This paper investigates the impact that a teacher's virtual presence--or lack thereof--has on students' chat behavior with regard to error correction, uptake, target language use, and on-task behavior. The data come from beginning German students engaged in pair and small-group chatting activities at a major American university. Transcripts from…

This paper explores the importance of interaction in the online teaching environment and the important role of staff development in developing teacher presence online. Professionally developing staff to use information and communication technologies is viewed from the standpoint of diffusion of innovation, moving from early adopters to mainstream…

Schools and universities all over the world are continuously exploring ways to use the web technology in improving teaching effectiveness. The use of course web pages, discussion groups, bulletin boards, and e-mails have shown impact on teaching and learning in significant ways, across all disciplines. e-Learning has emerged as an alternative to…

Web-based collaboration calls for professional skills and competences to the benefit of the quality of the collaboration and its output. Within this framework, educational virtual environments may provide a means for training upon these skills and in particular the collaborative ones. On the basis of the existing technological means such training…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss how web-based technologies (WBT) can be applied to theater arts courses. Design/methodology/approach: Through a review of the literature and parallels drawn between theater and online pedagogy, the paper proposes ideas for incorporating asynchronous and synchronous discussions, collaborative…

Apart from studying students' interaction in Web-based environments in computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL), it is essential to recognize the importance of the contextual setting in which learning takes place. This study examines the role of face-to-face encounters as contextual support in an international teacher education course…

The concept of knowledge building communities has not traditionally been associated with agricultural extension, but is one which has the potential to increase the rate of adoption of best management practices by the industry. A potentially important mechanism to facilitate knowledge building is information and communication technology (ICT);…

In this paper we discuss how online seminar participants experience dimensions of embodiment, virtual space, interpersonal relations, and temporality; and how interacting through reading-writing, by means of online technologies, creates conditions, situations, and actions of pedagogical influence and relational affectivities. We investigate what…

The spread and utilization of information technology in the human services is examined using innovation diffusion theory. This examination is contextualized within the values basis of social work. Literature from the human services, the business sector, and the social sciences regarding the role of information technology is used to promote a…

Napster, a program for sharing MP3 files, has transformed the way music files are shared over the Internet. In its heyday, anyone looking for free music just had to search Napster's database for the artists or songs they wanted and download them for free. Because of its operations, Napster was successfully sued for violation of copyright and has…

With the advent of the knowledge era, teacher education needs to prepare teachers to face the changing technological contexts and to model pedagogies and tools for better forms of learning. Despite much enthusiasm about the roles of technology in education, its role in transforming teacher learning, in ways aligned with advances in the learning…

Distance education makes use of the technologies of the Information Age to address the needs of a broader and more complex educational market than traditional methods. Because distance delivery does not follow the rigid structure of the traditional course, it can provide instruction to individuals whose location, personal circumstances, or family…

This paper describes various types of distance education technologies and their use in rural Australia. Communications and information technologies may be categorized as distributive or interactive. Correspondence education is a distributive form of distance education, involving the postal service and, at times, educational television or radio.…

The information highway is an exciting place for children and families to visit, explore, and learn together. This book teaches parents basic knowledge about the Information Highway and how to use it with children. The following topics are covered in this book: (1) What is the Information Highway? (2) What is Telecommunications?; (3) Why You &…

This paper discusses a vision of the transformation of the library from a repository of printed material to a digital library serving as a complete information center where distant learners can obtain support for their educational aspirations. Future information centers will be distant learner-centered. Factors discussed include: (1) distance…