Online learners and instructors are more diverse in their social and cultural backgrounds than their counterparts in face-to-face classrooms. The diversified social and cultural backgrounds of online learners and instructors complicate the conceptualization of online social presence and pose challenges to instructors in course design. This study…

International studies and theorists have posited that digital technologies play an important role in students' lives and that students display a broad range of literacy skills when using them. The New Zealand Curriculum (2007) states that students should be literate, critical thinkers who actively seek, use and create knowledge. This paper reports…

The continuously growth of learning resources available in on-line repositories has raised the concern for the development of automated methods for quality assessment. The current existence of on-line evaluations in such repositories has opened the possibility of searching for statistical profiles of highly-rated resources that can be used as…

Interactive computer-marked assignments (iCMAs) are in use on a range of Science Faculty level 1 modules at the Open University UK, alongside tutor-marked assignments, for summative and formative purposes. They are also used diagnostically to help prospective students to make an appropriate choice of starting point. iCMAs have been very well…

This paper proposes to discuss the concept of multimedia using information processing theory in ICT enabled teacher education in the context of a knowledge society. The Information and communication technology (ICT) competencies required of teachers related to content, pedagogy, technical issues, social issues, collaboration and networking remain…

In the current research, I introduce a multidimensional construct, system support climate (SSC), and predict that different dimensions of this construct are more or less influential across different stages of the lifespan of a technology in the workplace. Specifically, I seek to address the following: (1) What are the dimensions of SSC that are…

Without specific education in online safety and security issues, putting any limitations on access could seem counter to what a librarian is trained to do. At a cybersecurity workshop sponsored by Washington Library Media Association (WLMA) last October, an informal show of hands from attending teacher-librarians uncovered a range of motivations…

In a remix of the infamous Hitler meme--taking a scene from the movie, "Downfall" (2005), and adding subtitles appropriate (in this case) for "Kairos" readers--theamishaugur makes a pointed, humorous (to some) commentary on the status of multimodal composition scholars in English departments during job market season.

When faculty and learning assistance staff create teaching documents and web pages envisioning the widest range of users they can save time while achieving access for all. There are tools and techniques available to make mathematics visual, orally, and dynamically more accessible through multimodal presentation forms. Resources from Design…

Economic downturn or not, technology is poised to take a paramount role in teaching and learning. New learning theories have been chipping away at the textbook-led curriculum, shaping its foundation into an unsteady, teetering structure. Students need different approaches for learning. Teachers need various venues for delivering diversified…

We advocate for problem-based learning (PBL) as a rhetorical pedagogy for business communication. Briefly put, classic PBL inverts the typical instructional sequence; rather than presenting concepts first and then asking students to apply them, PBL creates situations in which students must learn the concepts in order to solve a "problem"…

With the popularity of e-mail cutting into revenues, Canada Post is always searching for a marketing strategy that would encourage people to use the mail. "Picture Postage" is such an initiative. This popular program allows individuals to create their own stamps for family and friends. This opportunity also provides a vehicle for…

While there is some overlap in the uses and structures of virtual worlds, games, and simulations and the three often look similar, their differences are profound. Clark Aldrich presents a taxonomy of virtual environments that recognizes both the distinctions and the similarities among virtual environments for learning. All three, he suggests, are…

This article describes the process of producing "Snow Soup"--the 2009 Adobe Flash animation produced by the Computer Game Development and Animation seniors of Washington County Technical High School in Hagerstown, Maryland, for libraries in their area. In addition to the Flash product, the students produced two related Game Maker games, a printed…

From Web guides to online tutorials, academic librarians are increasingly experimenting with many different technologies in order to meet the needs of today's growing distance education populations. In this article, the author discusses one librarian's experience using Camtasia Studio to create subject specific video tutorials. Benefits, as well…