Describes an ethnographic study of the electronic community comprised of masters and doctoral students involved in a seminar on networking. Ethnographic research facilitated observation and description of the networked learning community. The exploration of the cultural meaning of class events led to enhanced understanding of online education and…

Describes the ScI-Journal, an online publication designed to give secondary science students a chance to publish the work they have done in science classes so that other science students can read about it. The goal of this journal is to promote student enthusiasm for science and help students develop a greater understanding of the nature of…

Examines the possibilities and advantages of computers in teaching hearing-impaired children. A method of using computers to improve the spoken and written communication skills of the hearing impaired is presented. Suggests that Hypertext and multimedia technologies can be successfully applied to speech therapy teaching, lip-reading teaching,…

Reports on a study of the effectiveness of computer-mediated communication (CMC) in providing African American and female middle school students with scientist role models. Quantitative and qualitative data gathered by analyzing messages students and scientists posted on a shared electronic bulletin board showed that CMC could be an effective…

Reports on a study exploring the ways in which humanist scholars engaged in informal, prepublication discussion of their work on the Humanist, an Internet discussion list. Scholars used the list for exploratory discussion and requests for specific information. It was used less for teaching purposes than for scholarly or professional/technical…

Reports results of a survey of 161 local authorities (i.e., agencies responsible for providing services to citizens in their areas) in the United Kingdom that have Web sites. Discusses methods of communicating with the public, reasons for using the Web, Web-page design, types of users, type of information available, benefits, problems, and…

Identifies stages in user adoption of virtual learning (i.e., Internet-based courses and traditional courses with Internet components) for higher education students and faculty. Instructors' stages of virtuality are: excited, apprehensive, questioning, determined, overstimulated, questioning revisited, and exhausted. Students' stages are:…

Describes "TOPILOT," a European telematics project coordinated by the European Federation for the Education of the Children of Occupational Travellers (EFECOT), which responds to the educational and training needs of fairground, circus, and bargee families. Discusses teacher involvement, linking project phases, and communication and the…

Reflections on the solitary, personal experience of reading and writing contrasted to the "rampant technocapitalism" of the computer presentation of data. Technology may have reconfigured reading; written language; and the publication, distribution, promotion, and place of books, but as long as there is concern for imaginative…

An Internet mailing list designed to conduct a council-style forum among American Indian people encountered problems such as non-Indians posing as Indians, intertribal differences impeding consensus, and the lack of socioeconomic diversity among participants. American Indian culture may be philosophically incompatible with the impersonal nature of…

A growing number of small colleges and large public universities are following the lead of private universities in seeking donations from foreign alumni. Electronic communications have facilitated the cultivation of such relationships, but face-to-face contact is still preferred. This trend comes as foreign enrollments in the United States are…

Business schools across the country are specializing in electronic commerce, in which teams of students create online businesses available on the Internet only to participating institutions. The courses offer students an opportunity to see how an online retailing business is conducted, including creating and maintaining Web sites, advertising…

Colleges and universities are finding that ways to misbehave in computer-mediated communication come along faster than institutions can create policies to deal with them. Although most schools have acceptable-use policies, technological advances change the environment quickly and require flexible policies. Most institutions have created a mix of…

Discusses the history, principles, culture, and teaching approaches of the United Kingdom Open University and its Business School (OUBS). Focuses on management students and the OUBS's position in a dynamic and competitive MBA market place. Discusses computer-mediated conferencing (CMC) and the role of OUBS tutors. Reports key findings from a study…

Discusses several of the unique features of digital text, identifying five key concepts about digital literacy as they relate to technological trends in the workplace and describing a select set of innovative instructional uses of technology that have the potential to transform digital-literacy education. (SM)