Argues that community colleges should require students to own laptop computers, and that costs should be calculated into the need for financial aid so that no one will be deterred from owning laptops. States that requiring students to own laptops dramatically reduces technology costs for colleges. (NB)

This study details our efforts in examining alternatives to inservice technology workshops according to the perspectives of teachers from two school districts located in the southeastern region of the United States. Our initial survey (68% return ratio) and final survey (65% return ratio) asked teachers to respond to the following four areas…

This article provides an overview of Systemic Initiatives in the Australian States and Territories. This updated overview acknowledges the help and information provided by key contacts whom the authors contacted from each of the Australian State and Territory government education systems. In addition, the role of the Ministerial Council for…

This article attempts to articulate in broad outline the post-industrial regime of knowledge and information and point out its fatal flaw. The Internet is treated as a socio-technological complex animated by capital and information. The notion of information is interrogated and an alternative notion closer to our everyday intuitions is proposed.…

Computer-mediated communication (CMC) technologies are becoming increasingly important components of online educational environments (Romiszowski & Mason, 2004). The online discussion forum that is a significant component of many web-based courses is one type of CMC. Instructors and students rely on these asynchronous forums to engage one another…

Hypermedia has long been considered to have great potential to support educational tasks and applications. Many success stories of hypermedia support in education have been reported. Much of this work has been done in the context of traditional closed hypermedia systems rather than more contemporary open hypermedia systems. Developing hypermedia…

This paper reports on issues in carrying out research into online discussion. The context is a study of a distance learning module within an MBA program. The module required students to tackle problems based on real life scenarios within small online groups. Students were studying part time and shared similar professional backgrounds. The research…

This case study explores the question of whether school personnel are using the technology available to communicate effectively with the members of their communities? A plethora of communications technology is now accessible to schools, but the question remains whether it is being used to connect with the different members of one's school…

This paper investigates the impact that a teacher's virtual presence--or lack thereof--has on students' chat behavior with regard to error correction, uptake, target language use, and on-task behavior. The data come from beginning German students engaged in pair and small-group chatting activities at a major American university. Transcripts from…

This paper explores the importance of interaction in the online teaching environment and the important role of staff development in developing teacher presence online. Professionally developing staff to use information and communication technologies is viewed from the standpoint of diffusion of innovation, moving from early adopters to mainstream…

Schools and universities all over the world are continuously exploring ways to use the web technology in improving teaching effectiveness. The use of course web pages, discussion groups, bulletin boards, and e-mails have shown impact on teaching and learning in significant ways, across all disciplines. e-Learning has emerged as an alternative to…

Web-based collaboration calls for professional skills and competences to the benefit of the quality of the collaboration and its output. Within this framework, educational virtual environments may provide a means for training upon these skills and in particular the collaborative ones. On the basis of the existing technological means such training…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss how web-based technologies (WBT) can be applied to theater arts courses. Design/methodology/approach: Through a review of the literature and parallels drawn between theater and online pedagogy, the paper proposes ideas for incorporating asynchronous and synchronous discussions, collaborative…

Apart from studying students' interaction in Web-based environments in computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL), it is essential to recognize the importance of the contextual setting in which learning takes place. This study examines the role of face-to-face encounters as contextual support in an international teacher education course…

The concept of knowledge building communities has not traditionally been associated with agricultural extension, but is one which has the potential to increase the rate of adoption of best management practices by the industry. A potentially important mechanism to facilitate knowledge building is information and communication technology (ICT);…