Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore how online adjunct higher education faculty members perceive the role of using social media sites as instructional approaches. A purposeful sampling was used, and adjunct online higher education faculty members were invited to participate. An adjunct faculty member was defined as a person who taught part-time higher education courses; therefore, the faculty member was not hired as a full-time faculty member. Design/methodology/approach Qualitative researchers explore phenomena examining the lived experiences and participants behaviors; in this study, online adjunct instructors’ perceptions on classroom instructional social media online approaches were examined. Participants in this study were trained to teach higher education online courses and these teachers were the experts on the topic. The design for this study was an exploratory case study in which the participants were online adjunct instructors who taught at online higher education institutions in the Northeast. The case study approach was the most appropriate. The focus was the external events participants’ lives. Findings Three themes emerged from the analysis of the in-depth interview process. Based on the adjunct online higher education instructors’ perception on the use of social media teaching approaches in the classroom, the themes that emerged were uniformity of purpose vs personal beliefs need for justification importance student engagement and facilitation vs direct instruction. Themes reflected online teaching approaches higher education institutional missions and student learning and engagement outcomes. Research limitations/implications In this study, adjuncts’ perceptions expressed and themes found may not be characteristic of other adjunct instructors’ views. In qualitative studies, participants are asked open-ended interview questions, which may have been a limitation for this study. Quantitative questions, such as the impact of using social media as an instructional approach, were not asked. In this study, adjunct online higher education instructors were invited to share their views on the study topic. Additionally, qualitative researchers are limited by the data collection method and the data analysis process. Therefore, researchers who would like to repeat this study on adjunct online higher education teachers’ perspectives may be unable to duplicate the research. Practical implications The significance of this study is the need for a renewed global initiative in higher education to promote the use of social media training for online adjunct faculty members. Online higher education faculty members’ reflections on using social media tend to be recorded from a personal rather than a professional point of view. Social implications The implication for online higher education leaders is to review mission statements and reevaluate how the use of social media may impact student learning outcomes, student career readiness and student engagement opportunities. Originality/value The need for a renewed global initiative in higher education to promote the use of social media training for online adjunct faculty evolved as the significance of the study. Because inclusion requirements and workshop training for the use of social media in online higher education classrooms vary among higher education institutions, online adjunct faculty social media classroom practices and perceptions widely vary.

Limited research has been conducted on the relationship between age, ethnicity and gender and the use of meditation to strengthen critical thinking. The purpose of this research study will be to investigate the relationship of age, gender and ethnicity to the use of meditation to improve critical thinking. As a quantitative study the researchers sought to quantify the strength of relationships across these variables while making predictive judgments about the potential value of mindfulness approaches on learning. Participants in this study were members of a purposive sample of twenty-two ( 22) students attending a Holistic Healing Arts school in the western part of the United States. The dependent variable being considered is the improvement of critical thinking. The independent variables discussed in this study are factors related to age, ethnicity, gender and the use of mindfulness methods. The critical thinking skills were measured by the California Critical Thinking Skills Test-Numeracy (CCTST-N) validated/reliable online instrument. The Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) was used to measure mindfulness.

Online doctoral students from different cross-cultural generations may disconnect when dissertation chairs fail to understand how students' worldviews impact doctoral students during the dissertation-writing process. Because of the changing needs of digitally connected Generation Z students who will enter online doctoral programs by the mid-2020s, higher education leaders must create a model that will prepare online doctoral chairs to change how they mentor students and reflect on mentoring practices. The purpose of this qualitative exploratory case study was to examine how online dissertation chairs perceived the role of reflective mentoring practices and changing student cross-cultural and generational worldviews. The themes that emerged were online anonymity versus personalization, shepherd leadership versus transformational leadership, and meeting professional goals versus student-centered goals. The significance of the study is the need for online leaders to institute a change process that will be firmly in place for online dissertation chairs when Generation Z students are old enough to begin doctoral programs.

Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to examine how robotics program developers perceived the role of emulation of human ethics when programming robots for use in educational settings. A purposive sampling of online robotics program developer professional sites which focused on the role of emulation of human ethics used when programming robots for use in educational settings was included in the study. Content related to robotics program developers' perceptions on educational uses of robots and ethics were analyzed. Design/methodology/approach-The design for this study was a qualitative summative content analysis. The researchers analyzed keywords related to a phenomenon. The phenomenon was the emulation of human ethics programmed in robots. Articles selected to be analyzed in this study were published by robotics program developers who focused on robots and ethics in the education. All articles analyzed in this study were posted online, and the public has complete access to the studies. Findings-Robotics program developers viewed the importance of situational human ethics interpretations and implementations. To facilitate flexibility, robotics program developers programmed robots to search computer-based ethics related research, frameworks and case studies. Robotics program developers acknowledged the importance of human ethics, but they felt more flexibility was needed in the role of how classroom human ethical models were created, developed and used. Some robotic program developers expressed questions and concerns about the implementations of flexible robot ethical accountability levels and behaviors in the educational setting. Robotics program developers argued that educational robots were not designed or programmed to emulate human ethics. Research limitations/implications-One limitation of the study was 32 online, public articles written by robotics program designers analyzed through qualitative content analysis to find themes and patterns. In qualitative content analysis studies, findings may not be as generalizable as in quantitative studies. Another limitation was only a limited number of articles written by robotics programs existed which addressed robotics and emulation of human ethics in the educational setting. Practical implications-The significance of this study is the need for a renewed global initiative in education to promote debates, research and ongoing collaboration with scientific leaders on ethics and programming robots. The implication for education leaders is to provide ongoing professional development on the role of ethics in education and to create best practices for using robots in education to promote increased student learning and enhance the teaching process. Social implications-The implications of this study are global. All cultures will be affected by the robotics' shift in how students are taught ethical decision making in the educational setting. Robotics program developers will create computational educational moral models which will replace archetypal educational ethics framewo...

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