Interactive whiteboards have been rapidly introduced into all primary schools under UK Government initiatives. These large, touch-sensitive screens, which control a computer connected to a digital projector, seem to be the first type of educational technology particularly suited for whole-class interaction. Strong claims are made for their value…

An analysis of postings on the LM_NET discussion list was conducted to better understand school library media specialist (SLMS) perceptions of the potential effect of structural challenges on their role in teaching Web evaluation skills. Structural challenges are institutional in the form of government regulation and school culture, and are…

This teacher research studied second graders' small-group, peer-led discussions about three genres of literature--realistic fiction, biography picture books, and science information books--across one school year (during three units in the fall, winter, and spring). It set out to explore how this peer talk, in general, mediated children's responses…

Fifty-one sixth graders participated in three rounds of online literature circles and three face-to-face literature circles. The authors describe how the online literature circles were introduced and organized in the classroom and discuss the tensions, struggles, and successes from their implementation. An analysis of qualitative data yielded…

Case-based learning has long been used to bring students into contact with the complexity of real-world situations. Despite this popularity and considerable history, research into how case analysis can support future problem-solving has been limited. The study reported in this paper investigated learners' understanding of multimedia instructional…

As classrooms across the U.S. are becoming increasingly more multilingual and multicultural, there is a need for research that provides insight into literacy instruction that builds on students' linguistic knowledge. The qualitative study of a fourth-grade dual-language classroom examined the ways that peer mediation in Spanish and English…

Adult, professional students in a doctoral-level course used Web 2.0 tools such as wikis, blogs, and online discussions to develop answers to six "Big Questions" related to higher education finance and also produced a research paper that used original data or the research literature to improve understanding of a specific topic. At the close of the…

In this paper, an application of one aspect of the Internet technology, namely Internet groups, into the teaching of American and British literatures is evaluated by means of a content analysis of the Internet group which was used as the course component. The aim of this paper was to see how students used the Internet group in the learning of…

This paper examines the affordance of the Danish social networking site Mingler.dk for peer-to-peer learning and development. With inspiration from different theoretical frameworks, the authors argue how learning and development in such social online systems can be conceptualised and analysed. Theoretically the paper defines development in…

As support and professional-development opportunities for teachers begin to move from conference rooms to chat rooms, a burgeoning number of states and districts are drawing on features from course-management software and popular social-networking sites to establish online networks connecting teachers to peers who may live dozens or even hundreds…

Internet-mediated joint suicides or "Net group suicides" ("Net shinju") has become a significant social problem in Japan since 2002. Despite a privileged view of suicide-related cyberspaces as a murky underworld, there has been little study about how the participants of such spaces interact and perform their…

The purpose of this study was to understand the perspectives of instructors as they participate in an online classroom setting. It sought to find the purposes, goals, and objectives set by online instructors for the utilization of threaded discussions. The methodology employed was qualitative. A case study of a public two-year and four-year degree…

Pamela K. Coke observes two high school English teachers who carry out practical assessments that supply them with an understanding of student achievement. The strategies used, such as Socratic seminar, book club meetings, and sticky notes, provide constructive information about what students are able to do and help identify ways such practices…

This paper explores ways in which the research design of an anonymous online discussion forum on sexual orientation and schooling fostered the creation, maintenance and/or disruption of linguistic constructions of participant identity. The paper focuses on the presentation of self and the performance of sex-gender-sexuality within a research…

This article describes a case study using an electronic learning platform for creating an interactive learning community through asynchronous discussion to enhance the initial field experience of secondary math and English teacher candidates enrolled in Field Experience. We identified three problems with the field experience course--lack of…