Many recent technologies provide the ability to dynamically adjust the interface depending on the emerging cognitive and collaborative needs of the learning episode. This means that educators can adaptively re-design the learning environment during the lesson, rather than purely relying on preemptive learning design thinking. Based on a…

This study examined students' internal management of their cognitive processing in an interactive online class. A mixed methods approach was used to explore students' strategy use in online discussions. The focus is on examining individual knowledge construction through active cognitive engagement, rather than the social interactions, in the…

Many online classrooms today are designed based on learner-centered principles. Implicit with this design perspective is the goal to create and facilitate a virtual learning community in which students learn from and share with each other through discussion-based computer conferencing. In the current literature, little has been shared on what…

At Rangelands Australia, a centre in the School of Natural and Rural Systems Management at the University of Queensland, we have recently trialled virtual classroom technology for the delivery of postgraduate support courses. We wanted to explore the capacity of this learning modality to provide collaborative, interactive, synchronous learning…

This study examined Illinois high school principals' perceptions of the growth, quality, advantages and disadvantages of alternative learning environments. In this study, alternative learning environments involved the use of both synchronous and asynchronous modes of communication for course delivery. Synchronous modes of instructional delivery…

Conferencing--or dialogue--has always been a core activity in liberal adult education. More recently, attempts have been made to transfer such conversations online in the form of computer-mediated conferencing. This transfer has raised a range of pedagogical questions, most notably Can established practices be continued? Or must new forms of…

Australia's large distances and widely distributed population has meant that distance education has been an important part of its history. From the earliest provision of schooling by mail through a series of correspondence schools, both state and federal governments have provided a sound infrastructure to support distance education. Innovative…