The objective of this paper was to develop a four dimensions dynamic model for designing instructional activities appropriate to electronic and virtual learning environments. The suggested model is guided by learning principles of cognitivism, constructivism, and connectivism learning theories in order to help online learners to build and acquire…

Students will cheat during exams, that is nothing new, but now that the Higher Education Act requires the proctoring of exams, distance education institutions now find that both they and their students have a major problem. Exams have to be proctored, but requiring distance education students to search out a reliable proctor and travel to a…

Few academic debates are as contentious as those surrounding the Dead Sea Scrolls. These fragments of some 800 ancient documents include portions of all but one book of the Hebrew Bible. The first ones were discovered in 1947 by shepherds in caves on the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, and are believed to be the oldest surviving Judaic…

Web 2.0 authoring forms such as wikis and blogs, social bookmarking, and audio and video podcasting pose a challenge to academic authorship traditions. This paper reviews the provisions made in major academic referencing and citation style guides for acknowledging content and ideas that may be published using these new web authoring forms. It…

Childhood is a universal aspect of the human condition. Yet the landscape of childhood is changing rapidly. On playgrounds young children carry cell phones, and in classrooms children are more sophisticated in their use of computers and digital media than the adults in their lives. Most young adolescents are prolific communicators via text and…

Is it true? There's no more important question to ask when online. Truth telling has never been a requirement to provide information online. Standards for accuracy, to a large extent, don't exist. As a general rule, the "real time" communication that takes place in instant messaging sessions and chat rooms is the most unreliable. One level up in…

Describes student-developed World Wide Web sites from three high schools that have been chosen as exemplary models. Evaluation criteria are explained: vision; originality; integrity; community and effectiveness in facilitating new communication; empowerment; and structure and navigability. (LRW)

With increasing demands for online courses in all levels of higher education, a community college English instructor implements alternative methods of communication to ensure course rigor and integrity as she meets her objectives of enhanced student learning and success.