This article explores English-language-learning (ELL) youths' engagement with popular media through composing and publicly posting stories in an online fan fiction writing space. Fan fiction is a genre that lends itself to critical engagement with media texts as fans repurpose popular media to design their own narratives. Analyses describe how…

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…

This study investigated student perceptions of using instant messaging software for online interactive chapter discussions in a graduate teacher educational technology course. The criterion instrument was a 47-item scale that measured Chickering and Gamson's (1987) first four principles for good practice in undergraduate education, yielding…

This article describes the practical application of social learning theory to build and sustain community in an asynchronous online learning environment. It presents ways that community-building can occur in a graduate online education program through the shared meaning-making processes occurring among students within and across interdisciplinary…

This article reports research from an ISTE SigTEL award-winning university-secondary school partnership, the Web Pen Pals project, which pairs preservice English teachers in online chat rooms with local middle school students to talk about young adult literature. One goal of teacher preparation programs is to encourage beginning teachers to use…

An instructional team at a public university redesigned a large "core" course in special education required of all undergraduates in a teacher education program. The new design, which blended online instruction with face-to-face meetings, operationalized key principles from Adult Learning theories and Universal Design for Instruction. Students'…

This descriptive study investigated the benefits and costs of using electronic portfolios (EPs) in preservice teacher education. Grounded within change theory, the study examined the perspectives of faculty in six programs in which EPs have been used on a large scale for two or more years. Benefits identified include increased opportunities for…

This research examines the use of technology to create a relationship between student teachers and preservice teachers as they navigate the union of practice and theory within the two contexts of a teacher education course and student teaching practicum. Technology was used to create a safe haven where students could explore their respective…

Current evidence indicates that the blended course delivery method can reduce costs, improve student academic performance, and improve instructor success in meeting course learning objectives when compared to face-to-face instruction. The present examination of best practices employed the Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP) (2000) quality…