Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play an important role in creating a dynamic and successful European economy. Time-poor managers in these organisations generally have fewer opportunities for training and development than their counterparts in larger organisations. As a result, different requirements are placed on training. The aim of…

What does it take to be an effective online educator? Can those who teach successfully face-to-face be equally effective online? This article details a descriptive qualitative research study of students' perspectives regarding qualities of exceptional online educators. Participants described interactions they had with online teachers they…

Some public universities in developing countries have traditional language learning environments such as classrooms with only blackboards and furniture which do not provide conducive learning environments. These traditional environments are unable to cater for digital learners who need to learn with learning technologies. In order to create…

Professional experience can be an emotional time for any preservice teacher, particularly the first placement. For distance education students, the natural tension of working in an unfamiliar setting is exacerbated by the "tyranny of distance": they often need to find their own placement, have rarely had face-to-face contact with any…

In program year 2006-2007, 46 percent of the adults enrolled in federally funded, state-administered adult education programs in the United States were enrolled in English as a Second Language (ESL) programs. These adult English language learners represent a wide range of ages, nationalities, native languages, and English proficiency levels. In…

The realm of Earth science (ES) is increasingly data-intensive. Geoinformatics research attempts to robustly smooth and accelerate the flow of data to information, information to knowledge, and knowledge to decisions and to supply necessary infrastructure and tools for advancing ES. Enabling easy access to and use of large volumes of ES data and…

E-Learning systems offer students innovative and attractive ways of learning through augmentation or substitution of traditional lectures and exercises with online learning material. Such material can be accessed at any time from anywhere using different devices, and can be personalized according to the individual student's needs, goals and…

When the authors taught in traditional classroom settings, collaboration and communication were understood to be important. Part of every class session was spent in discussion because they knew the importance of students teaching students, and they believed that the teacher as a facilitator, rather than the supreme encyclopedia of knowledge, was a…

This research study aimed to evaluate the e-learning readiness of Cyprus's primary teachers ahead of DIAS web-platform integration into Cyprus's schools. The Cyprus Ministry of Education and Culture (MOEC) aims through DIAS to enhance the integration of e-learning in all areas of the curriculum in primary and secondary education. As the effective…

In March 2009, Kansas State University successfully implemented the ELATEwiki website to encourage a public exchange of e-learning and teaching resources. ELATEwiki, the Electronic Learning and Teaching Exchange, facilitates the creation and documentation of innovative teaching approaches used by individuals and organizations interested in…

Instructional designers are trained to choose instructional methods rationally by considering the conditions and outcomes associated with an instructional situation. However, designers come to these situations with their own "design stories" as well. Our design stories, constructed over time through learning and practice, not only provide meaning…

Being an international English as a Second Language (ESL) graduate student from China studying in the U.S., the author has undergone various types of transformation. Taking her first online course is one poignant example in which multiple layers of transformation occurred. In hopes of easing the transformation of other international ESL students…

In a study of notetaking in university courses, we found that the large majority of students prefer paper to computer-based media like Tablet PCs for taking notes and making annotations. Based on this finding, we developed CoScribe, a concept and system which supports students in making collaborative handwritten annotations on printed lecture…

This article is a report of the impact of an innovative assignment within an upper-division gerontology course in a public university. Although designed to enhance the understanding of important aging concepts for students in a Family Studies program, analysis of student writings revealed an increased understanding of the actual subject…

Challenges facing universities are leading many to implement institutional strategies to incorporate e-learning rather than leaving its adoption up to enthusiastic individuals. Although there is growing understanding about the impact of e-learning on the student experience, there is less understanding of academics' perceptions of e-learning and…