Feedback plays an important role in the student learning process as it gives the learners greater insight into what they have actually done to arrive at an outcome. The importance of providing learners with feedback during the learning process comes from the fact that it highlights the difference between the intended outcome and the actual…

This article reports on findings from a study that explored blogging (a web-based log) as a tool for literacy graduate students to deliver support to preservice teachers who were working in an afterschool intervention program. Its effectiveness is compared to the use of an online literacy instructional module. Analyses of the discussions in nine…

A growing trend in post-secondary education is the supplementing of classroom discourse with online discourse. This new discourse is often situated in social networking and course management applications. There are several reasons for the move toward online discourse. Wide availability of new hardware and software has played a role. Even more…

Online class discussions have been studied from many perspectives; however, the literature is lacking that shows instructors how to help online students build social capital. Social capital is an information asset that stems from the interaction between agents. This study examines how social capital can be fostered through online class…

This study analyzed discussions in asynchronous and synchronous communication of a course given in the online Information Technologies Certificate Program, using Bales's Interaction Process Analysis model. This model focuses on Social Emotional (SE) and Task Oriented (TO) areas. The content analyses of asynchronous and synchronous communication…