This paper describes the design and impact of a face-to-face Computer Supported Collaborative Learning activity named Collaborative Answer Negotiation Activity (CANA). CANA primarily involves face-to-face interactions among students supported by wirelessly interconnected mobile devices to solve collaboratively a set of multiple-choice questions.…

Since the turn of the century, one of the hottest topics in the IT world has been the coming mobile revolution. While there's been some arguing over the details, the fundamental tenet of the mobile revolution is that lots and lots of people will start accessing web content from handheld portable devices instead of using a traditional laptop or…

Whilst there is a wealth of research into family communication and family relationships, there is little information about whether (and if so how) mobile phones have impacted on these processes. The authors' study involved individual semi-structured interviews with 60 families, including parents/carers and young people aged 11-17, to investigate…

In this web accessibility study of homepages of education departments in post-secondary educational institutions, the 1998 US Section 508 Law regarding webpage accessibility for people with disabilities was addressed. Along with the requirements of this legislation, there are growing demands for web accessibility resulting from age-related visual…

The inability of the public sector to satisfy the growing demand for University education necessitated the entry of the private sector operators into the Nigerian University System, to expand educational access. In as much as higher education is crucial to economic growth, it is thus expedient to consider the place of maintenance of quality…

This article describes a teaching experience in which information and communication technologies were applied in five industrial engineering courses at the Universidad de Tarapaca in Chile. The paper compares the performance and course pass rates of the e-learning platform and portable pocket PC platform with those of the same courses teaching in…

New hardware such as mobile handheld devices and digital cameras; new online social venues such as social networking, microblogging, and online photo sharing sites; and new infrastructures such as the global positioning system are beginning to establish new practices--what the author refers to as "sociolocative"--that combine data about a physical…

St. Mary's University is the oldest Catholic university in Texas and the Southwest United States. Like many institutions, it is in a highly competitive market. Numerous other colleges and universities (including other private and Catholic institutions) are in the San Antonio area. Along with a decrease in the number of search responses, St. Mary's…

The aim of this study was to combine podcasts of lectures with mobile assessments (completed via SMS on mobile telephones) to assess the effect on examination performance. Students (n = 100) on a final year, research-led, module were randomly divided into equal sized control and trial groups. The trial group were given access to podcasts/mobile…

Teacher knowledge has long been a focus of many educational researchers. Current conceptualizations of teacher knowledge are beginning to reflect the knowledge and skills teachers need to successfully navigate increasingly technologically-rich mathematical classrooms with the addition of knowledge domains such as technological pedagogical content…

Research and literature on the adoption of technology provides a useful lens through which to view the adoption and implementation of classroom response systems (CRS). The technology adoption life cycle describes groups of adopters in ways that are helpful in understanding the adoption and sustained implementation of CRS in chemistry departments.…

Through a grant from the Regional Alliance for Science, Engineering, and Math (RASEM[squared]), funded by the National Science Foundation, a research study was conducted to explore the use of handheld technology with students with disabilities in elementary and middle school settings. The purpose of the project was to (a) introduce electronic task…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of using Tablet PC to provide feedback on student engagement and achievement in hybrid special education courses. Student engagement was determined by the number of hits and postings in online discussions. Student achievements were compared through pre- and post-tests on course content areas,…

The ability to distract has put the use of laptops, netbooks, cell phones, PDAs, iPod/MP3 players, and portable game players on the banned list in many schools. Educators are discovering that students are more interested in online resources, such as Facebook, game sites, chat, and YouTube, than classroom lectures and textbook chapters about the…

In this article, a comparison of student learning outcomes is made in sophomore-level physical science classes using a "traditional" pedagogical approach versus a "modern" approach. Specifically, when students were taught the electromagnetic spectrum using diagrams and examples that incorporate technological advances and electronic devices of our…