This study explored the impact of reflection on learning in an online learning environment. Twenty-five students from four online courses participated in this research project. Reflection was purposefully designed and embedded in various assignments. Data were mainly collected from interviews and students’ different types of reflections. The inductive content analysis method was employed to analyze data. Five themes were generalized in terms of how reflection impacts learning: Increasing the depth of knowledge, identifying the areas which are missing or deficient, personalizing and contextualizing knowledge, providing comparative references in learning, and helping learners build structural connections in knowledge and social connections among learners. This study provides foundational ideas for designing reflective activities to promote students’ learning in an online learning environment.

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Based on Berger & Luckmann's (1967) social constructionism framework, the purpose of this study is to identify the knowledge construction patterns and the conditions for these patterns to occur in a learning community in Shanghai, China.

There is a lack of shared understanding of how culture impacts learning in online environment. Utilizing document analysis, the authors in this research study culture’s impact on the learning behaviors of student sojourners from Confucius culture studying in Western online learning context. The shared understandings of Confucius culture and Western culture are compared, contrasted, and synthesized through Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory. The learning behaviors of student sojourners from Confucius culture are examined from the following three dimensions: teacher-student relationship, curriculum development, and teaching and learning pedagogy. Practical implications of the findings are discussed.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present considerations for developing a writing community for doctoral students. Design/methodology/approach The paper reflects on data from a self-study of a writing seminar in which the authors were involved. The authors examined students’ writing samples and peer-review comments, email correspondence, online discussion board postings, meeting minutes and participants’ reflections on their participation in the seminar. Findings While doctoral students described benefits from their participation in the writing seminar, the paper provides a cautionary tale concerning the challenges that can arise in the development and delivery of interventions that focus on developing writing communities involving doctoral students. Research limitations/implications This article draws on findings from an examination of a writing intervention to consider potential challenges that faculty and students face in developing writing communities. Findings may not apply to other kinds of settings, and they are limited by the small number of participants involved. Practical implications The paper discusses strategies that might be used to inform faculty in the development of writing communities for doctoral students. Social implications The authors’ experiences in developing and delivering a writing seminar highlight the importance of the process of trust-building for students to perceive the value of feedback from others so that they can respond to the technical demands of doctoral writing. Originality/value There is a growing body of work on the value of writing interventions for doctoral students such as retreats and writing groups. These are frequently facilitated by faculty whose area of expertise is in teaching writing. This paper contributes understanding to what is needed for faculty who are not writing instructors to facilitate groups of this sort. Participants must demonstrate a sufficient level of competence as writers to review others’ work; develop trusting, collegial relationships with one another; and be willing to contribute to others’ development and make a commitment to accomplishing the required tasks.