This article briefly describes how 20 students at Libertyville High School in Lake County, IL, are billing the new peer-counseling program they launched online in January. Students are able to e-mail questions about anything that's troubling them without revealing their identities, and their counterparts get back to them just as anonymously. The…

Two questionnaire experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of 2 styles (hyperbole and orthographically deviant writing style) on the perception of hiniku, 'quasi-irony', and oseji, 'quasi-flattery', in the Japanese language. In each experiment, stories were constructed in which a speaker made a remark evaluating the addressee's…

This study investigated the effects of using Socratic questioning to enhance students' critical thinking (CT) skills in asynchronous discussion forums (ADF) in university-level distance learning courses. The research effort empirically examined two coherent subjects: (a) the efficacy of teaching and modeling Socratic questioning for developing…

We explored the perceptions of caregivers of older adults using Internet-based social support networks regarding the unique advantages and disadvantages of online social support. Participants were recruited with permission of Web owners through 15 Web sites that offered social networks, and responses from 63 electronically submitted surveys were…

This case study, based on social constructivist learning theory, investigated the communication patterns and the knowledge construction process of students who used a computer bulletin board system (BBS) to discuss course-related content. Collected data included the outline of BBS postings and transcripts of the BBS messages from three selected…

Student participation is a central issue in debates around online education. In most instances, course convenors wish to increase the amount of participation, while ensuring that the quality is of an acceptable standard. They also wish to ensure that their students have adequate access to the technology, and that there is no undue dominance by any…

Proclaimed as the "Word of the Year" in 2004 by the "Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary," blog is the official abbreviated name for Weblog. The Weblog began as an online journal, with a single author providing hyperlinks to Web sites of interest and posting personal commentaries for the world to read, ponder, and…

Much of the research literature from the past 25 years has supported the importance of teaching grammar in the context of writing instruction (Calkins, 1980; DiStefano & Killion, 1984; Weaver, 1996,1998). Unlike other content areas, practice does not make perfect when learning grammar. While isolated drill and practice of grammatical concepts may…

Older Americans, like other groups, vary in their use of the Internet. The participants for this study-elderly computer users from a Midwestern mid-size sample-used e-mail and considered it the most important Internet function. It was common for them to use e-mail with family and friends on a regular, if not daily, basis. When this group of older…

Listservs have become a popular computer-mediated method for communicating with others who share a common interest. They offer subscribers quick feedback and provide a forum for ideas and beliefs to be exchanged, discussed, and modified. Although rarely studied, in some practical fields listserves have been shown to increase communication of best…

This commentary discusses the methodological challenges of researching the intersection of online and offline activities of an adolescent girl engaged in instant messaging. If the New Literacy Studies stance that literacy practices are locally situated is accepted, a methodology for interrogating the multiple online and offline contexts that…

This paper reports on two studies related to online communication in distance learning courses. In the first study, students' messages in an online discussion board were analyzed to identify message categories and interaction patterns in an attempt to develop a framework for analyzing online messages. In the second study, a questionnaire survey…

This exploratory study of 339 students at the University of New Hampshire found that approximately 10% to 15% of students reported receiving repeated e-mail or Instant Messenger (I-M) messages that "threatened, insulted, or harassed," and more than half of the students received unwanted pornography. Approximately 7% of students reported online…

The main focus of this study was to analyze how the patterns of interaction contributed to the construction of shared knowledge in online learning environments by looking closely at a web-based course in a teacher education program. The researcher conducted a case study, examining the characteristics of students who choose a web-based course,…

A covert observation of posts on a pro-pedophile Internet message board investigated evidence of distorted cognitions that were supportive of sexually abusive behavior. Implications for the treatment and supervision of members of online communities that support pedophilic interests and behaviors are discussed. The purpose of the present study was…