Using web-based bulletin boards in classes elicited enthusiastic responses from 109 graduate education students. They felt it enhanced learning, created a greater sense of community and encouraged participation through its use. Some negative aspects of web-based conferencing (need for self-direction and technological literacy, lack of spontaneity…

Explores current electronic mail use, attitudes toward e-mail, and likelihood of future e-mail use among freshman university students at a particular college. Discusses how noncurricular e-mail use patterns and attitudes may affect implementation of a collegewide e-mail system in the College of Communication. (SR)

Investigates the effect of reticence on college students' use of electronic mail to communication with faculty. Notes the difference in the frequency of using electronic mail by reticent and non-reticent students. Considers how reticent students prefer to use electronic mail over speaking to faculty at their offices. (SG)

Graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) are responsible for instructing approximately 25% of introductory statistics courses in the United States (Blair, Kirkman, & Maxwell, 2013). Most research on GTA professional development focuses on structured activities (e.g., courses, workshops) that have been developed to improve GTAs' pedagogy and content…

A communications professor decided to teach an undergraduate "theories of communication" seminar course that had been listed but not taught for 12 years or more. The professor asked for advice on how to teach the course by sending an electronic mail message over an information network. The sometimes contradictory advice concerning the…

A teaching experiment in Finland was designed to clarify ways to teach argumentation in Finnish higher education and how to motivate students to participate in critical content-area discussions. Finnish students traditionally hesitate to criticize each other's opinions or those of the teacher. The experimental teaching method gave them the…

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)

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)

Investigates the comfort and use of technology among college students. Also investigates the use of communication technologies such as e-mail and the Internet for academic and nonacademic purposes. Findings suggest that the majority of the participants were comfortable with technology and used e-mail and the Internet for academic and social…

As the initial phase of a longitudinal study of environmental perspective in college students, resident student opinion was sampled using the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) scale administered through systematic alphabetical sampling. Sampling was also carried out by a blanket e-mail distribution of surveys for voluntary response. Results showed…

Examines the attitudes of ten preservice teachers about social justice. Investigates the effect of participation in an undergraduate social foundations course. Explains that the students underwent ninety-minute audiotaped interviews and reveals that the course raises the students' consciousness. Presents the results of an interview with one…

Presents data from a qualitative case study examining secondary English-as-a-Second-Language students' attitudes toward and perceptions of a collaborative email exchanges between a Form 4 (10th grade) English-as-a-Second-Language class in Hong Kong and an 11th grade English class in Iowa. (Author/VWL)

Describes a project that linked students in a quantitative decision-making course at the University of Hawaii with students in the same course at Southern Methodist University (Texas) to participate in remote group collaboration via electronic mail and to observe and evaluate students' decision-making capabilities. Student comments are included.…

Curriculum evaluations were sent to fourth-year medical students randomly assigned to receive the survey either by mail or e-mail. Mailed evaluations yielded a higher return rate, fewer students omitting items, and shorter responses to an open-ended question than evaluations completed via e-mail. (EV)

Identifies six stages adult learners pass through as they become confident using electronic mail. Understanding the stages of learning to use technology empowers the learner through the knowledge that feelings of tension and frustration will be overcome. (Author/AEF)