Much previous research into the effectiveness of CMC has suffered from a lack of clarity or of consistency in the adoption and explication of coding typologies or taxonomies. This has reduced the opportunities for comparison between studies and for the accumulation of evidences to guide pedagogy. In addition, most studies of CMC have used…

This study explored how the Internet bridges theory and practice. Teacher educators, teachers, and prospective teachers used collaborative technologies to design networked communities embedded in three distinct perspectives: the networked learning community, the networked community of practice, and the knowledge building community. Networked…

In a semester-long, peer review assignment, undergraduates enrolled in a social psychology course wrote essays that applied course concepts to life experiences. Students anonymously posted essays for the entire class to view, and peers posted commentaries on classmates' essays using an online discussion board. Students rated the assignment as…

In support of online discussions research, this review classifies and describes instructional interventions and learner characteristics that affect the quality of discussions. The review will help educators better understand factors such as group structure, mentoring, argumentation, and learner characteristics that play a role in shaping online…

This paper explores the use of learning management systems (LMS) at colleges and universities in the United States of America. The study explores which systems are in use including both commercial and self-developed systems. The findings are based upon a random sample of 100 of the approximately 2,000 institutions of higher learning in the United…

Frequent quizzing prods students to keep up with course work--and keeps them on their toes. The Internet offers a great tool for frequent quizzing. In this article, the author shares his experience quizzing his students weekly using his university's online learning system, WebCT, in the hope that this experience will prove useful to other…

Life-long learning is a key issue for our knowledge society. With social software systems new heterogeneous kinds of technology enhanced informal learning are now available to the life-long learner. Learners outside of learning institutions now have access to powerful social communities of experts and peers who are together forging a new web 2.0.…

A well-designed online advertisement is essential for effective communication with potential customers and contributes to successful e-commerce. However, creating online sales messages that appeal to a broad range of cultures can pose unique challenges. Internet ads must offer both a globally appealing and a culture-specific message that in turn…

As computer-mediated communication becomes increasingly prevalent in the workplace, students need to apply effective writing principles to today's technologies. Email, in particular, requires interns and new hires to manage incoming messages, use an appropriate tone, and craft clear, concise messages. In addition, with instant messaging (IM)…

The authors discuss how the instructional impact of science teachers can be extended by using blogs, a technology popular among students that allows teachers to differentiate their instruction for students with diverse needs. Software now makes it easy for teachers to establish class blogs, Web sites that contain text, audio, and video postings on…

What would technological librarians like to see in the next generation of Integrated Library Systems (ILS)? This question was asked of several well- known library technology experts, and their responses are presented in this article. Survey respondents expressed a clear desire for the following features and functionality: (1) Direct, read-only…

This article presents an excerpt of the responses of two experts, Gene I. Maeroff, a senior fellow at the Hechinger Institute on Education and the Media at Columbia University's Teachers College and author of "A Classroom of One: How Online Learning Is Changing Our Schools and Colleges," and Robert Zemsky, chairman of the Learning Alliance for…

Twenty-six scholarly papers and ten abstracts comprise the content of the thirteenth annual Brick and Click Libraries Symposium, held annually at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Missouri. The proceedings, authored by academic librarians and presented at the symposium, portray the contemporary and future face of librarianship. The…

The national Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) monitors priority health risk behaviors that contribute to the leading causes of death, disability, and social problems among youth and adults in the United States. The national YRBS is conducted every two years during the spring semester and provides data representative of 9th through 12th grade…

The use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) to bridge the communication gap between teacher and learner has been identified as a major characteristic of Open and Distance Learning (ODL). In many developing counties, including Nigeria, several barriers prevent OD learners from maximising the potentials of ICTs to enhance their learning.…