The pervasiveness of Internet technology in the educational environment of the United States has altered the way educators present information in the classroom. The schools of Northern Virginia, located in several of the financially wealthiest suburbs of the United States, provide a technologically advanced school system to explore Internet…

The purpose of this research was to investigate collaboration between agricultural science teachers and Extension agents in Texas from the perspective of successful collaboration. Programs, leaders, and participants in both agricultural education and Extension can be impacted positively through collaboration. However, successful collaboration…

The early twenty-first century is characterised by rapid change. Commentators note how permeating digital technologies engage increasing numbers of children, young people and adults as consumers and also producers. In the shifting technological landscape, childhood and youth are changing. Connectivity around the clock, with a parallel existence in…

Look around at today's youth and you can see how technology has changed their lives. They lie on their beds and study while listening to mp3 players, texting and chatting online with friends, and reading and posting Facebook messages. How does the new, charged-up, multitasking generation respond to traditional textbooks and lectures? Are we…

The idea of the "digital natives", a generation of tech-savvy young people immersed in digital technologies for which current education systems cannot cater, has gained widespread popularity on the basis of claims rather than evidence. Recent research has shown flaws in the argument that there is an identifiable generation or even a single type of…

The nature of teaching as a profession has been the subject of intense debate for many years, driven by the developments in digital technology, both in terms of the technology people use in everyday life and work (such as mobile phones, Facebook, the internet etc) and the technology now available to support teaching and learning (again, mobile…

This paper identifies the need for developing new ways to study curiosity in the context of today's pervasive technologies and unprecedented information access. Curiosity is defined in this paper in a way which incorporates the concomitant constructs of interest and engagement. A theoretical model for curiosity, interest and engagement in new…

This paper updates earlier work in which we defined three generations of distance education pedagogy. We then describe emerging technologies that are most conducive to instructional designs that evolve with each generation. Finally we discuss matching the pedagogies with learning outcomes. (Contains 3 figures.)

In May 2009, the US Department of Education released a meta-analysis of effectiveness studies of online, face-to-face, and blended learning models. The analysis found that online learning produced better student outcomes than face-to-face classes, and that blended learning offered an even "larger advantage" over face-to-face. The hybrid approach…

Motivation, engagement, goal attainment and effective interaction are essential components for college students to be successful in the online educational environment. The popularity and influx of electronic media applications has allowed educators the opportunity to incorporate social media (Facebook, Twitter), and volitional messages (Simple…

This article reports on the use of a text-based verbal protocol (Afflerbach, 2000) situated within individual interviews to elicit secondary English teachers' perspectives on new literacies (Albers & Harste, 2007; Coiro, Knobel, Lankshear, & Leu, 2008). Ranging significantly in their teaching experience and comfort with new media and…

This article shares findings from a year-long study about social practices of high school youth with mobile devices during school time. In particular, this study found that students see their school time as fluidly social and academic. Educators and policy-makers need to carefully consider these social practices when preparing 21st century youth…

The recent advent of wireless broadband Internet access and mobile communications devices has provided remarkable opportunities for 21st century blended learning models--simultaneous online and face-to-face--and seriously called into question the industrial-age traditional "egg crate classroom" model of teaching and learning. It has…

Over the last two decades, advances in information and communication technologies (ICTs) have contributed to the ideological construct of an emerging "knowledge society"--one which places a high value on knowledge and education and promises a better future for humanity. However, the severe economic--and by extension, social and…

Several publications, including "Navigating the Badlands" a book by Mary O'Hara-Devereux as well as a report by the National Research Council, suggest troubled times are ahead for society and possibly higher education. The latter report says that, "The impact of information technology on the university will likely be profound, rapid, and…