Now entering its eighth year, TheatreLink, Manhattan Theater Club's Internet-based distance-learning project remains the most exciting and most challenging initiative. MTC's Education Program had existed for seven years (since 1989 to be exact) before it started TheatreLink. During that early period MTC created an array of programs, all of them…

In this article, the author reviews James Farmer's "IncSub," short for "incorporated subversion," a Web site that combines many of the new approaches to educational technology. It is at heart a weblog, written by an Australian educational technologist; but in addition to the almost daily comments threading the tapestry of the new model of online…

Reusable learning objects are an approach that is receiving a significant amount of attention in distance-based and online education (see Reports # 11, 40, and 46 in this series). They have the potential to provide cost-effective, personalised instruction with a short development time. Instructional design principles, however, must play an…

On the basis of analyzing the characteristics of content components in the current distance education technology specifications, this paper puts forward an Open Content Object model for the Web-based learning content by extending the Sharable Content Object (SCO) of the Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) which was established by the…

This paper reviews some foundational issues that we believe will affect the progress of CSCL over the next ten years. In particular, we examine the terms "technology", "affordance", and "infrastructure" and we propose a relational approach to their use in CSCL. Following a consideration of networks, space, and trust as conditions of productive…

A wide range of projects and organizations is currently making digital learning resources (learning objects) available to instructors, students, and designers via systematic, standards-based infrastructures. One standard that is central to many of these efforts and infrastructures is known as Learning Object Metadata (IEEE 1484.12.1-2002, or LOM).…

This study examined the capacity of text-based online chat to promote learners' noticing of their problematic language productions and of the interactional feedback from their interlocutors. In this study, twelve ESL learners formed six mixed-proficiency dyads. The same dyads worked on two spot-the-difference tasks, one via online chat and the…

A discernible difference, attributed to the digital divide, is evident between the adoption and implementation of distance education technologies in institutions of higher learning in low-income countries in sub-Saharan Africa and in high-income countries in America and Europe. A review of the literature revealed a rural-urban digital divide…

The expanding field of adult learning encompasses the study and practice of utilizing sound instructional design principals, technology, and learning theory as a means to solve educational challenges and human performance issues relating to adults, often occurring online. This book disseminates current issues and trends emerging in the field of…

America's economic productivity and competitiveness are grounded in education. The public schools and the higher education institutions alike are falling behind those of other nations. This paper recommends four policy proposals that offer substantial promise for improving American education, are achievable and have low costs. These…

This report, issued by the Connecticut Department of Higher Education, reports on trends in higher education for the year 2010. Six goals are presented, each with indicators. Each indicator is broken down into the following subsections: About This Indicator; Highlights; and In the Future. Most indicators also include statistical tables and figures…

Research findings in recent years provide compelling evidence of the importance of encouraging student control over the learning process as a whole. The socially based tools and technologies of the Web 2.0 movement are capable of supporting informal conversation, reflexive dialogue and collaborative content generation, enabling access to a wide…

This study investigated novel pedagogies for helping teachers infuse inquiry into a standards-based science curriculum. Using a multi-user virtual environment (MUVE) as a pedagogical vehicle, teams of middle-school students collaboratively solved problems around disease in a virtual town called River City. The students interacted with "avatars" of…

In 1999 Northumbria University published a strategy document entitled "Towards the web-enabled University". This prefaced an assessment of need and of available platforms for developing online teaching and learning which, in turn, led in 2001 to the roll out and institution-wide adoption of the Blackboard Virtual Learning Environment…

Understanding factors in successful online course experiences can provide suggestions for instructors and students to promote improved learning experiences. A survey of 700 students regarding perceptions of online-learning quality was analyzed with a structural equation model. For students with online-learning experience, comfort with technology…