The Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework is a comprehensive guide to the research "and" practice of online learning. One of the most challenging aspects of establishing a CoI in online courses is finding the best way to attend to each element of the CoI framework in a primarily text-based environment. In our online courses, we have examined the…

Education has changed as a result of technological advances. Distance learning, particularly online learning, has rapidly increased its presence in higher education. At the same time, a new generation of students characterized as being the first generation to grow up with the Internet, are entering college. This generation, commonly called…

The characteristics of the online environment alter how students and instructors interact. Scientific discourse among students and instructors in an online text-only synchronous environment was analyzed. In converting dialogue to text, many of the nonverbal cues, such as facial expression and tone of voice, which instructors use to gauge student…

This paper reports on research investigating student experiences of learning through face-to-face and online discussions in a political science course in a large Australian university. Using methodologies from relational research into university student learning, the study investigates associations between key aspects of student learning focusing…

Whilst there is considerable literature on feedback for students and on the use of audio feedback, literature in the area of podcasting assignment feedback (PAF) remains sparse. Partly, this may be due to a lack of clarity about what counts as feedback, the way in which feedback is located pedagogically and the relationship between feedback…

This study aims to replicate and extend a previous study which was conducted on primary school students' asynchronous online project-based learning. In this study, 276 high school students' participation and interaction in a project-based learning environment was mediated by an asynchronous computer-mediated communication (CMC) tool. The students'…

Whilst prior research has identified children as avid users of new technologies, insufficient studies have explored their patterns of use. This paper investigates how New Zealand pre-teens use technology out of school and identifies a typology of technology use. Two hundred and twenty four children between 10 and 12 years of age completed a…

Institutions of higher education realise the importance of the role of learning organisations in terms of providing personnel training and updating. Yet further consideration should be given to flexible and accessible means for meeting the growing request for continuous learning. Jason Hughes describes an organization's capability to "learn how to…

The purpose of this study was to examine preservice teachers' perceived benefits of instructional blogs, classroom community, course satisfaction, and learning. The data were obtained via surveys administered throughout Fall 2009. Fifty preservice teachers from two undergraduate courses participated in this study. Results indicate that students…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of interactive online journal writing on physical education teacher candidates' reflection, and to explore the content and functions of such reflection during field experience. Four participants selected from a pool of students enrolled in pre-student teaching field experience were asked…

Cloud computing is the latest paradigm shift for the delivery of IT services. Where previous paradigms (centralized, decentralized, distributed) were based on fairly straightforward approaches to technology and its management, cloud computing is radical in comparison. The literature on cloud computing, however, suffers from many divergent…

When the author was brought on as CIO of Westmont College in October 2008, the president, Board of Trustees, and campus environment made it clear that technology needed a major overhaul to meet the college's growing requirements. Also, these changes needed to happen without significantly increasing the IT budget or staff. Marketing Charts…

For language learning, online environments allowing for user generated content are becoming increasingly important since they offer possibilities for learners to elaborate on assignments and projects. This study investigates what wikis can do as a means to enhance group interaction, when students are encouraged to participate in constructing text…

The purpose of this study is to highlight the possibilities and challenges that underlie efforts to integrate blogs into teacher-education programs in Taiwan higher education. The participants were 12 pre-service teachers undertaking Master's level study in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. The outcomes of the blogging project were…

This study investigated the effectiveness, in terms of the attainment of relevant learning outcomes, of the types of learning promoted by educational features commonly incorporated in course management systems. Twenty-one courses with significant use of the Internet, but with face-to-face teaching as the predominant instructional mode, were…