Educational activities using microblogging co-located with face-to-face communication might promote productive classroom interactions. However, much depends on how teachers design those activities. This article explores how the educational design of an activity that uses microblogging engages lower secondary school students in classroom…

Numerous research publications have mentioned the need to prepare teachers to design and enact technologically enhanced learning experiences for students, thus increasing their academic performance and their engagement when learning. This paper addresses the crucial issue of how to train pre-service and novice teachers effectively to become good…

Educational software is a growing industry, creating demand for professionals with the skills and knowledge necessary to develop high-quality learning software. This paper explores the perceptions and experiences of professionals who have made a career of developing educational software and suggests educational paths useful for professionals in…

In many K-12 and higher education contexts, the use of smart mobile devices increasingly affords learning experiences that are situated, authentic and connected. While earlier reviews of mobile technology may have led to criticism of these devices as being largely for consumption, many current uses emphasize creativity and productivity, with…

Especially in the context of technology-enhanced informal learning, it is crucial to understand how to design information sources in such a way that learners are not overwhelmed by the demands of the learning process, but at the same time are engaged in higher order thinking processes. Guidance aids learners in dealing with the demands of a…

Background: The penetration of video games in media consumption behaviors is statistically very significant all over the world. Education and media education cannot ignore this phenomenon, as it is so relevant for such a considerable part of the population, especially youth. The application of media education principles and goals to video games is…

The use of multimodal learning techniques is becoming more widespread, however, the pedagogical discourse surrounding its implementation into classroom and course design is complicated as these technologies are either demonized or viewed as the panacea for curriculum ills. Educators are faced with unique challenges when investigating how to…

The web has the potential to offer an environment that can support standardized medical education to students dispersed in time or place and, in the process, respond to reduced availability of patients for practice. This exploratory article describes how we evaluated critical thinking in an online collaborative Problem-based Learning (PBL)…

Critical thinking and knowledge construction have become essential competencies for people in the new information age. In this study, we designed an interactive learning environment involving three forms of interaction: individual reflections, group collaboration and, class discussions. The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to…

Recent research on annotation interfaces provides provocative evidence that anchored, annotation-based discussion environments may lead to better conversations about a text. However, annotation interfaces raise complicated tradeoffs regarding screen real estate and positioning. It is argued that solving this screen real estate problem requires…

Critical thinking is highly valued but difficult to teach effectively. The Reason! project at the University of Melbourne (Australia) has developed the Reason!Able software as part of a general method aimed at enhancing critical thinking skills. Students using Reason!Able appear to make dramatic gains. This paper describes: (1) the challenge…

This report describes hypermedia as a non-linear interlinked representation of textual, graphic, visual and audio material, that enables students to connect large bodies of information while developing analytical skills necessary to think critically about this information. It is noted that the use of microcomputers for hypermedia instruction…

This paper first reviews the field of educational technology and teaching from two perspectives, that of the technologist and that of the teacher. It is noted that the activities of educational technologists are now defined largely in terms of instructional design and development and are increasingly distanced from the work of ordinary teachers in…

Support is needed to promote problem-based learning (PBL) and to enhance critical thinking skills in discussion-based Internet forums. By advancing the capabilities of chat room and forum software, problem-based discussions for learning can be supported further in online learning environments. In this paper, the authors report on MALESAbrain, an…

The "Convince Me" computer environment supports critical thinking by allowing users to create and evaluate computer-based representations of arguments. This study investigates theoretical and design considerations pertinent to using "Convince Me" as an educational tool to support reasoning about public policy issues. Among…