This paper examines the origin and implications of adult learners' emotions in the context of an online distance learning programme at the Open University of Cyprus. Various methods for gathering data about learners' emotions related to online learning are used, such as emotion diaries, semi-structured interviews, and email messages. The paper…

A major change has occurred in the way Web technology is being used in society. The change is grounded in user empowerment using Web 2.0 tools and processes. Students are already sophisticated users of these tools and processes, but outside of the mainstream instructional practices in higher education. In this reflection, the educational potential…

This article reports on a case study of Instant Messaging (IM) in a context of high-school virtual schooling. Data collection relied on interviews conducted with 20 participants in a context of high-school web-based instruction in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The participants included e-teachers as well as other distance education personnel.…

The aim of this study was to identify social patterns in mobile technology mediated collaboration among distributed members of the professional distance education community. Ten participants worked for 12 weeks designing a master's programme in information sciences. The participants' mobile technology usage activity and interview data were first…

During the past decade, WebQuests have been widely used by teachers to integrate technology into teaching and learning. Recently, teacher educators have applied the WebQuest model with preservice teachers in order to develop technology integration skills akin to those used in everyday schools. Scaffolding, used to support the gradual acquisition…

In this theoretical article the authors discuss the role of technology tools in supporting students' argument construction within the context of middle and high school science. In the first part of the article they focus on the theoretical underpinnings for studying argumentation in school science and report on the difficulties associated with…

This article presents a design methodology for matching learning tasks with learning technologies. First a working definition of "affordances" is provided based on the need to describe the action potentials of the technologies (utility). Categories of affordances are then proposed to provide a framework for analysis. Following this, a methodology…

Web 2.0 technologies empower learners to create personalized and community-based collaborative environments. Social networking technology affords learners to weave their human networks through active connections to understand what we know and we want to know. Social acts that bring out identities, awareness, relationships, connections, and…

This article reports on the collaborative journal review of an online professional community that was established to prepare this special edition for publication. The focus is on how Web 2.0 technology can be used to support a professional journal review community and to enhance active social interaction among reviewers. The theme of this special…

Wiki empowers users in generating, revising, and organizing their own content. In this study, we review literature to gain theoretical support for wikis that impact learning. In a context of student journalists learning news writing, we design a two-phase field study: (1) Phase I--to examine learners' reflections on learning news writing in wiki…

While blogs, wikis and social networking sites are enjoying high levels of attention as tools to support learning, Really Simple Syndication (RSS) remains the "poor cousin" of these technologies in the higher education classroom, with relatively low uptake amongst educators and students. In this article, the authors argue that the affordances of…

Understanding of the nature of social negotiations in social software spaces used in support of formal, face-to-face education remains limited. In this paper, we consider how a community of learners working collaboratively in a wiki environment established social hierarchies and negotiated power. Described is a study with 36 pre-service teachers…

Implementing student-centered, inquiry-based science pedagogy in secondary classrooms, though identified as the goal by all science education professional organizations, is rarely a reality in today's classrooms. Therefore, teachers committed to reform often lack a "local" network with whom they can interact around this new professional discourse…

Social networking is changing the way children communicate. Most of this communication takes place outside of school, though countless Web 2.0 applications are emerging with educational potential. Students may benefit from exposure to the twenty-first century learning principles obtained through the use of emerging web applications. This article…

This paper explores the use of a reflective analytic online tool, the Learning Activity Analysis Tool (LAAT) to support the professional development of online tutors. The LAAT was designed to provide a means for a group of tutors to individually describe and explain approaches they would use to support students by analysing an online learning…