Online group debates hosted in asynchronous threaded discussions can facilitate critical thinking between discussants (and increase deeper understanding of complex problems) by eliminating the need for turn-taking while formulating and presenting premises to support and challenge claims. Yet to be determined is to what extent does the current…

Recent research on expert teachers suggests that an integrated understanding across the core domains of teachers' knowledge is crucial for their professional competence. However, in initial teacher education pre-service teachers seem to struggle with the integration of knowledge represented in multiple domain-specific sources into a coherent…

French is the ninth most widely used language globally, but French-learning environments in Taiwan have been insufficient. Language acquisition is easier in a natural setting, and so such a setting should be available to language learners wherever possible. This study aimed to (1) create an authentic environment for learning French in Second Life…

Institutions of higher education are increasingly asking students to use the online environment, or virtual campus, when carrying out business related to college life. In this paper, we report findings from a study conducted to learn more about the experiences of college students with learning disabilities as they interacted with this virtual…