This study investigates student motivation using virtual reality (VR) technologies in anatomy and physiology courses. Over a two-year period, 21 college students from nursing, paramedic, and biotechnology-health programs were recruited for this study. The participants were randomly assigned to either a group using immersive VR on Quest 2 headsets…

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the work of one tripartite partnership with stakeholders to improve and strengthen novice teachers' pedagogical designs using design based professional learning guided by the principles of knowledge building/knowledge creation. The tripartite partnership involved 450 novice teachers from an urban school…

The interactive whiteboard (IWB) is increasingly used for teaching and learning in the classroom. Nevertheless, the ways that teachers incorporate this tool within their teaching practices remain poorly understood. This paper examines elementary and high school teachers' self-reported practices with the IWB. The conceptual framework centers on…

This position paper introduces the relatively new field of learning analytics, first by considering the relevant meanings of both "learning" and "analytics," and then by looking at two main levels at which learning analytics can be or has been implemented in educational organizations. Although integrated turnkey systems or…

This paper argues that research into the pedagogical value and potential of new technologies is limited by the implicit philosophical perspectives on technology that such research adopts. These perspectives either imbue technologies with inalienable qualities (essentialism) or posit technology as a neutral means for realizing goals defined by…

Technology plays a crucial role in facilitating collaboration within the scientific community. Cloud-computing applications, such as Google Drive, can be used to model such collaboration and support inquiry within the secondary science classroom. Little is known about pre-service teachers' beliefs related to the envisioned use of collaborative,…

This qualitative study examined an innovative methodology, combining screen capture technology and a retrospective think aloud, for exploring the use of Internet-based resources by elementary teachers. Pre-service and in-service teachers explored "The Balanced Literacy Diet," a free, interactive, and evidenced-informed professional…

Twelve special education teachers and teacher assistants who have instructional experience using iPads with children with special needs completed a survey that queried their practices and perceptions. In general, teachers and assistants were extremely positive about the value of iPads for children with special needs, particularly for children with…

This study examined the applications of computer-mediated student collaboration in a graduate multicultural counseling course. The course work included a reflective cultural competency building assignment that utilized online communication and collaboration using a wiki to extend and improve students' multicultural counseling and social justice…

More than a decade after Prensky's influential articulation of digital natives and immigrants, disagreement exists around these characterizations of students and the impact of such notions within higher education. Perceptions of today's undergraduate learners as tech-savvy "digital natives" (Prensky, 2001a), who both want and need the…

The blended learning environment in university courses integrates teaching technologies in traditional (i.e. non-technological) learning contexts, most evidently through the adoption of a Learning Management System (LMS). Past studies on the use of LMSs have focused on the economic and technical challenges in LMS adoption (West et al., 2006;…

Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia, is the preferred choice among resources used by college students to meet their research needs. However, Wikipedia has been criticized for its low information quality, lack of accountability, inconsistency, and vulnerability to vandalism. Despite the warnings and concerns voiced by academia, online learning…

Can children genuinely create new knowledge, as opposed to merely carrying out activities that resemble those of mature scientists and innovators? The answer is yes, provided the comparison is not to works of genius but to standards that prevail in ordinary research communities. One important product of knowledge creation is concepts and tools…

This systematic review builds upon the work of Abrami et al. (2006) and McGreal and Anderson (2007). It seeks to provide a synthesis and discussion of publicly available government policy documents with regard to e-learning in Canada. In total, 138 policy documents from Canadian provinces and territories and several federal agencies, dated from…

This paper examines theoretical, pedagogical, and technological differences between two technologies that have been used in undergraduate interprofessional health sciences at the University of Toronto. One, a learning management system, WebCT 2.0, supports online coursework. The other, a Knowledge Building environment, Knowledge Forum 2.0,…