This paper introduces and reports upon lessons learned during the development phase of the Lord Kelvin Middle School Science Program. For the past two years, a set of tools to help middle school students learn science in a way that uses the full power of today's technology has been under development. Lord Kelvin is a robust collection of science…

Liverpool John Moores University (JMU) is one of the largest universities in the United Kingdom. It is a multi-faculty institution with in excess of 20,000 students. Its first learning strategy, in 1995, sought to identify and make explicit the University's commitment to learning development and to integrate this in the context of other University…

Distance learning is rapidly gaining acceptance as a valid means of course delivery in educational institutions across the country, and these institutions are struggling to enhance the quality of teaching,learning and scholarship over the Internet, while trying to effectively integrate this type of instruction into the curriculum. Increasingly,…

Two popular learning environments, TeleTOP and Blackboard, are implemented for specific educational contexts in many universities and other institutions. The goal is to increase the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in education, particularly network technology or Web-based systems. These electronic learning environments do not…

An application specific style guide was produced for a large web-based multimedia and hyper-media learning project. It was introduced to 15 different sets of developers at Universities in disparate locations to promote consistency and good HCI practice for the whole project. This paper discusses the reactions to the use and practicality of the…

Over the past decade, there have been many changes in the tools used to design, the ways information can be represented and the underpinning theories which drive educational experiences. This paper focuses on several examples of software design that have been pedagogically successful and have demonstrated what is possible in software design and…

This paper introduces and analyzes problems and issues in the design and use of cognitive tools in open, user-centered learning environments. It introduces a classification scheme for tool functions, and showcases several tools in a current educational hypermedia research and development effort. Information-seeking, information-presentation,…

This study is an ongoing examination of the effectiveness of an online professional development course designed to examine the connection between learning theory and technology used to support learning in the classroom. The course was taught by three methodologies: a traditional face-to-face class that used the online materials as a resource; an…

This paper presents the Helsinki-Lappi project (HelLa) co-run by two Finnish universities: the University of Helsinki, and the University of Lapland. The general aim of the project is to study, develop, and assess how different training programs relate to educational use of information and communication technologies (ICT). The project is expected…

This paper describes the rationale and development of a teacher-made software program, instructional design features of the program, and student reaction to the program. The software was created for one student with moderate mental retardation to enable him to practice reading, writing, and reciting personal information. The program, "Your…

Research is being conducted at the Florida State University (FSU) School of Information Studies to determine the importance of interaction (teacher-student, student-teacher, student-student) to the success of World Wide Web-based learning graduate degree programs. Success will be measured in terms of retention, student satisfaction, and learning…

This proceedings of the sixth annual Mid-South Instructional Technology Conference contains the following papers: "They're Not Just Big Kids: Motivating Adult Learners" (Karen Jarrett Thoms); "A Computer Integrated Biology Laboratory Experience" (James B. Kring); "Building Web Sites for Mathematics Courses: Some Answers to…

Online learning is a relatively young field that is still being defined as a discipline. As faculty members wrestle with decisions about how to structure online courses for collaborative, connected learning, student perspectives of successful courses can provide valuable insights for decision-making. This paper presents general research findings…

Occupational safety and health faculty and occupational safety and health professionals (i.e., the potential audience for graduate level distance education programs) were surveyed to determine the considerations for a distance education-based graduate occupational safety and health program. Findings are reported related to the demand for distance…

This paper describes three classroom settings in which students with disabilities were successfully and fully included. In the first setting, a multi-age classroom has been established for first and second grade students with mild disabilities, students at-risk for academic failure, and typically developing students. A general education teacher, a…