This paper presents the results of an inductive, interpretive analysis of the perspectives of 42 Canadian high school distance education (DE) teachers on asynchronous and synchronous online teaching. The paper includes a conceptual overview of the affordances and constraints of each form of teaching. Findings provided insight into the following aspects of asynchronous and synchronous online teaching: degree of use; the tools used; the contexts in which each occur; students' preferences; and limitations. Pedagogy emerged as more important than media for both asynchronous and synchronous online teaching. Synchronous online teaching relied on teacher-rather than student-centred approaches. Asynchronous online teaching provided support for selfpaced, highly independent forms of secondary DE supplemented by synchronous online teaching for answering questions and troubleshooting.

This paper describes how activity theory (AT) and its principle of contradictions may be relied on to guide research in educational technology. The paper begins with a theoretical overview of AT and of its principle of contradictions. It follows with a synthesis of studies that have used AT as a lens to study information and communication technologies (ICTs) in educational contexts. We analyse educational technology studies that have focused on contradictions in terms of their underlying assumptions, research questions, approaches to analysis, findings, and implications. The lens of AT and contradictions provides a versatile tool to inquire into various aspects of educational technology use, taking into account individual and institutional perspectives as well as evolution over time. AT and its principle of contradictions provide insights into how transformation may occur with use of ICTs in educational contexts.

<p>Rapport has been recognized as important in learning in general but little is known about its importance in distance education (DE). The study we report on in this paper provides insights into the importance of rapport in DE as well as challenges to and indicators of rapport-building in DE. The study relied on interviews with 42 Canadian high-school DE teachers. Findings revealed that rapport is necessary in DE because of the absence of face-to-face communication. Challenges to building rapport relate to the geographic dispersion of students, the asynchronous nature of DE, teacher workload, limits of the software, teachers and students not seeing the need for rapport, and DE traditions. We identified six categories of rapport-building in DE as follows: <em>Recognizing the person/individual; Supporting and monitoring; Availability, accessibility, and responsiveness; Non text-based interactions; Tone of interactions; Non-academic conversation/interactions</em>. We break the categories into subcategories and provide indicators for each one. The indicators might also be used in contexts of DE teacher professional development as a springboard for discussion, or, more prescriptively, as guides to DE teacher behaviour. A follow-up study using a more fine-grained focus on specific indicators might provide insights into specific rapport-related behaviours.</p>

where she teaches courses in the Masters of Information Technology in Education program as well as undergraduate courses in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) integration and in second-language teaching. Prior to her appointment at Memorial, she was a school administrator. In 2000, she obtained her Ph.D. in Educational Technology from Université Laval in Québec, Canada. In the last 10 years, Dr. Murphy has authored approximately 100 publications. She is a frequent presenter at conferences worldwide, serves as a visiting professor at a university in Bangkok, Thailand, and has been a keynote speaker at several international conferences. In recognition of her accomplishments and contribution to the field, she was awarded the 2007 President's Award for Outstanding Research (Memorial University).

This article reports on a study conducted to gain insight into teachers' beliefs about elearning. Data collection relied on discussions conducted with 16 teachers from six high schools in two adjacent municipalities of one Canadian province. Data collection and analysis were guided by a framework of research-validated, learner-centred principles. Teachers' beliefs portrayed learners as digital natives who actively consume information and knowledge, engage emotionally with technology, and devote themselves to it. Beliefs about teaching referred to teachers as guides and mediators in the knowledge process who can give creative control of the technology, engage learners, and promote higher-order thinking skills. Beliefs about the Internet highlighted its potential to provide unlimited, authentic, purposeful, relevant, participatory, and individualized learning that can take place outside the classroom.