Ulises Mejias examines how social software--information and communications technologies that facilitate the collaboration and exchange of ideas--enables students to participate in distributed research, an approach to learning in which knowledge is collectively constructed and shared. During Fall 2005, Mejias taught a graduate seminar that provided…

While it has been suggested that patterning activities support early algebra learning, it is widely acknowledged that the shift from perceiving patterns to understanding algebraic functions--and correspondingly, from reporting empirical patterns to providing explanations--is difficult. This paper reports on the collaborations of grade 4 students…

The use of video in teaching and learning is a common practice in education today. As learning online becomes more of a common practice in education, streaming video and audio will play a bigger role in delivering course materials to online learners. This form of technology brings courses alive by allowing online learners to use their visual and…

This study investigated the social network structure of booking officers at the Honolulu Police Department and how the introduction of an online discussion tool affected knowledge about operation of a booking module. Baseline data provided evidence for collaboration among officers in the same district using e-mail, telephone and face-to-face media…

The authors examined the progress made toward equitable technology access and use over children's first 4 years of school. The sample consisted of 8,283 public school children who attended kindergarten, 1st, and 3rd grades. In 3rd grade, high-poverty schools had significantly more computers for instruction and a smaller ratio of children to…

This final report describes a federally funded project to improve the instructional design and use of general software with students who have special learning needs. An 86-page guide, which was the project output, is provided. This "Guide for the Use of General Software with Students Who Have Special Learning Needs" is designed to help teachers…

A multimedia software package, ASTOUND, has been used by the University of South Carolina (USC) Sumter in the development of lectures and support learning materials in a computer literacy course. A hardware setup, known as the Tech Commander, which provides immediate feedback for both students and instructor as work is being done in the lab, has…

This paper discusses a computer-based prototype called TestMaker that enables educators to create computer-based tests. Given the functional needs of faculty, the host of research implications computer technology has for assessment, and current educational perspectives such as constructivism and their impact on testing, the purposes for developing…

This paper focuses on practical and cost-effective NetWare-specific approaches to information systems and computer security. A series of real world experiences is presented that illustrate fundamental information systems and security concepts. A NetWare network is a client-server network which uses a file server to share files while client…

Commitment to teaching excellence is enhanced when innovative and creative methods are introduced into the education setting. With today's rapidly changing technology, professional and presentation software can be used to improve the learning process. At Florida's Stetson University, professional estate, gift, and fiduciary software packages were…

As new users from the non-technical community are attracted to multimedia (MM) computing, it becomes necessary to design a convenient and easy-to-understand logical structure that facilitates data transfer from the MM data repository to MM applications. A recently introduced layered formalism, which describes MM applications in terms of the data…

This paper presents the implications of an ongoing project on the design and development of multimedia instructional material for teaching and learning computer science topics at both graduate and undergraduate levels. Important pedagogical requirements that CAI software should satisfy include: (1) animation of the changes in tree topologies; (2)…

Novices in programming face many problems affecting their learning process and programming success. Learning to program includes using the programming environment, learning a programming language's syntax and semantics, understanding a problem and translating it into an executable plan, developing algorithms and programs, and testing and debugging…

The social interactions that occur during pair problem solving were studied using a computer tool and without using the tool. The computer tool, (the TAPS system) is an instructional system that presents complex word problems and provides a graphics user interface with tools for constructing problem trees (network structures showing…

Between 1977 and 1981, the Basic Skills Component of Research for Better Schools worked with education agencies to develop a research-based approach to improving basic skills instruction and student achievement. Called Achievement Directed Leadership (ADL), the approach was field tested extensively in three school districts during the 1981-82…