This study examined faculty characteristics and behaviors in 46 MBA courses conducted over a two-year period. We found that both formal instructor activities, referred to in the online learning literature as teaching presence, and informal instructor activities, known as immediacy behaviors, were positive predictors of student perceived learning…

One of the serious problems associated with Indian school education has been high dropout rate. The reasons are many and varied but the major constraints are: non-availability of adequate number of competent and trained teachers in most of the schools and separate room for each class. To overcome such problems and increase equitable access to all,…

Successful operation of videoconferencing technology for interactive learning demands preparation and scheduling. Well-organized strategies for interaction assist faculty in meeting individual student needs and developing the "social presence" necessary to facilitate quality online learning. Organizations can be proactive by offering…

Social work, like other professions, finds itself influenced by postmodernism and hypertechnology. Social work educators are striving to adapt in the face of rapidity of knowledge expansion and of technological advancement, which impact the nature of pedagogy. Recent emphases on effectiveness and efficiency of technological innovations are…

This paper explores and discusses arguments for the use of virtual environments and interactive avatars in supporting the achievement of student learning goals within conventional educational contexts. It describes and evaluates arguments promoted by some authors (eg, van den Brekel, 2007; Deuchar & Nodder, 2003; Dickey, 2003; Facer, 2004; de…

The Community of Inquiry Framework is based on the premise that online learning is a collaborative constructivist activity. However, not all courses are similarly oriented. In general, courses can be divided into constructivist and objectivist. In constructivist courses, learners develop solutions to problems through sustained discourse and…

This article focuses on introducing Web 2.0 technologies and possible uses for student and teacher learning and collaboration. Many of these tools are already used in social and business contexts. These new and emerging applications are also gaining popularity in classrooms across all education levels. Various applications are introduced to raise…

By showing students how to use Web-based channels to inform publics, advocate positions, contest claims, and organize action around issues they care about, participatory media education can influence civic behavior positively throughout their lives. Participatory media literacy is necessarily a hands-on enterprise, requiring active use of digital…

Technologically-mediated learning environments are an increasingly common component of university experience. In this paper, the authors consider how the interrelated domains of policy contexts, new learning cultures and the consumption of information and communication technologies might be explored using the concept of technography. Understood…

Whether or not it is an accurate portrayal, the old stereotype of higher education is the lecture hall, where students sit passively and take notes from a wise professor whose experience and knowledge can be shared only in the classroom. The professor's role is to dispense information, and the students' role is to receive it. However idealistic…

The purpose of this study is to provide guidelines for teachers to carry out cross-national educational projects in schools through the introduction of virtual environments as a means of reshaping classroom-based activities. The theoretical foundations of the study are rooted in computer supported collaborative learning and the community of…

This paper discusses research into the facilitation of academic writing for first year dance students using images, emails and the forum of a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). Taking place over several weeks in the early part of the academic year and within a core module entitled Personal and Professional Development in the single honours Dance…

The emergence of new technologies has made it increasingly easy for distributed collaboration in both educational and noneducational settings. Although the effectiveness in traditional settings of the dynamics of small group work has been widely researched, there is limited research that offers evidence on how teams can work effectively in a…

With the increased interest in using Immersive Virtual Worlds (IVWs) such as Second Life to augment and amplify teaching or to develop communities of practice, the author engaged graduate students, all current K-12 teachers, in a qualitative study to examine their attitudes about communicating for the first time in a virtual setting represented by…

Distance Education (DE) is one of the well-known methods of instruction and learning at many colleges and universities throughout the United States as well as other countries. Instructors teaching online courses need some form of training prior to teaching online classes. Most higher education institutions use some form of Learning Management…