This report discusses the outcomes of a study that investigated whether the Accelerated Reader program meets its claim to motivate and improve reading achievement for all students, including those with special needs. The Accelerated Reader program is a computer-based reading management system that includes a database of thousands of books ranging…

A study was undertaken to determine the kinds of communication that occur in the workplace and are needed for workers to be effective, for the purposes of developing English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) instruction for workers. Five hourly employees of an automobile parts company were interviewed. Communication needs identified included common…

This CD-ROM contains 21 of 36 lessons in the SFA COACH curriculum for financial aid professionals. SFA COACH is a computer-based introductory training course covering all major student financial aid (SFA) topics. It is organized around the functions carried out in school aid offices and the people who perform them. It is designed to give new staff…

This applied dissertation was designed to help fourth-grade teachers successfully integrate computer-related technology into the curriculum. The fourth-grade teachers did not incorporate student use of technologies into the curriculum-related activities or plan lessons collaboratively with the researcher. There was no correlation between classroom…

This study examined the changes adult English as a Second Language learners made to a text when writing collaboratively, how learners initiated change, what reasons learners gave for changes they made when writing collaboratively, and the effectiveness of Lotus ScreenCam for researching collaborative computer based writing tasks. Analysis of data…

This paper analyzes the broad context and covers practical applications for delivering distance education in countries of the developing world. It begins by examining market trends in global higher education and continues by reviewing existing distance education activity in developing countries. This is followed by a discussion of the…

This paper makes basic assumptions regarding the development of an intranet architecture that will actively promote the cognitive apprenticeship of a new community of learners. The authors consider the intranet as a dynamic and virtual environment in which individuals may communicate, share resources, and reciprocally generate and organize…

The purpose of this study was to determine whether asynchrony between audio and visual presentation in distance education classes had an impact on student perceptions of distance learning and student achievement. Six distance education courses, all in different disciplines, were taught from six different locations to a minimum of one satellite…

When in the "zone of proximal development" for a particular skill or piece of information, a learner is ready to learn but lacks certain prerequisites. Scaffolding is an interactive process in which a teacher or facilitator assists such a learner to build a "structure" to contain and frame the new information. Scaffolding can…

This report describes a staff development training using a multimedia instructional technology program designed to increase the integration of multimedia materials by teachers into their curriculum. The objectives were for the teachers in the targeted group to demonstrate an increased use of instructional technology by generating products using…

The process of developing, pilot testing, and revising a set of English-as-a-Second-Language instructional materials for computer-assisted language learning (CALL) is described. The materials are designed to prepare students for job interviews in the Hong Kong (China) employment market, which differs in some significant ways from other…

This paper presents a case study of distance education at the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) in Toowoomba, Australia. Begun in 1977, distance education at USQ moved from the correspondence model to the multimedia model, to the telelearning model, and finally to the current flexible learning model characterized by on-line delivery via the…

This paper describes the development of the Web site for a graduate course in statistics and measurement, and offers recommendations for future continued development of this and other Web-based courses within the field of education. The site was initially designed to supplement the course as it was currently being taught. An overview of the basic…

This position paper elaborates the Academic Senate's existing positions on distance education and the effective use of technology in instruction. In particular it examines the implications of a 1998 change in the Title 5 regulations governing distance education in California community colleges, especially with regard to instructor-student contact.…

The state government of West Virginia has been motivating a reform of high school science and technology education by actively funding projects that lead to innovative computer-based teaching techniques. Faculties at Marshall University (Huntington, West Virginia) have been active participants in this reform, and have been developing…