Describes a preliminary test on graduate students of a software tool designed to perform computations required in event sequence analysis, that will enable researchers to measure and empirically test student interactions and critical thinking in threaded discussions. Explains the Discussion Analysis Tool (DAT) and suggests implications for…

Discusses effective designs, management tactics, and strategies to produce ideal asynchronous network discussions that allow contemplation and encourage the development of critical thinking. A model of an online collaborative learning community is applied to implement the designs. A sample of online collaborative moderation guidelines is…

Examines the process of scaffolding in terms of secondary school teachers' and students' discussions and how transition from teacher regulation to student regulation takes place during a learning project carried out in a Web-based learning environment. The teacher's role as challenger, monitor, and evaluator of student learning and implications…

Provides an overview of the PROLIB and EDULIB projects, which involved the development and delivery of distance learning courses in the Slovak language to library and information professionals in the Slovak Republic. Explains the combination of face-to-face lecture sessions, group discussions, self-study workbooks, and computer-mediated Internet…

Presents a literature review that focuses on undergraduate discussion. Describes a teaching method in which undergraduate sociology students are assigned to create an open-ended question and write a one- to three-page answer every one- to two-weeks. Addresses the positive and negative aspects of the method. (CMK)

Focuses on the use of classroom discussions as a teaching strategy and addresses the barriers to good classroom discussions. Explores the work of two teachers who successfully integrated discussion into their classrooms using two different techniques: (1) a seminar; and (2) a deliberation. Discusses the differences between seminars and…

Presents an instructional resource that explores works of art by African Americans from the U.S. Civil War to the civil rights era (1859-1945). Includes reproductions and background information for each art work and artist along with questions and related art projects. (CMK)

An ethnomethodological approach was used to analyze the organization of talk, the leader-student interaction, and resultant social order during group discussion among 2 male leaders and 15 ninth-grade Australian boys participating in a school-sponsored outdoor experience. Results focus on how the leaders structured the interaction and regulated…

Uses the author's experiences to illustrate the challenge of teaching in today's schools. Discusses ways to provide a climate in which students feel they hold ownership, and have relationships with the community of learners around them to engage in discussion about the subject material and further develop their own thinking patterns. Presents…

Examines conversational interaction in mother-twin-twin triads during play. Findings, paralleling those for mother-infant-sibling triads, reveal that these conversations are five times longer and elicit more turns from all speakers than dyadic conversations between a mother and a single twin and that the unique effects of triadic exchanges are not…

Discusses the use of electronic discussion groups as part of regular course activities at California Lutheran University. Highlights include benefits, including meeting student needs and convenient interaction; the need for assessment to determine instructional effectiveness; and the results of student surveys. (LRW)

Summarizes the novel, "Western Wind," by Paula Fox, lists 12 discussion questions, describes six activities, and contains an annotated bibliography of seven other novels related to birth, death, and families. (DGM)

Discusses teaching practices that promote interaction and foster a positive learning environment in online classes. Topics include meeting student learning needs; the teacher's role in computer-mediated interactions; biographical posts for instructors and students; positive affirmation of student work; integrating stories into class discussions;…

The author reflects on her personal experience of networked learning using the approach of personal inquiry, addressing the issue of identity and presenting herself online; experience of participating in the formation of the learning group; and experience using this medium of communication. This is followed with a theoretical exploration which…

Addresses questions that teachers may face in the classroom to help them educate their students about Muslim Americans. Includes a list of books about Islam, topics to be used for classroom discussion, and other resources for teaching about Muslim Americans. (CMK)