THE INTERNATIONAL HANDBOOK OF VIRTUAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS The International Handbook of Virtual Learning Environments Volume I Edited by Joel Weiss University of Toronto, Canada Jason Nolan Ryerson University, Canada Jeremy Hunsinger Virginia Tech, USA Peter Trifonas University of Toronto, Canada A C.I.P. Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress ISBN-10 1-4020-3802-X(HB) ISBN-13 978-1-4020-3802-0(HB) Published by Springer, P.O. Box 17, 3300 AA Dordrecht, The Netherlands. www.springer.com Printed on acid-free paper All Rights Reserved C 2006 Springer No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Printed in the Netherlands. Table of Contents Abstract xi Biographies of Editors and Contributors xiii Introduction: Virtual Learning and Learning Virtually 1 Joel Weiss I Foundations of Virtual Learning Environments 1 Rethinking the Virtual 37 Nicholas C. Burbules 2 A History of E-learning: Shift Happened 59 Linda Harasim 3 Towards Philosophy of Technology in Education: Mapping the Field 95 Michael A. Peters 4 A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late 20th Century 117 Donna Haraway 5 Teaching and Transformation: Donna Haraway’s “A Manifesto for Cyborgs” and Its Influence in Computer-Supported Composition Classrooms 159 Erin Smith and Cynthia L. Selfe 6 The Political Economy of the Internet: Contesting Capitalism, the Spirit of Informationalism, and Virtual Learning Environments 189 Jeremy Hunsinger 7 The Influence of ASCII on the Construction of Internet-Based Knowledge 207 Jason Nolan 8 Interaction, Collusion, and the Human–Machine Interface 221 Mizuko Ito 9 Technological Transformation, Multiple Literacies, and the Re-visioning of Education 241 Douglas Kellner v 10 Cyberpedagogy 269 Carmen Luke 11 Re-situating Constructionism 279 John W. Maxwell II Schooling, Professional Learning and Knowledge Management 12 Realizing the Internet’s Educational Potential 301 J. W. Schofield 13 Virtual Schools: Reflections on Key Issues 329 Glenn Russell 14 Time, Space, and Virtuality: The Role of Virtual Learning Environments in Time and Spatial Structuring 345 Robert S. Brown and Joel Weiss 15 Motivational Perspectives on Students’ Responses to Learning in Virtual Learning Environments 365 Mary Ainley and Christine Armatas 16 User Adaptation in Supporting Exploration Tasks in Virtual Learning Environments 395 Kinshuk, Taiyu Lin and Ashok Patel 17 Collaborative Text-Based Virtual Learning Environments 425 Rhonna J. Robbins-Sponaas and Jason Nolan 18 Designing Virtual Learning Environments for Academic Language Development 441 Eleni Skourtou, Vasilia Kourtis-Kazoullis, and Jim Cummins 19 Inclusive E-learning 469 Jutta Treviranus and Vera Roberts 20 Displacing Student–Teacher Equilibrium in Virtual Learning Environments 497 Joanna Black vi 21 Rural South African Teachers “Move Home” in an Online Ecology 525 Elizabeth Henning 22 Virtual Communities of Practice 563 Kathryn Hibbert and Sharon Rich 23 Increasing the Democratic Value of Research through Professional Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) 581 Lisa Korteweg and Jane Mitchell 24 Virtual Learning Environments in Higher Education “Down Under” 609 Brian Pauling 25 Technology and Culture in Online Education: Critical Reflections on a Decade of Distance Learning 653 Tim W. Luke 26 A Global Perspective on Political Definitions of E-learning: Commonalities and Differences in National Educational Technology Strategy Discourses 673 Yong Zhao, Jing Lei, and Paul F.Conway 27 An Overview of Virtual Learning Environments in the Asia-Pacific: Provisos, Issues, and Tensions 699 David Hung, Der-Thanq Chen, and Angela F.L. Wong 28 Global Online Education 723 Steve McCarty, Begum Ibrahim, Boris Sedunov, and Ramesh Sharma 29 Global Virtual Organizations for Online Educator Empowerment 789 Nick Bowskill, Robert Luke, and Steve McCarty 30 An Online Journal as a Virtual Learning Environment: The Case of the Teachers College Record 821 Gary Natriello and Michael Rennick 31 Professional Development & Knowledge Management via Virtual Spaces 849 Noriko Hara and Rob Kling vii III Out-Of-School Virtual Learning Environments 32 Cemeteries, Oak Trees, and Black and White Cows: Newcomers’ Understandings of the Networked World 873 Vicki L. O’Day, Mizuko Ito, Annette Adler, Charlotte Linde, and Elizabeth D. Mynatt 33 The eLibrary and Learning 895 Peter Brophy 34 Beyond Museum Walls: An Exploration of the Origins and Futures of Web-Based, Museum Education Outreach 915 Kevin Sumption 35 Genealogical Education: Finding Internet-Based Educational Content for Hobbyist Genealogists 939 Kylie Veale 36 Downtime on the Net: The Rise of Virtual Leisure Industries 961 Jackie Cook 37 Education, Gaming, and Serious Play 999 Suzanne De Castell and Jennifer Jenson 38 E-learning Environments for Health Care: Advantages, Risks, and Implications 1019 Monica Murero and Giuseppe D’Ancona 39 E-Democracy: Media-Liminal Space in the Era of Age Compression 1039 Mark Balnaves, Lucas Walsh, and Brian Shoesmith 40 SonicMemorial.org—The Virtual Memorial as a Vehicle for Rethinking Virtual Learning Environments 1055 Mark Shepard 41 “Why don’t We Trade Places . ”: Some Issues Relevant for the Analysis of Diasporic Web Communities as Learning Spaces 1067 Vera Nincic 42 Exploring the Production of Race Through Virtual Learning Environments 1089 Melissa Altman and Radhika Gajjala viii 43 Engaging the Disney Effect: The Cultural Production of Escapism and Utopia in Media 1107 Peter Pericles Trifonas 44 “A Small World After All”: L. M. Montgomery’s Imagined Avonlea as Virtual Landscape 1121 Benjamin Lefebvre 45 Slash Fiction/Fanfiction 1141 Rochelle Mazar 46 A Critical Eye for the Queer Text: Reading and Writing Slash Fiction on (the) Line 1151 Rhiannon Bury IV Challenges for Virtual Learning Environments 47 Chromosoft Mirrors 1171 Jeff Noon 48 Net: Geography Fieldwork Frequently Asked Questions 1175 Martin Dodge and Rob Kitchin 49 Hacktivism: The How and Why of Activism for the Digital Age 1203 Michelle Levesque 50 Weblogs and Collaborative Web Publishing as Learning Spaces 1215 Alexander C. Halavais 51 Procedural Discourse Networks: Weblogs, Self-organizations and Successive Models for Academic Peer Review 1237 Brandon Barr 52 Wikis: Collaborative Virtual Learning Environments 1251 Naomi Augar, Ruth Raitman, and Wanlei Zhou 53 Partying Like it’s 1999: On the Napsterization of Cultural Artifacts Via Peer-to-Peer Networks 1271 John Logie ix 54 Virtual Harlem as a Collaborative Learning Environment: A Project of the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Electronic Visualization Lab 1289 Jim Sosnoski, Steve Jones, Bryan Carter, Ken McAllister, Ryan Moeller, and Ronen Mir 55 Video-as-Data and Digital Video Manipulation Techniques for Transforming Learning Sciences Research, Education, and Other Cultural Practices 1321 Roy D. Pea 56 ePresence Interactive Media and Webforum 2001: An Accidental Case Study on the Use of Webcasting as a VLE for Early Child Development 1395 Anita Zijdemans, Gale Moore, Ron Baecker, and Daniel P.Keating 57 Networked Scholarship 1429 Barry Wellman, Emmanuel Koku, and Jeremy Hunsinger 58 Analysis of Log File Data to Understand Behavior and Learning in an Online Community 1449 Amy Bruckman 59 Reconstructing the Fables: Women on the Educational Cyberfrontier 1467 James S. Dwight, Megan Boler, and Pris Sears 60 (Inorganic) Community Design Models and the Place of (In)appropriate Technology in International Development—What if More Than “Half the World” Wants Internet Access? 1495 Julia Dicum 61 Broadband Technologies, Techno-Optimism and the “Hopeful” Citizen 1525 Matthew Allen 62 The Matrix, or, the Two Sides of Perversion 1549 Slavoj Zi˘˘ zek 63 Learning by Being: Thirty Years of Cyborg Existemology 1571 Steve Mann Subject Index 1593 x Abstract What is virtual reality and how do we conceptualize, create, use, and inquire into learning settings that capture the possibilities of virtual life? The Interna- tional Handbook of Virtual Learning Environments was developed to explore Virtual Learning Environments (VLE’s), and their relationships with digital, in real life and virtual worlds. Three issues are explored and used as organizers for The Handbook. First, a distinction is made between virtual learning and learning virtually. Second, since the focus is on learning, an educational framework is developed as a means of bringing coherence to the available literature. Third, learning is de- fined broadly as a process of knowledge creation for transforming experience to reflect different facets of “the curriculum of life”. To reflect these issues The Handbook is divided into four sections: Foundations of Virtual Learning Environments; Schooling, Professional Learning and Knowledge Management; Out-of-School Learning Envi- ronments; and Challenges for Virtual Learning Environments. A variety of chapters representing different academic and professional fields are in- cluded. These chapters cover topics ranging from philosophical perspectives, historical, sociological, political and educational analyses, case studies from practical and research settings, as well as several provocative ‘classics’ origi- nally published in other settings.