This article describes a simulation that fulfills many of the goals of a scholar/apprentice model--one that requires a sustained period of time during which an apprentice practices a set of discipline-specific skills under the guidance of his or her mentor. Such an extended simulation differs from shorter exercises in several ways, such as the…

Using an activity theory framework, we investigate how preservice teachers and middle school students utilized instant messaging in educational contexts and the impact of instant messaging on the development of community among preservice teachers. Qualitative results from six focus groups and two personal interviews indicate that instant messaging…

Founded in 2005 by three former PayPal employees, YouTube has revolutionized the Internet, marking a change from the static Internet to the dynamic Internet. In this edition of Places to Go, Stephen Downes discusses how the rise of a ubiquitous media format--Flash video--has made YouTube's success possible and argues that Flash video has important…

The purpose of this study is to examine the dynamics of online collaborative learning and communication media regarding team projects. Media richness and social presence theories are well-accepted rational theories that explain media choices and media behaviors, and serve as the theoretical framework. Quantitative and qualitative data collection…

Pre- and postcourse assessment has become a very important tool for education research in physics and other areas. The web offers an attractive alternative to in-class paper administration, but concerns about web-based administration include reliability due to changes in medium, student compliance rates, and test security, both question leakage…

The paper reports the theoretical underpinnings for the pedagogical role and rationale for adopting 3D virtual worlds for socialisation and knowledge creation in distance education. Socialisation or "knowing one another" in remote distributed environments can be achieved through synchronous technologies such as instant messaging, audio and…

In this essay, the author examines the digital circulations of representations of one Afghan women's rights organization--the Revolutionary Association of Women of Afghanistan (RAWA)--to demonstrate the importance of a global and digital field for feminist rhetorical analysis. Specifically, this analysis traces how women's self-representations are…

Blogs, wikis, and social-networking sites such as Facebook may get media buzz these days, but for scientists, engineers, and doctors, they are not even on the radar. The most effective tools of the Internet for such people tend to be efforts more narrowly aimed at their needs, such as software that helps geneticists replicate one another's…

"Welcome to Buckeye City" is an adolescent online community that was maintained by 25 Korean students who attended American schools. On the website, the students engaged in "relay writing"--a writing activity in which each person contributed a portion of an evolving story in a relayed manner. Relay writing offers teachers a new and valuable window…

This highly readable text demystifies the qualitative research process--and helps readers conceptualize their own studies--by organizing the different research paradigms and traditions into coherent clusters. Real-world examples and firsthand perspectives illustrate the research process; instructive exercises and activities build on each other so…

This comparative study examined discourse and opportunities for interaction in two mathematics education methods classes, one face-to-face and one synchronous, online. Due to the content taught in the course, this study also sought to determine prospective mathematics teachers' understanding of variability and the role of discourse in each…

New information and communications technologies (ICT) are redefining teacher education. A university faculty member and an instructional technology consultant incorporated information and communications technologies within a graduate university methods course. The following research questions explored student perceptions of using Web 2.0 tools as…

To fully acculturate into society, English language learners (ELLs) need to be conversant with the language and culture of their peers. The National Association for Media Literacy (NAMLE) asserts that media, including the electronic media, are an integral component of modern culture and function as an agent of socialization. They assert that to be…

As increasing numbers of adolescents become involved in online activities, many also become victims of cyberharassment. This pilot project investigates how a program teaching coping skills (Best of Coping program, BOC) and a program teaching cybersafety (Cyber Savvy Teens program, CST) can optimise adolescents' capacity to cope online.…

This dissertation addresses the related questions of how online communication technologies affect communication in science and, more broadly, how new ways of interaction in online spaces affect how texts enact genres. Genres have been usefully thought of as typified discursive responses to recurrent social exigences, and much recent work has shown…