Stephen Downes reviews Facebook, one of the most widely popular of social networking sites that has emerged in recent years. In his review, Downes notes that Facebook is distinctive because its stronger roots in the academic community, and he proposes that the site's varied and distinctive functions allow it to provide a very different model of…

This article describes two very different projects undertaken in the same basic writing course: collaborative ethnography and ACT test prep. At first glance, it appears that the work on collaborative ethnography accomplished our goal of creating better, more self-conscious writers while the work on test prep achieved our goal of creating better…

The University of Wollongong has been strategically exploring ePortfolios since 2002. Building on lessons learnt from student trials across two different disciplines in 2002/3 and 2006, the project team is on the verge of implementing a university wide ePortfolio tool customisable for all students across all faculties. This paper describes the…

Faculty and students in economics, literature, and medicine (including nursing) are frequent users of e-books. This study examines search behavior and use patterns of undergraduates majoring in the three subjects. The findings have particular relevance for publishers, vendors, content aggregators, classroom instructors, and librarians promoting…

Ever since Weblog emerged as an infusive online communication tool over the last decade, its impacts have been witnessed by the Internet society at large. Meanwhile, more and more universities and colleges are offering online classes enhanced by Web technology. In this article, we investigate the role of Weblog combined with face-to-face lectures…

The emerging field of advanced distance education delivers academic courses across time and distance, allowing educators and students to participate in a convenient learning method. "Methods and Applications for Advancing Distance Education Technologies: International Issues and Solutions" demonstrates communication technologies, intelligent…

Since it was coined by Tim O'Reilly in formulating the first Web 2.0 Conference in 2004, the term "Web 2.0" has definitely caught on as a designation of a second generation of Web design and experience that emphasizes a high degree of interaction with, and among, users. Rather than simply consulting and reading Web pages, the Web 2.0 generation is…

This paper analyses the rationale for the creation of multimedia texts, in the context of learning English in an economically and socially depressed context. Issues of implementation of macro-level language policies in a local context are particularly stringent when the macro-level approach is rendered impracticable for some reason (e.g. cost,…

Educational researchers are interested in whether what is learned in the classroom is transferred to new situations. This qualitative case study explores how computer-mediated communication, specifically web logs (blogs), can extend learning and facilitate transfer of learned concepts. Participants blogged for seven weeks about concepts related to…

Lack of student participation and intrinsic motivation in online learning environments is a challenge to instructional design. There are some online communities which overcome this challenge by attracting participants from diverse backgrounds to engage, learn, and share information within their context. Eksisozluk, an online collaborative…

The study reported on in this paper used a framework of benefits, challenges and solutions to categorize data from a design experiment using synchronous online communication for learning French as a second language (FSL). Participants were 92 Grade 6, FSL students and four teachers from urban and rural areas of Newfoundland, Canada. Data…

The interactive functions of weblogs facilitate computer-mediated peer reviews for collaborative writing. As limited research has been conducted on examining the training effects of peer reviews on students' peer comments, their revision quality, and their perceptions when composing in weblogs, the present case study aims to fill the gap. Thirteen…

Used wisely, academic technology empowers students to take responsibility for their own learning. "In Leonardo's Laptop," Ben Shneiderman provides teachers with a powerful framework, "Collect-Relate-Create-Donate" (CRCD), for designing student-centered learning opportunities using computers. Shneiderman developed his model by…

While Web 2.0 has no universal definition, it always refers to online interactions in which user groups both provide and receive content with the aim of collective intelligence. Since 2005, online software has provided Web 2.0 collaboration technologies, for little or no charge, that were formerly available only to wealthy organizations. Academic…

In this paper we present a history of the idea of Open Educational Resources, overview the current state of the Open Educational Resources movement, report on critical issues facing the field in the immediate future, and present two new projects to watch in 2009.