This study explores alternative-licensed teachers' views of how an asynchronous discussion board mediated their preparation to teach literacy through methods courses. Forty-four alternative-licensed teachers were taught literacy teaching methods using the asynchronous discussion board as a tool of extending learning. Each participant responded to…

The need for an evaluation instrument for web-based, mainly asynchronous, course websites is necessary. An instrument was developed and tested to assess whether there was an appropriate checklist of items that were expected of an online course website by both students and faculty. The instrument was developed from surveying the current literature…

Recently, many counselor education programs have considered whether and how to offer courses online. Although online counselor education courses are becoming increasingly common, the use of synchronous (real-time) teaching approaches appears to be limited at best. In this article, we provide a context and rationale for incorporating online…

Given the importance of administrative attention to blended learning, this article adumbrates the institutional benefits but also the institutional challenges of this integration of online and on-campus instruction. The reasons for engaging in blended learning determine how it will play out, so the "why" is given precedence over the "how". But…

A forum is a valuable tool to foster reflection in an in-depth discussion; however, it forces the course mediator to continually pay close attention in order to coordinate learners' activities. Moreover, monitoring a forum is time consuming given that it is impossible to know in advance when new messages are going to be posted. Additionally, a…

The last decade has seen a great variety in the ways in which instructors have incorporated the World Wide Web into their traditional classroom courses; however, this combination has not always translated into changes or improvements in teaching and learning. The real challenge has proved to be not the addition of web resources to the traditional…

Asynchronous online discussion has been widely used by faculty members and students in schools and universities. Previous research has examined how factors such as the discussion activity, knowledge about the discussion topic, and the behaviour of other participants can affect learner participation. This study explored student facilitators'…

For the thirty-ninth time, the Research and Theory Division of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) is sponsoring the publication of these Proceedings. Papers published in this volume were presented at the annual AECT Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Proceedings of AECT's Convention are published in two volumes.…

Education systems are increasingly relying on online and distance education technology as a means of delivering instruction. The issues that are faced in online education settings include how to address the distance between participants and the instructor, and the best way to deliver instruction. Although new online technologies provide the…

Reflection is essential to deep learning and problem solving. From a socio-cultural perspective, reflection is developed through social interaction and semiotic mediation (Vygotsky, 1978; Wells, 1999). To reflect, students need to be given opportunities to review their own and others' mental processes and to use techniques such as writing or…

The purpose of this article is to propose a blending with purpose multimodal conceptual model for designing and developing blended learning courses and programs. A blended learning model is presented that suggests teachers design instruction to meet the needs of a variety of learners. Specifically, "Blending with Purpose: The Multimodal Model"…

This study examined the effects of cognitive load experienced by e-learners as they negotiated the tasks required for successful participation within an asynchronous course room, specifically examining the relationship between measured cognitive load and the learners' confidence in completing their course. The results indicated that learner…

In this article, the author shares challenges of teaching writing in a virtual classroom. One of the challenges of online education--the often-asynchronous nature--also holds one of the strengths: the opportunity for a lesson to continue long after the classroom closes. The author's experiences online offer ways to rethink meanings of youth…

Educators participating in networked learning communities have very little support from integrated tools in evaluating students' learning activities flow and examining learners' online behaviour. There is a need for non-intrusive ways to monitor learners' progress in order better to follow their learning process and appraise the online course…

This study broadens the objectives of previous work (Boyer, N., Langevin, S., Gaspar, A. (2008). "Self direction and constructivism in programming education." "Proceedings of the ACM Special Interest Group in IT Education Conference," 16-18 October 2008, Cincinnati, OH) in which we used a survey-based instrument, the Personal…