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Background: Blended online courses, which combine synchronous and asynchronous online activities, have expanded rapidly in higher education. How to enhance student engagement in such courses is unclear, although it is recognized that student engagement is malleable through instructional strategies. Objectives: Given the above, this study aims to examine the influence of categories of strategies on student engagement in blended online courses. Methods: A conceptual framework of instructional strategies indicated as fostering student engagement in the relevant literature was first presented, divided in eight categories (structure, pace, relevance, active, choice, relationships, explanations, guide). Then a research framework linking the categories of strategies to student engagement dimensions (emotional‐cognitive, social, behavioral) was built and tested in blended online courses. Data collected in various disciplines and university levels at four universities (n = 482) were examined using partial least squares structural equation modeling. Results and Conclusions: The structural model examination confirmed the combined effects of categories of instructional strategies on student engagement in such courses in all disciplines. Particularly, this study revealed that 1) establishing trusting relationships, 2) demonstrating the relevance of activities, content, and resources, and 3) maintaining a sustained course pace significantly impacted student engagement in blended online courses in all disciplines. Takeaways: This study draws upon the blended learning literature to bring together key instructional strategies that foster student engagement while highlighting empirical quantitative evidence of their effects on student engagement in blended online courses. Detailed measures of categories of instructional strategies and student engagement dimensions also provide reliable instruments for future research. Lay Description: What is currently known about the subject matter?: Student engagement has important repercussions on perseverance, in‐depth learning, satisfaction, and academic success.Blended online courses merge the benefits of synchronous interactions and online flexibility in terms of time, place, or even study pace.Student engagement is influenced by contextual variations like course modalities and instructional strategies.The literature lacks a quantitative large‐scale portrait of how instructional strategies influence student engagement in blended online courses in higher education. What does this paper add to the existing body of research?: Partial least squares structural equation modelling was used to examine the effects of eight categories of instructional strategies on emotional‐cognitive, social, and behavioural dimensions of student engagement.Emotional‐cognitive engagement is largely affected by instructional strategies, while social and behavioural engagement are moderately affected by these.Establishing trusting relationships; demonstrating the relevance of activities, content, and resources; and maintaining a sustained course pace have the most significant effects on student engagement in blended online courses. Implications of study findings for practitioners: Teachers should explicitly support students in the process of developing interpersonal relationships in blended online courses to foster student social engagement, that is, interactions and sense of connectedness between them.Ensuring a sustained pace, dynamism, and a diversity of teaching and learning activities, both synchronously and asynchronously, promotes student engagement in blended online courses.Highlighting or demonstrating the relevance of activities and contents fosters emotional‐cognitive and behavioural student engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper considers a single-vehicle Dial-a-Ride Problem in which customers may experience stochastic delays at their pickup locations. If a customer is absent when the vehicle serves the pickup location, the request is fulfilled by an alternative service (e.g., a taxi) whose cost is added to the total cost of the tour. In this case, the vehicle skips the corresponding delivery location, which yields a reduction in the total tour cost. The aim of the problem is to determine an a priori Hamiltonian tour minimizing the expected cost of the solution. This problem is solved by means of an integer -shaped algorithm. Computational experiments show that the algorithm yields optimal solutions on several instances within reasonable CPU times. It is also shown that the actual cost of an optimal solution obtained with this algorithm can be significantly smaller than that of an optimal solution obtained with a deterministic formulation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In online or blended environments, the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework sets that a meaningful educational experience derives from the interrelation of teaching, social and cognitive presences. Each presence is subdivided, resulting in a structure in ten categories at the basis for the CoI survey instrument. Although the survey structure in three presences was repeatedly validated in the literature, the categories within presences were not and were consequently investigated in this study. High internal consistencies between items of each category demonstrated that the structure is reliable. Its convergent and discriminant validity were confirmed using multi-group confirmatory factor analyses, that further allowed to reinforce the construct validation by evaluating its factorial invariance across independent samples collected in two universities and varying in gender and age (n 1 = 343; n 2 =420). To assess its discriminant validity and because high estimated correlations between categories were observed, alternative structures in eight, seven and six factors were also compared to the original ten-category structure. They were all valid despite yielding inferior fits. The partial structural invariance of CoI structures in categories were also confirmed across groups. Next, a CoI structure in three presences resulted in an insufficient fit to data across independent groups. Much more conclusively, a second-order structure including both presences and categories demonstrated a very good fit to the data, highlighting the importance of categories to reflect students' perceptions. This paper, although presented at a conceptual level, enlightens the potential of studying the influence of categories on each other, learning outcomes, or to identify areas of improvement in online and blended courses by relying on meaningful and trustful categories that further characterize the well-known presences. • Categories within presences of the CoI framework are reliable and valid. • A ten-factor CoI structure is valid despite high correlations between categories. • Other CoI structures with less than 10 factors are valid but yield inferior fits. • A second-order CoI structure with both presences and categories shows a very good fit. • CoI structures are partially invariant across independent sample groups.. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blended synchronous learning (BSL) represents several contexts that enable to bring remote students into the classroom, in real time, by the means of videoconferencing, web conferencing and virtual world. As BSL seems to be more and more implemented in many higher education institutions, especially in the current context of the COVID‐19 pandemic, and given the recent interest and scarce published research in BSL, more studies are needed on this kind of learning. The purpose of this research was to explore students and instructors perspective regarding their experience in BSL, according to three dimensions: pedagogy, technology and organization/logistics. To meet the study objective, a qualitative methodology was adopted. The study participants were remote students (n = 4) and face‐to‐face students (n = 4) enrolled in a graduate program in education offering only blended synchronous courses, and instructors (n = 5) in this program. Semi‐structured interviews were selected as the data collection method. Nine sub‐themes in reference to the three dimensions emerged from the study participants. They have also highlighted some challenges associated with BSL. The results reported in this study should provide faculties and higher education administrators with additional information and guidance, based on empirical data, on the use of BSL if they wish to implement it in academic programs. Moreover, in regard to the challenges revealed by the study participants, the results will permit to surpass the obstacles when implementing BSL successfully. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Blended synchronous Learning (BSL) is more and more used in higher education.BSL may be a good alternative for higher education institutions in the context of the COVID‐19 pandemic, as it permits to reduce the number of involved students in face‐to‐face activities, by offloading some students to online from their home or a remote site.Despite its gain in popularity, little research has been performed on BSL and this research is somewhat sparse.Further research and recommendations are needed for faculties and higher education administrators to assist them in ascertaining what works and what does not in BSL. What this paper adds: The purpose of this study was to report on students and instructors experience on BSL, with remote students participating from multiple sites and face‐to‐face students from a single site.Students and instructors perspectives were explored using three dimensions: pedagogy, technology and organisation/logistics.Challenges associated with BSL were highlighted by the study participants Implications for practice and/or policy: The results of this study will guide faculties in designing and implementing BSL for their students.The challenges highlighted in the study results should be taken into account when implementing BSL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]