Given the challenges facing higher education in the fast-changing educational and social environment, what can be learned from an instructor who has braved the rapidly changing stream of technologies and has subsequently developed a personal and productive approach to using emerging technologies to teach better and farther? What aspects of…

Employing Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles, such as multiple means of representation (of content), multiple means of engagement (motivation) and multiple means of expression (sharing the results of research, for example), will put one on the right path toward increasing accessibility for all learners. In this article, the author…

What is physics without graphs and diagrams? The web is becoming ubiquitous, but how can one expect students to make graphs and diagrams on the web? The solution is to extend functionality through Java applets. Four examples of exercises using the Physics Applets for Drawing (PADs) will illustrate how these can be used for physics instruction to…

This study investigated the process by which shared understanding develops in a chat learning space. It used a practical inquiry model to assess the development of cognitive presence. The study also explored how the pattern of conversation in synchronous discussion supports cognitive presence and how cognitive presence changes over time. Results…

Collaborative learning is well suited to online learning environments built around threaded discussion. Research frameworks have developed around these practices providing methodological guidance for examining learning as a collective endeavor within the boundaries of a course. Understanding how to use the powerful learning techniques involved in…

Theories about reflective thinking and deep-surface learning abound. In order to arrive at the definition for "reflective thinking toward deep learning," this study establishes that reflective thinking toward deep learning refers to a learner's purposeful and conscious activity of manipulating ideas toward meaningful learning and knowledge…

Internet is a new media for distance education that provides students with a low-cost, flexible option to expand into global markets (Casey, 1998). By 2004 at least two million higher-education students in the U.S. were engaged in distance education utilizing various technologies that allow learners to take courses independent of time and location…

Distance education is becoming a more common method of curriculum delivery across grade levels in Australia, the United States and throughout the world. Especially in remote rural areas with sparse student populations, distance delivery of course work is often the only available means for students to learn and for teachers to teach. The days of…

With the advance in information and communication technologies, computer-mediated communication--more specifically computer conferencing systems (CCS)--has captured the interest of educators as an ideal tool to create a learning environment featuring active, participative, and reflective learning. Educators are increasingly adapting the features…

Distance education (DE) practices around the world use a wide range of audio-visual technologies to overcome the lack of direct contact between teachers and students. These are not universally adopted by DE teachers, however, nor even encouraged by their institutions. This article discusses the organisational attitudes that can lead to outdated…

This study examined preservice teachers' pedagogical beliefs and attitudes toward technology in relation to teacher educators' pedagogical beliefs and technology uses. Regression analyses were conducted to answer the research questions. The findings of this study revealed that teacher educators' learner-centered beliefs and nonlearner-centered…

The purpose of this study was to assess the educators' perspectives on the introduction of computer technology in the early childhood education environment. Fifty early childhood educators completed a survey and participated in focus groups. Parallels existed between the individually completed survey data and the focus group discussions. The…

A common challenge in many situations of computer-supported collaborative learning is increasing the willingness of those involved to share their knowledge with other group members. As a prototypical situation of computer-supported information exchange, a shared-database setting was chosen for the current study. This information-exchange situation…

This study investigated how middle school students' comprehension was impacted by reading social studies texts online with a pop-up dictionary function for every word in the text. A quantitative counterbalance design was used to determine how 129 middle school students' reading comprehension test scores for the pop-up dictionary reading differed…

With no specific state or federal mandates to districts to maintain comprehensive technology infrastructure, how do districts, in the face of mounting financial pressures, continue to build and maintain their networks, integrate their systems, and expand their resources in a way that is reasonably "budget-proof?" In this article, the…