The results of the study suggest that for one graduate department, a week of discussions changed few attitudes toward campus issues. (Author)

Evidence on the effectiveness of school-based smoking restrictions on reducing pupil smoking rates is mixed. So far, the effect of such policies has only been considered using quantitative methods and "level of enforcement" has primarily been measured according to data collected from staff. This qualitative study is based on data collected during…

Development workers studying at the graduate level benefit from exposure to the great variety of cultures and worldviews. In the Australian National University's Master of Applied Anthropology and Participatory Development (MAAPD) program, peer learning is giving current and future development workers in the field and in the classroom the chance…

In this paper, the authors propose that psychological safety, a sense of interpersonal trust and being valued in a work team, is an important determinant of groupware technology adoption in an educational setting. They develop and test a model of antecedents and consequences of psychological safety. Data were collected from 361 university…

Social construction of understanding has long been a significant underlying principle of learning and teaching, and while there are many models for the design of online activities to promote this, there are considerably fewer models for the facilitation of such dialogue. This paper examines some of these facilitation models from the point of view…

Instructors and trainers are increasingly using online education and technology-mediated learning (TML) to supplement or replace traditional approaches to classroom teaching. Because mandatory involvement requirements may not intrinsically motivate learners to achieve high quality learning, social factors with commitment, such as identification…

This case study explores the learning experiences of three international students who were enrolled in an online master's program offered by a large university in Canada. The aim of the study was to understand the international students' experiences with, and perspectives on, the online learning environment. Findings indicate that previous…

The field of distance education is a dynamic field which includes a growing body of research. The field of distance education raises many questions which encompass the spectrum of human and technological questions of interest to those of us who practice various forms of distance education. As doctoral students in the field of distance education,…

This book uses poetry and essays to share how welfare reform has affected the lives of a group of female adult literacy students from western Massachusetts. After a brief explanation of the book's purpose, the women who presented their views in the book's poems and essays are profiled. Presented next are six poems that several of the women wrote…

Presents a collection of excerpts from a recent virtual class discussion students (primarily senior English majors planning to become English teachers) had on a course listserv regarding young adult literature. Contains annotations of 10 recommended works of YA literature. (SG)

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect that participating in online literature discussions would have on the discourse and learning of adult students. Would electronic literature (e-lit) discussions promote grand conversations? Would students feel that e-lit discussions enhanced their understanding of what they read, and, if so,…

The research reported in the current article studies the impact of learning in asynchronous discussion groups on students' final exam scores and levels of knowledge construction. Multilevel analyses were applied to uncover the specific influence of student, group and task variables. The results indicate that the impact of student characteristics…

The purpose of the research was to get insights into the ways learning strategies typically used by adult learners can be taken into consideration when designing web-based courses to facilitate learning in teacher education. Teacher students wrote narratives in discussion forums by completing various types of group projects. The relevant…

This article focuses on an evaluation of the impact of an innovative instructional design of internships in view of a new integrated pharmaceutical curriculum. A key innovative element was the implementation of a computer-supported collaborative learning environment. Students were, as part of their formal curriculum, expected to work in a…

This study used quantitative measures to gather data from online students to analyze the effects of perceptions about teacher verbal immediacy and classroom community on students' level of satisfaction, perceived learning, and online discussion frequency. Using convenience sampling, 214 students were recruited from undergraduate and graduate…