Many private colleges have begun offering courses or programs in technologically-mediated formats, specifically utilizing online or internet based programs. These programs provide opportunity and access to unique student populations, and the personal relationship element of private colleges is often challenged in these distributed programs. This…

This interim report produced by the Colorado State Board of Education Online Education Task Force examines key issues related to online education. Task force members agree that: (1) online education has become a viable element of Colorado's public education system; (2) the role of technology in educating our children will continue to grow; and (3)…

This study captured the perceptions of pre-service teachers as they relate to online instruction. Twenty-five preservice teachers enrolled in a graduate level introductory special education course responded to a questionnaire. The course was taught with WebCT. Findings indicate that pre-service teachers are satisfied with their online learning.…

Web 2.0 technologies such as blogs, wikis, and social networking sites have impacted the Information Literacy (IL) curriculum at The American University in Cairo, where librarians teach LALT 101, a required, semester-long IL course. During fall 2005 and spring 2006, librarians used a Web 2.0 photo sharing tool, Flickr (www.flickr.com), to teach…

This report highlights distance delivery courses in Nebraska for the academic years 2004-2005 and 2005-2006. All six community colleges, the three state colleges, and the University of Nebraska campuses offer courses at distance; more than 40 degrees, endorsements and certificates are now offered completely by distance technology. The total number…

The authors analyzed online interactions in hybrid and blended courses to: (a) investigate if constructs from micro-sociology, such as self-talk, norms, and front-back-stage performance, provide a theoretical context for online interaction, and (b) compare courses with more versus fewer online components in terms of online interaction patterns.…

Online delivery of programmes of Higher Education typically involves a distributed community of students interacting with a single university site, at which the teachers, learning resources and administration of the programme are located. The alternative model, of a fully "Virtual University", which assumes no physical campus, poses…

This article details the development of the Library Instruction Wiki (http://instructionwiki.org): an effort to develop a web-based, knowledge-sharing resource. Though some library instruction is specific to a given institution or class, much of what instruction librarians teach is similar. Library instructors have repeatedly expressed the desire…

ICT tools have been developed to facilitate web-based learning through and learning about argumentation. In this paper we will present an example of a learning activity mediated by Digalo--software for knowledge sharing through visually supported discussion--developed in a university setting. Our aim is to examine, in particular, socio-cognitive…

Reading in a second language (L2) is important for a variety of reasons. Reading authentic materials, in particular, allows L2 learners to engage with native speaker content, and ultimately the target culture. One body of authentic materials is that of literary texts, including those of more traditional prose fiction, poetry, and drama, but also…

The paper describes a classification system for adaptive methods developed in the area of adaptive educational hypermedia based on four dimensions: What components of the educational system are adapted? To what features of the user and the current context does the system adapt? Why does the system adapt? How does the system get the necessary…

This article presents an interview with Dr. Susan C. Aldridge, the president of University of Maryland University College (UMUC) in the United States. Founded in 1947, UMUC is an accredited institution dedicated to providing working adults, military personnel, and students worldwide the opportunity to achieve their academic goals through online…

This study examines how one student pair working face-to-face at a computer and engaged in a web-based discussion environment negotiated meanings for their activity and what contextual resources they used in this negotiation process. The aim was also to study how the students themselves interpreted the learning activity. The subjects were two…

The amount of resources being poured by Western universities, companies, and governments into creating educational content to be exported (via the Internet) to other cultures is astounding. Those assigned to accomplish this task are left with the great challenge of meeting the needs of learners who come from cultures that are foreign to them, and…

Although research on computer-assisted and online instruction abounds, researchers have expressed concern about the lack of theoretical frameworks for these studies. While ample research documents learning outcomes in individual courses, few attempts have been made to link computer-assisted or fully computer-mediated instruction with philosophical…