Gender studies across the world have produced a wealth of information generated by studies that seek to investigate the existence of a distinction between genders in mathematical-based courses, such as Computer Science courses. However, the Middle Eastern Region remained unexplored largely throughout this effort due to gender segregation during…

This article reports research from an ISTE SigTEL award-winning university-secondary school partnership, the Web Pen Pals project, which pairs preservice English teachers in online chat rooms with local middle school students to talk about young adult literature. One goal of teacher preparation programs is to encourage beginning teachers to use…

To help alleviate issues of free-riding and conflicts in team projects, this study proposes the systematic incorporation of project management methods to introduce a process-oriented approach to and a critical praxis in team projects. We examined how the systematic use of project management methods influenced students' performance in team…

The aim of this study was to identify social patterns in mobile technology mediated collaboration among distributed members of the professional distance education community. Ten participants worked for 12 weeks designing a master's programme in information sciences. The participants' mobile technology usage activity and interview data were first…

One of the challenges of asynchronous online discussions is soliciting student responses that involve critical thinking. Too often students answer one another with "I agree" or "That's what I think" and the discussion dead ends. By providing students with models of good questioning techniques instructors will see the class…

This contribution examines the methodological challenges involved in defining the collaborative knowledge-building processes occurring in asynchronous discussion and proposes an approach that could advance understanding of these processes. The written protocols that are available to the analyst provide an exact record of the instructional…

In this article, the author discusses blogging and its benefits. Blog is shorthand for weblog, which is a series of items posted on the Internet for others to read. It usually includes text, images, and links to other websites. Blogs provide a running commentary or conversation. Although many people use blogs as online journals, detailing the…

There are many ways to improve the quality of education, but it is believed that the scholarship of teaching and learning holds special promise. The scholarship of teaching and learning invites faculty from all disciplines and fields to identify and explore interesting questions in their own teaching--and, especially, in their students'…

Studies have shown that videoconferencing is an effective medium for facilitating communication between parties who are separated by distance, particularly when learners are engaged in complex collaborative learning tasks. However, as in face-to-face communication, learners benefit most when they receive additional support for such learning tasks.…

Modern communication technologies continue to spawn new and transformed genres, but in the digital realm, distinctions between form, content, and medium are blurred. Confounding this issue is the fact that genres are usually specific to a particular discourse community of users with learned social and cultural expectations. In the domain of higher…

The authors examined the online construction of identity and sexuality in a large sample of conversations from monitored and unmonitored teen chat rooms. More than half of the 583 participants (identified by a distinct screen name) communicated identity information, most frequently gender. In this way, participants compensated for the text-based…

The 2 studies reported here use observational data from message boards to investigate how adolescents solicit and share information related to self-injurious behavior. Study 1 examines the prevalence and nature of these message boards, their users, and most commonly discussed topics. Study 2 was intended to explore the correlations between content…

This study focuses on the use of electronic discussion boards with elementary-aged English as a Second Language (ESL) students. The purpose of the study is to investigate students' communicative competence in a computer-mediated communication environment. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used to analyze 956 messages posted by 28 ESL…

This study investigates whether and how peer interaction through scaffolded asynchronous computer-mediated communication (CMC) aided teachers as they conducted course-related individual action research projects. Specifically, the study investigates the extent to which teachers' use of CMC facilitated their reflective consideration and use of…

Teaching via distance requires inventive instructional strategies to facilitate an optimum learning experience. This qualitative research study evaluated the effect of one unique online teaching strategy called "photovoice" [Wang, C., & Burris, M. (1997). "Photovoice: Concept, methodology, and use for participatory needs assessment." "Health…