This study examines the challenges of analyzing texts that are multimodal--that is, combining more than one mode of communication, such as written text, images, video, and/or audio--and considers the theoretical and practical implications of two very different approaches. The more common current approach, which adapts the work of Halliday and…

The chapter examines the term MOOC, outlines various MOOC typologies, and identifies themes and issues in the literature surrounding the instructional form.

This systematic literature review was undertaken primarily to examine the role that print and digitally mediums play in text comprehension. Overall, results suggest that medium plays an influential role under certain text or task conditions or for certain readers. Additional goals were to identify how researchers defined and measured…

Although the currently employed STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) acronym is of recent origin, dating to the early 2000s (Chute, 2009), the United States has long emphasized the importance of teaching STEM in its public schools. Early efforts, such as "Science, the Endless Frontier" (Bush, 1945) and the…

Action research continues to grow as a research tradition, yet misconceptions about what it is and is not remains, even among scholars. For example, some mistakenly believe action research is only about professional development and is not a scholarly research approach. Some assume action research must be accomplished through a collaborative…

The study investigated the impact of podcasts and vodcasts accessed through an iPod on fourth-and sixth-grade students' vocabulary acquisition. Students were randomly assigned to either a podcast group or a vodcast group. Regardless of group assignment, each student completed three six-minute podcasts or vodcasts a day for three days. On average,…

Crucial, technologically oriented issues currently facing educators are addressed in the following 11 articles: (1) "The Definition of Educational Technology: An Emerging Stability," by Donald P. Ely; (2) "Media Applications to Instruction: Current Theoretical Considerations," by Gerald M. Torkelson; (3) "The Dilemma of…

This paper focuses on the common features of Guided Discovery Architecture (GDA) online programs. It is also about developing a descriptive cost-benefit analysis of online program of GDA. It discusses how the features of GDA instruction differ from those of conventional distance education (DE) courses in terms of not only cost categories…

One of the important components of the elaboration theory (Reigeluth, 1979) is the synthesizer, which provides information to relate and integrate a set of concepts and which can appear in different formats. This study investigated the effectiveness of three formats of post-instruction synthesizer on student recall of definitions of concepts and…

Problem-based learning (PBL) is an instructional approach that has been used successfully for over 30 years and continues to gain acceptance in multiple disciplines. It is an instructional (and curricular) learner-centered approach that empowers learners to conduct research, integrate theory and practice, and apply knowledge and skills to develop…

Literacy is a term that has been defined many ways, with definitions ranging from those that are very narrow to those that are very broad. Among the more wide sweeping was that of the 1991 National Literacy Act, which defined literacy as a wide range of language tasks associated with everyday life, including those "necessary to function on…