Recently, attempts have been made to use Weblog and other personal webpublishing technologies to support individual and social reflection in higher education. Due to Weblog's highly individual and reflective nature, students' experiences and perceptions of the technology and practice is of primary importance in furthering its educational use. In…

The current study investigated the sources of motivation for learning in a hybrid course. The subjects of the study were 25 students taking a hybrid course that was designed and developed covering computer networks topics. An interview form that revealed answers about the motivation source of the students was developed and used in the study. One…

The existence of a "digital divide" in which portions of society do not have sufficient access to technology or the information and skills that technology use imparts was of concern for educators and policy makers even before home computers were easily connected to the Internet. As new technologies (such as broadband Internet access), and new uses…

The purpose of this exploratory experimental study was to examine how online cognitive facilitation that promotes cognitive presence, while keeping facilitator's social presence constant, affects student learning and satisfaction in an online community of inquiry. In this context, we explored the following questions: (1) Does online high cognitive…

As the whole society is experiencing a notable shift from the industrial age to the information age, an urgent need for a mindset change in education has been frequently discussed during the past decades. This paper will approach the mindset change through three interconnected sections: the first section reviews the conceptualization of mindset…

This study provides an in-depth description of adult learners' perceptions and experiences using laptop computers in higher education institutions. The study also examines the influence on human beings' cognitive activity by using laptops. The results are organized into seven themes and four classifications: usage, benefits, limitations, and…

This study investigated whether it was more beneficial to provide the learners in computer-based learning environments access to on demand (self-regulated) help after they committed an error in problem solving or for the learning environment to externally regulate the presentation of instructional help. Furthermore, two different resentational…

The deployment of immersive, non-restrictive environments for instruction and learning presents a new set of challenges for instructional designers and educators. Adopting the conceptual frameworks of Sherin's (2002) learning while teaching and Vygotsky's (1978) cultural development via the mediation of tools, this paper explores one professor's…

This article reports the results of a study conducted to examine the use of small group learning strategies in an online college course. The study examined the effect of four types of positive interdependence and the affiliation motive on learning and attitude in an asynchronous, collaborative learning environment. Results indicated no significant…

This research intends to explore students' aspect and impact on forming virtual learning communities within online courses. A formal online course that is on the process of building virtual community is closely examined to discover students' perceptions of learning community approach, their online performances, and how these perceptions and…

This study articulates the construct of social presence and develops a social presence questionnaire for examining online collaborative learning with tests for reliability and validity. Questionnaire items were developed by revising the social presence questionnaire developed by Picciano in 2002 as well as eviewing research in the literature of…

Classic research methods are ineffective in capturing the dynamic relationships among users, technology, and outcomes for technology integration research. Cognitive research attempts to eliminate environmental variability and test for recall and transferability of knowledge representations. Such approaches lead to arguably ineffective measures…

This research is to articulate a learning process in resource-based well-structured instruction in webbased distance learning environment. To explore the learning process, a web resource-based self-learning program, which is highly structured with structuring elements from literature review, was developed as a college level course. Sixty-seven…

There's no keeping up with what teenagers think is in or out; status changes by the minute. But when you develop computer-based instruction (CBI) for that population of users, you'd like to know with some reliability that the program is in. At the least, you'd like to know that users won't respond by rolling their eyes. Such was the case with a…

Problem solving is of critical importance in many disciplines. In medicine, the clinician's ability to arrive at the correct diagnosis often means the difference between life and death. Despite its importance and a significant amount of research regarding how to improve problem solving, few unambiguous answers have emerged for promoting problem…