Collaboration in the classroom is a major theme of educational reform today. Electronically-supported conversation (ESC) is one way of using technology to support collaboration in the classroom. ESC offers several instructional benefits over simple spoken discourse. We describe a simple model ("two cans and a string") for how ESC could…

Hypermedia applications have presented information through a variety of visual media, but the aural channel for information delivery has not been well developed. To reduce the likelihood of overloading the visual channel of communication in a program that presents a great deal of information through graphic illustration and animation, the…

Forty-one research studies completed between 1929 and 1983 investigated the effects of typewriting on the development of children's language arts skills. Information about each of the studies was entered in a Lotus 1-2-3 database containing 43 fields. Effect sizes were calculated for 21 studies. The collected evidence suggests a small positive…

The technology behind digital multimedia is explained, and some of its specific uses and advantages are outlined. Multimedia is a catch-all term for various technologies. As the reputation for instructional effectiveness of multimedia has grown, the demand for a digital form of multimedia has increased, particularly as the limitations of analog…

This is the final report of the Microcomputers and Literacy Project, which was primarily concerned with sociolinguistic analysis of written texts and classroom discourse from two urban, sixth-grade classrooms using computers with QUILL writing software. The report argues for and illustrates an approach to the study of writing that integrates…

The role of the instructor in computer-based training (CBT) has not been previously studied. However, the role of instructor in traditional instruction (TI) has been studied and has been shown to influence student achievement. A key finding from TI research is that instructor-student interaction is positively related to achievement. This…

The role of the instructor in the computer-based training (CBT) environment has typically not been researched. Yet, recent studies have shown that the behavior and the attitude of the instructor can affect achievement in CBT. Moreover, the importance of the instructor in traditional instruction (TI) settings has been well documented. This paper…

Instructional Technology is a field of innovation. As instructional technologists realize that their innovations are not always readily adopted, theories of diffusion and adoption have been incorporated into instructional development models. This paper describes five unexplored areas of research related to the adoption and diffusion of…

The design and implementation of a World Wide Web (WWW) based instructional tool titled Virtual Office Hours (VOH) is described as implemented in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of California Los Angeles. The project is designed to facilitate communication between faculty and students through on-line access to all…

This paper describes the design of a synchronous World Wide Web-based distance education environment developed at the Telematics Laboratory of Computer Engineer and Informatics Department (CEID) and Computer Technology Institute (Greece); the environment uses telematics services to conduct lessons over computer networks, simulating a traditional…

The mStar environment for distributed education utilizes the World Wide Web and IP-multicast to enable teacher-student collaboration over large geographic distances. Several educational projects, spanning secondary school courses to company internal training have deployed the mStar environment. This paper reports on experiences gained over a year…

Consequences of the coming worldwide competition in courses, degree programs, and training, and what it may mean for higher education in the future are discussed. Traditionally, institutions of higher education had some security in what amounted to geographical monopolies corresponding to the physical campus location. The educational consumer is…

This study examined the effectiveness of spaced practice and spaced review when implemented structurally within a computer assisted instruction (CAI) program. The study viewed the comparison of two levels of CAI as instructional treatments. The instructional treatments were developed as structured, which contained spaced practice and spaced…

The purpose of this study was twofold: to validate a list of distance teaching behaviors; and to develop training guidelines on the most frequently observed and the most important behaviors of distance instructors. Respondents (distance coordinators at 30 college and university distance education sites in Georgia) were asked to indicate how…

To improve teacher training, a model was developed to summarize and categorize teachers' levels of current and future Internet usage in teaching. This model was intended to prepare teacher educators to help inservice teachers learn to use the Internet to support their courses. Three levels are determined by how the Internet is used educationally…