This article examines whether a mixture of virtual and real-life interaction--in contrast to purely virtual interaction--among some members of online communities for teachers is beneficial for all teachers' professional development in the whole community. Earlier research indicated that blended communities tend to face fewer trust and free rider…

There is considerable debate about young people's concern for privacy today, given their frequent use of social media to share information and other content about themselves and others. While researchers have investigated the online privacy practices of teens and emerging adults, relatively little is known about the attitudes and behaviors of…

This dissertation explores how participants express and interpret verbal cues of interaction involvement in dyadic conversations via text-based Instant Messaging (IM). Moreover, it seeks to discover differences in the way American participants and Chinese participants use verbal cues when they are highly, or lowly involved. Based on previous…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe and analyze the conduct implications of qualified immunity in allegations of deprivation of civil rights by public school administrators regarding the First Amendment-student speech. Methodology: Data were collected using the LexisNexis and JuriSearch online legal research systems, which…

This work explores the use of multimodal communication in a community of expert "World of Warcraft"® players and its impact on politeness, identity, and relationships. Players in the community regularly communicated using three linguistic modes quasi-simultaneously: text chat, voice chat, and face-to-face interaction. Using the…

This action research study acknowledged the possibilities of culturally responsive pedagogy by examining digital storytelling via online workshops that were facilitated for a group of educators and educational leaders. The presence of cultural biases and cultural discontinuities in Pre-K-12 education has the propensity to contribute to the…

Principals are charged with the responsibility of conducting teacher evaluations that lead to improved instructional practices, as well as using information gathered during the process to make informed data-driven decisions about teacher performance. This study analyzes the impact digital teacher evaluations have played on this process. Four…

With the Internet, foreign language learners can interact more easily with native speakers from other countries than in previous generations. For learners to develop the ability to function in foreign environments, it is vital to understand their experiences in postsecondary online foreign language classes. If educators and educational theorists…

Bullying is a continuing problem in schools, and can result in physical, psychological, and emotional harm to victims, as well as negatively affecting the school culture for students and teachers. Anti-bullying initiatives have typically focused on zero-tolerance strategies, but these have not been effective in promoting a positive school culture.…

The purpose of this study was to determine if online reflections through social networking affect students' sense of community and levels of perceived conceptual learning in Algebra I courses. Social constructivism, connectivism, and computer-mediated communication in relation to reflective practices form the theoretical and practical framework…

Role-plays have been almost ubiquitous in foreign language classes and their potential has been widely recognised. In the last decade, the dissemination of Web 2.0 has created a wide range of possibilities for this type of activity, including conducting online role-plays between institutions, the opportunity to combine synchronous and asynchronous…

For more than a decade practitioners have promoted professional learning communities (PLCs) as an effective structure for providing teachers with professional development (Chappuis, Chappuis, & Stiggins, 2009; DuFour, Eaker, & DuFour, 2005). These collaborative networks are believed to be effective because they expose teachers to new ideas…

Professional learning communities (PLCs)--teams of educators who get together regularly to exchange ideas--have sprung up to meet school districts' growing interest in promoting professional development that engages teachers and administrators. PLCs meet to develop lesson plans, monitor student progress, assess instructional effectiveness, and…

Cyberbullying research is rapidly expanding with many studies being published from around the world in the past five or six years. In this article we review the current international literature published in English, with particular attention to the following themes: The relationship of cyberbullying to the more traditional face-to-face bullying,…

This article discusses the development of the online spaces that were used to create a learning framework: a student-centred framework that combined face-to-face teaching with online social and participatory media. The author, as part of her Doctoral research study, used action research as a mechanism for continual improvement as she redesigned…