During the last decades, a shifting paradigm has occurred in the classroom in connection to the technological evolution. Due to digitalization a student in Sweden can discuss with a counterpart on the other side of the globe. The aim of this study is to examine how the role of telecollaboration has been researched in a primary school context. The study will include several methods that could benefit the use of virtual exchange projects. This investigation will briefly explain the terminology and history behind telecollaboration and how it can be used in a modern classroom environment. An explanation on how the findings have been explored will be included in the methodology component. Thereafter, the study will present the research from the chosen articles connected to the aim and research question. The presented research will further be compared and connected to each other. In the following component, the data found will be connected back to the theoretical hypothesis mentioned in the introduction as well as the Swedish syllabus for English education in the primary school. The implications from investigating this subject were due to the lack of thoroughly conducted research on younger participants, the outcome rendered inadequate. An evidence on the insufficiency was that hardly any prior investigations used control groups to validate their findings.

This study originally pursues determining how widely diffused Iowa Communications Network (ICN) is as a technology of distance education. To be clear, the question to be answered is: How do representative adopters of the ICN feel about using this technology? Theoretically, positive opinions of these adopters regarding the ICN as a technology of distance learning are viewed as indicating that the technology is fairly diffused. The representative adopters in this study are selected from among experts and educational leaders. Further in the study, it is also sought to explore how distance education might progress in the future. A major point of departure for the study is that favorable opinions toward an innovation help influence its diffusion. Extensive information is thus provided regarding theories of opinion leadership from late 19th century to present. Three different lines of thought are identified among these theories: imitation and modeling, influence from mass media, and influence from the Internet. The study has used these theories to develop three research tools. Two of these tools are used to measure the diffusion of the ICN. The last one is used to make predictions about the future of distance education. The story of the ICN is closely related to what distance education might be like in the coming times. Distance-learning tools would of course grow increasingly advanced. But virtual education that became refined through using the ICN seems to hardly go through drastic change in the foreseeable future.

The focus of this research is in the area of online learning policy. Online learning is rapidly gaining popularity and is becoming more and more an integral part of the K–12 education landscape. Such a study is important because there are very few policies that have been created to govern online learning differently than traditional brick-and-mortar classrooms. Utah’s Statewide Online Education Program (SOEP) has been largely marketed as policy that does transcend these barriers. This research uses a multidimensional mixed-method case study to evaluate the program. The findings from this research provide evidence that the SOEP falls short of providing policy that can guarantee implementation of the program’s goals and purposes and fails to ensure quality online learning for students. The main conclusions drawn from this study are that principals are hesitant to implement the SOEP because they are concerned about the potential loss of funding and a lack of confidence in the quality of online courses. This dissertation recommends the following: The creation of technology funding that guarantees full access to the Internet for all students, the creation of a performance-based assessment system for all students, and online learning in-service and professional development for both principals and teachers.

The focus of this research study was to determine how elementary students enrolled in virtual education classes performed on state assessments and final report card grades in Reading and Mathematics as compared with students enrolled in traditional classes, and to examine whether there was a difference in the successful course completion rates between the two groups. Five research questions guided this study concerning the relationship of successful course completion, final grades, and FCAT 2.0 achievement level scores and the variables of virtual and traditional education in the School District of Volusia County. This study is significant, as the movement of virtual learning is driven by economic factors and learning outcomes need to be considered in making instructional delivery decisions. Chi-square analysis suggested no statistical significant difference existed in either Reading or Mathematics successful course completion of students in virtual and traditional settings. Chi-square analyses and a one-sample t-test suggested there was no statistical significant difference in performance of virtual and traditional students on FCAT 2.0 Reading and Mathematics achievement levels. Although the Chi-square analyses showed no statistical significance in performance of virtual and traditional students on final report card grades in Reading and Mathematics, the one-sample t-tests suggested there was a statistically significant difference. When interpreting these results, caution should be taken as the virtual student population was extremely disproportionate to the traditional student population. Implications for practice and recommendations for future study are suggested in this study

The purpose of this study was to compare achievement results of students enrolled in traditional and virtual Algebra 1 courses in the School District of Volusia County, Florida and to identify which educational interventions are utilized by traditional and online teachers to promote student success, especially for at-risk populations. Two research questions guided this study. This study is significant, as school districts expand virtual options for K-12 students to meet legislative mandates and student demand, while also exploring and developing methods to ensure student success. Student scores on the Florida Algebra 1 End of Course Exam (EOC) were compared to determine what difference, if any, existed in the performance of students in traditional face-toface classrooms and virtual settings. Surveys were also distributed to traditional brick-andmortar and virtual teachers to identify which educational interventions were provided to at-risk students and to measure teacher perception of the relative effectiveness of those interventions in each setting. One-sample t-test results indicated a statistically significant difference in the mean scale scores of traditional and virtual students on the Florida Algebra 1 EOC. Survey responses indicated little variation in the interventions provided by teachers to at-risk students in each setting. Low effectiveness ratings for interventions in the Resources category, such as Mentors from the Community, warrant further investigation, as these responses run counter to previous research. Due to this study’s small sample and wide disparity between the number of traditional and virtual students, caution is advised in the interpretation of results.

No / The very word "digital" has acquired a status that far exceeds its humble dictionary definition. Even the prefix digital, when associ­ ated with familiar sectors such as radio, television, photography and telecommunications, has reinvented these industries, and provided a unique opportunity to refresh them with new start-up companies, equipment, personnel, training and working practices - all of which are vital to modern national and international economies. The last century was a period in which new media stimulated new job opportunities, and in many cases created totally new sectors: video competed with film, CDs transformed LPs, and computer graphics threatened traditional graphic design sectors. Today, even the need for a physical medium is in question. The virtual digital domain allows the capture, processing, transmission, storage, retrieval and display of text, images, audio and animation without familiar materials such as paper, celluloid, magnetic tape and plastic. But moving from these media to the digital domain intro­ duces all sorts of problems, such as the conversion of analog archives, multimedia databases, content-based retrieval and the design of new content that exploits the benefits offered by digital systems. It is this issue of digital content creation that we address in this book. Authors from around the world were invited to comment on different aspects of digital content creation, and their contributions form the 23 chapters of this volume.

<p>  </p> <p>Food safety educators and specialists are committed to closing the food safety education gap among different actors in the supply chain, from farm to fork. To accomplish it, they have to understand the needs of the target population to disseminate information and develop interventions. This thesis is divided into three case studies to explore needs assessments (Ch. 1 and 2) and program evaluation (Ch. 3). The first needs assessment (Ch.1) was developed due to a recent multistate outbreak linked to dried wood ear mushrooms. This study evaluated YouTube video content on the preparation of different wood ear mushrooms dishes and investigated the food safety risk associated with the handling practices. Practices such as rehydration procedures were identified as key food safety risk factors that need future exploration. The second needs assessment (Ch.2) was developed due to the impact of small- and medium-sized farms on USA agriculture. This study aimed to understand consumers’ perceptions and expectations of produce from small- and medium-sized farms and their desire to pay a premium price for food safety information. The findings showed that consumers perceived the produce from these farms to be fresher and of higher quality. Also, they considered food safety as a minimum quality standard and valued produce safety information. Finally, multiple needs assessments have shown that low-income populations, including minority groups, have unique barriers to adopting food safety practices. The third study (Ch.3) evaluated a dialogue-based virtual food safety program for English- and Spanish-speaking low-income populations using the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). Findings suggest that the TPB helped to discern the behavior change intentions of this population and showed that the intervention was able to increase participants’ knowledge, attitudes toward the behavior, perceived behavioral control (PBC), subjective norms, and behavior change intentions. Future work could modify the program to fit other minority populations in the USA.</p>

O presente trabalho tem como objeto de estudo a educação online, apresentando os principais elementos do ensino online colaborativo, com intuito de problematizar as características de virtualização, interação, colaboração e mediação, que representam fatores essenciais para a compreensão teórica e empírica dessa modalidade de ensino. Nesse contexto, a tese contribui com o debate sobre o tema em seus aspectos teórico-metodológicos, buscando compreender como essa modalidade pode amparar o ensino de maneira adequada e significativa, por meio de discussões acerca das tecnologias utilizadas, bem como às competências necessárias do professor mediador. Para isso, foi realizada uma pesquisa bibliográfica a respeito dos elementos essenciais à educação online colaborativa e das teorias de aprendizagem interacionistas associadas a essa modalidade. Em seguida, o trabalho apresenta um estudo de caso, desenvolvido a partir de uma análise estatística de correlação, extraída por meio de um questionário fechado aplicado em estudantes do ensino superior. Além disso, o estudo de caso traz também uma análise qualitativa, pautada nas respostas abertas dos estudantes. Dos resultados desta investigação, o que se pôde abstrair foi que existem algumas premissas fundamentais para o êxito dessa modalidade educacional. Dentre as principais, estão os recursos que o ambiente virtual do curso oferece, bem como a interação e colaboração entre os alunos e o papel desempenhado pelo professor nesse ambiente. Esses elementos constituem o alicerce da educação online, pois é por meio deles que ocorre a ação educativa. Dessa harmonia entre a tecnologia disponível e o papel do professor resulta o grande trunfo da educação online, que é a interação entre os agentes do ensino. Essa forma de organização possibilita a criação de uma comunidade virtual, que tem como base as teorias de aprendizagem interacionistas, fundamentando aspectos essenciais da educação online, como a presença social e a construção coletiva de conhecimento. / The present paper has as object of study online education, presenting the main elements of collaborative online education, aiming at questioning the characteristics of virtualization, interaction, collaboration and mediation, which represent key factors for theoretical and empirical understanding of this modality of teaching. In this context, this thesis contributes to the debate on the subject in its theoretical and methodological aspects, seeking to understand how this method can support the teaching in an appropriate and significant way, through the discussions on the technologies used, as well as the necessary skills of the teacher mediator. For this, we performed a literature search regarding the elements essential to collaborative online education and theories of interactional learning associated with this modality. Then, the paper presents a case study, developed based on a statistical analysis of correlation, extracted through a closed questionnaire applied to higher education students. Moreover, the case study also brings a qualitative analysis, based on the open-ended responses of the students. Based on the outcomes of this study, we could conclude that there are some basic requirements for the success of this educational modality. Among the main requirements are the resources the virtual education environment offers, as well as the interaction and collaboration between students and the role the teacher plays in this environment. These elements constitute the foundation of online education, because they represent the means for educational action to occur. From this harmony between the available technology and the role of the teacher comes the trump card of online education, which is the interaction between the agents of education. This form of organization allows the creation of a virtual community that is based on the theories of interactional learning, supporting key aspects of online education, such as social presence and collective construction of knowledge.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) guarantees certain rights and protections to students with disabilities enrolled in public schools, and to their families. Even though virtual schools are one of the fastest growing trends in public k-12 education, there is evidence that these schools may not be fully implementing IDEA for enrolled students with disabilities. There has been some concern regarding the appropriateness of virtual education for student with disabilities, as well as some concern for the spectrum of services being offered in virtual schools. This case study examined the implementation of special education supports and services in one public virtual k-12 school in the United States. Interviews, document review, and participant observations were used to collect data. Findings indicated that components of IDEA were not being universally implemented for students with disabilities. Limited programming options, large special education caseloads, and an over-dependence on parents and other non-teacher adults limits students’ access to Free and Appropriate Public Education, Least Restrictive Environment, and Individualized Education Plans. Issues were also identified in the provision of Appropriate Evaluation, Parent Participation, and Procedural Safeguards. Regardless of documented challenges, benefits to virtual education were noted. Parent, faculty and staff participants reported being happier with virtual school than brick-and-mortar. Faculty enjoys easy access to a multitude of academic data. Relationships and communication among community members was reported to be stronger than what was previously experienced in brick-and-mortar schools. Faculty, staff and parent participants discussed students’ emotional and physical safety as a benefit of virtual education.

O presente trabalho tem como objeto de estudo a educação online, apresentando os principais elementos do ensino online colaborativo, com intuito de problematizar as características de virtualização, interação, colaboração e mediação, que representam fatores essenciais para a compreensão teórica e empírica dessa modalidade de ensino. Nesse contexto, a tese contribui com o debate sobre o tema em seus aspectos teórico-metodológicos, buscando compreender como essa modalidade pode amparar o ensino de maneira adequada e significativa, por meio de discussões acerca das tecnologias utilizadas, bem como às competências necessárias do professor mediador. Para isso, foi realizada uma pesquisa bibliográfica a respeito dos elementos essenciais à educação online colaborativa e das teorias de aprendizagem interacionistas associadas a essa modalidade. Em seguida, o trabalho apresenta um estudo de caso, desenvolvido a partir de uma análise estatística de correlação, extraída por meio de um questionário fechado aplicado em estudantes do ensino superior. Além disso, o estudo de caso traz também uma análise qualitativa, pautada nas respostas abertas dos estudantes. Dos resultados desta investigação, o que se pôde abstrair foi que existem algumas premissas fundamentais para o êxito dessa modalidade educacional. Dentre as principais, estão os recursos que o ambiente virtual do curso oferece, bem como a interação e colaboração entre os alunos e o papel desempenhado pelo professor nesse ambiente. Esses elementos constituem o alicerce da educação online, pois é por meio deles que ocorre a ação educativa. Dessa harmonia entre a tecnologia disponível e o papel do professor resulta o grande trunfo da educação online, que é a interação entre os agentes do ensino. Essa forma de organização possibilita a criação de uma comunidade virtual, que tem como base as teorias de aprendizagem interacionistas, fundamentando aspectos essenciais da educação online, como a presença social e a construção coletiva de conhecimento. / The present paper has as object of study online education, presenting the main elements of collaborative online education, aiming at questioning the characteristics of virtualization, interaction, collaboration and mediation, which represent key factors for theoretical and empirical understanding of this modality of teaching. In this context, this thesis contributes to the debate on the subject in its theoretical and methodological aspects, seeking to understand how this method can support the teaching in an appropriate and significant way, through the discussions on the technologies used, as well as the necessary skills of the teacher mediator. For this, we performed a literature search regarding the elements essential to collaborative online education and theories of interactional learning associated with this modality. Then, the paper presents a case study, developed based on a statistical analysis of correlation, extracted through a closed questionnaire applied to higher education students. Moreover, the case study also brings a qualitative analysis, based on the open-ended responses of the students. Based on the outcomes of this study, we could conclude that there are some basic requirements for the success of this educational modality. Among the main requirements are the resources the virtual education environment offers, as well as the interaction and collaboration between students and the role the teacher plays in this environment. These elements constitute the foundation of online education, because they represent the means for educational action to occur. From this harmony between the available technology and the role of the teacher comes the trump card of online education, which is the interaction between the agents of education. This form of organization allows the creation of a virtual community that is based on the theories of interactional learning, supporting key aspects of online education, such as social presence and collective construction of knowledge.