Students learn more effectively with personally meaningful tasks. Thus, students learn more if they have a say in deciding what specific topics and examples are being discussed in class. Naturally, the instructor knows what topics are important to cover in a course and which ones might be optional. Finding the right balance between students'…

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics identified technology as a feature of high-quality mathematics education. One way that teachers can use technology to facilitate their pupils' mathematical understanding is through the generating and exploring multiple representations of mathematical ideas. The purposes of this study are to: (1)…

In this paper, the development of an innovative Virtual Manipulatives and Whiteboard (VMW) system is described. The VMW system allowed users to manipulate virtual objects in 3D space and find clues to solve geometry problems. To assist with multi-representation transformation, translucent multimedia whiteboards were used to provide a virtual 3D…

In an era when technology seems to be changing almost daily, school boards, administrators, and teachers need to revisit their technology policies almost as rapidly, education experts advise. Internet chat rooms, online video games, and other electronic features that once seemed inappropriate for the classroom are proving useful for meeting many…

Dynamic geometry software (DGS) such as Cabri and Geometers' Sketchpad has been regularly used worldwide for teaching and learning Euclidean geometry for a long time. The DGS with its inductive nature allows students to learn Euclidean geometry via explorations. However, with respect to non-Euclidean geometries, do we need to introduce them to…

In upper tertiary educational programmes around the world, the new Web-mediated communication practices termed Web 2.0 are introduced as learning activities with the goal of facilitating learning through collaborative knowledge construction. The aim of this paper is to point to discrepancies in the views of learning, knowledge, and the goals of…

Improvements in technology appear to provide an unprecedented opportunity to improve learning and teaching within the higher education system. At present, however, opinions are divided over the efficacy of such an approach and the extent to which technology should be embraced in teaching. Over a period of two years, we have developed a new…

Teachers must clearly distinguish for students the educational technologies (the tools or means) used to investigate a subject from the subject (the task) itself. Without this distinction, students develop critical and fundamental misconceptions about their subjects of study, usually confusing the tool for the task. Digital educational…

The "digital natives" that are sitting in today's classrooms live their lives surrounded by technology. "The current crop of learners differs in significant ways from previous generations because, unlike their predecessors, they have literally grown up 'digital'" (Simpson & Clem, 2008, p. 2). Teachers and administrators…

This dissertation is a comparative study, using a criterion-group design, examining the effectiveness of a blended instructional model and a distance instructional model in the teaching of a learning and motivation strategies class. Course effectiveness was determined based upon changes in student grade point averages over time from prior to…

The increased growth of online instruction has been well documented by various studies. As the result of the proliferation of online instruction, students from outside of the United States are now able to obtain an American education without having to leave their home country. While online course designs have been well researched and documented to…

This study provides empirical evidence of a highly specific use of games in education--the assessment of the learner. Linear regressions were used to examine the predictive and convergent validity of a math game as assessment of mathematical understanding. Results indicate that prior knowledge significantly predicts game performance. Results also…

Virtual charter schools, emerging in the 1990s, are a recent development in the education field and reflect today's technology-oriented society. This study examined existing data to evaluate what, if any, difference existed between students who attended public school and those who were homeschooled prior to entering the virtual charter school. …

Technology has enabled students to have greater access to vast array of resources, classes and experts; empowering students to become "Free Agent Learners" who are creating meaningful personalized learning experiences 24/7 outside of the traditional classroom and school structure. In the report "Creating our Future: Students Speak Up about their…

In March 2005, the Department for Education and Skills published its e-strategy, Harnessing Technology (DfES, 2005, Harnessing technology: Transforming Learning and Children's Services). Within this, two of its key objectives were: firstly to transform teaching and learning, and help to improve outcomes for children and young people, through…