In this article, the author talks about Classroom Presenter, a computer program that aids in student participation during class discussions and makes boring lectures more interactive. The program was created by Richard J. Anderson, a professor of computer science at the University of Washington, in Seattle. Classroom Presenter is now in use in…

The story is told of the conception and creation of OOPS (Opensource Opencourseware Prototype System), which is a massive, worldwide volunteer project that translates OER into Mandarin. The founder and leader, Lucifer Chu, describes how the project grew from his own solo translation work to over 2,400 volunteers in 22 countries. In 2005 and 2006…

These days, with learning management system (LMS) offerings just about everywhere, online courses are almost as prevalent as classes taught in traditional classrooms with professors and students present at lecterns and desks. Many colleges and universities turn to vendors to help them create these courses, a service that software providers such as…

In this article, the author shares her ideas after attending the Computers in Libraries (CIL) Conference in March of 2003. The author is a technical services librarian and system administrator for the Ryan Memorial Library of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, a library for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia. She states that many of that…

Adaptive Educational Hypermedia Systems provide personalized educational content to learners. However most of them do not support the functionality of Learning Management Systems (LMS) and the reusability of their courses is hard work. On the other hand some LMS support SCORM specifications but do not provide adaptive features. This article…

In the field of design and engineering education, the fast and expansive evolution of information and communication technologies is steadily converting traditional learning approaches into more advanced ones. Facilitated by Broadband (high bandwidth) personal computers, distance learning has developed into web-hosted electronic learning. The…

In order to meet the growing demand for quality online education, Park University has adopted a model that provides a common framework for all of its online courses. Evelyn Knowles and Kathleen Kalata discuss the circumstances leading to the current system and describe the university's implementation of a course development process that ensures…

The word "open" is receiving a lot of attention in education circles. For over a decade, "open" has been used as an adjective to modify a variety of nouns that describe teaching and learning materials. For example, open content, open educational resources, open courseware, and open textbooks are all part of the current higher education discourse.…

This report provides short descriptions of systemic approaches for American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding including: (1) 21st Century Classroom; (2) Comprehensive Professional Development; (3) Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems; (4) Formative Assessment; (5) Digital Content; (6) Virtual Learning; and (7) Learning Management Systems.

As support and professional-development opportunities for teachers begin to move from conference rooms to chat rooms, a burgeoning number of states and districts are drawing on features from course-management software and popular social-networking sites to establish online networks connecting teachers to peers who may live dozens or even hundreds…

Web3D open standards allow the delivery of interactive 3D virtual learning environments through the Internet, reaching potentially large numbers of learners worldwide, at any time. This paper introduces the educational use of virtual reality based on Web3D technologies. After briefly presenting the main Web3D technologies, we summarize the…

The need for public health knowledge is ever increasing, but the educational options have been limited to coursework delivered by academics to individuals who can afford the cost of tuition at public health institutions. To overcome this disparity, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHSPH) has joined the Massachusetts Institute of…

This article looks at what constitutes an open educational resource and considers the issues and benefits to an educational institution that is moving to participate in open educational resource development and to adopt more open educational practices. It describes the initial steps in these directions being made by the Educational Development…

Activity theory (AT) is a powerful tool for investigating "artefacts in use", ie, the ways technologies interrelate with their local context. AT reveals the interfaces between e-learning at the macro- (strategy, policy, "campus-wide" solutions) and the micro-organisational levels (everyday working practice, iterative change, individual…

Discusses steps that companies who develop and distribute technology-based training products need to take in order to be more successful, including focusing on the customer; moving away from large, generic courseware libraries; better pricing schemes; commitment to produce learning outcomes; and partnerships with clients to produce documented…