The Open University (OU) has a long and distinguished history of teaching biology at a distance by a supported open learning model. This article examines some of the challenges in delivering biology via distance teaching, explores some of the lessons learned, and discusses the opportunities and hazards of new teaching technologies that the OU has…

Mobile phone usage among students is virtually universal, presenting an opportunity for higher education to pursue. Higher education, however, has failed to notice the potential of mobile devices to provide students with educational experiences and services. In this article, the author presents a collection of scenarios which demonstrates the many…

Distance learning in developing countries has emerged as a way of widening access to education for tertiary applicants who qualify but could not otherwise gain admission due to the limited space in the existing tertiary institutions. The delivery of the program in Ghana, a developing country in Africa, is predominantly print-based and is supported…

Interactive whiteboard use is rapidly becoming a popular and effective teaching tool in classrooms; this article explores specific uses within music classrooms. Not only do these boards prepare students to function in a technological world, they offer myriad creative uses within the music classroom, allowing for enhanced interaction, instruction,…

Our research specifically focuses on the effects of the national cultural background of educators on the acceptance and usage of ICT, particularly the Web as an extensive and expanding information base that provides the ultimate in resource-rich learning. Most research has been used North Americans as subjects. For this reason, we interviewed…

The aim of this study was to investigate the complex relationship between students' mathematics confidence, confidence with technology, attitude to learning mathematics with technology, affective engagement and behavioural engagement, achievement, gender and year level. The participants were secondary students from state co-educational schools in…

Gaming equipment (such as Nintendo's Wii[TM]) is making its way to schools and classrooms. However, most of the discussion regarding how to use this technology and integrate it into lesson plans is happening in blogs on the Internet. An advocate of interactive media in the classroom, Dr. Dawn Hawkins, a faculty member for the Art Institute of…

This article describes key elements for faculty development programs to prepare mathematics teachers for technology-rich environments. We offer practical examples from our experiences in teaching mathematics with technology and in teaching others to incorporate technology-based pedagogies. We address challenges faced by faculty using technology,…

Looking for a "habanero" (extremely hot) lesson to engage first-year Spanish language students in an in-depth study of Spanish-speaking countries? This article offers an overview of how the authors used 21st-century tools to get students excited about the not-so-new assignment of reporting on the people and culture of another country. Chances are,…

This paper reviews research on learning from dynamic visual representations and offers principles for the design of animations and simulations that assure their educational effectiveness. In addition to established principles, new and revised design principle are presented that have been derived from recent research. Our review focuses on the…

Despite the widely-held acknowledgment of the great potential of the Internet for improving social studies instruction, the available research tells us that most social studies teachers who use the Internet in their classroom do so without changing much in their traditional approach to teaching. This article suggests using the NCSS Position…

The focus of this study was to examine the leadership role as lived by teaching principals in a selection of small primary schools in the west of Ireland and in particular the implications information and communications technology (ICT) has for that role. The study involved the use of individual one-to-one semi-structured interviews with a…

Just-in-Time Teaching (JiTT) methodology uses Web-based tools to gather student responses to questions on preclass reading assignments. However, the technological requirements of JiTT and the content-specific nature of the questions may prevent some instructors from implementing it. Our own JiTT implementation uses publicly and freely available…

While virtual schools, which currently serve only a tiny fraction of the nation's 48 million K-12 students, get all the buzz, a much bigger, largely untold story of online learning is unfolding in America's brick-and-mortar classrooms: a simple yet profound merger of virtual-school technology and the traditional classroom is taking place. This…

Describes technology integration program at Clovis High School (California) involving wireless laptop computers. Includes how the program started and what students have to say about it. (PKP)