The authors discuss how the instructional impact of science teachers can be extended by using blogs, a technology popular among students that allows teachers to differentiate their instruction for students with diverse needs. Software now makes it easy for teachers to establish class blogs, Web sites that contain text, audio, and video postings on…

This paper reports on an ESRC-funded project that investigated the use of corpus-based activities in a primary-school context, with children aged 8-10 years. The study explored the contributions that could be made by a corpus--comprising language written for a child audience--and a modified version of the associated software, in helping these…

The ever increasing availability of mathematics education software and internet-based multimedia learning activities presents teachers with the difficult task of deciding which programs are best suited for their students' learning needs. The challenge is for teachers to select pedagogical products that not only promote significant mathematical…

What would technological librarians like to see in the next generation of Integrated Library Systems (ILS)? This question was asked of several well- known library technology experts, and their responses are presented in this article. Survey respondents expressed a clear desire for the following features and functionality: (1) Direct, read-only…

In current curriculum materials for middle school students in the US, data and chance are considered as separate topics. They are then ideally brought together in the minds of high school or university students when they learn about statistical inference. In recent studies we have been attempting to build connections between data and chance in the…

Not all demonstrations involve using exciting visual displays of one or a series of scientific principles. Demonstrations can be as simple as showing the interrelationship between scientific concepts or principles using concept maps. Concepts maps are tools that help people conceptualize and remember a conglomeration of facts making up complex…

Web-based learning has become an important way to enhance learning and teaching, offering many learning opportunities. A limitation of current Web-based learning is the restricted ability of students to personalize and annotate the learning materials. Providing personalized tools and analyzing some types of learning behavior, such as students'…

This article describes The Onion Router (TOR). It is a freely available, open-source program developed by the U.S. Navy about a decade ago. A browser plug-in, it thwarts online traffic analysis and related forms of Internet surveillance by sending your data packets through different routers around the world. As each packet moves from one router to…

It is important for the teacher to choose effective software for students. It is also important for designers to know what features of educational software make it effective. But the results of studies dealing with the effectiveness of educational software are contradictory. One reason for such results might be the fact that meta-analysis covers…

The purpose of this study was to explore the potential of annotation and communication software (eFuzion) developed for the improvement of students' learning and to determine the effectiveness of the software. eFuzion is designed to be useful in a significantly large classroom by allowing instructors and teaching assistants to provide immediate…

"Earobics"[R] is interactive software that provides students in pre-K through third grade with individual, systematic instruction in early literacy skills as students interact with animated characters. "Earobics[R] Foundations" is a version for pre-Kindergarten, Kindergarten, and first graders. "Earobics[R]…

Twenty-six scholarly papers and ten abstracts comprise the content of the thirteenth annual Brick and Click Libraries Symposium, held annually at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Missouri. The proceedings, authored by academic librarians and presented at the symposium, portray the contemporary and future face of librarianship. The…

In this research, we examine the design, construction, and implementation of a dynamic, easy to use, feedback mechanism for social software. The tool was integrated into an existing university's online learning community (OLC). In line with constructivist learning models and practical information systems (IS) design, the feedback system provides…

The current paper examines the design process that led to an unusually successful interactive tutorial for older people. The paper describes the issues that make designing for older people different. These include differences between the designer and the target population and the difficulty that older people have in interacting with low-fidelity…

Community and culture significantly influence value orientation, perceived needs, and motivation as well as provide the ground for creating shared understanding. All disciplines have their own cultures, and all cultures evolve through cross-cultural exchanges. The computing community has created and documented a sound body of knowledge of…