Presents the results of a survey of secondary school students in England that investigated access to computers at home, frequency and duration of use, the applications used including games and word processing, and students' reasons for using a computer at home. Also discusses gender differences in terms of access, frequency of use and applications…

Examines how spatial, thermal, visual, acoustic and aesthetic factors singly or collectively affect learners and educational systems in Nigeria. Suggests that the importance of appropriate educational environments should be emphasized and that teachers should be encouraged to properly select and use educational media. (AEF)

Investigated the views of Kenyan secondary school students and teachers regarding the impact of a computer-based instruction program that involved collaborative learning within a physics course on measurement. Data from interviews and comparisons of intervention and control classrooms indicated significant improvements in intervention students'…

Describes a study at the University of Southern Queensland (Australia) that measured self-efficacy for computer use of teacher education students at the beginning of their course and again following a semester in which some students had completed computer courses. The amount of time spent using computers contributed most to the variance in…

Global distribution of West African goods--coffee, chocolate, gold, diamonds (and at one time, ivory)--has linked this region to the outside world for centuries, yet its development remains slow. Not simply the ancestral home of humankind, Africa's western legacies include colonization, partition, and loss of untold millions to slavery and wars of…

The paper describes an action research study investigating ICT as an integrated artefact in lower secondary schools in Norway. The study is part of a national project called PILOT, which focuses on the pedagogic use of ICT in education. The aim of the project is to develop an understanding of how ICT can become an integrated part of the teaching…

Web-based peer assessment is an innovative method that can be used to assess students' learning portfolios in order to improve their learning. However, students cannot easily compare their own evaluation schemes or think reflectively to improve their learning through web-based peer assessment if they do not understand how others perceive the…

This paper seeks to explore the impact of IT on school and teacher cultures. It reports on Swedish teachers' use of IT in different school subjects by means of a case study comprising one school, four teachers (2 men and 2 women), and their pupils aged 9-12. The methods of data collection used were interviews and observations. The aim of the study…

Previous studies have suggested significant benefits to using computer-mediated communication in higher education and the development of the relevant skills may also be important for preparing students for their working careers. This study is a review of the introduction of a virtual learning environment to support a group of 60 campus-based,…

Audio-based virtual environments have been increasingly used to foster cognitive and learning skills. A number of studies have also highlighted that the use of technology can help learners to develop effective skills such as motivation and self-esteem. This study presents the design and usability of 3D interactive environments for children with…

The Key to Key Skills Project made portable to other universities an intranet system, developed at Leeds Metropolitan University, to support students' Key Skills. The system was piloted and evaluated in three partner institutions (Sheffield Hallam University, Leeds Metropolitan University and the University of Plymouth). The evaluation revealed…

This study investigates the role of basic elements of a learning context namely: the given tasks, the nature of the provided tools, and the pupils' gender in their choice of tools provided by an open problem-solving computer environment. Pupils' choice of tools is discussed through the description of an experiment involving the interaction of (30)…

This study aims to compare the cost-effectiveness of an online teacher training method with a face-to-face training method in teaching "ICT integration in the school curriculum". In addition, the study explores the possibilities of a school-based voluntary training method in supporting other approaches to ICT teacher training. The analyses of…

The problem addressed in the study was whether 10-year-old and 11-year-old children, collaborating within a computer-supported classroom, learned an explanation-driven process of inquiry that had characteristics of the progressive nature of scientific inquiry. The technical infrastructure for the study was provided by the Computer-Supported…

During oral exams at the German distance learning university, we noticed that students fear that they will be faced with questions that they have not anticipated. In our opinion, this is mainly because students have no chance to train and thereby gather positive experiences with exam situations as they are distributed all over Germany and thus it…