With their realistic animation, complex scenarios and impressive interactivity, computer simulation games might be able to provide context-rich, cognitively engaging virtual environments for language learning. However, simulation games designed for L2 learners are in short supply. As an alternative, could games designed for the mass-market be…

Computing devices and applications are now used beyond the desktop, in diverse environments, and this trend toward ubiquitous computing is evolving. In this study, we re-visit the interactivity concept and its applications for interactive function design in a ubiquitous-learning system (ULS). Further, we compare interactivity dimensions and…

This paper reports the findings from an experimental study involving thirty three secondary school students (mean age = 15.5 years) in spatial visualization (SV) training through an interactive desktop virtual environment spatial trainer (iDVEST). Stratified random sampling was used to assign students into two experimental groups and one control…

Using an explanatory mixed methods design, this study uses the National Standards of Quality for Online Courses to measure the extent to which teachers in a blended middle school and a fully online supplemental high school are designing quality online learning environments for students. As a part of fully online graduate coursework, graduate…

This paper deploys notions of emergence, connections, and designs for learning to conceptualize high school students' interactions when using online social media as a learning environment. It makes links to chaos and complexity theories and to fractal patterns as it reports on a part of the first author's action research study, conducted while she…

The for-profit education management industry has, based on the available data, entered a period of relative stability. The industry's actual condition, however, is more difficult to determine than ever. This is because companies that dominate the industry are privately held and do not have to provide information to the public that they choose not…

The two separate projects described have examined how teachers exploit computer-based technologies in supporting learning of science at secondary level. This paper examines how pedagogical approaches associated with these technological tools are adapted to both the cognitive and structuring resources available in the classroom setting. Four…

In this article, the author discusses the proliferation of one-to-one programs. For educators, the key to one-to-one success is in a well-managed and thoughtfully approached classroom program. Despite a good body of anecdotal evidence on the success of one-to-one programs--increased student attendance and motivation, more collaborative…

This article offers an account of online experimentation and innovation that has taken place in the English department of the University of Wolverhampton from 2003 to 2005. Focusing on an introductory first-year module and two third-year modules, it explores how and to what extent a virtual learning environment (VLE) can enhance the teaching of…

This study investigated the impact of virtual guest speakers facilitating asynchronous discussions. The setting was an online instructional technology course with 16 graduate students and two guest speakers. The research reports the quantity and level of critical thinking of the students and guests. Each posting was coded for frequency and…

According to the 2008 Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE): 82 percent of community college students surveyed have part-time jobs (and over half of this group works more than 20 hours a week); almost all (93 percent) reported commuting to campus and 21 percent said they spend between six and 20 hours a week in the commute;…

This article describes the creation of a fully online master's program for e-learning specialist training. This program is the first of its kind in Japan. As background information, Japan's general trends in e-learning are described, including activities of the e-Learning Consortium Japan and National Institute of Multimedia in Education. Such…

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a self-report instrument that can be used to measure learning in the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains. The study underwent three phases, each with its own data collection and analysis. Phase I featured the development, testing, and factor analysis of an 80-item instrument that…

The accelerated development of the information and communication technologies determined universities, companies and educational institutions to implement alternatives to the traditional teaching methods, thereby leading to the development of e-courses. New Information and Communication Technologies mediating learning represent an important…

"Informacy", the learning of information technology skills, is now a key element of all Social Work curricula in the U.K. following the General Social Care Council's accreditation requirements. These stipulate that all undergraduates acquire computer literacy skills to the level of the European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL) or its…