However, there are considerable obstacles preventing the widespread implementation of ALNs. These obstacles, and the associated forms of opposition and resistance, must be analyzed in an organizational context that examines the prevailing academic culture and the widely institutionalized value placed on classroom-based teaching and learning. The recognition of the classroom as a sacred institution in higher education, and a major source of professorial identity, is a necessary first step toward developing strategies for organizational change and pedagogical transformation. The study concentrates on data amassed for the fall 1997 semester. The study supports the view that when a sensible pedagogic approach is embraced that affords the students with avenues to communicate about their learning, ALN can produce real efficiency gains in courses without sacrificing the quality of instruction.
Educators believe that group projects are an increasingly essential part of classroom assignments.
The working world is one of working groups, and student exposure to the benefits and pitfalls of group work is assumed to be beneficial for all students. However, in distance education and other asynchronous learning environments, group work may be difficult to incorporate in the classroom. This study reports the impacts of adding groupware technology to project groups in accounting classes. Students who preferred a more visual learning style reported that the use of groupware enhanced their group project experience and helped the project run more smoothly. Students who preferred learning more verbally found significantly less enhancement from the use of groupware and did not feel that the groupware helped the project process as much.