This paper summarizes what the author has seen go wrong in six years of participation in online discussions and recommends some remedies. The emphasis is on helping discussion leaders to structure and guide online discussions for maximum effectiveness. The paper has a focus on learning environments, which are central to both formal academic…

This booklet presents questions and answers on everything from how to find out what technology students will need for college to ideas for handling technology emergencies when they are there at college. Information and selected resources are provided under the following questions that head each section: "How do I find out what technology I should…

Virtually every aspect of modern life has been changed and shaped by the computer's tiny, ubiquitous silicon chips. It is not surprising that computers have had a profound effect on the way students learn in the modern classroom. This topical bibliography and commentary focuses on how computers can be used to enhance the teaching of language arts.…

In this paper, a model is presented that uses educational dialogues to support the design process for learning support systems. The model is argued to provide a structure that links pedagogically motivated empirical studies of student-tutor-system interactions to problem specification and system design, and to result in the creation of learning…

What are research-based, pedagogically sound ways to use Web-packaged courseware to impact student learning? This paper deals with these issues, and provides seven different, pedagogically sound ways to use such software in support of higher education. The paper first outlines several features that are common to most courseware products: one-stop…

The latest development to come out of ongoing research at Tate Modern, London's new museum of modern art, is i-Map art resources for blind and partially sighted people that are delivered online. Currently i-Map explores the work of Matisse and Picasso, their innovations, influences and personal motivations, as well as key concepts in modern art.…

This paper discusses the use of tools that allow the development and presentation of time- and place-independent courseware. Such tools make the Internet another valuable delivery method for distance education courses. The use of the tools is discussed in relationship to a course currently being offered at the Community College of Southern Nevada…

A series of changes in intellectual property law over the last 30 years has made it more difficult for researchers, scientists, authors, and artists to cooperate and collaborate on critically important projects. At the same time, the advance of communications technologies, specifically the Internet, promises to foster an explosion in creativity,…

This paper investigates how computer support for vicarious learning can be implemented by taking a principled approach to selecting and combining different media to capture educational dialogues. The main goal is to create vicarious learning materials of appropriate pedagogic content and production quality, and at the same time minimize the…

Topics in education are changing with an ever faster pace. Especially in the field of lifeling learning, the aspects that need to be taught by information providers must keep up to date with emerging topics. The Courseware watchdog is a comprehensive module that allows users to focus on existing subfields of a discipline, but thereby be aware of…

This study investigated the effects on student understanding of linear relationships using the linked representation software VideoPoint as compared to using semi-linked representation software. It investigated students' attitudes towards and preferences for mathematical representations--equations, tables, or graphs. An Algebra I class was divided…

Dual Coding Theory has quite specific predictions about how information in different media is stored, manipulated and recalled. Different combinations of media are expected to have significant effects upon the recall and retention of information. This obviously may have important consequences in the design of computer-based programs. The paper…

This paper is a report of user studies for developing learning strategy tool software for children. The prototype software demonstrated is designed for children with learning and behavioral disabilities. The tools consist of easy-to-use templates for creating organizational, memory, and learning approach guides for use in classrooms and at home.…

Previous research into the behavior of students while learning to program by automatically recording their actions has revealed that such recordings contain a wealth of information that can be collected together into a diagnostic tool that can support students' learning. The first step has been to construct the Coach, a software component that can…

A study compared the benefits of phonological awareness instruction along with and without a phonics computer software program to improve phonological and reading skills in elementary students with mild mental disabilities. During the eight weeks of the study in the fall of 1999, elementary resource students were taught phonological awareness…