This paper takes a large-scale social perspective in describing a national project in Australia that was premised on local school communities working together and contributing ideas for the benefit of their students, and potentially, the whole country. The project was intended to improve schools' capacity for educating boys, and in the long-term,…

This theoretical paper uses cybernetic-based approaches and communications theory to advance knowledge of constructivist learning. Explores a cyber-constructivist perspective (CCP) as a tool for increasing awareness of factors that may contribute to effective constructivist educational design within learning communities, and discusses advantages…

Reports findings of a study in four Nova Scotia public schools of twelfth grade students' information seeking strategies when using the Internet as an information source. Discusses student's knowledge of World Wide Web search engines; how students acquired Internet information seeking knowledge; and how students perceive their ability to locate…

Discusses a review of 34 qualitative and non-qualitative studies related to affective and social aspects of student-computer interactions. Highlights include the nature of the human-computer interaction (HCI); the interface, comparing graphic and text types; and the relation between variables linked to HCI, mainly trust, locus of control,…

Explains the Training, Infrastructure and Empowerment System (TIES), a theory-based system of educational reform through instructional technology, and discusses results of a study at a Canadian university that investigated the vision for instructional technology, learning technologies and alternative delivery systems, and adoption of innovation.…

Examines the experiences of an instructor and teaching assistant who employed online communication strategies in a graduate seminar to deliberately foster the development of a virtual learning community using synchronous and asynchronous online events. Compared their reflections with what the student reported about their learning in online…

Describes the use of synchronous (chat) and asynchronous (bulletin board) communication in a graduate course at the University of Saskatchewan. Concludes that synchronous communication promoted a strong sense of community and continuity, but asynchronous communication was better for dealing with content. (LRW)

Describes a study that explored learning in a Web-based online MBA (Masters of Business Administration) program and the structures necessary to support and enhance learning from the perspective of the learners. Findings indicated that the collaborative nature of the teamwork required provided major benefits as well as challenges for the students.…

Describes research conducted with Hong Kong university students that investigated challenges to collaboration during computer-assisted instruction as evidenced by discourse. Evaluates videotapes of the students according to a set of discourse markers and suggests implications for software designers, teachers, and students to enhance collaboration…

Proposes an organic approach to educational Web-based systems where learning objects (educational resources), operations on these objects, and actors that perform them are aggregated in meaningful ways. Proposes to reference models of learning systems with educational ontologies developed for instructional engineering and provides examples in the…

Discusses reusable digital learning resources or objects in distance education and training. Focuses on the pivotal role of metadata and issues relating to classification, description, and meaning, specifically issues of semantics; and describes the CanCore Learning Object Metadata Application Profile. (Author/LRW)

Discusses learning objects that encompass a learning activity so they are more than just a digital resource. Reports on a feasibility study for metadata to record process-oriented information about instructional approaches for learning objects, through a set of Educational Rationale tags which would allow authors to describe their design intent.…

Reports on the design and development of video-based learning objects created to enhance the educational experiences of American Sign Language (ASL) hearing participants in a distance learning course that used video conferencing and Web-based technologies and, following the course, the creation of new applications for use of the learning objects.…

Discusses the properties that distinguish learning object from other forms of educational software, including global accessibility, metadata standards, finer granularity and reusability, and their implications for evaluation. Proposes a convergent participation model for learning object evaluation and reviews other evaluation models that have been…

Discussion of Web page design that maximizes users' acquisition of information focuses on line length and the amount of surrounding information, or whitespace. Describes a study of undergraduates at the University of Alberta (Canada) that showed comprehension was affected by whitespace but not by line length. (Author/LRW)