Assessment and learning are two sides of the same coin (Ramsden, 1992, Biggs, 1999) and their relationship has also been likened to the participants in a three-legged race (Harding & Craven, 2001). The aim of this article is to explore the potential of e-assessment to provide solutions to some of the challenges for e-learning. Drawing on…

Thanks to the technological improvements of recent years, distance education represents a real alternative or support to the traditional formative processes. The Internet allows the design of contents, which are able to raise the quality of the traditional formative process. However, the amount of information students can obtain from the Internet…

In this paper we focus on interactive visualizations that support mathematical investigation. In the context of analyzing and redesigning an interactive visualization from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics's (NCTM's) Illuminations Web site, we consider two interrelated issues: (1) how the pedagogy of mathematical investigation may be…

Web enjoyment has been regarded as a component of system experience. However, there has been little targeted research considering the role of web enjoyment alone in student learning using web-based systems. To address this gap, this study aims to examine the influence of web enjoyment on learning performance and perceptions by controlling system…

This paper describes the use of an activity theory (AT) framework to analyze the ways that distance part time learners and mobile workers adapted and appropriated mobile devices for their activities and in turn how their use of these new tools changed the ways that they carried out their learning or their work. It is argued that there are two key…

Industrial design and technology are lab-based disciplines with highly visual products, hands-on activities, and frequent interactions between faculty and students. As a result, the ways that online resources are used in these courses tend to be different from other subject areas with more lecture-oriented modes of learning. This article addresses…

Student information systems, one of the first applications of computer technology in education, are undergoing a significant transition yet again. The first major shift in SIS technologies occurred about 15 years ago when they evolved from mainframe programs to client-server solutions. Now, vendors across the board are offering centralized…

The American Library Association's (ALA) Annual Conference, June 24?30, in steamy Orlando, drew 19,575 people, including 5,739 exhibitors, the lowest total since Miami in 1994, not counting the SARS-shadowed conference in Toronto last year (see statistics, p. 15). Although this years conference was filled with exciting events, this abstract is…

Understanding precisely how young people search for online information is both easy and frustrating. It's a snap because we can easily observe kids sitting down at a computer, going straight to Google, typing in one or two key words, and selecting a few Web pages from a huge list of hits. It's frustrating because of the many questions their…

As scholars increasingly view the World Wide Web (the Web) as a legitimate research resource in academic writing, questions remain regarding how Web sources, as new media, influence the writing of second and foreign language (L2) learners. Via a 17-item questionnaire and an analysis of the references to 243 Web sources in the essays of 43 Japanese…

A special feature in the previous issue acknowledged the magazine's 25th anniversary, and current columnists as well as former contributors were asked to think back over their work and to share favorite covers, articles, and memories. Since I have been writing for CIL for nearly 18 years, I had plenty of past columns to review. It was interesting…

New professors need to be aware of their institution's tenure and promotion policies, departmental and college climate, scholarly requirements, and professional responsibilities for publication, scholarly presentations, teaching, and service. Vignettes reflect some of the pitfalls and recommendations to consider when seeking tenure. Applications…

Brigham Young University's Center for Instructional Design (CID) creates online courses and multimedia instructional applications for university faculty. This paper asserts that including usability testing as a part of evaluation improves the quality and effectiveness of computer-mediated instruction. The paper describes the fundamental purpose…

Online web tools are becoming an important and accessible means of supporting learning in higher education. Student writing is central to teaching and learning (Lillis, 2001). This paper describes an online tool designed to support dissertation writing. By combining three types of online space instructional material, a writing space and planning…

This study attempted to investigate students perceptions toward the use of the digital library in weekly web-based distance learning assignments portion of a hybrid instructional programme. Attention was given to three variables: age, gender, and prior experience with the Internet. A Likert-type instrument consisting of 10 items was designed to…