This study focuses on specific interaction behaviors rather than looking at overall levels of interaction. These behaviors can be seen as important starting points or integral components of interactive dialogue. If students perceive barriers to asking and answering questions, interaction may be seriously curtailed. The purpose of this study is to…

This book provides beginning Internet users with basic information about what's out there, how to find it, and what to do with it when you find it. Instructions are provided on connecting to the Internet and using it effectively and appropriately. Aspects of Internet communication are reviewed, including e-mail, netiquette, mailing lists, and…

In this pivotal time in the 20th-century electronic revolution, when electronic communication is becoming more widespread and affordable, it is certainly worth while to consider the implications that computer mediated communication has for the basic course student's understanding of the communication process. There is a growing need to address…

Although there are earlier experiences from computer mediated communication (CMC) applications in which e-mail has been used as a forum for argumentation and debate, the literature lacks systematic analyses on the use of CMC for this purpose. This kind of analysis would produce knowledge on the relevance of CMC for practicing argumentation that is…

A student's participation on two listserves added new depth and new complexities to her overall learning process. The listserves (one just for her composition class at California State University San Bernardino and one that linked her class to two other composition classes at distant universities) created a community of people who had access to a…

While the World Wide Web receives most of the publicity, another aspect of the Internet also draws considerable attention. IRC, more formally referred to as Internet Relay Chat, provides a means by which one user can type a message in real time to one or more Internet users, and almost instantaneously, the message appears on the monitors of all…

This paper addresses the question, "What is the relationship of communications--in the sense of technology of information--and community?" The answer is the Internet. Public relations educators must teach students and practitioners how to best use the Internet to enhance public relations community-building. The implications of today's Internet are…

There has been tremendous growth within the past decade in the number of individuals who have joined "the information highway" and have become empowered to use a computer to gain information about their world. In the United States, there are relatively few governmental restrictions imposed upon citizens who seek to communicate with…

The Continuity Project is a research, development, and technology transfer initiative aimed at creating a Library of the Future by combining features of an online public access catalog (OPAC) and a campuswide information system (CWIS) with advanced facilities drawn from such areas as artificial intelligence (AI), knowledge representation (KR),…

Distance Education provides the technological improvement effect on education. With the developments of high technology and globalization, social, cultural, educational aspects of life become different and get better in terms of time space and communication. In the educational field, classical learning and teaching techniques can not be effective…

This paper considers four aspects of online communities. Design, mechanisms, architecture, and the constructed knowledge. We hypothesize that different designs of communities drive different mechanisms, which give rise to different architectures, which in turn result in different levels of collaborative knowledge construction. To test this chain…

This paper presents some research findings regarding the changes in the mathematics produced by mathematics teachers in on-line distance courses. Predicated on the belief that knowledge is generated by collectives of humans-with-media, and that different technologies modify the nature of the knowledge generated, we have sought to understand how…

This paper focuses on a cross-university computer-mediated communication class which was taught during the spring semester at the University of Kansas (the other campus was at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York). The paper's first part briefly introduces the class design including set-up, assignments, and topics covered. The second part…

This paper outlines Japanese children's preconceptions to communication media. In a study, the function of media was divided into two categories--one is an "informational receiving" function and the other is an "informational sending" function. Preconception (consciousness about degree of liking and level of difficulty) of…

Ethical behavior, particularly among young people, is of increasing concern to various segments of society. Before this or any behavior can be influenced, an understanding is needed of the factors that shape it, including social influences, cognitive and emotional factors, and attitudes. The purpose of this study was to examine students' knowledge…