1. Message from the Chair
2. Retrieval Instructions for Articles
3. Table of Contents and Abstracts
4. Editorial Board
5. Copyright Statement

Dear IPCT-J Readers,

This issue's message

Regards,
Zane Berge, Publisher
Interpersonal Computing and Technology
berge@umbc.edu

2. Retrieval Instructions for Articles

WORLD WIDE WEB

IPCT-J has its own WEB pages, where you can retrieve current and back issues:

URL http://www.emoderators.com/ipct-j/index.html

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2. Contents

COLLABORATIVE DESIGN, CONSTRUCTIVIST LEARNING, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IMMERSION, & ELECTRONIC COMMUNITIES: A CASE STUDY

Johanna Olson Alexander

California State University, Bakersfield

ABSTRACT

Information technologies have provided an opportunity for teaching faculty and library-information faculty to combine expertise and resources to change, develop, augment, and enhance instructional course design. Collaboration of teaching and library faculty capitalizes on the content expertise of the professor and the productive use of information resources and technology by the librarian. This article describes a collaborative instructional design project using constructivist theory, exploratory and resource-based learning, electronic communities, and integrated information technology immersion. Learning outcomes for student and faculty participants are discussed and analyzed in relationship to pertinent research and theory. Recommendations for future enhancements are presented.

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AN EXPLORATION OF PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS OF USING NETWORKED-BASED COMPUTER MEDIATED COMMUNICATION IN THE COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE CLASSROOM

Cheol-Houn Lee

ABSTRACT

As the ever growing use of computer networking is becoming realized in the domain of communication, many attempts have also been made to explore the pedagogical implication of Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) in the communicative language classroom. Many brilliant concepts and observations about CMC applications in the language classroom have been discussed in terms of the pedagogical advantages of employing asynchronous CMC (such as e-mail) and synchronous CMC (such as MOO) in the language classroom. However, little has been discussed specifically concerning why and how text-based CMC can be used to help language learners improve spoken fluency and how CMC technology needs to be shaped and adapted to meet the goal of communicative language learning. This is because there is little understanding of the connection between how SL (Second Language) learners learn language in terms of improving communicative competence and how the characteristics of synchronous/asynchronous CMC can support such a learning process, a practical model of CMC application in the communicative language classroom is not yet feasible for language teachers and students. Since most of CMC, except for video conferencing, is text-based communication allowing little oral interaction within the networking application, there remains a lot of room to explore how the development of computer networking technology can be directed to help learners convert the experience of language structure through text-based communication to spoken fluency.

In this paper, I will attempt to explore how second language learners become communicatively fluent through text-based a CMC setting, thereby being able to discuss how CMC (both asynchronous and synchronous) should be adapted and shaped to support such language learners' cognitive processes of language learning for communicative purposes. In doing so, I will discuss what problems are encountered in the traditional language classroom to show how CMC technology can be shaped to deal with those problems and to explore what features of CMC can be applicable to the language learning setting. A discussion of text-based features of CMC will be followed by exploring some of the practical models/activities for communicative language learning, which is a web-based simulated language learning.

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GENDER AND PARTICIPATION IN SYNCHRONOUS CMC: AN IRC CASE STUDY

Concetta M. Stewart, Temple University
Stella F. Shields, Fordham University
Dominique Monolescu, Temple University
John Charles Taylor, Temple University

A considerable amount of research has been done on both the gender dynamics in face-to-face communication as well as in asynchronous, mediated discussion groups such as email distribution lists. This study, however, focuses on real time, mediated communication, specifically the Internet Relay Chat (IRC). Gender differences with respect to on-line participation and language styles are examined. Results of the questionnaire showed that although all of the participants reported IRC as easy to use, men generally liked the experience better, while women observed that people were being ignored. Analysis of the transcripts also reveals that men always sent the most messages in each group, while women always sent the least, ad men always began and ended each session. There was also a noticeable difference in the type of language used by men and women, with men also more likely to take charge.

ABSTRACT

This is a book about the evolution of digital media, from the alphabet to contemporary computer-mediated communication and education. Levinson takes an optimistic position on technology, and favors a laissez-faire approach to media regulation

Citation: Berge, Z. L. & Collins, M. (1998). Wired together: The on-line classroom in K-12. Volumes 1 thru 4. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.

Reviewed by Pixy Ferris

ABSTRACT

This book not only asks the right questions about the effective use of computer technology in the classroom, but answers the questions from a sound pedagogical foundation, and provides effective strategies and models for the incorporation of computers into education. Taken together, the nineteen essays in Wired Together have the potential to become an invaluable resource to educators.

ASSOCIATE EDITORS
Thomas Berner	The Pennsylvania State University, Journalism & American Studies
Paulo A. Dasilva	Military Institute of Engineering, San Paulo, Brazil
William Eadie	Speech Communication Association, Associate Director
Sharmila Pixy Ferris	The Willam Paterson College of New Jersey Department of Communication
Alice Horning	Oakland University, English and Rhetoric
Vladimir Klonowski	Institute of Biocybernetics and Biomedical Engineering, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw
Donald Kraft	Louisiana State University, Computer Science
Paul J. Lippert	East Stroudsburg State University, Pennsylvania, Communications
Edward Mabry	University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Communication
Rory McGreal	Executive Director, TeleEducation New Brunswick, Canada
J. Michael Metz	University of Central Florida, Department of Radio/Television
David Schroeder	Valparaiso University, Business Administration
David Sims	University of Prince Edward Island, Canada, Veterinary Medicine
Wendy Snetsinger	The Pennsylvania State University, Instructional Systems
Lance Strate	Fordham University, Communication and Media Studies