Collaborative learning and cooperative learning are two separate approaches developed independently by two groups of scholars around the same period of time in the 1960 and 1970s. Due to their different origins and intertwined paths of development, they have their own distinct features while sharing many similarities. The relationship between…

Course management systems (CMSs) are software systems designed to manage course content and course activities. These tools integrate technological and pedagogical features into a web-based system that allows instructors, even those who are unfamiliar with web-based technologies, to design, deliver, and manage an online course. However, CMSs have…

Online teaching and learning has been in transition for its entire existence. The number of courses offered at a distance has grown rapidly. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (Waits & Lewis, 2003), in 2000-2001 more than 56% of four-year colleges and universities in the United States offered distance education degree…