The concept of social networking, the focus of this article, targets the development of online communities in higher education, and in particular, as part of the admission process. A successful case study of a university is presented on how one university has used this tool to compete for students. A discussion including suggestions on how to…

There is a growing interest in making available and making sense of the data on the Web and trapped in databases. Rather than a web of unstructured documents, full of information understandable only to humans, there is a movement whose intention is to make these data structured, reusable, machine-readable, and interrelated. This approach to Web…

Referential identification and resolution are considered the keys to help readers grasp the main idea of a text and solve lexical ambiguities. The goal of this study is to design a computer system for helping college students who learn English as a Foreign Language (EFL) develop mental maps of referential identification and resolution in reading.…

At the end of 2007, SirsiDynix introduced the first version of Symphony, its new flagship Integrated Library System (ILS). This article begins with a look at the evolution of Symphony, user reactions to Symphony, and Symphony's design and functionality. The authors, along with a team of librarians from various functional areas, have completed…

Creating a design theory for Constructivist Gaming Learning Environment necessitates, among other things, the establishment of design principles. These principles have the potential to help designers produce games, where users achieve higher levels of learning. This paper focuses on twelve design principles: Probing, Distributed, Multiple Routes,…

The Google Online Marketing Challenge is an ongoing collaboration between Google and academics, to give students experiential learning. The Challenge gives student teams US$200 in AdWords, Google's flagship advertising product, to develop online marketing campaigns for actual businesses. The end result is an engaging in-class exercise that…

This paper offers a compilation of technologies that provides either free or low-cost solutions to the challenges of teaching online courses. It presents various teaching methods the outlined tools and technologies can support, with emphasis on fit between these tools and the tasks they are meant to serve. In addition, it highlights various…

Annual reports aren't exactly beach reading, but for anyone interested in the current condition of scholarly communication, the just-published 2007 report of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation--particularly the essay on "Scholarly Publishing Initiatives" by Donald J. Waters and Joseph S. Meisel--is a page turner. The foundation's deep pockets and…

Although the idea of educational coaching is not new, the way teachers-in-training across six west Alabama counties are receiving job-embedded support is far from routine. Educational consultants 764 miles away are pioneering the use of virtual coaching for professional development. From their offices at the Pennsylvania Training and Technical…

It seems, at times, that a frantic race persists to ensure that a child, in the crucial learning stages of early elementary education, acquires the appropriate reading level before he or she "gets behind." Though there are obvious issues with branding a book "Grade Level One" or "Reading Level 2.2," it is nevertheless…

Context: Diabetes care is challenging in rural areas. Research has shown that the utilization of electronic patient registries improves care; however, improvements generally have been described in combination with other ongoing interventions. The level of basic registry utilization sufficient for positive change is unknown. Purpose: The goal of…

In this article we propose a novel e-learning system, dedicated strictly to knowledge assessment tasks. In its functioning it utilizes web-based technologies, but its design differs radically from currently popular e-learning solutions which rely mostly on thin-client architecture. Our research proved that such architecture, while well suited for…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe a theoretically based coding framework for an integrated analysis and assessment of critical thinking in online discussion. Design/methodology/approach: The critical thinking assessment framework (TAF) is developed through review of theory and previous research, verified by comparing results to…

This article describes an architecture for the implementation of a lifelong online learning environment (LOLE). The stakeholder independent architecture enables the development of a LOLE system to fulfill the complex requirements of the different actors involved in lifelong education. A particular emphasis is placed on the continuation of a…

Pipes is an interactive data aggregator and manipulator that lets you mashup your favorite online data sources. Pipes could be used to "combine many feeds into one, then sort, filter and translate to create your ultimate custom feed. In this article, the author describes how to use Yahoo! Pipes. The author shares what she has learned in…