Summarizes national survey findings of email reference services in academic and public libraries; describes types of email reference services for selected Colorado libraries; and focuses on a detailed overview and analysis of two years of Colorado State University's email reference experiences. (Author/LRW)

Describes the design and development of an Internet-based distance education class at the University of Northern Iowa. Discusses collaboration with students, basic course design, conceptual and epistemological context of the course, delivery environment, and forms of interaction including electronic mail. (LRW)

Reviews the development and delivery of a higher education course module that was designed to provide remote learners in England with computer-supported solutions to access higher education as part of a technology-assisted distance education program. Highlights include use of a Web site; e-mail; videoconferencing; and student attrition rate.…

Studied the effect of a communication designed to enhance the self-efficacy beliefs of introductory psychology students. Neutral e-mail messages of messages designed to enhance self-efficacy were sent to 76 college students. Results show that self-efficacy beliefs were related to examination scores and were significantly affected by the…

Discusses how to grade papers online. Proposes that students whose papers are graded online internalize information more readily than students whose papers are not. Concludes that through meeting on the Internet, many students sense a narrowing culture gap between teachers and students. (PM)

Examines factors that differentiate among frequent and occasional users of electronic mail for the purpose of developing a profile of users to help organizations develop strategies for increasing system usage. Finds that frequent users are significantly different from occasional users on all of the five factors studied. (KEH)

Examines the syntactic and stylistic features of an emergent phenomenon called Interactive Written Discourse (IWD), the written language occurring in simultaneous terminal-to-terminal typed dialogues. Finds that IWD is a naturally occurring register and a hybrid language variety, displaying characteristics of both oral and written language. Notes…

Reports the results of a survey designed to determine the frequency and purpose of individuals' use of electronic mail in relation to their professional development. Survey was distributed using three newsletters found on BITNET. Finds that electronic mail is replacing other means of communication and stimulating new communication among diverse…

Examines activity cycles in long-distance educational electronic networks based on experiences on FrEdMail (a grass-roots microcomputer-based electronic network) to create effective network-based learning activities. Yearly, weekly, daily, and other cycles are described; and cyclical patterns for two types of instructional interactions are…

The general structure and systems of the Internet and the National Association of College and University Business Officers' NACUBO Net are described, and the potential usefulness of their services to college and university business officials is examined. Some resources specific to higher education are highlighted. (MSE)

Qualitative and quantitative data from business students using electronic mail and computer conferencing showed these methods enabled the instructor to be more accessible and responsive; greater class cohesion developed, and perceived quality of the course and instructor effectiveness increased. (SK)

Discusses uses of an electronic meeting system (EMS) to aid in designing graduate core curricula. Presents results from a study of a seven-member task force that used EMS for seven months to facilitate selection of core courses for master's degree programs. A diagram illustrates the task force's graduate core review process and an appendix…

Describes a study that explored differences in computer-mediated communication messaging by comparing electronic mail and voice messaging used for giving directions. Highlights include a computational linguistic framework that examines differences between written and oral English, models of direction provision, and hypotheses based on preliminary…

Case Western Reserve University (Ohio) is hoping a high-powered campus information system will help diversify its student body and provide innovative education. A new optical-fiber network will connect computers in dormitory rooms, faculty and staff offices, classrooms, libraries, and laboratories and be linked with local, national, and…

An experiment using electronic mail discussions to improve communication in a college class of 200 students yielded over 1,780 messages, with two-thirds sent by about one-fourth of the students. Two problems emerged: students responding to old messages after discussion had enlarged, and infrequent mail reading. (MSE)