Teacher-Librarians are continually seeking opportunities to collaborate with the classroom teacher. Most of them have experienced the professional satisfaction resulting from a successful project, and they have also endured those that were stressful and less productive than the anticipated. Indeed, the best schools and the best librarians…

This study investigated the effects of interaction devices on the Internet performance of novice older users, and ways to provide appropriate voice assistance to enhance browsing and searching performance of such users. Three experiments were designed and conducted to test three hypotheses. The results indicated that touch screen and handwriting…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect that participating in online literature discussions would have on the discourse and learning of adult students. Would electronic literature (e-lit) discussions promote grand conversations? Would students feel that e-lit discussions enhanced their understanding of what they read, and, if so,…

Early views considered computer-mediated discussions (CMDs) to be ideal forums for fostering dialogue because women and other marginalized groups could be equal participants. However, such optimistic views have been tempered by research that found CMD to be dominated by a few individuals, often men, and discourse that is sometimes abusive. The…

This paper reports an investigation of the impact of students cognitive style on their effective use of educational text-based computer-mediated conferences. The research centres on an empirical study involving students from three courses run by the British Open University. Statistical analysis of the data does not suggest that cognitive style has…

Tools for measuring cognitive engagement within online groups have been concerned only with measuring an individual participant's cognitive engagement, without any concern for measuring cognitive engagement within groups. There remains a serious need for a scheme that measures cognitive engagement of groups and the validation of such a scheme…

Kenneth W. Dobbins, president of Southeast Missouri State University, discusses attending a June 2004 conference on "The Key to Competitiveness: Understanding the Next Generation Learner," sponsored by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, EDUCAUSE, and Microsoft. The conference addressed what today's students, the…

With the expansion and continued development of computer technology, a new world of educational opportunities is opening up via on-line distance learning. While distance learning is far from new, recent years have seen an explosion in the mechanisms and tools available for its implementation and support (Spodnick, 1996). It is also reported that…

This article discusses the processes of interaction among learners in higher education using a model of content analysis to examine their social construction of knowledge through computer-mediated communications. We examined students' conference transcripts for evidence that their collaborative communicative acts generated constructions of new…

As adolescent Internet use grew exponentially in the last decade, with it emerged a number of correspondent expectations. Among them were the following: (1) that gender predicts usage, i.e., that boys spend more time online, surfing the web and playing violent games, while girls chat or shop online; (2) that Internet use causes social isolation…

More universities are offering online instruction for students though we know little about effective online learning. Some have found online instruction increases student participation while others have reported that students prefer the traditional face-to-face format. This study of gifted education graduate students follows the expectation that…

This article briefly reviews initiatives that have attempted to create communities of educators using Web-based, electronic conferencing. The authors critically analyze the advocacy for electronic communication as a medium for bringing educators together across time and distance with an emphasis on what is known about urban schools, access to…

Where learner discourse has been the focus of much recent research on asynchonous online instruction, the specific forms of instructional discourse used by online educators has yet to be examined. Indeed, the majority of work in the area of foreign language and telecommunications has concentrated on student-student, student-peer interaction, and…

The landscape of education was permanently changed with the onset of online (web-based) distance education. As the number of participants in online education increases, providing effective instruction that focuses on the needs of adult learners is paramount. While the idea of taking a standard course curriculum and using a different vehicle to…

Over the last 10 years the Internet has become an essential part of the way companies do business. These days, it is as important to have a Web site as it is to have a phone book listing. Unfortunately, many Web sites are riddled with perplexing navigation and unclear priorities that leave many users confused and frustrated. This article presents…