In this paper we examine aspects of the construction of authentic membership, competence, and sense of shared purpose within a professional community of educators accomplished by a class of pre-service teachers during a spontaneous electronic conversation. Implications for teacher education are considered.

As demands for online courses continue to increase and educational institutions rise to meet the needs of students, it is imperative faculty members are guided by the Seven Principles (Chickering and Gamson, 1986; Erhmann, 2003) of effective teaching as they develop online courses. This includes the judicious selection of distance learning tools…

Recent incidents of school violence have brought bullying to the nation's attention in a dramatic way. Research shows that approximately 30% of teens in the United States either bully, are targets of bullying, or both (National Youth, n.d.). Bullying causes adverse physical, psychological, and social effects. It erodes feelings of self-worth and…

The purpose of this article is to analyze parental use of an online support group about their children with disabilities. A content analysis was conducted of 1718 emails from a listserv support group for parents of children who have been diagnosed as eligible for special education services. Key topics included the following: How to deal with…

This book is a comprehensive guide to help foreign language teachers use technology in their classrooms. It offers the best ways to integrate technology into teaching for student-centered learning. CALL Activities include: Email; Building a Web site; Using search engines; Powerpoint; Desktop publishing; Creating sound files; iMovie; Internet chat;…

Situated at the intersection of two of the most important areas in educational research today -- literacy and technology -- this handbook draws on the potential of each while carving out important new territory. It provides leadership for this newly emerging field, directing scholars to the major issues, theoretical perspectives, and…

For some time now, English teachers have used electronic discussion in their classrooms. There is also a considerable literature suggesting benefits to student learning in doing so. However this research often downplays the context in which the discussion group is used--so that the particularities in use, including teacher decision-making as they…

In this article, the authors examine the literature on distance education and offer a brief chronology of its past-to-present development, with special attention to the evolution of technology-mediated instruction. They document some of the major trends related to both theoretical and practical aspects of distance education. In particular, they…

With universities, teacher education institutions, and high schools gearing up heavily in online course delivery in every discipline, science educators specifically are asking themselves "How do we provide this access to our students and still maintain our pedagogical integrity in science instruction?" This question seems to be at the heart of a…

Developments in communication and information technologies in the last decade have had a significant impact on instructional and learning activities. For many students and educators, the Internet became the significant medium for sharing instruction, learning and communication. Access to knowledge beyond boundaries and cultures has an impact on…

Designed to assist with the management of e-resources, electronic resource management (ERM) systems are time- and fund-consuming to purchase and maintain. Questions of system compatibility, data population, and workflow design/redesign can be difficult to answer; sometimes those answers are not what we'd prefer to hear. The two primary functions…

The article gives an overview of social bookmarking in libraries and discusses the University of Central Florida (UCF) Libraries Delicious project and its outcomes in depth. It also addresses technical issues involved with setting up a library Delicious account; barriers to participation; training requirements; integration with other library sites…

The intent of this article is to explore how No Child Left Behind (NCLB) emerges from a discursive frame that is also used in relation to neoliberal corporate conquests and, significantly, America's war on terror. The article first demonstrates through reference to online resistance discourses and NCLB, how NCLB is a product of and reproduces the…

This article reports that several colleges and universities like Purdue University are mining data they have about students to try to improve retention. The institutions analyze years' worth of data on which students did well and which did poorly, and what variables--whether they be SAT scores, financial-aid status, or attendance at the dining…

Distance education courses must cope with the difficulties imposed by delivering a class at a distance. As most courses only emphasize the cognitive aspects of the class and neglect the course's effect on the students, this gives no help for reaching the affective domain teaching goals. Especially for younger students, in distance education, when…