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<span>In response to recent social, economic, and pedagogical challenges to tertiary-level teaching and learning, universities are increasingly investigating and adopting e-learning as a way to engage and motivate students. This paper reports on the first year of a two-year (2009-2010) qualitative multiple case study research project in New Zealand. Using perspectives from activity theory and the scholarship of teaching, the research has the overall goal of documenting, developing, and disseminating effective and innovative practice in which e-learning plays an important role in tertiary teaching. A "snapshot" of each of the four 2009 cases and focused findings within and across cases are provided. This is followed by an overall discussion of the context, "within" and "across" case themes, and implications of the research.</span>

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This paper reports on an in depth evaluation of a distance format Applied Linguistics course in which web based computer conferencing was used as a tool to support student knowledge construction and collaborative group work. Students and their teacher reflected on what they expected from the course, whether or not computer supported discussion was effective for personal learning, and how e-learning environments could be improved. The findings are reported within categories of social cohesion and the role of online discussion to support meaningful experiential learning. More generally, the paper discusses how situated evaluation can help educators gain a better understanding of the roles of task, structure, and language use in e-learning environments.

This paper will report on findings from the author's on-going study of the use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) to support postgraduate second-language teacher education. Students enrolled in a distance education CALL course used web-based conferencing to support both required and optional computer-based assignments. Transcripts of their online communication were analyzed to determine what they discussed and whether social cohesion was enhanced through use of CMC. Findings from the study are reported according to organizing categories of social interaction and different tasks that can affect online communicative exchanges. More broadly, the article discusses curriculum design features and their implications for technology-enhanced instructional practice.

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Over the past few decades, the number of people enrolled in doctoral study has increased dramatically across the world. In practical terms, this has meant that universities now receive increasingly diverse students with regard to ethnicity, age, language, culture, and background preparedness for higher degree study. Students can, and often do, begin their doctorates with scant understanding of the precise expectations and rigorous demands of thesis writing. Yet, regardless of academic discipline, successful completion of a doctorate requires a written thesis. To help students master thesis writing requirements, a proliferation of self-help writing books, blogs, specific writing techniques, and programmes have emerged. This paper describes an approach developed at a New Zealand university where a generic doctoral writing programme, the Doctoral Writing Conversation, has evolved to make explicit to students the implicit language understanding that accomplished academic writers use to produce text. Utilising the idea of language as a tool to mediate understanding, the paper will explore how the programme is structured and functions but will also describe some of the insights I have gained along the way. ARTICLE HISTORY

Features of Japanese education and student learning styles influenced the authors' design, development, and implementation of a computer-assisted language learning curriculum to support English writing and computing skills. The authors' research extended over a four-year period while teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in a University setting in central Japan. This discussion covers implementation of computer-mediated communication (CMC) and the language and computing skills students need to acquire for cross-cultural e-mail exchanges. CMC syllabus design within the Japanese context and within a second language acquisition (SLA) research framework is also discussed.