The purpose of our paper is to describe and compare educational models based on four major concepts that can be used to assess educational quality. We focus on graduate management programs since they are increasingly supporting their education offerings with state-of-the-art technology. We examine why some distance educational models are more…

Limited empirical research exists regarding the prevalence of academic dishonesty in the online classroom. This limited evidence supports the notion that factors contributing to academic dishonesty in the traditional classroom also apply to online courses. The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between factors known to contribute…

A 3D virtually synchronous communication architecture for situated language learning has been designed to foster communicative competence among undergraduate students who have studied English as a foreign language (EFL). We present an innovative approach that offers better e-learning than the previous virtual reality educational applications. The…

Describes how a handful of institutions are experimenting with computer simulations to offer hard science labs through distance education. (EV)

Discusses how the African Virtual University is attempting to address the huge and unmet demand for educational services in Africa, describing experiences, lessons, and adjustments being made to achieve improved effectiveness and relevance. (EV)

Describes the activity of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation in support of asynchronous learning networks (ALNs) in universities. Discusses how these networks can provide the essentials of the traditional learning experience while assembling a diversity of students and teaching staffs and offering a flexibility of delivery that vastly extends…

Discusses online technologies and distance education and suggests that combining distributed learning and a technology-first approach for instructional design could produce a new framework that would begin with the nature of the technology as its central assumption. Describes the present framework of the virtual classroom and considers the nature…

The availability of online collaboration software has provided new opportunities for instructors to interact with students outside the classroom. This report describes how Elluminate "Live!"[R], a particular conferencing software package, can be used with a tablet PC to conduct virtual office hours in a biochemistry course. The educational value…

In recent years one of the most significant changes in UK Universities has been the increased use of virtual learning environments (VLE) as a method of supporting learning and teaching. This has in part been influenced by research which suggests that student learning experiences can be enhanced by the judicious use of new technologies and partly…

This qualitative study was intended to explore the roles that an early childhood instructor undertook in a virtual learning environment. Throughout three consecutive semesters, multiple forms of data collection techniques were employed, including: field notes, teacher-student online interaction, the course design, students' online submissions,…

If the world of education had a crystal ball, even its own visionary might feel a bit of uncertainty. Perhaps one of the furthest ideas from the minds of those considering the future of education facilities is that in 50 years, there will be no education facilities. One reason given for this belief is that 50 years worth of technological…

The purpose of this study is to investigate the perceived differences between asynchronous online discussions and face-to-face discussions in a classroom setting. The students' reflections were analysed by following a qualitative research approach. The results showed that atmosphere, response, efficiency, interactivity and communication were the…

This paper reports on a collaborative staff development activity run across two Australian universities, for academic staff integrating Web 2.0 technologies into their teaching. It describes a three-week long virtual workshop on teaching with wikis, where participants in two groups developed a group project as students and then assessed the work…

Much Second Language Acquisition research focuses on young learners in the conventional classroom. Instructed adult learners, and in particular those who are learning at a distance, have attracted less attention. This group is substantial and growing: the Open University, the largest higher education language provider in the UK, alone recruits…

This paper examines how a game-like 3D Multi-User Virtual Environment (MUVE), Quest Atlantis (QA), is used in an after-school programme to engage a group of 14 academically at-risk primary students in their learning. It adopts an activity theoretical perspective to identify the disturbances and contradictions during the implementation of the…