This volume highlights the challenges that electronic classrooms pose to faculty and students. The papers discuss both the pedagogy and the design of online courses. The 11 papers include: (1) "A Theoretical Framework for the Online Classroom: A Defense and Delineation of a Student-Centered Pedagogy" (Dave S. Knowlton); (2)…

Four issues of this newsletter on information technology and disabilities (ITD) contain the following articles: "Developing an Accessible Online Public Access Catalog at the Washington Talking Book and Braille Library" (Charles Hamilton); "Assistive Technology in the Science Laboratory: A Talking Laboratory Work Station for Visually Impaired…

Articles published during 1997 include: "The Multi-Disability Workstation for Small Libraries" (Dick Banks and Steve Noble); "Talking Books: Toward a Digital Model" (John Cookson and others); "World Wide Access: Focus on Libraries" (Sheryl Burgstahler); "The Virtual Library: Collaborative Data Exchange and Electronic Text Delivery" (Steve Noble);…

This literature review discusses the importance of technology to support teachers' professional development. Section 1, "Technology and Professional Development," highlights technology capacity of America's schools; barriers to effective technology use and professional development (e.g., lack of teacher training and lack of hardware and…

The Office of Technology Policy analyzed Bureau of Labor Statistics' growth projections for the core occupational classifications of IT (information technology) workers to assess future demand in the United States. Classifications studied were computer engineers, systems analysts, computer programmers, database administrators, computer support…

This paper reports on the findings of two surveys, one year apart, that examined the experiences and attitudes of teachers in a University of Hong Kong English Centre related to the prospect of a curriculum increasingly mediated through information technology (IT). The responses bear witness to the problems teachers experienced in attempting to…

Noting that most children living in Australia have access to a television, video games, and computers and are influenced by the content of their viewing and interactive games, this report examines the impact of media violence on young children. Topics discussed include the recognition of violence on television and video/computer games, reasons for…

In the spring of 2001, the University of Alaska Fairbanks School of Education included a web-based instructional component in all distance education classes. This component aims to mediate access and equity issues in providing postsecondary education to rural Alaska residents. The number of courses offered through distance education had been…

In 1998, the College of the Canyon's (California) Office of Institutional Development distributed a questionnaire to ascertain the technology training needs of campus personnel. The survey instrument included 49 forced-choice and 2 open-ended questions. Seventy-five staff members and 124 faculty returned the questionnaires. The responses are…

These guidelines are designed to help anyone considering the use of open and distance learning for teachers. They answer eight major questions and identify options available to planners and strategies for choosing them. Eight sections include: (1) "What is Wrong With Teacher Education?" (e.g., what it consists of and who the teachers are); (2) "Is…

This paper presents a World Wide Web-based distance learning system to support professional training for librarians. The system is taking the place of a current training course that the National Institute of Informatics (Japan) offers to university libraries nationwide. The course offered is about a system to support interlibrary loan service and…

The distinctions between types of open and distance learning broadly equate to the concept of learning at a time, place, and pace that best suits the learner. Distance learning refers to geography, whereas open learning refers to time. Flexible learning is a generic term referring either to geography or time. Combining these distinctions allows…

Development of online courses requires the use of appropriate educational philosophies that discourage rote learning and passive transfer of information from teacher to learner. This paper reports on the development, use and evaluation of two second year Biology online software packages used by students in constructivist environments. The courses…

This proceedings of the eight annual Mid-South Instructional Technology Conference: Teaching, Learning, & Technology contains the following selected presentations: "Design and Implementation of a Multimedia CD-ROM-Based Directed Study Preservice Teacher Education Course" (Timothy Morse); "Effective IT Integration in the Composition Classroom:…

The Spirit of Democracy Project was initiated in 2000 by the University of New Brunswick (Canada) Faculty of Education in partnership with the Russian Association for Civic Education, and was made possible through financial contribution from the Canadian International Development Agency. The focus of the Project is the development of online…