This reflective case study was based on our independent use of the debate as an online instructional approach and our shared interest in teaching strategies. In an interdisciplinary manner, using narrative inquiry and action research, we melded our data sources and analyzed the findings, including our individual experiences with the technique. Our…

The use of a participant survey, administered at the outset of an online course, can provide information useful in the management of the learning environment and in its subsequent redesign. Such information can clarify participants' prior experience, expectations, and demographics. But the very act of enquiring about the learner also signals the…

This report describes reflections from two cycles of developmental research that involved creating and refining a series of computer-based applets for reasoning about the relative magnitude of fractional quantities. The applet sequence stemmed from a cognitively demanding task used in face-to-face teacher education settings that involved placing…

The purpose of this study was to compare the influence of instruction using WebQuest activities with the influence of an instruction using spreadsheet activities on the motivation of pre-service elementary school teachers in mathematics teaching course. There were a total of 70 pre-service elementary school teachers involved in this study. Thirty…

Children with disabilities live in every country of the world. Training personnel to provide education and rehabilitative services to these children, no matter where they live, is a continuing challenge for the profession. This paper describes a human development course in a program designed for an international religious organization based in…

Creating an integrative research framework that extends a model frequently used in the Information Systems field, the Technology Acceptance Model, together with variables used in the Education field, this empirical study investigates the factors influencing student performance as reflected by their final course grade. The Technology Acceptance…

In this paper we investigate the value of collaboration scripts for promoting metacognitive knowledge in a project-based e-learning context. In an empirical study, 82 students worked individually and in groups on a project using the e-learning environment MyProject, in which the life cycle of a project is inherent. Students followed a particular…

In this article I will argue that the use of learning content management systems is also justified in full-time education, especially in business education and communication studies. Nowadays not only multinational companies, but domestic medium enterprises also manage the training of new employees and existing staff with LCMSs. Companies in…

This article describes and analyzes actors' experiences of distance learning systems in a wide variety of cultural and organizational contexts. In line with the project of this special series of issues, results of research, much of which is longitudinal, allow us to suggest answers to the following questions: Who are the actors of distance…

A major strand of science and technology studies in recent decades has related to the social construction of technology (SCOT) movement, whose adherents maintain that technological systems are determined just as much by social forces as by technological ones. Taking this SCOT notion as a starting point, and putting a focus on the user, this paper…

As noted by Moore (2007, xxiii), the fifth section of the second edition of the "Handbook of Distance Education" focused on "some of the main consumers and suppliers of distance education programs," including elementary and secondary education, community colleges, universities, the corporate sector, continuing professional…

This study involved undergraduate preservice education teachers enrolled in online-instructed and lecture-instructed introductory courses in special education. Pre- and postsurveys were administered to obtain information on the students' attitudes toward making accommodations in regular classrooms for students with special needs--physical,…

Lack of connectivity and sustainability are two common problems in asynchronous online discussions. In this paper, the author proposes that the two problems may have to do with the structure of threaded forums, that is, the design of threaded forums may constrain participants from having well-connected and sustained discussions. A new discussion…

The creation of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) is promoting a change toward a new model of education focused on the student. It is impelling methodological innovation processes in many European universities, leading more teachers to apply methods based on active and cooperative learning in their classrooms. However, the successful…

Scope and method of study: Using the framework of Rogers's (1995) Diffusion of Innovation Theory, the purpose of the study is to examine the use of web-based instruction and faculty perceptions of web-based instruction in a Thai university. In this study, interviews with seven participants were used as the primary method to collect data.…