Students gain a lasting impression of a course and of the instructor on the first day of class (Lang, 2019). In asynchronous online or hybrid classes, the equivalent of the first day of class is the Start Here module. This orientation module should contain essential information about class expectations and technology requirements and provide help…

The LMS (learning management system) at many schools for delivering, tracking and managing education relies on TEL (technology-enhanced learning), what Nichols called "pedagogy empowered by digital technology" (Nichols, 2008). It includes the "paperless classroom" in traditional (not online) classes in which faculty and students exchange…

In a previous Techtalk column, Peterson and Caverly (2005) introduced the Community of Inquiry (CoI) model (Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 2001) as a guide for online learning. The CoI model has maintained longevity and applicability to a variety of both synchronous and asynchronous technologies (Ice, Curtis, Phillips, & Wells, 2007). In this…

Digital technology offers a host of opportunities and challenges for theological education. In this essay the author considers possible futures for theological education through creative uses of technology. The first half of the essay identifies five areas in which theological educators have had to gain technology skills in the last several years:…

The E-School Technology Innovation Challenge Grant of 1996 was the genesis of the Department of Education's (DOE's) efforts to initiate a multi-prong approach to bring standards-based curriculum to the children of Hawai'i and use technology to upgrade professional development for its teachers. In this article, the authors describe how various…