Assesses the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) of the distance learning approach to education, and discusses how one institution, the University of Dallas Graduate School of Management, has developed a progressively expanding networked distance education program. Includes quotes from three students that suggest the quality of…

A California YMCA camp makes videos of camping events and posts them on a Web site for parents to view, either archived or live. Plans are underway for a film camp that would teach teen campers acting, filming, editing, directing and producing. Equipment and software requirements are discussed, as are other educational applications. (TD)

Discusses the development of the Internet and its uses and applications, including e-mail, information sources, collaborative projects, public forums, and audio/video conferencing. Describes the following Internet tools and resources: Gopher, Veronica, Pine, Telnet, WAIS, Usenet, ListServe, Archie, and World Wide Web. Includes a glossary and…

Articulates how the term "community" has been used to identify, describe, and construct online contexts and groups--online communities. Discusses how one particular online discussion group, SpreadNet, attempts to socially construct and negotiate the meaning of the term and how such negotiation influences the (inter)actions, values, and social…

Continuing educators must consider the impact of technology on group processes, including ways in which it affects group pressures, communication patterns, and social and emotional components of learning. Administrators and faculty should integrate group process frameworks with educational technologies in order to provide effective learning…

Contrasts the dominant mode of formal education today with new interactional frameworks enabled by new technologies, including teleapprenticeships and tele-task forces. Explores alternative physical settings for education, including neighborhood learning centers, to combine the strengths of face-to-face interaction with computer-mediated…

A course conducted between classes in Sweden and Ohio used online debate via synchronous and asynchronous computer-mediated conferencing (CMC) to augment intercultural understanding. Assumptions about CMC discourse were challenged by the international context. The process was restructured to allow asynchronous conferencing for predebate…

Discusses how a networked classroom environment--either to supplement or to replace traditional face-to-face class discussion--offers English teachers opportunities that can help make class discussion more engaging, more worthwhile, and significantly more effective as a teaching tool. Considers how to use new technology in the classroom to enhance…

Develops a simple tool to measure interactive learning in the context of computer-mediated communication (CMC). Describes the Measure of Interactivity in CMC (MICMC) and examines the reliability and validity of this measure. Subjects were fifth- and sixth-grade students in an inner city elementary school. Data analysis indicates MICMC is a useful…

This review of computer-mediated communication (CMC) on the Internet focuses on empirical research in noninstitutional and nonorganizational contexts. Highlights include modes of CMC; appropriate uses; social effects; effects on language and communication; freedom of expression; community; personal impacts; privacy; ethics; democracy;…

Describes how a high school social studies teacher used an online threaded discussion forum in his classes. Describes integrating the forum into classroom practice. Notes that nearly half of the students surveyed actively used the forum, even though participation was optional; and that 73% reported that it aided their understanding of concepts…

This paper reports an exploratory study of questions about English grammar sent in by a group of Hong Kong English-as-a-Second-Language teachers to a teacher support network, "Telenex." The study examines the questions Hong Kong ESL teachers ask about the English language. (Author/JL)

Describes a video conferencing project involving distance education Masters students in Australia and Hong Kong. Highlights purpose, dialogical approach, and nature of interaction, and presents the project evaluation findings. Concludes that the project demonstrated the feasibility, viability, and effectiveness of teleconferencing as a mode of…

Surveys how a group of students in a recent computer mediated communication (CMC) course attempted to develop referencing conventions to suit their learning purposes, relying heavily on actual quotations (citations) from previous messages. Suggests that success in using referencing correlates with success in a CMC course. (Author/VWL)

Presents options that travelers can use to keep in e-mail contact. Discusses equipment/access issues related to traveling with a laptop; Internet cafes; free e-mail services; accessing home mail via a Web page; and new options e-mail access for travelers. Includes Internet resources on Internet access providers. (AEF)