Scholars from three universities in three different parts of the world--North America, Africa, and Eurasia--across different cultures, disciplines, and contexts, collaborated with the objective of advancing transversal skills and intercultural competences through immersing their students in international virtual teamwork. Students and lecturers…

Drawing on research literature on online discussion and on reading and learning from the text, we argue that research on learning from text has much to offer but has been largely absent in informing the design and study of online learning environments. We propose several key issues to be considered in research and development of online discussion,…

This paper explores some of the challenges of RMIT University (Australia), a large cross-sectoral university, and considers how online learning has enabled one TAFE (Technical and Further Education) department to become more fully engaged in the wider university context. The first section provides an overview of RMIT, TAFE, and higher education.…

The purpose of this paper is to depict a model of the ethical drivers of the implementation of instructional technology. The model is meant to be a starting point for institutions as they initiate, update or implement instructional technology. A major assumption underlying the paper is that a consideration of ethics is lacking in the planning…

In the early days of online courses, a widespread production model was to provide faculty members with release time and/or stipends in return for developing and delivering their own courses. These early online courses were developed by a cadre of faculty "zealots" who believed that information technology could transform learning. Such faculty…

Educators in higher education are increasingly being called upon to design, develop, and deliver courses via the World Wide Web. Although reasons for the strong push to develop online courses are varied, it is clear that the perceived need for such courses is steadily increasing. Also needed are prescriptions for creating courses that are dynamic,…

While a great deal of attention is currently paid to putting individual courses or entire degree programs online, less attention is paid to what makes these courses effective. Online courses are successful and effective once instructors analyze learning communities in a traditional classroom and transfer the knowledge successfully to the online…

The short history in the field of online learning of the UNITEC Institute of Technology (New Zealand) provides a story of changing attitudes and usage at three levels--organizational, tutorial, and student. From the first course designed for flexible delivery in 1994, UNITEC has progressed through three distinct phases of course development (i.e.,…

This paper is a summary of a "how to" workshop, focusing on design guidelines when moving from an onsite course to an online course. Three most basic considerations are content knowledge, pedagogical skill, and higher-order thinking dispositions. Transferring content to an online environment requires technological expertise, and…

As teachers and learners are faced with the potential of new learning environments, the extent to which the learning outcomes are achieved remains a high priority and subject to a wide range of evaluation strategies. Conventionally, evaluation is often conceptualized as occurring at the end of the development process, to assess first (formatively)…

This presentation focuses on the development of an online, graduate course entitled "Marriage and Family Therapy." This course was a traditional, face-to-face class, offered by an urban university. The professor who teaches the course worked with three graduate students during the Fall 2000 semester to design and develop the online…

Discusses TopClass, a Web-based tool and delivery system used for online courses, and its use at Schoolcraft College in Michigan. TopClass offers many benefits, including a self-contained management system, secured access, user-friendly instructions for coursework area creation, e-mail, bulletin boards, a secured testing mechanism and student…

To meet the challenges of a rapidly-growing student population, a desire to increase student retention and success rates, a shortage of classroom space, and the need to maintain quality educational opportunities for students, the University of Central Florida (UCF) is strategically employing distributed learning. In three years, UCF has progressed…

This proceedings of the seventh annual Mid-South Instructional Technology Conference on Teaching, Learning, and Technology contains the following papers: "A Tale of Two Classes: Face-to-Face versus Online" (Carol Wilson); "Best Practices in Organization Highlighting 360 Degree Feedback" (Bonita Barger); "Collaborating Online To Teach Information…

The continual evolution of the national technology standards creates a continual state of flux within the world of instructional technology. However, this creative online environment offers the possibilities that may not be available within other specialization areas; namely, the opportunity to reinvent conceptual frameworks of understanding and…