This paper integrates the emerging literatures of empirical research on the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework and disciplinary effects in online teaching and learning by examining the disciplinary differences in perceptions of social, teaching, and cognitive presence of over 1500 students in seven disciplines at two U.S. institutions. Our…

Introduces the concepts of idea viruses and viral communication, a technology-based communication that spreads ideas quickly. Explains its applicability in the area of direct marketing and discusses a technology platform that provides the opportunity of sending a message to a large number of people and emotional or pecuniary incentives to…

Asks whether computer-mediated communication allows creation of isolated virtual communities for its interlocutors or brings closer the ideal of a global community. Examines the question from the standpoint of R. Cathcart and G. Gumpert's medium theory. Uses data derived from an ethnographic study to illustrate how a new approach is required. (PA)

Discussion of virtual communities focuses on Paul Ricoeur's hermeneutic theories which accounts for temporal and spatial distance in the exchange of the community's texts. Topics include virtual communities and computer mediated communication studies; the linguistic aspects of virtual communities; and empirical hermeneutics. (Contains 61…

Instructors designing online learning can utilize an array of computer-mediated communication tools to promote student engagement and interaction. This paper surveys the tools available, focusing on uses of the tools for learning (Type II uses). Research results and implications for practice are presented for asynchronous (e-mail, listserv,…

This paper reports two studies into the efficacy of sentence openers to foster online peer-to-peer interaction. Sentence openers are pre-defined ways to start an utterance that are implemented in communication facilities as menu's or buttons. In the first study, typical opening phrases were derived from naturally occurring online dialogues. The…

Problem: An increasing number of high-achieving American high school students are enrolling in multiple Advanced Placement (AP) courses. As a result, high schools face a growing need to understand the impact of taking multiple AP courses concurrently on the social-emotional lives of high-achieving students. Procedures: This phenomenological…

The aim of the study is to reveal the students' opinions about the use of PDAs (Personal Digital Assistant) in learning environment within the context of multimedia based applications. Through purposeful sampling, 17 undergraduate students attending the elective course of BTO 323 Character Design in Computer Environment in the Department of…

While many may disparage the online website Rate my Professor, it remains a popular public evaluation site for students to post their evaluations and commentary on their professors. What implications can be drawn about students' perceptions of instruction and what are the implications of students' perceptions for professors and their work? Using…

This paper proposes extensive applications of virtual collaborative space in order to enhance the efficiency and capability of Digital Campus. The usability of Digital Campus has been experimented in different learning environments and evaluated by questionnaire as that the presence technology and a sense of solidarity influence the participants'…

This report explores the first iteration of a teacher professional development courselet grounded in constructionist theory and activities. This online teacher professional development (oTPD) courselet provided opportunities for teachers to engage in just-in-time, ongoing TPD within a social networking site for educators. The topic of the oTPD was…

Social movements at universities have recently flourished as a response to the Bologna Process and austerity measures at universities, but studies on learning within these movements are still scarce. Our goal is to describe one movement which started at the University of Gdansk in 2009 and aimed at democratising the university and implementing…

This article considers some of the ways in which the transformative power of Web 2.0 digital technology is reconfiguring learning, knowledge and academic identities in the contemporary university. Through a focus on five specific examples, we consider the impact of virtualization processes on spatiality, materiality and embodiment, and pedagogic…

Purpose: The need to establish more flexible and adaptable university curricula has been recognised as a strategic priority in recent years and has been supported by a number of initiatives including the Curriculum Design and Delivery programme funded by the Joint Information System Committee (JISC) in the UK. The challenges of addressing…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the usability (effectiveness, efficiency and user satisfaction) of e-feedback interfaces. The experiment compares a traditional visual approach with a multimodal approach in order to determine the impact of multimodal metaphors upon the user's understanding, reasoning and engagement with the…