As support and professional-development opportunities for teachers begin to move from conference rooms to chat rooms, a burgeoning number of states and districts are drawing on features from course-management software and popular social-networking sites to establish online networks connecting teachers to peers who may live dozens or even hundreds…

When it comes to technologies like digital games, simulations, and social networking, teachers and students may find themselves at cross purposes. Often, students find that these technologies, so prevalent in their lives outside of school, are unwelcome in their classrooms. Many teachers can tell stories about the disruptive influence of video…

The profile and needs of today's undergraduate students have changed, and family and consumer sciences (FCS) departments will benefit from taking a proactive approach to adjust their recruitment strategies to meet those needs. California State University, Sacramento, implemented successful efforts in the areas of virtual contact, direct contact,…

This article explores variation in the use of the pronouns "nous" and "on" for first-person plural reference in a substantial corpus of French-language Internet chat discourse. The results indicate that "on" is nearly categorically preferred to "nous," which is in line with previous research on informal spoken French. A qualitative analysis of…

Today, "lifelong learning" encompasses a wide range of student profiles and curricular designs, but a growing subset of the nation's life-long learning programs are non-credit and designed specifically for students over the age of 50. The good news is that "over 50" does not mean "out of the technology loop." In this article, the author discusses…

This grounded theory study was designed to generate theory to understand how student academic support is communicated between students during the freshmen transition. No literature exists on the process of how students informally communicate support for academics during the college transition. The diary-interview method was utilized with college…

Computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) has been the subject of a wide range of studies over the last twenty years. Previous research suggests that CSCL exchanges can facilitate group-based learning and knowledge construction among learners who are in different geographical locations [Littleton, K. & Whitelock, D. (2004). "Guiding the…

Internet-mediated joint suicides or "Net group suicides" ("Net shinju") has become a significant social problem in Japan since 2002. Despite a privileged view of suicide-related cyberspaces as a murky underworld, there has been little study about how the participants of such spaces interact and perform their…

Accurately detecting emotional expression in women with primary breast cancer participating in support groups may be important for therapists and researchers. In 2 small studies (N = 20 and N = 16), the authors examined whether video coding, human text coding, and automated text analysis provided consistent estimates of the level of emotional…

Highly mobile students experience schools and learning in different ways than their more stable peers. Repeated transfers result in discontinuity of instruction and relationships with teachers and peers. Interviews with transient urban students in grades 9-12 reveal the issues they face upon their arrival and afterward. Mobile students give…

This paper reviews research on learner and tutor interaction in asynchronous computer-mediated (ACM) conferences used in distance learning. The authors note claims made for the potential of ACM conferences to promote higher-order critical inquiry and the social construction of knowledge, and argue that there is a general lack of evidence regarding…

In this article, the author discusses the major technical issues, products, and practices of the day. The top ten tech trends are listed and discussed. These include: (1) data mining; (2) cyberbullying; (3) 21st century skills; (4) digital content; (5) learning at leisure; (6) personal responders; (7) mobile tools; (8) bandwidth; (9) open-source…

This paper explores ways in which the research design of an anonymous online discussion forum on sexual orientation and schooling fostered the creation, maintenance and/or disruption of linguistic constructions of participant identity. The paper focuses on the presentation of self and the performance of sex-gender-sexuality within a research…

This qualitative study explores how using Peer Learning Forums (PLF) in an online asynchronous computer programming course can be analyzed to derive information about Student Activity Focus (SAF) for adult Information Technology students. Three instruments are proposed to assist instructors classify questions posted by students on these forums,…

The information age has presented unprecedented opportunities for educators to digitize traditional classrooms, an evolution that can empower instructors to extend the channels of knowledge dissemination and unleash the learning power of students from the manacles of physical classrooms. Since the early adoption of the Internet technology by…