Five teleconferences were held at 6-week intervals following a train-the-trainer workshop for continuing medical education facilitators. Participants felt more prepared to facilitate due to participation in the teleconferences. Teleconferences were an effective way to provide follow-up and reinforcement for workshop participants at a distance.…

Discussion of electronic discussion groups as an instructional technique addresses the dilemma of whether instructors should associate assessment schemes with the electronic discussion forum. Presents a coding technique as an example of how assessment can potentially promote substantive electronic discussions. (Author/LRW)

Academics have a range of learning activities and tools they can incorporate to enable students to achieve the objectives of their courses. Strategies such as role-play have been used with learners in face-to-face settings to allow students to experience learning using a range of learner identities. Yet, with the exception of role-plays,…

The study circle is described as a democratic and emancipatory method for learning that can be summarized in three words: learning by sharing. This method offers opportunities and possibilities for all participants to contribute their previous knowledge and experiences through open and democratic dialogue. As a method for "liberal adult…

The purpose of this review is to give a comparative overview of current listservs for applied linguistics researchers, with particular focus on their relevance to research on second language acquisition and use. Six listservs, based in different locations and targeted at different general audiences were selected and monitored for a six-month…

This article reports a grounded theory study of the moderation of asynchronous online discussions, to explore the processes by which tutors in higher education decide when and how to moderate. It aims to construct a theory of e-moderation based on some key factors which appear to influence e-moderation. It discusses previous research on the…

This study investigated the influence of five problem characteristics on students' achievement-related classroom behaviors and academic achievement. Data from 5,949 polytechnic students in PBL curricula across 170 courses were analyzed by means of path analysis. The five problem characteristics were: (1) problem clarity, (2) problem familiarity,…

Classroom design for the 21st-century learning environment should accommodate a variety of learning skills and needs. The space should be large enough so it can be configured to accommodate a number of learning activities. This also includes furniture that provides flexibility and accommodates collaboration and interactive work among students and…

Faculty and staff are participating in blogs and online discussions in greater numbers, but this involvement is poorly understood. This study used content analysis to evaluate 40 online discussions hosted on "The Chronicle of Higher Education" website. The majority (n = 22) of discussions had as their main topics the personal and professional…

According to Swain, Kinnear, & Steinman (2011), we use a language with others as a form of shared cognition, and in the process we scaffold each other. This action research investigates how students' online written output affects each other's writing. One thousand twenty online entries written by 21 Japanese university sophomore English majors…

Lecturing is often criticized for being a monological and student passive way of teaching. However, digital technology such as Student Response Systems (SRS) can be used to reconstruct the traditional lecturing format. During a series of five two-hour lectures in "qualitative methods" for first year psychology students, we used SRS to…

This study aims to explore the narrative identity of a politician-turned-doctoral student at an Australian university with a particular focus on his academic and social encounters based on his English resources and experiences of learning and living in Australia. This case study is unique in the way that very few Thai politicians would end their…

Reflectivity is an important professional competence of contemporary teachers. In order to explore how to encourage students' reflection, we conducted a two-year action research project impelling them to become mutual critical friends. For critical friendship communication and other project activities, we utilised Moodle--an online learning…

This article reports on the findings of original field research carried out in the small island developing state of Fiji, in the South Pacific. A North-South research partnership was built upon previous collaboration between team members and, in so doing, pioneered the blending of Pacific and Western research approaches sensitive to a postcolonial…

This article describes the formation of a pedagogy-focused online discussion group for middle school mathematics teachers. Advice is offered for those seeking to establish similar conversations among their colleagues.