This article presents a sketch for a theory of the rhetorics involved in categorisation and the creation of culture in online communities. Persuasion, or shaping perceptions of the world, is never incidental to social life, but living online necessarily involves persuasion as it is difficult to bring force to bear, although people can be…

Collaborative work is an important part of tertiary education but it is very difficult to arrange and supervise for extremely large classes of students in their first year. The possibility that computer-mediated communication can be used to facilitate this type of learning is appealing from a pragmatic organisational point of view. This paper…

Two experiments investigated if and how visual representation of interactants affects depersonalization and conformity to group norms in anonymous computer-mediated communication (CMC). In Experiment 1, a 2 (intergroup versus interpersonal) x 2 (same character versus different character) between-subjects design experiment (N=60), each participant…

The assessment of learners' metacognitive knowledge level is crucial when developing computer-assisted language learning systems. Currently, many systems assess learners' metacognitive knowledge level with pre-instructional questionnaires or metacognitive interviews. However, learners with limited language proficiency may be at a disadvantage in…

This study investigates gender differences in Internet use by Greek high school pupils within school and out of school environments. A sample of 340 pupils (170 boys and 170 girls), aged 12-16 years, completed a written questionnaire on their attainability, location, frequency and purposes of Internet access. The data analysis showed that more…

This paper reports findings from a study of undergraduates' expectations about, and experiences of, networked learning using computer-mediated conferencing (CMC). The data come from questionnaires administered at the start and end of four different courses, and their interpretation is informed by a set of interviews with students and teachers…

This study investigates the nature and the extent of adolescents' experience of cyberbullying. A survey study of 264 students from three junior high schools was conducted. In this article, "cyberbullying" refers to bullying via electronic communication tools. The results show that close to half of the students were bully victims and about one in…

Concern has been raised about the lack of participant compliance in diary studies that use paper-and-pencil as opposed to electronic formats. Three studies explored the magnitude of compliance problems and their effects on data quality. Study 1 used random signals to elicit diary reports and found close matches to self-reported completion times,…

A recent study published by the Kaiser Family Foundation titled "Generation M: Media in the Lives of 8-18 Year Olds" finds that young people today spend an average 6 1/2 hours per day with one or more forms of media. Given that a majority of media available today is in digital format, students are increasingly expecting to use the same or similar…

This article describes the experiences of an inservice professional development project for secondary mathematics teachers as project staff struggled to build professional community through online discussions of teaching mathematics with technology. Data from two consecutive years of the project are reported and analyzed in terms of Riel and…

Innovation of education is highly topical. It is obviously boosted by a range of new technologies, which enable new modes of learning that, are independent of time and place through Web-based delivery and computer-mediated communication. However, innovators in education often encounter intrinsic conservatism or even deliberate obstructions. For…

The previous report in this series discussed how collaborative tools can be used in the development of formal and non-formal online communities. The current report describes the specific development of an online community advocacy group.

With the ever-increasing impact of information technology (IT) on society, universities are pushed to deliver the courses through the Internet by the format of Web course or online study. There are relatively few studies of how students construe this new mode of delivery and study. This study aimed to better understanding of how students construe…

The sites of learning and teaching using CALL are shifting from CD-based, LAN-based, or stand-alone programs to the Internet. As this change occurs, pedagogical approaches to using CALL are also shifting to forms which better exploit the communication, collaboration, and negotiation aspects of the Internet. Numerous teachers and designers have…

What would people do without the Internet? It gives them the world at their fingertips. Almost anything that they want and need can be found in one neat little place. The Internet is a great place for kids also. They can be entertained, chat with friends, and learn about whatever interests them. Unfortunately the Internet also helps people…