Addresses some problematic aspects posed by the design and implementation of a Web site aimed at providing some extracurricular online EFL (English as a foreign language) resources to science students at the University of Sassari (Italy). Discusses teacher training, needs analysis, content organization, teaching of grammar, and evaluation and…

Describes methods for developing and delivering library instruction in an electronic format. Discusses using a customized Web site as a backup for live instruction; creating a computer-generated slide presentation to accompany a live lecture or to be placed on the Web; writing a self-paced Web tutorial; and developing a complete online library…

Examines the growing demand for e-mail reference (Aska) service and how librarians can best manage an electronic help desk. Discusses problems of minimal information and anonymous patrons, followed by views on restricting/not restricting access to the service. Suggests ways to try to screen requests and specify a clientele. Notes the importance of…

Asserts that library services for distance education students should be tailored to their specific needs, utilizing online technologies in combination with traditional services. States that statistics show that many community college libraries do not provide special services for their distance learners. Profiles Rio Salado College and details the…

Draws on results of a four-year effort to establish a campus-wide, computer-supported writing environment to suggest that computer networks and specifically designed instructional software can provide the basis for network-supported, writing-center-based writing-across-the-curriculum programs. Discusses development of network communication tools…

Notes that online writing environments can lead basic writers to focus on the instrumental nature of language and technology, construe writing as performance, and see revision as error correction. Explores computer use as an aid in the process of composition in a one-credit computer lab course. Finds that basic writers face significant…

Examines electronic book selling and publishing, with a detailed look at Amazon.com, National Association of Science Writers, and *bylines* sites. Discusses costs/profits; differences between traditional and electronic book selling; customer feedback; ordering procedures; membership; out-of-print titles; the Direct-to-Web model of electronic…

Describes six models of virtual schools which use e-mail, online chats, Internet resources, and archived resources to teach courses. Discusses advantages and limitations of virtual schools, and presents some questions for evaluating them. A sidebar lists 10 virtual school Web sites. (AEF)

Marking the 25th anniversary (August 26, 1996) of WorldCat (the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) Online Union Catalog) OCLC and the U.S. regional networks sponsored an essay contest for librarians and library users to write essays describing their impressions of the OCLC Online Union Catalog. Four prize-winning essays from Michigan, Kentucky,…

Considers how new technologies might serve to help educators to teach in ways that were not possible without them. Considers "the unspoken responsibilities English teachers are asked to assume" as students pursue their desire to become "technologically literate." Describes an activity in which the World Wide Web is used to…

Argues that distance learning technologies are tools. Offers the author's experiences of teaching web-assisted as well as online courses as examples of different approaches to distance learning, each with totally different dynamics. Concludes that meaningful learning took place in both classes, whether web-assisted traditional instruction or…

This special report on the electronic content industry covers three interrelated areas: technology, rights/legal issues, and pricing/business models. Articles include: "Content Anywhere, Anytime"; "Content Management Technology: A Booming Market"; "Entering the Content Space: Carry Your Lawyer at All Times"; Content Unchained: The New Value Web";…

Coordinated by the U.S. Geological Survey, the National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) is a Web-based system that provides increased access to data and information on the nation's biological resources. This article-an individual case study-addresses the structure of the NBII related to thematic, infrastructure and place-based…

Explains the Universal Design for Learning that provides students with multiple representations of information. Highlights include a graduate course that offered printed materials, online text, movies, videotapes, and a Web site; providing multiple representations of content for students with disabilities; and multiple options for expressing…

Proposes a linguistic model for an Information Retrieval System (IRS) defined using an ordinal fuzzy linguistic approach. The query subsystem accepts Boolean queries with terms weighted by ordinal linguistic values and the evaluation subsystem returns documents arranged in relevance classes labeled with ordinal linguistic values. The system gives…