The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate whether powerful language training affected student participation, impression formation, and gender communication style in online discussions. Powerful language was defined as a lack of the use of powerless language. Participants in this study were 507 freshmen taking a first-year college…

The level of success of the Mexican INEA (National Institute for the Education of Adults) academic program implemented in the U.S. has never been examined. INEA developed five goals for its students in the U.S. that supplement the general goals that the program has for all its students in Mexico. The 5 supplementary goals are to provide access to…

This study used a social presence construct derived from the Community of Inquiry (COI) framework, with cohesive, affective, and interactive components, to explore online discussion in an Advanced Placement course for rural high school students. The COI is based on the underlying theoretical framework of social constructivism, where interaction is…

This study examines "the Socla study program" to build a social learning community for high school students using Facebook and other Internet services. In the two-week program, the students worked on individual study projects that focused on their future plans. With the help of volunteer supporters and facilitators, the students found…

This quasi-experimental study examined the effects of online professional development in technology with Virtual Communities of Practice (VCoP) on teachers' attitudes and content integration. This research study took place completely online. Over a period of nine months three cohorts of educators from diverse backgrounds and geographical locations…

The aim of the study is to describe and analyze webcam pedagogical communication between a French Foreign Language tutor and two students during seven online classes. It tries to answer the following question: how does the tutor in a multimodal learning environment change her semio-discursive behavior from the first to the last session? We analyze…

This study explores how low- and intermediate-level English learners manage face threats in MSN conversations. The effects of the addressee's status are also studied. Forty English learners, who were further divided into beginner and intermediate groups according to their English proficiency, participated in this study. Based on six offensive…

This article focuses on the reflexive deliberations of student mentors during an e-mentoring programme at a South African university. Based on semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with student mentors, located in a number of different student residences, this article examines how they engage with their learning and use…

Alumni relations professionals need a method of measuring alumni engagement, including giving, that goes beyond counting event attendees and the number of Twitter followers. Social media are changing the way things have been done within the alumni relations profession, but that does not mean that people throw out everything they have done in the…

Although a majority of young adults are members of at least one social networking site, peer reviewed research examining gender differences in social networking communication is sparse. This study examined gender differences in social networking, particularly for Facebook use, among undergraduates. A survey was distributed to 268 college students…

Today's youth thrive in informal participatory communities where they not only consume but also act as contributors or producers. Through active participation they develop new media skills encompassing cultural competencies and social skills. In a participatory culture of learning, students' active contributions to their learning are stressed and…

Rapport has been recognized as important in learning in general but little is known about its importance in distance education (DE). The study we report on in this paper provides insights into the importance of rapport in DE as well as challenges to and indicators of rapport-building in DE. The study relied on interviews with 42 Canadian…

A large literature establishes the benefits of discussions for stimulating student engagement and critical thinking skills. However, we know considerably less about the differential effects of various discussion environments on student learning. In this study, we assess student perceptions concerning the benefits of discussions in an upper-level…

The study examined how playing two roles as assessors and assessees in technology-assisted peer assessment contributes to students' performance. Data from a previous study was recoded and analysed to understand peer assessment processes from a different angle. Findings of our previous study supported the importance of the assessor's role, but not…

Improving university students' writing skills is always a challenge. In a third-year French composition course, the researchers introduced the use of public Internet discussion forums to see if that would help achieve the argumentative writing skills goals that were set for this study. The results show that participation in the forums had a…