Explains Web Crossing, an Internet/intranet server application offering online conferencing solutions through discussion forums and chat rooms, that provided a context for the interaction of graduate and undergraduate students conducting educational research. Discusses knowledge acquisition, the metaphor of participation, and the impact of a…

This paper reports on a teaching innovation where groups of experienced and novice teachers collaborated in analyzing case studies involving the education of students with special learning needs. The teachers collaborated in an asynchronous computer conferencing system (Web Knowledge Forum). All participants were enrolled in special education…

The previous report in this series discusses current attitudes to distance education technology, with specific reference to the counter-productive effects of learning management systems. The current paper pursues this theme in relation to the evolution of online audio-conferencing systems in DE, and revisits the notion of the "productivity…

Editor-in-chief James L. Morrison talks with David Macquart, co-founder of the Global Nomads Group (GNG), a group dedicated to improving children's cultural understanding by bringing the world into the classroom using videoconferencing technology. GNG moderates video conferences between K-12 classes in different countries, organizes virtual…

An online conference is illustrated using the format of a TV talk show. The conference combined live audio discussion with visual images spontaneously selected by the moderator in the manner of a TV control-room director. A combination of inexpensive online collaborative tools was used for the event, based on the browser-based audio-conferencing…

Instructors have many tools to consider when offering online courses: chat rooms, discussion boards, and interactive Web environments, to name a few. The selection of applications for instructional purposes can be a complicated task as the number available grows. Not only must the application work, but it also must have a pedagogical purpose or…

This paper discusses research and development work currently being conducted with universities in Bhutan and Nepal to design appropriate systems for distance and distributed learning courses among a network of campus sites. Although working from a high level of awareness of pedagogic skills, staff in the region face two significant impediments in…

As part of the formative evaluation of Alabama's pilot of its virtual schooling system (the Alabama ACCESS Distance Learning Program), the Alabama State Department of Education examined outcome data from courses offered in the two distance delivery systems: web-based course management and interactive videoconferencing (IVC). In light of Bernard et…

This article describes the successful use of videoconferencing in a sociology capstone course as a way to introduce students to eminent scholars and authors across the country. The author begins by discussing the institutional context, and how videoconferencing fits with the departmental capstone philosophy and with her course goals. This is…

This paper describes types of interactive communications technologies relevant to education and discusses their current and potential uses in rural Australia. "Teleconferencing" is a generic term for interactive electronic communications. The four main types of teleconferencing--audio, audiographic, video, and computer (text)…

This study investigated a trial use of simultaneous telephone and computer (audiographics) conferencing to teach a Master of Education unit, "Early Childhood Curriculum Design Issues," at the Queensland University of Technology in 1994. Data were collected in written form from students, lecturers, and observers concerning their…

The Internet is a worldwide network of computer networks. In the United States, the National Science Foundation Network (NSFNet) serves as the Internet "backbone" (a very high speed network that connects key regions across the country). The NSFNet will likely evolve into the National Research and Education Network (NREN) as defined in…

This presentation describes a collaborative distance education project between the University of the West Indies (UWI) and the Caribbean Labor Administration Center (CLAC) which resulted in CLAC using the UWI Distance Teaching Enterprise (UWIDITE) network to offer a training course for labor administrators in the Caribbean region. In addition, UWI…

This research, begun in Fall 1991, explored the learning-to-learn strategies of adult students taking computer conferencing courses for college credit. It investigated how these students define effective learning and how they direct their own learning and lifestyles to meet the unique demands of this medium. This research gathered data through…

Phase one of a 3-year study examining the potential use of computer conferencing to enhance inservice programs for vocational educators in secondary schools had the following goals: (1) to describe the demographic characteristics of vocational teachers and administrators; (2) to determine the availability of computer resources for vocational…