A substantial amount of money is spent on technology by schools, families and policymakers with the hope of improving educational outcomes. This paper explores the theoretical and empirical literature on the impacts of technology on educational outcomes. The literature focuses on two primary contexts in which technology may be used for educational…

This paper reports on a study investigating the use of digital devices by language students at universities in New Zealand, Sweden and Germany. The study also examines the use of social media for learning a foreign language in an institutional context, using survey results from language students in the three countries. Based on an online survey…

The purpose of this study is to determine the predicting power of mathematics achievement from ICT variables including the Internet/entertainment use (IEU), program/software use (PRGUSE), confidence in internet tasks (INTCONF) and confidence in ICT high level tasks (HIGHCONF) based on PISA 2006 data. This study indicates that the ICT variables…

A key element in the examination of how students process mathematics through digital technologies is considering the ways that digital pedagogical media might influence the learning process. How might students' understanding emerge through engagement in a digital-learning environment? Interactive software that has cross-curricula implications and…

The music industry in the 21st century uses digital technology in a wide range of applications including performance, composition and in recording and publishing. Much of this digital technology is freely available via downloads from the internet, as part of software included with computers when they are purchased and via applications that are…

This "Postcard" reports how the earthquake on Tuesday, 22 February 2011 in Christchurch, New Zealand, forced a visiting professor to transform his educational model in one week. It was the first week of the academic year 2011 for the University of Canterbury--and the author's first week in New Zealand. As a Visiting Erskine Fellow at the…

Digital technologies have been used increasingly in open, distance, and flexible learning to both facilitate learning and depict learning designs. While the portable nature of a learning design once captured in digital form appears to offer limitless possibilities for sharing and reuse, dissemination initiatives have failed to thrive. This may be…

This paper explores and discusses arguments for the use of virtual environments and interactive avatars in supporting the achievement of student learning goals within conventional educational contexts. It describes and evaluates arguments promoted by some authors (eg, van den Brekel, 2007; Deuchar & Nodder, 2003; Dickey, 2003; Facer, 2004; de…

This article reports on a comprehensive study, investigating the use of e-tools for formative assignment assessment. The study conducted a large-scale literature review and interviews with 90 academics at five New Zealand tertiary institutions. The focus of the study was on formative assessment provided in assignments, an area in which educational…

This article reports on selected aspects of a larger study on the use of electronic tools in the context of the management and marking of assignments. The study comprised a literature review, interviews and a review of e-tools. The article briefly summarises the findings from the literature on what comprises quality in assignment marking. The…

In this article, Annick Janson and Robin Janson introduce research from the Microsoft New Zealand's Partners in Learning Programme by documenting the impact of digital learning objects (DLOs) on educational practice. Janson and Janson describe the impact of DLOs on the teaching practice of a primary school in New Zealand, tracing the effects of…

This paper is concerned with reporting the experience and findings of staff using a commercially-available text-matching tool (Turnitin) to detect plagiarism in a university setting in New Zealand. The use of actual instances of plagiarism revealed through Turnitin in a teaching department is a departure from the more usual self-reporting…

Reports on CD-ROM product that combines reference and archival material in a low-cost integrated multimedia format. Maintains that, while this project focuses on the Battle of Gallipoli in World War I, the purpose, techniques, and processes can be transferred to other historical topics. (CFR)

The computer has been in the world's mathematics classrooms for some period of time now, but with varying degrees of implementation in the promotion of student learning. In this paper we describe longitudinal research over seven years which has investigated how primary school teachers actually make use of computers in their mathematics classroom,…

The Graduate Diploma in Education Technology (GDipEdTech) was developed at the UNITEC Institute of Technology (New Zealand) in 1993 as an open and distance program to meet the needs of teachers in the primary, secondary, and tertiary sectors. The program aims to integrate the use of new and emerging technologies into their classroom programs. It…