This article offers an account of online experimentation and innovation that has taken place in the English department of the University of Wolverhampton from 2003 to 2005. Focusing on an introductory first-year module and two third-year modules, it explores how and to what extent a virtual learning environment (VLE) can enhance the teaching of…

This study investigated the impact of virtual guest speakers facilitating asynchronous discussions. The setting was an online instructional technology course with 16 graduate students and two guest speakers. The research reports the quantity and level of critical thinking of the students and guests. Each posting was coded for frequency and…

Using an explanatory mixed methods design, this study uses the National Standards of Quality for Online Courses to measure the extent to which teachers in a blended middle school and a fully online supplemental high school are designing quality online learning environments for students. As a part of fully online graduate coursework, graduate…

This paper deploys notions of emergence, connections, and designs for learning to conceptualize high school students' interactions when using online social media as a learning environment. It makes links to chaos and complexity theories and to fractal patterns as it reports on a part of the first author's action research study, conducted while she…

According to the 2008 Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE): 82 percent of community college students surveyed have part-time jobs (and over half of this group works more than 20 hours a week); almost all (93 percent) reported commuting to campus and 21 percent said they spend between six and 20 hours a week in the commute;…

This article describes the creation of a fully online master's program for e-learning specialist training. This program is the first of its kind in Japan. As background information, Japan's general trends in e-learning are described, including activities of the e-Learning Consortium Japan and National Institute of Multimedia in Education. Such…

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a self-report instrument that can be used to measure learning in the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains. The study underwent three phases, each with its own data collection and analysis. Phase I featured the development, testing, and factor analysis of an 80-item instrument that…

This study examined whether online tool support for regulation promotes student learning during collaborative inquiry in a computer simulation-based learning environment. Sixty-one students worked in small groups to conduct a scientific inquiry with fluid dynamics. Groups in the experimental condition received a support tool with regulatory…

Describes how a handful of institutions are experimenting with computer simulations to offer hard science labs through distance education. (EV)

Discusses how the African Virtual University is attempting to address the huge and unmet demand for educational services in Africa, describing experiences, lessons, and adjustments being made to achieve improved effectiveness and relevance. (EV)

Describes the activity of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation in support of asynchronous learning networks (ALNs) in universities. Discusses how these networks can provide the essentials of the traditional learning experience while assembling a diversity of students and teaching staffs and offering a flexibility of delivery that vastly extends…

Discusses online technologies and distance education and suggests that combining distributed learning and a technology-first approach for instructional design could produce a new framework that would begin with the nature of the technology as its central assumption. Describes the present framework of the virtual classroom and considers the nature…

The accelerated development of the information and communication technologies determined universities, companies and educational institutions to implement alternatives to the traditional teaching methods, thereby leading to the development of e-courses. New Information and Communication Technologies mediating learning represent an important…

"Informacy", the learning of information technology skills, is now a key element of all Social Work curricula in the U.K. following the General Social Care Council's accreditation requirements. These stipulate that all undergraduates acquire computer literacy skills to the level of the European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL) or its…

Engineering education in India has witnessed a major change over the past few years. Substantial increase in the demand for high-quality education has led to the adoption of Information and Communication Technologies for extending the outreach of education. This paper presents a review of some of these technology-enhanced initiatives already taken…