Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have been touted as a disruptive innovation with a low-cost and flexible option for opening up higher education. However, existing barriers of MOOCs such as a low retention rate and a low forum participation rate have limited their capacity of serving learners. To strengthen the potential of MOOCs, a compelling design that enables an effective learning experience is needed. This article is aimed to propose a series of design guidelines for MOOCs, namely the LITTLE, as a preliminary design framework for an effective MOOC. The LITTLE includes guidelines such as learner-centered, inquiry-based, technology-enriched, trophy-driven, literature-guided, and evidence-based strategies. Examples are provided in concert with theoretical justifications to illustrate the guidelines.

Integrating computer science (CS) content into existing STEM curricula emerges as a viable solution to broadening rural students’ participation in CS, but rural students have a significant proficiency gap in science and mathematics. By focusing on an English language arts course as the context for CS integration, this exploratory study examined the impact of a robotics-based intervention integrated into a high school language arts class on rural students’ CS self-efficacy. A convergent mixed methods design was applied to collect and analyze qualitative and qualitative data separately. Quantitative results confirmed that the integrated robotics-based intervention significantly improved rural students’ CS self-efficacy. Qualitative findings provided insights on how embodied learning and mastery experience facilitated by the robotics-based intervention fostered rural students’ CS self-efficacy. The findings from the two sources of data were integrated, shedding light on the potential of curricular integration in language arts classes for broadening rural student participation in CS education.

Instructional videos have been increasingly critical to afford effective learning experiences in online courses, but most videos follow a lecturing monolog delivery format. This format tends to lead students to observe the videos passively. Previous laboratory studies have indicated that observing dialog videos of an instructor tutoring a tutee enhances student learning more than watching monolog videos of the same instructor lecturing. This paper describes two empirical studies that replicated the laboratory findings in large-scale college-level online STEM courses. The results show that observing dialog videos of tutoring led to superior learning outcomes compared to monolog videos of lecturing, regardless of whether students observe the videos individually or collaboratively, as long as they engaged generatively with the materials. This finding was confirmed across two tested STEM domains. The findings of these classroom studies suggest that observing dialog tutoring videos is a novel and robust online instructional format that can be generalized across STEM domains. The benefit of overhearing tutorial dialogs requires students to engage in Constructive and Interactive behaviors, as defined by the ICAP framework, rather than exposing students to long didactic lectures.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming education, with the potential to revolutionize teaching, learning, and school administration. However, the successful implementation of AI-driven initiatives involves more than simply adopting new technology but requires a thorough understanding of how school leaders perceive AI and their preparedness to integrate it into educational planning and practices. Principals and school leaders play a critical role in supporting effective instruction and student achievement across different content areas, but their needs and challenges, particularly regarding AI integration, are often overlooked. Understanding school leaders' perceptions of AI is vital for successfully implementing AI in schools. This exploratory study employed a qualitative approach to investigate school leaders' perspectives on AI integration in K-12 school settings. Two 90-minute semi-structured focus groups were conducted. Inductive analysis was performed to interpret the qualitative data. The findings highlighted school leaders' perceptions of best practices of AI integration as well as their concerns about AI and the associated ethical dilemma. This collective knowledge of potential solutions for AI integration can help establish a systematic, top-down approach in K-12 school settings.