This paper describes how digital talking books (DTBs) with embedded functionality for learners can be generated from content structured according to the OU OpenLearn schema. It includes examples showing how a software transformation developed from open source components can be used to remix OpenLearn content, and discusses issues concerning the…

"The Geography Teacher" provides hands-on reference and educative material for K-12 Geography teachers. The journal also pioneers innovative ideas for contemporary teaching methods, including lesson plans. This issue contains the following: (1) Census in Schools Program (census.gov); (2) Ask Dr. de Blij (Dr. Harm de Blij); (3) Eritrea:…

Student teachers often complain about the lack of relevance of the theoretical courses in teacher education, and they repeatedly stress the importance of the practicum as the most significant component in preparation for teaching. However, most teacher educators, as well as students themselves, recognise the importance of being well informed about…

Wikis have the potential to change learning environments from traditional knowledge transmission models to knowledge transformative ones where students generate, share, and reshape knowledge. In this three-part study, graduate students created wikibooks across institutional settings. One of these projects extended to universities in China, Taiwan,…

This study has three major purposes, including designing mobile natural-science learning activities that rest on the 5E Learning Cycle, examining the effects of these learning activities on students' performances of learning aquatic plants, and exploring students' perceptions toward these learning activities. A case-study method is utilized and…

This paper explores a relatively new area in the design and development of assessment procedures for the evaluation of coursework and student performance on computer and video games degrees. Emphasis is placed on an assessment which involves the development of and interaction in a virtual world, where lecturers and students are represented as…

The need to support users of the Internet with the selection of information is becoming more important. Learners in complex, self-organising Learning Networks have similar problems and need guidance to find and select most suitable learning activities, in order to attain their lifelong learning goals in the most efficient way. Several research…

This paper discusses a university-wide pilot designed to encourage academics to creatively explore learner-centred applications for digital audio. Participation in the pilot was diverse in terms of technical competence, confidence and contextual requirements and there was little prior experience of working with digital audio. Many innovative…

As Taiwan's full-scale e-learning initiatives moved to the seventh year in 2009, the current status and challenges of e-learning development there are yet to be fully understood. Further extending Zhang and Hung's (2006) investigation on e-learning in all universities and colleges in Taiwan, this study investigated the after-school programs (ASPs)…

In this article, Annick Janson and Robin Janson introduce research from the Microsoft New Zealand's Partners in Learning Programme by documenting the impact of digital learning objects (DLOs) on educational practice. Janson and Janson describe the impact of DLOs on the teaching practice of a primary school in New Zealand, tracing the effects of…

E-learning is significant breakthrough in teaching and learning. Internet or web technologies are important because they facilitate and enhance communications among instructors and learners and provide tools to encourage creativity and initiative. If internet-based learning environments are to benefit students, then it is important from the…

The present study expands the design of Warschauer (1996) surveying freshman foreign language students at a Turkish university. Motivating aspects of computer assisted instruction in terms of writing and e-mailing are explored through an exploratory factor analysis conducted on the survey developed by Warschauer (1996). Findings suggest that…

Course management systems (CMSs) have become a symbol of innovation at institutions of higher education and in less than a decade they have been rapidly adopted by a large number of colleges and universities in many countries around the world (Coates, 2005; Dutton, Cheong, & Park, 2004; Malikowski, Thompson, & Theis, 2007; Wise &…

This paper reports on the outcomes of a pilot project to support secondary teachers of science in rural and regional Tasmania. The pilot project involved eight regional schools and was based on the provision of a kit of materials and an associated learning program that used brine shrimp or "sea-monkeys" to test for water quality. The…

ICT has a very short history in Slovakia. A majority of Slovak schools accessed computers and internet only after 2000. Different financial support and schools' participation in various projects resulted in non-random distribution of computers across Slovakian elementary schools. We examined whether 1) attitudes toward computers could be affected…