Comparing synchronous and asynchronous online discussions for students with disabilities: The impact of social presence Abstract   The affordances of online learning have the potential to improve learning outcomes for students with disabilities by allowing customization and flexibility to meet individual needs. However, there are significant executive function and language processing demands that may be particularly challenging for this population. With that in mind, interventions guided by social presence theory may increase studentsu0027 ability to engage in online settings. This study implemented a computer mediated, blended classroom setting in order to assess studentsxe2x80x99 understanding of statistics concepts following synchronous and asynchronous online, videobased discussion sessions. Social presence theory predicts that the immediacy of synchronous interactions should improve social presence, thereby increasing student engagement and performance. Data was collected from 105 students with highincidence disabilities using a mixed methods experimental design with a within subjects quantitative component. Our findings indicate that while students with disabilities expressed preference for synchronous discussions, including selfreported greater engagement and selfreported improved comprehension, their performance on assessments of conceptual understanding was slightly better following asynchronous discussions. Implications for these disparities between preference and performance are discussed.

Collaborating with xe2x80x98familiarxe2x80x99 strangers in mobileassisted environments: The effect of socializing activities on learning EFL writing Abstract   Learners in computer or mobileassisted collaborative learning environments could remain anonymous or unfamiliar, as educators might not provide explicit socializing activities with the assumption that effective interactions could happen naturally in these situations. However, from the perspectives of social presence, it was hypothesized that for learners who were unfamiliar to their peers in online collaborative learning environments, performing explicit socializing activities prior to learning phases would help them have better learning performance, experience lower levels of working memory load, and experience higher levels of social presence than performing implicit socializing activities. This research was conducted to test the hypotheses with 60 participants. The results showed that providing explicit socializing activities to unfamiliar learners in mobileassisted collaborative learning environments increased the level of social presence, facilitated their acquisition of complex cognitive skills such as EFL argument essay writing skills, and reduced the level of cognitive load in learning. These results are discussed in light of human cognitive architecture and the social presence theory.