In this paper, N. L. McCaslin, director of the Professional Development Academy for the National Dissemination Center for Career and Technical Education, imparts his views regarding the elements necessary for a great professional development experience. According to McCaslin, professional development should align with the efforts of individuals as…

The emergence of the Internet has changed the way we teach and learn. This paper provides a general overview of the state of the quality of virtual education environments. First of all, some problems with the quality criteria applied in this field and the need to develop quality seals are presented. Likewise, the dimensions and subdimensions of an…

This paper argues that the key to enhancing professional excellence in psychology education lies with ensuring strong alignments between curricular, pedagogical and media/technology mix concerns, delivered within an inter-linked suite of distributed learning environments designed for the professional preparation of students. An overarching design…

In this article, we describe and evaluate a Web-based interactive tutorial used to present hypothesis testing concepts. The tutorial includes multiple-choice questions with feedback, an interactive applet that allows students to draw samples and evaluate null hypotheses, and follow-up questions suitable for grading. Students either used the…

This paper compares two protocols for web-based instruction using simulations in an introductory physics class. The Inquiry protocol allowed students to control input parameters while the Worked Example protocol did not. Students in the Worked Example group performed significantly higher on a common assessment. The ramifications of this study are…

Current e-learning environments are ill-suited to college mathematics. Instructors/students struggle to post diagrams and math notation. A new generation of math-friendly e-learning tools, including WebEQ, bundled with Blackboard 6, and NetTutor's Whiteboard, address these problems. This paper compares these two systems using criteria for ideal…

In 1998, when University College Northampton (UCN) selected WebBoard as its campus-wide virtual learning environment (VLE) and encouraged its adoption, e-learning became a central feature of the French Department's learning and teaching strategy. By September 2003, all the campus-focused modules in French had become VLE-resourced. In April 2004,…

A major problem with on-line education in contemporary universities is securing cooperation of academics. This paper argues that even if the benefits of on-line learning are widely recognised, several incentive problems inhibit academic staff participation. These incentive problems include unverifiability of expertise in on-line learning, the…

The last decade has seen an increased emphasis on assessment of student learning and on the use of instructional technologies in higher education. This emphasis has caused sociologists to pay closer attention to learning theories as they seek to increase learning in sociology courses by more effectively engaging students. Thus, to promote greater…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of short-term distributed online training events using an adapted version of the compressed evaluation form developed by Wisher and Curnow (1998). Evaluating online distributed training events provides insight into course effectiveness, the contribution of prior knowledge to learning, and…

Universities currently are exploring an array of instructional media to facilitate the delivery of instruction. Consensus from the studies indicates that there is no significant difference in the achievement of students who participate in traditional or online coursework. However, little research has compared traditional learning with the new…

Metacognitive reading strategies were trained and practiced using interactive Web-based tools. Twenty middle school poor reading comprehenders were trained in two metacognitive strategies using a Web-based application called 3D-Readers. The training texts were science-oriented and merged the narrative and expository genres. Results from a…

Web-based collaborative Problem-Based Learning (PBL) environments have great potential for learner improvement in solving ill-structured problems in practical situations. Web-based environments, however, offer learners relatively few chances to solve problems through face-to-face interactions compared to traditional classrooms, thereby making it…

Designing and implementing effective e-learning is a complex process, which involves many factors. Lecturers need to constantly consider, evaluate and adjust these factors to provide effective e-learning environments for students. In this paper, we report on the design and development of the Online Learning Environment Survey (OLES), an instrument…

Many things are not understood about distance education despite its popularity and growth in institutions of higher education (IHEs). That is why it is important to recognize faculty and students' attitudes, perceptions, and experiences to help faculty design and prepare an online course, to provide educators with information about recruitment, to…