This paper argues that the emotional state of students' contributions need to be addressed in an online learning community. If feelings of fear, anger or isolation can lead to withdrawal or conflict then the potential for learning is reduced and a facilitator of an online course needs to manage these emotions at an early stage. Therefore, a…

Research shows that scientific knowledge develops through a process of decision-making as well as discovery, and that argumentation is a genre of discourse crucial to the practice of science. Students should therefore be supported in understanding the scientific practices of dialectical and rhetorical argumentation as part of learning about…

Today, anyone can publish text, audio, pictures, or video on the Web quickly and at no charge using blogs, wikis, podcasts, and videosharing sites like YouTube. An 8th grade American history class has taken advantage of these technologies to expand student learning. Students read books and blog about them with people who live in different states,…

Threaded discussion forums have been a popular topic for the past few years in distance education research and studied as a factor in student participation, satisfaction, learning outcomes, social presence, and interaction. Only recently has it been considered as a potential vehicle for the development of critical thinking skills and deep…

A web conference "adds value by generating discussion among a diverse student group" (Skinner, 2004a, p. 12). Or does it? A significant concern is the extent to which learners construct knowledge and develop a learning community through online discussion. Critics argue that genuine knowledge construction is difficult to achieve. This study…

This article compares French and English academic article abstracts from the language sciences in an attempt to understand how and why language choice might affect this part-genre--both in actual use and according to authors' linguistic and rhetorical perceptions. Two corpora are used: Corpus A consists of abstracts from a French linguistics…

The concept of student voice is problematic. This paper considers two different traditions which theorise the notion of voice. The first is located within critical sociological studies of youth identity, drawing upon the notion of the often silenced voices of the marginalised, "Othered" or subordinated as a means of exposing oppressive…

This chapter describes how a commitment to instructional design principles has prompted the evolution of collaborative interaction between student affairs professionals and academic faculty. Central to this collaboration are the opportunities that e-portfolios have made available.

A question associated with the introduction of computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) is whether all participants profit equally from working in CSCL environments. This article reports on a review study into gender-related differences in participation in CSCL. As many of the processes in CSCL are similar to those in computer-mediated…

An important result of physics education research is that students' learning and success in a course is correlated with their beliefs, attitudes, and expectations regarding physics. However, it is hard to assess these beliefs for individual students, and traditional survey instruments such as the Maryland Physics Expectations Survey (MPEX) are…

This qualitative study explores the nature of undergraduate commuter students' social involvement with peers during the transitional first six months of their university experience. Focus group interviews with 46 participants provided a student perspective of the role of social interactions in students' transition to university life. Findings…

Many schools across the nation are working to include online learning as a fundamental part of the collection of teaching strategies. In 2000, approximately 98% of the public schools in the United States were connected to the Internet (National Center for Education Statistics, 2001) and were working to expand their students' communication options…

Learner analysis and needs assessments are basic elements of all instructional design models and are of concern to those designing distance education courses. Mismatches between students' expectations and actual course features may impact learning. This investigation surveyed 249 geographically dispersed online students for the course features…

This article discusses the multi-faceted challenges experienced by professionals embarking on professional development online. It is argued that the barriers to successful completion identified in the literature reflect the complex, overlapping, and not always supportive social systems in which professional learners are embedded. A…

Many college classrooms these days may as well have lighted signs over their doors that read "On Air" or "Recording in Progress." A growing number of professors are recording their lectures and making them available as podcasts--regularly updated sets of audio files that students can download to their computers or MP3 players. Some campus…