Mobile (m)-learning is motivating to learners to improve foreign language skills, as it offers them a rich, informal, contextual, and ubiquitous learning environment. In this paper I report on the results of two empirical studies that focused on two projects, both of which incorporated e-learning and m-learning, to determine if a blended-learning…

This paper discusses three possible ways of applying podcasts in distance education: podcasts of recordings of virtual classes, podcasts produced for specific pedagogical aims, and podcasts produced by external organizations. Through a survey we gained insight in the (until now limited) experiences of our distant students with podcasts, and also…

This comprehensive and cutting-edge book portrays a vision of how digital media can help transform schools, and what kinds of curriculum, pedagogy, assessment, infrastructure, and learning environments are necessary for that transformation to take place. The author and his research team spent thousands of hours observing classes and interviewing…

The internationally recognized series of "Horizon Reports" is part of the New Media Consortium's Horizon Project, a comprehensive research venture established in 2002 that identifies and describes emerging technologies likely to have a large impact over the coming five years on a variety of sectors around the globe. This volume, the "2011 Horizon…

This paper is an exploratory study about sexting, the sending of sexually explicit or illicit photos or video between cell phones, in Kansas public schools. An on-line survey asked superintendents to report if they have had an occurrence of sexting in their district. They were also asked if they felt sexting is currently a problem in their…

If you were transported back to school, what kind of technology would most engage you? This article presents responses from leading technology educators who were asked this question. The following technological tools are highlighted: interactive whiteboards, wikis, teacher-created websites, story creation tools, cell phones, Skype, digital…

Objectives: To assess associations of physical activity, diet, and sedentary behaviors with overweight and obesity. Methods: Analyses of the NHANES 2003-06 were conducted among 2368 US adolescents, ages 12-19. Self-reported diet and sedentary behavior measures were used; physical activity was assessed using accelerometers. Results:…

In this article, the authors describe an active learning exercise which has been used to replace some lecture hours in the renal portion of an integrated, organ system-based curriculum for first-year medical students. The exercise takes place in a large auditorium with ~150 students. The authors, who are faculty members, lead the discussions,…

This research study explored the effects of the use of clicker technology as a means of formative assessment in large, college introductory psychology courses. Academic achievement, as measured by performance on tests of knowledge, was compared between students who used clickers and students that did not use clickers. There was a significant…

This article focuses on mobile computing with a tablet PC, drawing from over five years of experience teaching with tablets in outdoor, field-based classes. In this article, the authors discuss three courses--Environmental Science, Ecology, and Biology--taught at three colleges. Each course is treated as a vignette from the point of view of a…

Until recently, ebooks for young children haven't been part of the hyped vernacular of "game-changing" technology. Instead, ebook conversations have focused on textbooks for older students or text-heavy, adult-oriented titles downloaded to ereaders like the Kindle, Nook, and Sony e-Reader. The arrival of portable, full-color, touchscreen devices…

More and more physics instructors are making use of personal/classroom response systems or "clickers." The use of clickers to engage students with multiple-choice questions during lecture and available instructor resources for clickers have been well documented in this journal. Newer-generation clickers, which I refer to as classroom response…

Clickers offer instructors of mathematics-related courses an opportunity to involve students actively in class sessions while diminishing the embarrassment of being wrong. This paper reports on the use of clickers in two university-level courses in quantitative analysis and business statistics. Results for student retention and examination…

iPads and other tablet computers are more than a novelty for many students with disabilities, including deaf students in Pennsylvania, youngsters with autism in Southern California, and children with Down syndrome. They are tools that pave a fresh path to learning. Tablet computers are useful for students with disabilities because some of the…

The advent of mobile learning offers opportunities for students to do two things at once in an educational context: learning while performing another activity. The main aim of the reported studies is to address the effect of multitasking on learning with a mobile device. Two experiments were set up to examine the effect of performing a secondary…