This exploratory study examines how a team of three seventh grade teachers from a rural/suburban middle school in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States adapted the WATERS curriculum for asynchronous online delivery. The study shows that many hurdles can be mitigated with intentional planning, dedicated resources, and professional…

Given the widespread adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards in the United States, there is a need to study new models of professional development to prepare teachers to enact practice-based visions of science learning and to address problems of access to reach teachers nationwide. While studies of online professional development offer…

This paper builds on Grossman's notion of approximations of practice as scaled-down opportunities for preservice teachers to learn to teach by doing. The authors propose the use of media rich, collaborative web-authoring tools for preservice teachers to create, complete, or edit scenarios in which they practice particular activities of teaching,…

While our understanding of student engagement in the compulsory schooling sector is well developed in face-to-face contexts, the same cannot be said for online and distance learning environments. Indeed, most of what is currently known about online engagement has come from research with older students in tertiary education contexts. This study…

This article presents research from a qualitative study exploring five secondary English teachers' professionally oriented participation online. Drawing upon Cole's (1996) "surround" and "weaving" views of context, the specific line of research featured here was guided by the following question: What are the features of the…

Since being introduced into classrooms in the late 1990s, online instruction has grown substantially both in student enrollment and the number of programs offered at state, district, and multi-district levels. Although having been applied liberally to all core subjects and many supplemental subjects, online instruction has yet to be utilized…

Middle and secondary schools have increasingly offered distance-learning classes as a means of meeting diverse student needs and curriculum requirements while using instructional and budget resources efficiently. Little emphasis has been placed on the readiness of students to participate and succeed in these less conventional learning…

This study used a social presence construct derived from the Community of Inquiry (COI) framework, with cohesive, affective, and interactive components, to explore online discussion in an Advanced Placement course for rural high school students. The COI is based on the underlying theoretical framework of social constructivism, where interaction is…

This paper focused on whether the use of online discussion boards can enhance the quality of interaction in the middle and high school English classroom, covering both the characteristics of online discussion boards and potential negative effects of their features. The features of online discussion boards, their effects, and how these boards…

The aim of this study is to find out and analyze the role of gender and age on the perceptions of students to the distant online program offered by Vocational High School in Sakarya University. The research is based on a questionnaire as a mean of data collection method to find out the role of age and gender on the student's perceptions toward…

Online and face-to-face courses are often viewed and studied as two distinct worlds, but the social field of the teacher who teaches them may well include both, and both the teacher and the courses he or she teaches may be transformed by the movement from one environment to the other. Susan Lowes explores this two-way interaction between…

Online teaching is a complex professional practice. In addition to their content knowledge and pedagogical skill, online teachers must be qualified in methods of teaching the content online and have experience in online learning. This document examines some of the aspects of online teaching, specifically those related to communication and…

For the thirty-sixth year, 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 Anaheim, California. The Proceedings of AECT's Convention are published in two…

For the thirty-fourth year, 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 Jacksonville, FL. A limited quantity of these Proceedings were printed and sold in both hardcopy and electronic…