As the demand for online education continues to increase, institutions are faced with developing process models for efficient, high-quality online course development. This paper describes a systems, team-based, approach that centers on an online instructional design theory ("Active Mastery Learning") implemented at Colorado State…

While there has been research into the provision of "distance" and "off-campus" education, both in relation to technology and to curriculum, little attention has been given to the experiences of students studying in geographically remote locations, where the remoteness has been an aspect of investigation. This study aimed to…

This research project examined how to develop and sustain online, asynchronous learning communities in continuous intake, distance education environments for learners in grades 7 through 10. The study is an action research project that is based upon in-depth, qualitative data. Interviews were conducted with distance education teachers,…

The study compared the effects of a professional development course delivered in an online and a face-to-face format. The effects examined included changes in teachers' pedagogical beliefs, instructional practices, and understanding of teaching number-sense and related mathematical concepts. The study randomly assigned participants to either the…

The University of Cincinnati (UC) is a premier, public, urban research university dedicated to undergraduate, graduate, and professional education, experience-based learning, and research. The University also maintains a deep commitment to accessible education. Distance learning is an integral part of the University's 21st century approach to…

Although there are many reasons why students dropout of college courses, those reasons may be unique for students who are enrolled in an online program. Issues of isolation, disconnectedness, and technological problems may be factors that influence a student to leave a course. To understand these factors, an online survey was developed to collect…

This paper uses Conversation Analysis to investigate the ways in which participants in an online asynchronous postgraduate reading group managed and negotiated their contributions within the discussion. Using the conversation analytic concerns with sequential organisation, adjacency pairs and topicality, this article shows the analytic insights…

The present study focuses on the use of thinking types as a possible way to structure university students' discourse in asynchronous discussion groups and consequently promote their learning. More specifically, the aim of the study is to determine how requiring students to label their contributions by means of De Bono's (1991) thinking hats…

The purpose of this research was to perform a three way comparison of delivery modes for an introductory Management Information Systems course to determine if there existed a difference in student success among the delivery modes. The research compares student exam and final grade results in this class that was taught by the same instructor using…

This study was designed primarily to examine how synchronous communication facilitated graduate students' online collaboration and their perceptions of synchronous communication. Thirty online graduate students were required to use instant messenger (IM) to discuss their group projects and later post their reflections on their collaboration. The…

This report is focused on the use of affective pointers (acknowledgements and hedges) detected in exchanges between learners and tutors on asynchronous mathematics online help sites. In this environment, both students and tutors use feedback in form of acknowledgements to control communication and assess its success. Hedges, or insecurities, point…

The fast development of information and communication technologies (ICT) improves greatly education quality. E-learning is an important education component at Zagreb School of Economics and Management (ZSEM) and, in addition, it is obligatory for all our teachers and students. In this paper, the development process of course "Sociology"…

The electronic conference, Bits and Bytes: An Online Symposium on the Evolution of Technology in Education, was a joint initiative of the Faculty of Education at Memorial University of Newfoundland and the Centre for Advanced Placement Education at Discovery Collegiate. The format of this electronic conference (e-conference) was similar to that of…

This article presents research based on highly structured and self-managed discussions in the university context. The main question answered by this study is about the value and effectiveness of these virtual tools for teaching and learning, in terms of the types of knowledge built and the relationship between this knowledge and the academic…

The study explores the e-learning system of the Computer-Based Agricultural Extension Program (CBAES) and examines the differences in user satisfaction and preferences between the two systems for Agricultural Education and Extension at the Rural Development Administration (RDA) in Korea. It also describes the architecture, services, user…