Purpose: The broader adoption of the internet along with web-based systems has defined a new way of exchanging information. That advance added by the multiplication of mobile devices has required systems to be even more flexible and personalized. Maybe because of that, the traditional teaching-controlled learning style has given up space to a new…

The research presented in this dissertation studies and describes how technical standards, protocols, and application programming interfaces (APIs) shape the aesthetic, functional, and affective nature of our most dominant mode of online communication, the World Wide Web (WWW). I examine the politically charged and contentious battle over browser…

Communication underwater is challenging because of the inherent characteristics of the media. First, common radio frequency (RF) signals utilized in wireless communications cannot be used under water. RF signals are attenuated in such as way that RF communication underwater is restricted to very few meters. As a result, acoustic-based…

The Association Supporting Computer Users in Education (ASCUE) is a group of people interested in small college computing issues. It is a blend of people from all over the country who use computers in their teaching, academic support, and administrative support functions. Begun in 1968 as the College and University Eleven-Thirty Users' Group…

With the rise of social media and the need for statewide program cohesiveness, The Ohio State University Extension has the opportunity to position itself as a catalyst for technology adoption and adaptation nationwide. Unfortunately, many barriers exist to the successful use and implementation of technology, including an organizational structure…

Shareable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) was proposed as a standard for sharable learning object packaging, delivering and sequencing. Several years later, Common Cartridge (CC) is proposed as an enhancement of SCORM offering more flexibility and addressing needs not originally envisioned, namely assessment and web 2.0 standards, content…

Social networking and communications tools have become widely used in entertainment and social applications and there is growing interest in their use in formal education applications. Distance education and especially those types that are based on self-paced programming models may be the biggest beneficiaries of the use of these new tools to…

This study analyzes gender variation in nonstandard typography--specifically, abbreviations and insertions--in mobile phone text messages (SMS) posted to a public Italian interactive television (iTV) program. All broadcast SMS were collected for a period of 2 days from the Web archive for the iTV program, and the frequency and distribution of…

This article explores different approaches that facilitate online collaboration. The newest efforts in collaboration revolve around wikis. These websites allow visitors to add, remove, edit, and change content directly online. Another fairly affordable approach involves open source, a programming language that is, in many ways, collaborative…

Hybrid learning is now the single-greatest trend in education today due to the numerous educational advantages when both traditional classroom learning and e-learning are implemented collectively. This handbook collects emerging research and pedagogies related to the convergence of teaching and learning methods. This significant "Handbook of…

Today's technology-enhanced learning practices cater to students and teachers who use many different learning tools and environments and are used to a paradigm of interaction derived from open, ubiquitous, and socially oriented services. In this context, a crucial issue for education systems in general, and for Intelligent Learning Environments…

To become full and active participants in today's technologically saturated society, young people need to become creators (and not just consumers) of interactive media. Developing the requisite abilities and capacities is not a wholly individual process; it is important for young people to have access to communities where they can collaborate and…

Skype, Edmodo, iApps, and Shutterfly may sound like fantasy characters or mythical creatures from some futuristic novel. But the students at Paine Primary School in Trussville, Alabama, will gladly explain that these odd-sounding names belong to the Web 2.0 applications in which they are fast becoming fluent. For these kids--and those at other…

The article "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" in last Summer's "Atlantic Monthly," raised a number of provocative, and indeed worrisome, questions about computer usage and cognitive development. For instance, persons with considerable experience of reading for the sake of pleasure report that, after a couple of years using computers a great deal, they…

This paper reports on an aspect of the EC funded Argunaut project which researched and developed awareness tools for moderators of online dialogues. In this study we report on an investigation into the nature of creative thinking in online dialogues and whether or not this creative thinking can be coded for and recognized automatically such that…