Argues that community colleges should require students to own laptop computers, and that costs should be calculated into the need for financial aid so that no one will be deterred from owning laptops. States that requiring students to own laptops dramatically reduces technology costs for colleges. (NB)

This article provides an overview of Systemic Initiatives in the Australian States and Territories. This updated overview acknowledges the help and information provided by key contacts whom the authors contacted from each of the Australian State and Territory government education systems. In addition, the role of the Ministerial Council for…

Computer-mediated communication (CMC) technologies are becoming increasingly important components of online educational environments (Romiszowski & Mason, 2004). The online discussion forum that is a significant component of many web-based courses is one type of CMC. Instructors and students rely on these asynchronous forums to engage one another…

This paper reports on issues in carrying out research into online discussion. The context is a study of a distance learning module within an MBA program. The module required students to tackle problems based on real life scenarios within small online groups. Students were studying part time and shared similar professional backgrounds. The research…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss how web-based technologies (WBT) can be applied to theater arts courses. Design/methodology/approach: Through a review of the literature and parallels drawn between theater and online pedagogy, the paper proposes ideas for incorporating asynchronous and synchronous discussions, collaborative…

Higher education institutions around the world are increasingly turning to e-learning as a way of dealing with growing and changing student populations. Education for the knowledge society means new skills and knowledge are needed and it means that lifelong learning has become a necessity. Higher education institutions are looking to e-learning to…

With the rapid expansion of the transnational education market, more and more universities join the ranks of transnational education providers or expand their transnational education offerings. Many of those providers regard fully-online provision of their programs as an economic alternative to face-to-face teaching. Do transnational students…

In this paper the authors describe a novel "Virtual Research Environment" (VRE) based on the Sakai Virtual Collaboration Environment and designed to support education research. This VRE has been used for the past two years by projects of the UK Economic and Social Research Council's Teaching and Learning Research Programme, 10 of which…

Distance education makes use of the technologies of the Information Age to address the needs of a broader and more complex educational market than traditional methods. Because distance delivery does not follow the rigid structure of the traditional course, it can provide instruction to individuals whose location, personal circumstances, or family…

This paper describes various types of distance education technologies and their use in rural Australia. Communications and information technologies may be categorized as distributive or interactive. Correspondence education is a distributive form of distance education, involving the postal service and, at times, educational television or radio.…

Educators are finding new and interesting ways to use computers as tools to educate and learn. For students to compete in the global community, it is imperative that educators embrace and use the World Wide Web in their curriculum. Hillside Elementary School in Minnesota uses the Internet, in a project called Web66, as a medium for student…

Clinical supervision is a commonly accepted model used by supervisors of local school district teachers. Schools of Education at Harvard University (Massachusetts), the University of Virginia, and the University of Kansas, among others, have initiated clinical supervision projects using e-mail and the Internet, and have also created…

Students can make authentic contributions to the World Wide Web (WWW) and learn critical evaluation skills by publishing reviews of WWW resources. A project which served as a pilot study was implemented where high school students wrote and published reviews of resources they used as part of an inquiry-based science curriculum. Students were…

Along with the growth of electronic communication in higher education, is the rise of virtual classrooms. Virtual classrooms exist because of technologies such as electronic mail, listservs, chat rooms, and World Wide Web pages. This qualitative research study examined one graduate course which was offered entirely over the Internet. Data from…

MOO stands for "Multi-user domain, Object-Oriented." Early multi-user domains, or "MUDs," began as net-based dungeons-and-dragons type games, but MOOs have evolved from these origins to become some of cyberspace's most fascinating and engaging online communities. MOOs are social environments in a text-based virtual reality…