This article addresses the question of how to build human relations in web-based collaborative learning. Although the field of web-based education/training (WBE/T) has grown rapidly in the last few years, there has been little systematic research on the issue of group formation in such environments. It is the difficult to build human relations in…

As web-based courses using videos have become popular in recent years, the issue of managing audio-visual aids has become pertinent. Generally, the contents of audio-visual aids may include a lecture, an interview, a report, or an experiment, which may be transformed into a streaming format capable of making the quality of Internet-based videos…

Good teachers possess a capacity for connectedness. They are able to weave a complex web of connections among themselves, their subjects, and their students so that students can learn to weave a world for themselves. The methods used by these weavers vary widely; lectures, Socratic dialogues, laboratory experiments, collaborative problem solving,…

In this paper, we explore some of the complexities of emergent role development and group awareness among participants in an asynchronous Networked Learning discussion in a higher education context. We used content analysis to provide participant profiles for learning and tutoring processes within a group of collaborating professionals. Using…

Undergraduate college students in an advanced math class were videotaped as they worked on three mathematical proofs. Findings indicated that both ability and self-efficacy were needed for group success. Members with high levels of self-efficacy served the group by encouraging others to continue working. Groups tended to use a trial-and-error…

Two studies were carried out during university workshops, and analyzed the effects of resource interdependence on student-student interactions, and the impact of these interactions on performance. Students worked cooperatively, either on complementary information (positive resource interdependence) or on identical information (resource…

Systems biology, metabolomics, metabolic engineering, and other recent developments in biochemistry suggest that future biochemists will require a detailed familiarity with the compounds and pathways of intermediary metabolism and their biochemical control. The challenge to the biochemistry instructor is the presentation of metabolic pathways in a…

Student portfolios are an alternative authentic assessment method that invites active student learning and provides an opportunity for instructors to tailor assessment strategies based on student-learning outcomes.

Group exams in science courses can enhance students' achievement and encourage retention of students within the discipline. The challenge to instructors is to recognize when and how they are best used.

Taylor and Otinsky provide readers with a road map for interactive learning centers as a means to ground students as they develop their authentic questions about complex issues such as racism. Using interactive learning centers, students are invited to engage with a large number of collaborative experiences with texts of multiple media, the goal…

This chapter addresses the logistical considerations for the use of collaborative learning in the Decoding the Disciplines model and presents twelve principles for successfully using teamwork in the classroom and several assessments of the efficacy of the group process. (Contains 2 figures.)

This study investigates the quality and nature of virtual interaction in a higher education context. The study aims to find out variables that mediate virtual interaction, particularly the emerging processes of sharing and constructing perspectives in web-based conferencing. The purpose of this paper is to report the results on different levels of…

In this paper, we give a detailed account of the design principles and construction of activities designed for learning about the relationships between position, velocity and acceleration, and corresponding kinematics graphs. Our approach is model-based, that is, it focuses attention on the idea that students constructed their own models--in the…

This article uses a global model to analyse empirically how the personal and professional development of educators (personal mastery) facilitates the creation of a series of basic shared values (shared vision) and of team learning by the members of the educational centre, these inter-related strategic factors favouring, in turn, educational…

The increased use of the internet in higher education has helped researchers conduct collaborative research and enabled faculty to provide opportunities for students to work collaboratively in their courses. The authors of this article use online collaborative documents for conducting collaborative research and for learning collaboratively via the…