In 2 years, RMIT University (Melbourne, Australia) set up an online learning system for 50,000 students. The development of the RMIT Distributed Learning System has taken the University from a cottage industry model to a fully fledged enterprise system for flexible online learning, integrated with the University's student administration system and…

The electronic dissemination of information via computer networks is having a considerable impact on educational institutions in terms of the mechanisms that they are able to employ for course delivery. As a result of this, the number of courses that are taught electronically through the Internet and/or the World Wide Web has increased…

While distance education can be traced to correspondence courses that in the 19th and 20th centuries relied on mail services to transmit communications between student and teacher, it is the advent of computers networked via the Internet that has dramatically affected the character of distance education. For the purposes of this paper, distance…

Current workflow systems largely assume a closed network where all the software is available on a homogenous platform and all participants are locally linked together at the same time. The field of Electronic Distance Education (EDE) on the other hand, requires the next-generation workflow that will integrate workflows from a distributed…

Nearly 90% of all University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire (UWEC) students and staff are regular users of e-mail. The University has taken advantage of this widespread use and replaced many paper distributions--payroll earnings statements, unofficial transcripts, degree audits, adviser grade reports, bills, et cetera--with distribution via e-mail.…

Taken together, the articles in this special issue contribute to the collective sense of recent progress in research on networked learning in higher education. In combination, they help explain some of the key relationships between teachers' and learners' intentions and experiences, the affordances of text-based communications technologies and…

Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) has made remarkable progress in the area of networking. An education network is being developed to provide mass training and resource-based learning. The development of networked education in India is highlighted and a model is suggested for the virtual classroom. (Author/AEF)

There are many significant issues that need to be addressed for the future of computer-mediated communication (CMC) in education. These include: the primary benefits of CMC technology in the past; the activity structures which are supported by computer-based collaboration; technological, social, institutional and cognitive barriers which prevent…

The csrdweb.net Web site is a cross-lab initiative to pilot the use of Web-based profiles and e-mail discussion groups as tools to support networking among Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration (CSRD) schools. A Laboratory Network Program (LNP) project, the initiative used resources from all 10 regional educational laboratories (RELs) to…

This four volume set in the series is designed especially for all members of the primary and secondary educational community, with chapter authors focusing on the pedagogical challenges in their various situations and writing about how computer-mediated communication (CMC) is used to address them. This series focuses on teaching and learning,…

This paper reports on a case study of one rural school, Genesis Academy (a pseudonym), in Canada's most eastern province, Newfoundland and Labrador. Genesis Academy has been recognized as an innovative school in respect to the integration of information and communication technology (ICT) in the teaching and learning environment. This case study is…

The aims of CREATIS (Creating the Information Society) were to provide the West Lothian (Scotland) community with the highest quality information technology (IT) learning opportunities, a high capacity communications infrastructure and a hardware base that would: connect West Lothian's schools, libraries and community education centers to the West…

Contributors discuss the top ten technologies that allow for thinking in new and innovative ways about the concept of "school": virtual learning; wireless networking; collaboration tools; digital video; Application Service Providers; handheld devices; optical networking; videoconferencing; XML; and simulations. (AEF)

This 2001 Association of Small Computer Users in Education (ASCUE) conference proceedings briefly describes ASCUE and its listserver, lists the 2000-2001 ASCUE Board Members, and provides abstracts of the pre-conference workshops. The conference papers and abstracts of papers that follow include: "Microsoft Project 2000--Keeping Projects on…

As this report shows, the growth in the use of computers and other educational technologies has been substantial and accelerating during the past 15 years. The report summarizes Quality Education Data's 15th annual survey of public school ownership of instructional technology, covering more than 65% of all United States schools and districts--over…