In the 21st century, information and communication technologies (ICT) have developed rapidly and influenced most of the fields and education as well. Then, ICT have offered a favorable environment for the development and use of various methods and tools. With the developments in technology, blended learning has gained considerable popularity in…

The paper represents a study of students' experience of interactivity in distance education programmes at the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN). Through surveys and focus groups with students, facilitators, and administrative support staff, we found out that interactivity is a key determinant of student success rate. Majority of the…

Today, our verbal-only paradigm of teaching is on its way out. Interactive multimedia instructions have enabled learners to go forward smiling. Learners are motivated and encouraged by the evolving interactive multimedia to learn cooperatively and above all to learn meaningfully. Integration of interactive multimedia and technology in our…

Students construct meaning from text through conversation and social interaction. This research examines how the use of an online, threaded discussion, as a discourse support, can facilitate deeper levels of student understanding. The basic assumption being tested is that using discourse supports, applying various discussion strategies like…

This study addressed two specific questions regarding Korean students at American colleges and universities. One is a question of accommodation, and the other is a question of orientation: to what extent do we need to change our classroom format and teaching methodology (and types of assignments) to accommodate students from different cultures and…

Both on-line and face-to-face courses rely on textbooks as an important source of information for students. A challenge for instructors in an on-line setting is to insure that students are learning from their textbooks. One way to address this challenge is to use productivity software tools to develop assignments that promote student thinking and…

This paper discusses the impediments to distance education (DE) programs and the critical value of interaction and dialog in DE learning environments. The types of interaction to be considered when designing a DE program are listed, including interaction to increase learning, to increase participation, to develop communication, to receive…

This is an activity-based teacher's guide to fostering positive group interaction through imagined experience and discussion at Key Stages 2 and 3. In a series of interactive workshops, each one providing a context, a scenario and a list of characters; pupils are invited to engage in discussion, debate and negotiation to solve problems and meet…

This paper addresses an important topic--the isolation and or lack of inclusion of immigrant children in U.S. schools. Immigrant children constantly pour into U.S. schools and, especially as newcomers, their opportunities for authentic interaction with mainstream peers are limited. How can schools provide authentic language opportunities for…

This book evolved from a report, commissioned by the Scottish Office Education and Industry Department, which examined gender differences in classroom interaction. The book examines existing research and makes proposals for further action on the topic of whether social interaction in schools perpetuates behavioral differences between males and…

This guide is designed to help the speech language pathologist teach families language facilitation techniques and to teach basic receptive and expressive skills to preschool children who are nonverbal or have little expressive language. The program's goal is to improve language skills through social interaction including conversations, turn…

This study, a follow-up to an earlier study (reported in the 1998 "Mid-Western Educational Researcher" v10 n4) used the World Wide Web and a "Class Page" to evaluate interaction strategies in a distance education setting. This study further examines Lev Vygotsky's social learning theories as they apply to the asynchronous…

This paper advocates combining two commonly employed perspectives--the cultural and the political--to overcome the limitations of using either perspective alone to explain and evaluate interactions within educational-administration settings. The mix of concepts adopted within cultural or political perspectives varies, which leads to differing…

This paper is a case study that discusses the creation of a virtual corporation for use in teaching public relations techniques at the University of Tennessee at Martin. It also shows how the structure can be modified for teaching business or finance. A description is given on how to construct and use similar World Wide Web pages. The components…

This paper describes a communication system accessible by a World Wide Web browser. The main advantage of this system is to encourage a collaborative way of learning using asynchronous communication channels. The conversation is strongly structured by the system itself which helps the users to coordinate their actions, playing their respective…