Prior research has highlighted the educational benefit of enabling students to participate in collaborative learning activities. Developing technology that extends the physical boundaries of the classroom and enables students to engage in meaningful collaborative learning activities outside class time can be of significant value. For any…

The purpose of this study was to investigate proper website and courseware for e-learning in higher education. Methods used in this study included the data collection, the analysis surveys, the experts' in-depth interview, and the experts' focus group. Results indicated that there were 16 components for website, as well as 16 components for…

The convergence of innovations in digital technologies and expanding global internet connectivity has given rise to an emerging field of study identified as Digital Media and Learning (DML). (Davidson and Goldberg, 2009; Gee, 2009; Ito, Horst and Bittanti, 2008; Jenkins and Purushotma, 2008). In describing his work for the MacArthur Foundation's…

This practical guide presents inspiring, research-based activities for teaching students in grades K-12 how to read and think critically about informational texts. With five essential types of strategies, seasoned and preservice teachers learn ways to help students select engaging, challenging reading materials; develop their knowledge of history,…

According to Johnson and Johnson, group work helps increase student retention and satisfaction, develops strong oral communication and social skills, as well as higher self-esteem (University of Minnesota, n.d.). Group work, when planned and implemented deliberately and thoughtfully helps students develop cognitive and leadership skills as well as…

Most colleges and universities that launch into social media do so by dipping one toe in the water rather than swan diving into the deep end. And while many people define "social media" as Facebook and perhaps Twitter, the term actually encompasses everything from blogs to photo- and video-sharing sites to LinkedIn to any of dozens of…

This paper describes use of social network analysis to examine student interaction patterns in a Grade 5/6 Knowledge Building class. The analysis included face-to-face interactions and interactions in the Knowledge Forum[R] Knowledge Building environment. It is argued that sociogram data are useful to reveal group processes; in sociological terms,…

This article presents a review of the Canadian Academic English Language (CAEL) Assessment, a high stakes standardized test of the English language. It is a topic-based test that integrates listening, reading, writing and speaking. The test is designed to describe the level of English language proficiency of test takers planning to study at…

Microblogging as a form of expression has gained momentum recently: a widely popular version is Twitter, which began by asking "What are you doing?" While posts responding to this question were often inane and ephemeral, microblogging can still be harnessed for research purposes. This paper reports on a case study with eight participants…

In this quasi-experimental case study, we compared five sections of a basic undergraduate technology course. Within an asynchronous web forum, pre-service teachers wrote short critiques of websites designed by their classmates. This peer feedback was provided anonymously by students in two classes (n = 35) whereas providers and recipients of peer…

In this paper we examine the transferability of the Jigsaw and Fishbowl collaborative learning techniques to the Second Life platform. Our aim is to assess the applicability of Second Life for collaborative learning by developing virtual tools and metaphors and exploiting the representational richness of this novel medium. In order to enhance the…

Growing enrollments of students with disabilities in postsecondary education along with recent key legislation such as the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act of 2008 and the 2008 Higher Education Opportunity Act, have generated considerable interest in research on accessibility of higher education for students with disabilities. This…

Over the past decade, there has been a change in the citizen-government relationship. Citizens have moved from a traditional face-to-face communication with their government, to an electronic interaction through the use of e-government systems. Emerging technology has enabled citizens to communicate with their government remotely. However, trust…

The purpose of this study was to analyze admissions policies pertaining to the declaration of academic majors for incoming students and structures of academic advising at American universities and how they relate to student outcomes. The student outcomes considered for the study were first to second year retention rates and graduation rates. …

This study explores the web-navigation practices of adult learners in higher education and re-conceptualizes the concept of the organizing circumstance of self-managed learning, originated by Spear and Mocker (1984). The theoretical framework draws on funds of knowledge theory from a cultural historical perspective and elaborates a Vygotskian…