National Communication Association and are above satisfactory standards on two of the eight competencies. Implications for this particular program, other communication departments, and communication across the curriculum in general education are discussed. We also offer suggestions for those in other disciplines or educational settings in the use of performance evaluation rubrics for assessing other student skills/knowledge and for training new teachers.

A charter school serving a residential program for students at risk employs creativity in the arts to motivate academic achievement, provide productive after-school programming, and build a sense of community.

Gives an overview of the differences between part-time and tenured/tenure-track faculty members, with particular attention to how these differences may impact students' perceptions of instructors' accessibility. Introduces the construct of extra-class communication (EEC) and explores how faculty employment status of instructors may affect students' ECC decisions. Concludes that students are generally unaware of the employment status of their instructors. (SG)

The rapid expansion of online education compels debate over what accessible higher education should be, how it should be delivered, and whom it should serve. While geographers remain relatively marginal to this debate, they have engaged the question of the neoliberal university, where online education is sometimes characterized as another instantiation of the neoliberal turn. This paper draws geographies of education scholarship into productive conversation with online teaching and learning, critical pedagogy, and public geographies literatures to argue that geographers can reframe the debate over online education and reposition it as a productive space of critical dialogue, inquiry, and encounter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this essay, disciplinary ‘convergence’ is offered as a construct that references the blurring of disciplinary walls, academic borders and institutional divisions, a construct that can frame conversations about the role of disciplines in addressing today’s student needs in higher education. Convergence as a construct allows for a consideration of converging academic structures as well as the obligation of scholars and practitioners in higher education to address the needs of contemporary students aiming for life and work in a converging and increasingly mediated world. Ultimately, this work suggests that contemporary problems in an information society can be best addressed with broadly trained experts who can think, imagine and solve problem across traditional academic boundaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Set within the context of a global pursuit towards the internationalisation of higher education, this paper critically examines student discourse in a globally connected classroom between learners in the USA and Singapore. It makes salient some of the cultural assumptions and tensions that undergird students’ discourse in collaborative international exchanges. We argue that technological innovation can enhance campus internationalisation efforts by providing opportunities for groups of students to intersect and interact across cultures. Such opportunities for social connection can bring about a transformative third space wherein domestic students and their international peers can engage in meaningful and productive dialogic exchanges. However, as this analysis suggests, the mere opportunity for connection will not necessarily manifest outcomes consistent with ideals of internationalisation and may instead result in superficial exchanges and reified stereotypes. Specifically, findings from this study demonstrate several tensions in US students’ discourse, revealing ways in which they simultaneously reject and represent American identity, challenge and reify national stereotypes, and pursue open-mindedness while maintaining ‘strong convictions'. Finally, as a practical application of findings, we suggest training students to self-reflect through critical examination of their own and others’ discourse as a means for pushing beyond the superficial towards genuine cultural learning. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This research focused on teacher communication behaviour as an influential factor in students’ educational experiences. This study examined students’ perceptions of emotion (involving teachers’ emotional support, students’ emotional work and students’ positive emotional valence toward class and teacher) as influenced by a variety of predicting variables: perceptions of teacher affinity-seeking as well as teachers’ positive behaviour alteration techniques, verbal immediacy and teacher online presence (involving the three factors of instructional design, organisation facilitating discourse and direct instruction). Relying on survey data collected from undergraduate and graduate students across disciplines enrolled in course offerings at a large public university, quantitative analysis examined relationships among existing factors previously studied in educational and communication research. Although this study uncovered multiple significant relationships between variables in the data set, students’ perceptions of their teachers’ verbal immediacy and presence in their instructional design were found to be most predictive relative to students’ emotions in online classrooms. Ultimately this project addresses and emphasises the need to more fully examine students’ emotions and related social experiences with virtual teachers and course content in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]