Electronic Portfolios have become a popular pedagogical approach on the tertiary educational landscape worldwide. In the United States, Association of American Colleges and Universities added this powerful pedagogical practice to its set of high-impact practices in 2016. High-impact practices have the potential to generate transformative learning experiences and lead to significant impacts on students’ academic achievements. Higher education has a responsibility to provide students with the means to support their professional learning and development as a continuous and lifelong process. Countless research studies have identified a number of benefits from utilizing ePortfolios in learning that are grounded in a variety of learning theories. As ePortfolios are gaining momentum as a preferred way to demonstrate students’ learning and competencies, it is crucial for educators to fully understand the advantages of ePortfolios and guide students to produce quality and competitive ePortfolios.

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Collaboration or teamwork is indispensable in today’s workplace. The continual and increasingly rapid change in the external environment requires professionals equipped with unique skill sets to work together and solve problems collaboratively. It is the higher education institution’s responsibility to prepare students for the necessary skills expected by the employers. Collaborative learning is an active learning approach that two or more students team up toward common goals. The knowledge and product are created through the active, social, and engaging process. Students develop communication, interpersonal, metacognitive thinking, and problemsolving skills, as well as their understanding of the diverse perspectives for real-world profession-related situations. Furthermore, working in a team could reduce student’s feelings of isolation in the online learning environment. As such more and more online programs incorporate collaborative learning into their curricula. In this paper, the benefits, challenges, and solutions to challenges in collaborative learning are presented and discussed.

Abstract-With the exponential development of Internet, distance learning has become an alternative means of taking a course or earning a degree. Social presence is a critical factor for forming and sustaining learning communities that support deeper learning through knowledge sharing. Social presence does not happen spontaneously and is in need of cultivation. This paper explores a review of the literature on social presence and the use of multimedia in distance education. The review of literature indicates that the advent of technological innovation in communications provides new mechanisms and opportunities in the distance learning environment. The findings from the literature review suggest that with the integration of multimedia into classrooms, instructors can increase social presence, enrich student's learning experience and raise student's satisfaction to reduce time and physical barriers existing in the online learning environment.

Abstract-Combined with the advances in information and communications technology, online learning has become a vital component of the U. S. higher education. One-size-fit-all teaching methodology can no longer meet the needs of diverse students that possess various culture heritages. A carefully instructional design is needed to address cultural differences among students. Several strategies of culturally appropriate online teaching are discussed. The integration of educational technologies into course design and content delivery can enhance students' learning experiences and outcomes by creating a more dynamic learning environment. This paper concludes that the use of multiple modes of media demonstrates the institutions' and instructors' sensitivity to cultural inclusiveness.