Susan D. Moisey

Reports on the first iteration of an online teacher professional development (oTPD) “courselet” grounded in constructionist theory and activities within a social networking site for educators. Focused on Robotics and Hands‑on Activities in the Classroom, the courselet enabled just‑in‑time, ongoing professional development. Findings highlight needs for flexible access, resource sharing, and support for constructionist pedagogies, and suggest potential for sustaining a community of practice around robotics via social‑network‑enabled environments.

Within a graduate instructional design course using asynchronous online discussions, this study examined relationships among community cohesion, patterns of participation in computer‑mediated conferencing (CMC), course/program satisfaction, and other variables. Using Rovai’s Classroom Cohesion Scale, results showed a significant positive correlation between community cohesion and passive CMC involvement (reading posts), but not with more active posting. Community cohesion was also positively related to course satisfaction (both Connectedness and Learning Community subscales) and, for Connectedness, to program satisfaction.

Explores barriers and facilitators encountered when graduate students developed instructional materials that incorporated learning objects or created learning objects themselves. Qualitative analysis identified three facilitating factors and nine barriers related to skills, knowledge, tools, and processes. The authors conclude that improving success with learning objects requires reducing the identified barriers and strengthening the facilitating factors across design and development workflows.

A qualitative study using semi‑structured email interviews with four Western Canadian women entrepreneurs explored how the Internet supports informal business‑related learning. From a sociocultural perspective, participants valued the Internet’s support for learner control in accessing informational capital (web resources) and for connectivity to social capital (email). A taxonomy suggests learning ranged from autonomous to relational, and also included incidental and social (tacit) learning. Implications for practice and directions for further research are discussed.

Describes characteristics, enrollment and completion rates, and support services for 604 students with disabilities in Athabasca University undergraduate courses (1998–2001). Over half reported physical disabilities; others reported learning, psychological, visual, or hearing impairments. Overall completion (including early withdrawals) was 45.9%, lower than the general AU rate. Most students received multiple accommodations via the Office for Access for Students with Disabilities; receiving more types of supports correlated with somewhat higher course success, and certain disabilities aligned with particular supports.

Adults with developmental disabilities in Northeast Alberta face barriers to learning and community participation related to disability, distance, and life circumstances. This article reports on the design and early experience of a virtual community intended to improve access to information, communication, and mutual support for adults with developmental disabilities and their families/guardians. The initiative sought to create opportunities for networking, sharing experiences, and learning from one another in ways that local options could not provide due to geography and limited services.