During the digital age, self-directed learning has emerged as an effective teaching strategy in designing class activities within the educational sphere, prompting an investigation into its impact on the effectiveness of instruction in the K-12 context. This article presents a meta-analysis aimed at examining the efficacy of self-directed learning…

Technological tools challenge teachers' pedagogical activities. The use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in education should help teachers integrate new pedagogical methods into their work. This study explores macro-level computer-supported collaborative learning scripts as a pedagogical method to facilitate collaboration.…

In educational environments, it is desirable to support the mechanism by which people can participate in interesting communities without any trouble and also to promote successful learning activities. Now that Web-based environments have been successively organized under a virtualized communication network or a logical interaction space, the…

The Discetech project, which was started in 1996 in Northern Italy, aims at experimenting the introduction of new technologies within the teaching-learning activities of high school classrooms. Since 1998, a similar project, Bimbotech, has been developed for elementary classrooms (for children ages four- to seven-years old). Several hundreds of…

After an examination of the status of the use of media in the foreign language curriculum, the potential impact of video and computer-assisted language learning (CALL) is analyzed, and their advantages and disadvantages are charted. The role of the American Council for the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Proficiency Guidelines with respect…

Beginning in the 1997-98 school year, WestEd staff, with the support of the Pacific Resources for Education and Learning (PREL), worked intensively with a group of five Chamorro teachers from Rota Elementary School (Hawaii) to develop culturally responsive, standards-based science units. The larger goal was to develop Web-based case examples of…

Influenced by constructivist philosophy and advances in technology, there is increasing interest in authentic activities as a basis for learning in both face-to-face and Web-based courses. Whereas traditionally, activities have primarily served as vehicles for practice of skills or processes, a more radical approach is to build a whole course of…

Learning objects (LOs), generally understood as digital learning resources shared and accessed through the Internet and reused in multiple learning contexts, have aroused enthusiasm in the field of educational technology. Although LOs offer many possibilities to change educational practices, there is a lack of empirical evidence on the…

This handbook can help PreK-12 educators make the transition from technology-based learning modalities and integrate elements of distance learning into their curriculum. With emphasis on Internet-based delivery formats, the book presents the latest research and proven techniques for creating effective distance learning opportunities that enhance…

This paper reviews the research on cooperative learning combined with technology and presents a formative report of those findings. The review focused on these questions: What are the benefits of cooperative learning in a multimedia environment? What benefits do computer-based training offer? What are the benefits of cooperative learning…

This three-part paper describes the development of a software program called "The Growth Curve of Microorganisms" for a tenth-grade biology class. Designed to improve students' cognitive skills, the program enables them to investigate, through computer simulations, the impact upon the growth curve of a population of three variables: temperature,…

This paper describes the design of a Web-based learning environment for leadership facilitators in a United States military organization. The overall aim of this project was to design a prototype of an online learning environment that supports leadership facilitators' knowledge development in the content area of motivation. The learning…

Suggests that "digital differences" is a more appropriate view of the situation facing educators than the concept of the "digital divide." Introduces five principles providing direction for the design and development of technology-enhanced educational activities appropriate to the diversity of students-with-computer-access:…

Suggests that one way to simplify computer integration in schools would be to provide examples of computer activities that are combined with other classroom activities for teachers to use in the same way as the activity books that teachers are comfortable with using. Presents two examples where objectives required by the school district are listed…

The electronic information age is here, and adults as well as children are using new ways to gather and generate information. Electronics users are writing in hypertext; exploring cyberspace; living in virtual communities; scooping interactively with CD-ROMs and laserdiscs; using File Transfer Protocols to upload and download information from…