Jason Huett

Improving the Motivation and Retention of Online Students Through the Use of ARCS-Based E-Mails

Abstract This study examined the use of ARCS-based, motivational mass e-mail messages designed to improve the motivation and retention of students enrolled in an online, entry-level, undergraduate computer applications course. Data from the Course Interest Survey, based on Kellers ARCS model, were gathered and analyzed for two online groups (one treatment and one control) and compared with a face-to-face class for differences in attention, relevance, confidence, satisfaction, and overall motivation. Based on the analysis, this article argues that simple, cost-effective, and easy-to-design mass e-mail messages show potential for addressing some of the motivational needs and retention concerns of online students.

Learning and Instructional Technologies for the 21st Century

In preface, Leslie Moller, an Associate Professor and former Chair of the Technology for Education and Training Division at the University of South Dakota, introduces the book and explains readers how the first AECT Research Symposia resulted a series of reading from leading scholars in instructional technology field. He admits the importance of technology with the main advantages of enabling advanced learning designs, paradigms and learning interactions and adds ―..without consideration to the process of learning and all that it involves, technology, by itself, is not going to make a real difference.‖ He also implies that what we should do is not just adding better or more technology to an existing system but do start over and create an entirely new system.

Unconstrained Learning: Principles for the Next Generation of Distance Education

Distance education has had a dramatic effect on learning in the last decade. While providers have experienced both academic and financial success, now is not the time to be complacent. Rather, we must begin to determine the direction of the next generation of distance education. In this chapter, three generations of distance education are outlined. The first is characterized by correspondence courses; the second is identified by early internet use; and the newly proposed third generation of distance education is characterized by an emerging technology-enabled learning space that brings to distance education a volume, depth, and breadth that eclipses early internet capacity. Ten principles for the next generation of distance education are offered, including a paradigm for learning experience design that not only incorporates sound instructional design practice but also encourages instructional designers to explore the inherent strengths of the technology-enabled space to design dynamic learning experiences.

What's all the FOSS?: How Freedom and Openness Are Changing the Face of Our Educational Landscape

Philosophical, financial, practical, and pedagogical considerations have prompted educators to take a serious look at Free and Open Source Software FOSS as an alternative to proprietary software. To better understand the overall concept of FOSS, this article provides a brief history of FOSS as well as a summary of its definition, philosophy, and major areas of research, including strengths and limitations, diffusion in education and educational uses as well as a look at the opportunities, issues, and challenges associated with FOSS. In conclusion, the authors speculate how FOSS, along with advances in E-Learning and other emerging technologies, will positively shape our educational future.