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Online learning has grown exponentially in recent years; however, dropout problem remains challenging for some online programmes. The dropout problem can be attributed to a number of reasons, with a lack of interaction between learners and the instructor constituting one of the main reasons. The lack of interaction also leads to learners' feeling of isolation. Learning communities can provide learners with an environment conducive to increased interactions and alleviate their feeling of isolation. Unfortunately, there are no clear rules that instructors can follow to help learners create learning communities. In this paper, we propose guidelines for online instructors to facilitate the development of learning communities in online courses. We first review the definition of a learning community, importance of a learning community and factors affecting the development of a learning community. Afterwards, based on a review of the existing guidelines and other relevant literature, we propose guidelines for facilitating the development of learning communities in online courses.

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Feedback plays a critical role in student learning and performance. However, providing students with effective feedback is challenging in online environments because of physical separation between students and instructors. Technologies can be used to enhance the effectiveness of feedback in online courses. In this article, we propose effective feedback design for online students using freely available technologies. We first review literature on the attributes of feedback that impact its effectiveness. Then, to address such attributes, we propose effective feedback design using three types of free technologies-media sharing, collaborative, and screencasting technologies. For each type of technology, we focus on one representative technology such as VoiceThread for a media sharing tool, a wiki for a collaborative tool, and Jing for a screencasting tool. Based on the analysis of empirical studies using such technologies, effective feedback design was constructed to maximize the affordances of each technology that foster feedback dialogues, help to bring feedback from multiple sources, and encourage students to follow up with feedback.

Computational thinking is a means to understand and solve complex problems through using computer science concepts and techniques. While there is an increase in the number of initiatives focusing on coding, whether they (a) address computational thinking and problem-solving skills and (b) use methods of teaching problem solving is yet to be explored. As a preliminary step, this study focuses on examining 3rd grade lesson plans at Code.org. The analysis identified various components of computational thinking and problem solving as well as specific problem-solving teaching methods used to address these skills. Besides such cognitive outcomes, the findings also revealed affective, reflective, and social aspects of learning supported in the lessons.