Investigated the relationship between university student motivation and student acceptance of learning via computer conferencing (CC). Considered frequency of contributing online messages; satisfaction with CC; grades; effort; goal orientation; personal relevance of tasks; task attractiveness; and students' beliefs concerning the relationship of…

The potential of on-line discussions to prompt greater reflection of course material is often stymied by a tendency of students to agree with one another rather than to formulate counter-arguments. This article describes an experiment using note starters and elaborated cases to encourage counter-argumentation and examines interactions with…

Looks for appropriate interaction analysis/content analysis techniques that assist in examining the negotiation of meaning and coconstruction of knowledge in collaborative learning environments facilitated by computer conferencing. Reviews strengths and shortcomings of existing interaction analysis techniques and proposes a new model based on…

Examines how students with weak computer-mediated communication (CMC) skills fare in CMC courses that require high levels of peer interaction. Subjects were 11 male and 4 female inservice teachers. Findings indicate that students' CMC skills had only a modest impact on their participation in the course; students with less developed skills…

Discussions of distance education courses develop according to needs/interests of conference participants, course requirements, and nature of the instructor's online facilitation. Findings of this research suggest other factors. Analysis of threads and their growth patterns reveals a bias in favor of elongated note structures, explained by a…

Examines the use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) in the college classroom using survey data from 89 undergraduate sociology students. Discusses advantages and disadvantages of conferencing systems, either through local area networks or Internet-based systems; preferred uses of CMC; and results of regression analyses. (Author/LRW)

This article focuses on facilitating learners' collaborative knowledge construction in case-based learning scenarios. The article first describes how case-based learning can promote knowledge acquisition and then discusses the characteristics of videoconferencing in such scenarios. Then we focus our attention on the process and outcomes of the…

Examines various educational technology projects that regional laboratories supported by the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) are undertaking. Highlights include innovative uses of instructional technology; tele-teaching using interactive audio conferencing; making informed decisions about technology; national teleconferences…

The purpose of this study was to foster preservice teacher learning of educational psychology by creating a Web-based learning community using actual case situations experienced during field observations. Participants (146 undergraduate students) were assigned to two electronic-conferencing groups where they generated teaching vignettes related to…

The web has the potential to offer an environment that can support standardized medical education to students dispersed in time or place and, in the process, respond to reduced availability of patients for practice. This exploratory article describes how we evaluated critical thinking in an online collaborative Problem-based Learning (PBL)…