COVID-19 presented a challenge to the traditional methods of teaching programming and robotics in a secondary school environment. When campuses were closed around the world in the spring of 2020, it was not possible for students to access the computer labs nor the robotics equipment that was traditionally used to facilitate the instruction of…

The COVID-19 pandemic posed, and continues to pose, many challenges to teaching and learning, most notably the need to pivot from traditional in-person course instruction and experiences to entirely virtual course delivery while maintaining course rigor and quality. Our guiding principle for course modification was the critical need for an…

The proliferation of Internet-based networks linking small schools in rural communities in some countries challenges the appropriateness of teaching exclusively in the closed environments of traditional classrooms. The development of Internet-based school networks, facilitating the creation of virtual classes, has implications for the professional…

The proliferation of Internet-based networks linking small schools in rural communities in some countries challenges the appropriateness of teaching exclusively in the closed environments of traditional classrooms. The development of Internet-based school networks, facilitating the creation of virtual classes, has implications for the professional…

The purpose of this article is to provide information on the benefits and challenges of using virtual hearing resource services for a specific kindergarten readiness program--the Preschoolers Esteem and Emotional Readiness (PEER) program for families and their children who are deaf and hard of hearing throughout the province of British Columbia…

The Grammar Gang blog has now passed its fourth anniversary as a borderless, non-proprietary language and learning online classroom. It gives wing to the aspirations of academic staff from four universities to explore language and learning across hemispheres. The Blog's recent birthday provides a timely opportunity to explore how this…

The history of online learning at the K-12 level is almost as long as its history at the post-secondary level, with the first virtual school programs beginning in the early 1990s. While these opportunities were designed as a way to provide rural students with access to more specialized courses, as opportunities have become organized into virtual…

The development of both the materials for an intermediate-level hybrid German writing course and the software in a virtual learning environment for the course may be viewed as activity systems. Viewing the individual components of each system as interrelated enables us to conceptualize the complexities of the development process, which goes well…

The use of ICT in the Middle East is expanding at a fast rate; hence managers and decision makers must decide on the best learning solution for their organizations. This article describes how a small team of individuals in Jordan developed an effective learning solution to a social problem. This may provide some useful lessons for other…

Ulrich Rauch, Marvin Cohodas, and Tim Wang describe the Arts Metaverse, a Croquet-based virtual learning environment under development at the University of British Columbia. The Arts Metaverse allows three-dimensional virtual reconstruction of important artifacts and sites of classical, ancient, and indigenous American art, thereby allowing…

Across Canada and around the world, online technologies are becoming widely used and accepted as effective modes of learning. This essay traces the initial forays into teaching online classes by three Faculty of Education professors at one small Canadian university and an instructional designer/teacher who joined part-way through the research…

The culture of the young may, in fact, be a harbinger enticing us to follow a pathway from which will emerge the re-conceptualized educational practices of this new century. The culture of those older will, no doubt, strive to maintain the more golden aspects of their now historical learning experiences. One of the tasks of all educators, but…

The number of students taking online courses in K-12 has increased exponentially since the inception of virtual schools in 1996. However, K-12 virtual schooling is a relatively new concept for those involved in teacher education. As teacher education departments build pre-service preparation programs, in-service professional development…

The introduction of inter-school electronic networks has added a new dimension to education in Canada that has many implications for students who attend schools in rural communities. Collaborative internet-based teaching and learning and the creation of virtual classes within regional intranets now complement traditional on-site instruction in…

This article discusses another ancillary project of the Writers In Electronic Residence's (WIER) program, "The Virtual Practicum," which provides online practice teaching placements to pre-service candidates. WIER offered its first virtual practicum in 1989 through the former Faculty of Education, University of Toronto, and has since…