Parent involvement is considered one of the most powerful means for improving schools and for increasing the satisfaction of parents and the community. However, barriers of time, schedules, and resources have put limits on effective parent involvement. To address these problems, telecommunications technology has been applied to increase…

Teaching students intimate communication should be an essential part of basic interpersonal communication instruction. Students need to know how to express their needs, their desires, and their expectations about intimacy. Because instructional materials lack the resources and courage two professors needed for their students, the professors…

As learners use World Wide Web-based distance learning systems over a period of years, large amounts of learning logs are generated. An instructor needs analysis tools to manage the logs and discover unusual patterns within them to improve instruction. However, logs of a Web server cannot serve as learners' portfolios to satisfy the requirements…

The purpose of this symposium on research in distance education was to continue the process of building the network of scholars and climate of cooperation and communication necessary for further development of distance education and to provide an opportunity for discussion. Four main areas of focus for the symposium were learning and…

In higher education, online discussions are an integral part of collaborative based e-Learning systems. However, there can be problems associated with current online discussion models. For example, it can be easy to set open-ended discussions which attract little participation and assessing contributions can be difficult or time-consuming.…

This article reports on the use of Web logs ("blogs") and online discussion forums in an instructional technology course in a teacher preparation program. Key goals behind the use of these tools included exposure for students to computer-supported communication and collaboration, encouragement of reflective practice, and a better…

This paper is a report on the development of a digital portfolio system for a teacher education program. The development of the system was based upon a three-year comparative case study of four principals representing rural and urban schools and included pre-kindergarten through 12th grade levels in a Midwestern state. The research generated…

The purpose of this study was to determine what factors motivated community college faculty to participate in distance education. It examined the following factors from the perspective of faculty and division chairs: (1) preference toward synchronous and asynchronous course delivery; (2) rewards for distance education faculty; (3) rewards for…

This paper reports on a case study of a U.S. high school literature class during an e-mail exchange with a high school literature class in Moscow (Russia). During this project, the students in both classrooms read short stories by Anton Chekhov and O'Henry. By using the stories as a catalyst, the students' goal was to help their distant partner to…

The theme of the 2001 "ASIST" (American Society for Information Science and Technology) annual conference is "Information in a Networked World," which covers a broad range of theory and practice in information science. The program includes 52 refereed papers, 46 SIG and panel sessions, and 33 poster presentations. Topics include: digital…

The use of electronic technologies for the delivery of instruction has grown at an exponential rate over the last five years. Institutions of higher education, corporations, and K-12 environments continue to seek ways to use online tools to deliver instruction. While the increased interest and need is an exciting development, several challenges…

This first phase of a content analysis of online, asynchronous, educational discussions is designed to generate a method for automatically categorizing messages into cognitive categories using neural network software. This phase of research answers two questions regarding the method of automatically analyzing discussion messages: Can a neural…

Role play is a powerful technique for skills and attitude development. It is now possible to combine the advantages of face-to-face role play with the potential of the online environment. This paper reports on a case study of an asynchronous, anonymous, online role play conducted within a teaching course for academic staff. The following key…

Though technology has played an increasingly significant role in all types of classrooms, the actual use of technologies has not caught up with the increased availability of hardware and software. Building community in an assistive course, can make full use of advanced technologies and create a student-centred learning environment to meet each…

In this study, Pre-service Science Teachers' (PSTs) views about the potential benefits and existing barriers of their argumentation on the World Wide Web about what is happening in middle school science classrooms during two semesters of their practicum experiences were investigated. "Special Web Group" called the "Collaborative…