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technique, researchers interpret a very high correlation between any pair of constructs in the model (greater than 0.9) as a sign of CMV effects. Similar to Harman's single-factor test, this procedure can just be used to obtain evidence of the presence of CMV.

User retention is a major goal for higher education institutions running their teaching and learning programmes online. This is the first investigation into how the senses of presence and flow, together with perceptions about two central elements of the virtual education environment (didactic resource quality and instructor attitude), facilitate the user's intention to continue e-learning. We use data collected from a large sample survey of current users in a pure e-learning environment along with objective data about their performance. The results provide support to the theoretical model. The paper further offers practical suggestions for institutions and instructors who aim to provide effective e-learning experiences.Keywords: e-learning; higher education; flow; presence; didactic resource; instructor attitude Introduction e-Learning is a key activity in a knowledge, network society (Castells, 2005, p. 16). By means of the digital technologies placed in the core of the network society, higher education institutions create and disseminate knowledge, and contribute decisively to citizens' lifelong learning. Not surprisingly, e-learning has experienced meteoric growth since its emergence in the mid-1990s. As a matter of fact, there are an increasing number of people embracing e-learning. This has spurred on a robust and unstoppable surge in income for e-learning initiatives, which is expected to reach US$168.8 billion by 2018 (Global Industries Analysts, 2012). Thanks to these flourishing educational activities, individuals build meaningful knowledge in the domain they have chosen, in a productive, appealing, and engaging fashion.For their part, universities and corporate educational organisations have benefited from the broadening accessibility, cost-effectiveness, and increasing potential demand for elearning programmes. But besides these advantages, higher education institutions progressively face much more vigorous competition, as well as diverse requests that come from a bigger pool of individuals, who in many cases are already aware of what e-learning © 2014 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons. org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The moral rights of the named author(s) have been asserted. *Corresponding author. Email: irodriguez@uoc.eduInteractive Learning Environments, 2016 Vol. 24, No. 6, 1030-1053, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10494820.2014 could do for them. Hence higher education institutions need to gain a complete understanding of the connections between their potential e-learning strategies and the individuals' experiences that lead to user retention. This goes beyond identifying factors driving e-learning adoption. Rather, it requires the development of a solid integrated framework for showing the formation of appealing e...

This paper seeks to explain why some individuals sink further into states of flow than others, and what effects flow has in the context of a virtual education environment. Our findings-gathered from both questionnaire and behavioural data-reveal that flow states are elicited by the e-learners' senses of controlling the virtual education environment, their attention centred on the learning activity, and their feelings of physically being in such an environment. We bring evidence about three benefits from flow states: they facilitate e-learner's positive emotions, they enhance e-learners' academic performance, and they contribute to students' effective continuance in e-learning.

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Substantial multidisciplinary research has established foundational support for the consumer behaviour phenomenon that underlies the experience of telepresence within online social networks and other digital media products that provide hedonistic value. A review of major perspectives in this field provides justification of the important role mental imagery processes play in the phenomenon of telepresence. In line with this, we propose to extend existing approaches to mental imagery to reach the context of user experiences in digital media, and to theoretically connect telepresence with mental imagery. On this basis, and in conjunction with investigations bringing to light processes that intervene in the terrain of mental imagery, we present an integrative conceptual framework concerned with telepresence, and discuss the role of telepresence within a user's hedonistic usage of digital media products.2