Discusses the structure of a laboratory course that employs guided inquiry and collaborative learning to increase student preparedness for and intellectual engagement in laboratory investigations, and to give students an understanding and appreciation of a collaborative work environment. Contains 29 references. (DDR)

Reports on the development of an asynchronous learning environment for teaching introductory macroeconomics to approximately 200 distance education students. The research supports evidence in the literature that computer mediated communication an in particular, collaborative learning, can make a positive difference to the educational experience of…

Describes a pilot partnership formed by a science teacher and a science library media specialist between Detroit's Northwestern High School and the David Adamany Undergraduate Library at Wayne State University to develop student information literacy in high school. Discusses activities; teacher attitudes; introduction of the Big6 Skills; and…

Presents three science activities for the first week of class that use the cooperative learning approach and computers. Requires students to create a web page to introduce group members. (YDS)

Studied the socializing effects of cohort grouping on elementary teacher candidates participating in a curriculum with a collaborative, thematic approach to teacher education. Independently of cohort membership, small class size and the collaborative thematic approach produced a strong socializing effect, but belonging to a cohort resulted in…

Discusses a case study at Pepperdine University (California) in the Online Master of Arts in Educational Technology and the critical insights which can be used by similar university programs to influence their thinking of how to best prepare future learning communities in virtual discussions. Addresses key issues, benefits, and methods concerning…

Discussion of computer-mediated communication in education focuses on online collaboration. Highlights include characteristics of a collaborative group, including participation, interaction, and interdependence; collaborative situations; non-collaborative groups, including cooperation without collaboration; factors that promote or inhibit…

Describes the structure of events during cooperative-learning activities in a graduate-level thermodynamics course and explores what these activities mean to students. Details the structure of the sessions and delineates the findings which emerge from the student perspective. Contains 25 references. (DDR)

Reports on how a struggling first-grade reader who was neglected and ignored by his peers experienced literacy events when children were the only participants. Notes that collaborative learning is affected by participants' social status. Shows how child-initiated and child-directed literacy events did little to assist this child's reading…

Defines Structured Freedom as a model of instruction that gives students responsibility for their own learning and engages them in convergent and divergent thinking. Illustrates the use of Structured Freedom in social studies instruction by applying its four stages to a Pueblo Indians unit that focuses on historical comparison. (CMK)

Reports on the design, implementation, and results of a project structured as a means to investigate the potential of long-distance, collaborative student learning on an international basis. Offers an overview of the project's design and conclusions in order to encourage collaborative instruction using the Internet and the World Wide Web. (CMK)

Discusses the redistribution of power and authority invited by networked computers. Examines the changing roles of teachers and tutors as they set up and monitor occasions for writing to take advantage of the increased participation and involvement when students write with computers. Discusses how this valuable experience can be most effectively…

Describes the use of an intervention stressing the metacognitive, regulatory, and strategic aspects of knowledge co-construction. Finds that eighth grade students who received the intervention gained in metacognitive knowledge about collaborative reasoning and ability to articulate their collaborative reasoning processes compared to students in…

Discussion of distance education outlines general strategies for effective distance learners, methodologies students have adopted to learn online, and their preparation techniques. Topics include student personality characteristics, reasons for pursuing education online, technology increasing student motivation, collaborative learning, and use of…

Suggests ways of developing an online business writing course that uses technology to simulate features of the face-to-face classroom and that achieves an interactive learning experience for students. Uses the author's online business writing class as an example of one which manages to simulate, through the judicious use of software, the…