As higher education institutions struggle to meet the growing demand for education from non-traditional students, many are turning to hybrid and online courses. These courses, free up classroom space, allow faculty to reach a wider audience using technology; and are therefore cost effective. But, what learning experiences do these courses provide…

In the United States, government funding underwrites the cost of child care services for over 1.7 million children from income-eligible families. About one in four American children served by these subsidies is cared for in a setting where a state-issued license to operate is not required, but in many states the percentages are higher. In…

Online courses continue to gain popularity at colleges and universities, with a primary tool for demonstrating critical thinking and interaction being the discussion forum. Instructors and students of online courses are faced with the dilemma of sifting through potentially hundreds of postings when all students are placed within a forum. The…

Pedro Hernandez-Ramos, James L. Koch, Albert Bruno, and Eric Carlson describe the online collaboratory planned for the Global Social Benefit Incubator (GSBI), an international education program designed to serve social benefit entrepreneurs working in the fields of education, health, economic development, the environment, and equality around the…

The purpose of this paper is to report on the results of a study that examines whether the Community of Inquiry (CoI) dimensions of social, teaching, and cognitive presence distinctively exist in e-learning environments. The rest of the paper is organized as follows. First, the author will briefly review recent studies on the dimensions of this…

This case study evaluates the potential of synchronous chat for deep learning in the context of a distance education program between two universities in different cultural contexts, with a focus on interaction and facilitation. Three rubrics--functional moves, social construction of knowledge, and teaching presence--were applied in a longitudinal…

Online courses are growing in popularity, providing opportunities for individuals to complete their education while overcoming time and distance constraints. Innovations in distance education allow for the design and development of online courses that adapt to meet the specific needs and/or learning styles of the students enrolled, and reflect the…

Central to the argument about the influence of media on learning is how this influence is measured or ascertained. Conventional methods which comprise the use of true and quasi-experimental designs are inadequate. Several lessons can be learned from this observation on the media debate. The first is that, conventional methods of ascertaining the…

In this article, the author demonstrates the very real possibility of using technology to help open up the classroom space so that students feel empowered. For her, such possibilities are at the center of feminist praxis, especially on urban campuses and at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Building a feminist pedagogy on an…

The research reported in the current article studies the impact of learning in asynchronous discussion groups on students' final exam scores and levels of knowledge construction. Multilevel analyses were applied to uncover the specific influence of student, group and task variables. The results indicate that the impact of student characteristics…

While most existing online learning environments cater for needs identified during the 1990s, a new generation of digital students has emerged in the developed world. Digital students are young adults who have grown up with digital technologies integrated as an everyday feature of their lives. Digital students use technology differently, fluidly…

While most faculty and graduate students have opportunities to meet and begin networking at local, regional, and national meetings and symposia, the same opportunities do not exist for most undergraduates. At least four needs of undergraduates might be served by developing dedicated listservers and encouraging students to begin using…

SENDIT is a telecommunications network for North Dakota educators and students in the K-12 environment. Through SENDIT, both teachers and students have access to the Internet, and some of the isolation associated with the rurality of North Dakota has been diminished. SENDIT was developed by the North Dakota State University School of Education and…

At Valdosta State University (Georgia), a philosophy course, "A Virtual Classroom: The Electronic Agora," was developed and conducted entirely through computer media. Twenty-one students were in the class. The two main activities, addressing the central objectives of a philosophy course, were: (1) research, and (2) class discussion and…

A hypermedia based UTICS (university transaction, information and communication system) is under development at the University of Auckland (New Zealand). This multi-platform system will provide alternatives to traditional forms of information retrieval and dissemination as well as public relations exercises. The UTICS will offer a virtual journey…