The "discovery and conquest" of the Internet and its application to the teaching of foreign languages and cultures has created some very serious pedagogical problems. The interest in instructional technology appeared on the horizon at a moment when theorists of foreign language acquisition were promoting notions of proficiency-oriented…

A study at Germany's FernUniversitat sent a questionnaire to 300 enrolled distance education students (mostly adult, mostly part-time) who labeled themselves as severely disabled or chronically ill (about 2 percent of students), asking them about the types of their disabilities and their attitudes toward computer-assisted learning and online…

This study explored the perceptions of distance-education students in two-year institutions toward advising, counseling, and library/media services. The objectives were to provide information to assist community college personnel in the development of relevant student support services for distance-education students. Two questionnaires were…

Argues that the combination of collaborative writing and electronic resources can produce a reaffirmation of literacy as a social process. Utilizes feminist theory to equate the postmodernist assumptions regarding the indeterminate nature of language with democratizing influences. Describes a class project where students produced a collaborative,…

Briefly notes, literally, hundreds of Web sites concerning the 1996 presidential election and politics in general. Includes candidate and party home pages, media outlets, partisan and nonpartisan sites, and a list of parody pages. Lists interactive programs involving quizzes and simulations, as well as dozens of discussion groups. (MJP)

Examines the effects of new information and communication technologies on the structure and practices of U.S. politics. Maintains that the success or failure of digital-era democracy will depend ultimately on citizen participation. Includes a brief look at current innovative U.S. voter registration programs. (MJP)

"Chronicle of Higher Education" presents an abundant source of news and information for college and university faculty members and administrators. This February 25, 2005 issue of "Chronicle of Higher Education" includes the following articles: (1) "Sins of Admission" (Sumner, James); (2) "Admissions Today: 6…

The history of distance education in Russia and in the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) is a history of dramatic change in ideology, conceptual framework, and approach. It can be divided into two main stages: initial formation and development into the world's largest system of correspondence learning, from the mid 1920s to the…

This study investigated teacher perception of interactions used in on-line developmental mathematics courses at two-year colleges. A total of 98 AMATYC teachers were surveyed. The following conclusions were inferred from the study's findings: (a) The teacher responding to the survey was apt to be a female between the ages of 50 and 59, had taught…

The advance of online technology and instructional delivery such as Web-based learning (WBL) has heralded new changes in education. Students using the WBL environment in various courses at eight universities in Malaysia were surveyed. Results showed that five main factors influence the effectiveness of the online learning process: students'…

This article captures how a web-based course, designed as a part of the School Leadership Grant Program, meets some challenges of leadership training and development. The content, structure and discussion board exercises of the sample course are designed to provide more reflective and practical opportunities for leader-learners to develop…

This paper presents an online course for assessing and developing lexical competence which grew out of one simple question: How many words do our students have? We start by highlighting the importance of vocabulary teaching in the second language learning process and the beneficial effects of multimedia on developing lexis. The first response to…

For centuries traditional university education has primarily focused on building foundational skills in particular disciplines via the transfer of knowledge from instructor to student. Today however, simply being able to reproduce knowledge is no longer adequate; students must also be able to apply their knowledge to changing, real world contexts.…

Proformacao is a distance teacher certification course aimed at providing training to 27,000 uncertified teachers in 15 Brazilian states. This innovative program organizes human and technical resources for delivering distance education in a cost-effective manner. Different from other institutional systems--which typically employ their own…

This report provides a progress report on the Art and Technology Integration Project (ATI), a partnership of the Westside and Grand Island Public Schools, the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American Art (NMAA), and the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO). The ATI project focuses on long-range assessment of the integration of the…