Fostering Inclusive Online Education: From Foundational Learner Support to Collaborative Learning

Dear Colleagues,

The rapid expansion of online education has fundamentally reshaped contemporary teaching and learning across the higher education context. Accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic and sustained by ongoing digital transformation, online learning environments have become more central to the learning experience rather than a peripheral mode of educational delivery. While this expansion has created new opportunities for access, flexibility, and innovation, it has also exposed and, in some cases, exacerbated existing inequities related to digital access, learner preparedness, accessibility, participation, and belonging.

Inclusive online education extends beyond the provision of technological infrastructure or the digitisation of content. It requires intentional pedagogical design, robust learner support, and the cultivation of learning environments in which diverse learners can meaningfully engage, collaborate, and succeed. Learners vary widely in terms of prior educational experience, digital literacy, language background, disability, cultural identity, caring responsibilities, employment status, and geographic location. Without targeted foundational support and inclusive design principles, online education risks reproducing exclusion under the guise of flexibility.

At the same time, research increasingly highlights the importance of social presence, interaction, and collaboration in online learning. Collaborative learning approaches, such as peer learning, group projects, discussion-based pedagogies, and co-creation of knowledge, can foster engagement, deepen learning, and support learner persistence. However, collaborative activities in online environments must be carefully designed to ensure they are accessible, equitable, and supportive rather than burdensome or exclusionary. This creates a pressing need to examine how foundational learner support can be aligned with inclusive collaborative practices across diverse online contexts.

As institutions continue to invest heavily in online and blended learning, there is a growing imperative to move beyond emergency or efficiency-driven approaches towards inclusive, learner-centred, and socially connected online education. Research in this area is critical for informing evidence-based practice, policy development, and institutional strategy. Understanding how foundational supports (such as orientation, scaffolding, feedback, and accessibility measures) intersect with collaborative pedagogies can help educators design online learning experiences that are both inclusive and pedagogically robust.

The aim of this Special Issue is to advance the understanding of how inclusive online education can be fostered through the integration of foundational learner support and collaborative learning approaches. It seeks to showcase empirical and practice-oriented research that examines inclusive design, pedagogical innovation, learner experiences, and institutional strategies in online and digitally mediated learning environments.

The scope of the Special Issue is intentionally broad and interdisciplinary, welcoming contributions from higher education contexts. Original research articles are invited for submission. Research topics may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Inclusive design principles and frameworks for online learning;
• Foundational learner support in online education (e.g., orientation, scaffolding, feedback, academic skills development);
• Accessibility and universal design for learning (UDL) in digital environments;
• Digital equity, access, and participation in online education;
• Learner preparedness, digital literacy, and transition to online learning;
• Inclusive assessment and feedback practices in online contexts;
• Collaborative learning pedagogies and peer learning in online environments;
• Designing inclusive online group work and collaborative assessment;
• Social presence, belonging, and community building in online learning;
• Technology-enhanced collaboration and inclusive learning tools;
• Instructor roles and professional development for inclusive online teaching;
• Learner experiences and perspectives on inclusion and collaboration online;
• Institutional policies and strategies supporting inclusive online education.

Dr. Chris Campbell
Dr. Vanessa Honson
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• inclusive education
• inclusive learning environments
• inclusive online culture
• inclusive online education
• collaborative learning
• inclusive online collaborative learning
• online collaborative tools
• higher education