OOIR: Observatory of International Research

Papers

(The median citation count of Distance Education is 2. The table below lists those papers that are above that threshold based on CrossRef citation counts [max. 250 papers]. The publications cover those that have been published in the past four years, i.e., from 2021-11-01 to 2025-11-01.)

Article	Citations
Beyond design: The systemic nature of distance delivery mode selection	45
Exploring instructors’ cultural presence in online course design and delivery	31
From open access to open science—Open education in transition	30
Effects of personal and instructor goals on MOOC continuance intention	26
The online PhD dropout: narratives and meanings of withdrawal	21
Open educational resources as the panacea for the decolonisation of e-learning content in South Africa	21
Connecting learners to learning at a distance	20
Addressing the challenging elements of distance education	18
Learning at a distance: recognising remote tutoring as a career	16
Deepening the focus on microcredentials—labour market sector relevance, quality and inclusion: a critical commentary	16
Toward building a fair peer recommender to support help-seeking in online learning	16
A synergistic framework for curricular flexibility in online collaborative learning	13
Does the early bird catch the worm? A large-scale examination of the effects of early participation in online learning	13
“Welcome to my backyard”: an intersectional approach to inclusive teaching in the asynchronous learning environment	13
Pre-service teachers’ adaptability to blended teaching and its predictors	13
Examining online university classrooms through emotion work and feeling currencies	11
Universal design in online education: A systematic review	11
Photos from home: Integrating lived experience in a remote-learning environment	11
Mapping racial justice to online teacher education	11
Effectiveness of blended teaching in preservice teacher education: A meta-analysis	11
Online higher education student engagement: finding flow	11
Explaining technical, social, and discursive participation in online mathematical discussions	10
Developing an agentic engagement scale in a self-paced MOOC	10
Promoting potential through purposeful inclusive assessment for distance learners	10
Exploring (in)dependent learning in a cross-institutional project about perceptions of learning	9

Systemic considerations to support distance education environments	8
Do online teaching and social presences contribute to motivational growth?	8
Characterization of approaches to online teaching in distance education courses	8
Inclusive online and distance education for learners with dis/abilities	7
Teachers’ motivating styles and students’ agentic engagement in online learning	7
Leveraging technology for animal anatomy practicals	7
Design principles for holistic student formation in online programs	6
Promoting culturally responsive teaching in online learning: experiences and challenges of instructors and students in higher education	6
Enhancing distance learning with virtual reality: investigating learners’ engagement and outcomes	6
Investigating working adult learners’ feedback literacy in online project-based learning: a convergent mixed methods study	6
Reimagining and reengineering education systems for the post-COVID-19 era	6
The open master: A new model of transnational higher education	6
Virtual internships in open and distance learning contexts: Improving access, participation, and success for underrepresented students	6
Teachers’ use of mobile devices in suburban under-resourced secondary schools in Nepal	6
Examining online teaching practices in a K-12 setting	6
Temporal-spatial and pedagogical flexibility in distance education	6
The effects of politeness in shaping discourse in online debates	6
A systems perspective on data and analytics for distance education	5
Teacher motivating styles and undergraduates’ self-regulation of their online learning experience	5
Identifying accessibility factors affecting learner inclusion in online university programs	5
Silver linings for learning in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic	5
Enhanced learning engagement through teaching presence in online distance education	5
Understanding college students’ cognitive engagement in online collaborative problem-solving: A multimodal data analysis	5
Asynchronous and synchronous remote teaching and academic outcomes during COVID-19	5
Exploring differences between students’ interactions, online presence, and cognitive presence	5
Implementing distance learning design approaches: lessons from six impact narratives	4
Leveraging explainability for discussion forum classification: Using confusion detection as an example	4
In defense of expertise—Teachers, teaching, and teaching design	4
Experiences of disabled students in online education: a systematic review	4
Threats and tensions for open, flexible, and distance learning post-COVID-19	4
The effectiveness of nudging key learning resources to support online engagement in higher education courses	4
Effects of computer-based mind mapping on students' reflection, cognitive presence, and learning outcomes in an online course	4
Advising college students with dis/abilities in online learning	4
Fostering a sense of belonging through online qualification events	4
Allied health clinical placements with a remote supervision model: Students’ and clinical educators’ perceptions	4
What contributed to students’ online learning satisfaction during the pandemic?	4
Understanding the role of online teaching assistants in student engagement	4
Who gets to decolonize: a reflection on the importance of positionality in the decolonization of digital learning spaces and learning design	4
Getting hands-on: Praxis-focused assessment to enhance online arts teacher education	4
Strategies to promote self-regulated learning for online diverse students	4
Introducing mesocredentials: Connecting MOOC achievement with academic credit	4
Examining gains and pains of a new virtual internship design	3
Designing MOOCs in South America towards open and equitable education	3
A SeNA-based study of in-service teachers’ interaction patterns in an online learning community	3
Relationship between learner profiles and learner–content interaction in online learning: Exploring implications for learning experience design	3
Gamified online course design: a scoping review of the research	3
Beyond the virtual classroom: integrating artificial intelligence in online learning	3
Investigating students’ experience of online/distance education with photovoice during COVID-19	3
“It feels real”: Events management and online experiential learning in COVID-19	3
Decolonizing online learning: a reflective approach to equitable pedagogies	3

Are we close(d)? Debating the openness paradox in science	3
Interaction in online postgraduate learning: what makes a good forum?	3
Conceptualising distance doctoral study after COVID-19: are we post-distance now?	3
Students with mental health (dis)Abilities’ storied experiences within distance education	3
Factors influencing faculty’s online teaching decisions	3
Practical learning in hybrid environments: Can remote learning be active, authentic, and real?	3
Pressure on the system: increasing flexible learning through distance education	2
Satisfaction with learning materials in relation to volitional competence and behavioral intention in open and flexible learning environments	2
Online physics laboratory course: United Kingdom Professional Standards Framework perspective from Walailak University, Thailand	2
Enhancing learners’ sense of belonging in online threaded discussions	2
Fifty years of open education policy and practice in Australia	2
Person in environment: Focusing on the ecological aspects of online and distance learning	2
Parental support challenges for K-12 student online engagement	2
Implementing a competency-based assessment approach to micro-credentials	2
The role of teachers’ social support in students’ emotional and cognitive presences in online learning	2
The role of teaching presence in students’ behavioral engagement	2
Conservatory and music schoolteachers’ experiences with videoconferencing software during and after the COVID-19 pandemic	2
The motivation to earn digital badges: a large-scale study of online courses	2
Open education in closed-loop systems: Enabling closures and open loops	2
Influence of self-directed learning on learning outcomes in MOOCs: A meta-analysis	2
Exploring the relationships among the dimensions of a community of inquiry in an online learning environment	2
What impacts learning at a distance	2
Higher education leaders’ perspectives of accessible and inclusive online learning	2
Using learner engagement patterns for predictive modeling in a MicroMasters program	2
Utilizing the Learner Variability Navigator to support inclusive instructional design	2
“Wow, she’s real!”: re-examining pre-service art teachers’ online learning experiences	2
Developing a distance-based doctoral supervisory model: Inquiry over disrupted trajectories	2
Micro-credentials and wellbeing	2
The benefits of belonging: Students’ perceptions of their online learning experiences	2
Systematic review of digital microcredentials: trends in assessment and delivery	2
The case for deliberate design of the student learning experience	2
Decolonizing digital learning: equity through intentional course design	2