Just a few years ago, virtual worlds were credited with the power to transform the universe. Used since the late 1990s in military and medical applications, virtual worlds first gained mainstream media attention when Linden Lab released Second Life in 2003. While other worlds, including open source environments, have launched since then (examples…

The University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada, is home to North America's first undergraduate program in nanotechnology. As part of the Nanotechnology Engineering degree program, a scanning probe microscopy (SPM)-based laboratory has been developed for students in their fourth year. The one-term laboratory course "Nanoprobing and…

This study examines the impact of Web-Based Learning Tools (WBLTs), also known as learning objects, in middle school mathematics and science classrooms. Survey, qualitative, and student performance data were collected from a sample of 18 teachers and 443 students. Teachers were very positive about the learning benefits, quality of WBLTs, and…

The Faculty of Education, University of Brasilia, implemented an online undergraduate degree program for classroom teachers (student-teacher) who have not yet completed their studies. There are 1800 classroom teachers in the Brazilian state of Acre, bordering Peru and Bolivia, who have completed only high school. However, a new directive from the…

The use of learning management systems (LMS) has grown considerably in universities around the world. The University of Minho (UM) has pioneered in this area in Portugal, adopting Blackboard as its official LMS. Moodle is also used in UM in scattered initiatives, allowing for interesting comparisons. Previous studies comparing Blackboard and…

From time to time, cases of over-dependence on the Internet have been observed on college campuses. Some students, especially male students, remain connected to the Internet as long as they are awake. In Chinese, the emerging term (chai-nan) is used to describe this kind of young man, meaning "room-bound male," who seldom leaves his…

Objective: To identify how British families discuss sexual matters and to determine if the use of a multimedia computer program increases knowledge to promote communication about sexual topics. Design: A mixed-method approach in which families were interviewed within the family environment. Method: Twenty families from the north east of England…

While the nature of mathematics and the nature of science have received much attention, there is a lack of research on the nature of technology. This study sought to investigate preservice teachers' perceptions about the nature of technology and its role in mathematics education and society. Based on two philosophical theories of technology, the…

The aim of this study is to analyze the relationship between social cohesion and computer-internet usage among university students. The research was conducted among university students in North Cyprus. The sample for the research consists of 38.8% (n=80) female, 61.2 % (n=126) male, 206 university students by using the criterion sampling method.…

This article discusses students' pedagogical thinking in situations where the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) has a (well-defined) pedagogical role and rationale. By analysing students' pedagogical thinking in this setting, it is also possible to better understand their motivations and self-regulation. Pedagogical thinking…

Teaching in a classroom configured with computers has been heralded as an aid to learning. Students receive the benefits of working with large data sets and real-world problems. However, with the advent of network and wireless connections, students can now use the computer for alternating tasks, such as emailing, web browsing, and social…

Our research aims to identify domain-specific similarities and differences of externalized cognitive structures. Cognitive structure, also known as knowledge structure or structural knowledge, is conceived as the manner in which an individual organizes the relationships of concepts in memory. By diagnosing these structures precisely, even…

This paper examines the use of CMC in both Japanese and English dominated "domains" by Australian learners of Japanese. The natural, social online communication of 12 Australian university students with 18 of their Japanese contacts was collected for a period of up to four years, resulting in a corpus of approximately 2,000 instances of…

Most educators and scientists would agree that science laboratory instruction has the potential of developing science practices fundamental to achieving scientific literacy. However, there is scant evidence to support that this potential is realized, particularly in tertiary level education. This paper reports qualitative results from a sequential…

The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of computer-aided Perspective Drawings on eighth grade primary school students' achievement in Spatial Orientation and Perspective Drawing. The study made use of pre-test post-test control group experimental design. The study was conducted with thirty 8th grade students attending a primary school…