Research on peer reviewing has revealed that comments received from peer reviewers are helpful when it comes to making revisions in an individual's writing, but the role of providing comments to peer writers has been little explored despite the potential value of such research. In this study, we explored how student reviewers learn by reviewing peer drafts in the context of reciprocal peer reviewing. Undergraduate students in an introductory physics course participated in this study as part of their course activities. Participants wrote technical research drafts, reviewed three or four peer drafts, and revised their own drafts in the SWoRD system. A total of 3,889 comment segments were analyzed in two dimensions: (a) evaluation (strength vs. weakness) and (b) scope (surface, micromeaning, and macro-meaning). We found that providing weakness comments for micromeaning and strength comments for macro-meaning improved the reviewers' writing qualities. In addition, reviewers' initial writing skills and the quality of reviewed peer drafts influenced the types of comments given. The results are discussed, along with their implications for improved writing through reviewing.

BACKGROUNDEthical issues pervade engineering practice. Ethical problems are ill-structured with alternative solutions, perspectives, and rationales for justifying solutions to ethical problems. We describe studies examining argumentation as a pedagogical strategy for engaging engineering students in ethical problem solving. PURPOSE (HYPOTHESIS)Previous studies by the authors showed that arguing for solutions to ethical problems is an effective strategy for helping students to learn how to address multiple perspectives in support of ethical problems. However, from an argumentative perspective, a significant weakness in student solutions to ethical problems is conceiving and rebutting counterarguments. DESIGN/METHODIn two experiments, engineering students constructed argumentative solutions to everyday engineering ethics problems in a complex hypertext representing multiple perspectives. Experiment 1 compared the effects of arguing against one's own solution versus solutions recommended by others. Experiment 2 evaluated the effects of providing examples of counterarguments on justifications for students' solutions. RESULTSExperiment 1 showed that students develop more and higher quality counterarguments to arguments produced by someone else. Experiment 2 showed that examples of counterarguments are not effective in helping students generate counterarguments. Rather, constructing their own counterarguments is more generative and therefore more effective for helping students identify and rebut alternative solutions. CONCLUSIONSEngineering students can learn to meaningfully address ethical issues; however, more sustained treatments are necessary to help students to transfer those skills more broadly.

In this article, we aim to provide a developmental approach to understanding adult students' learning experiences of undertaking university-level study to completion at an open university, by employing a notion of "becoming". With the rapid growth of a number of online course offerings, there are an increasing number of adult learners entering or returning to universities. Despite the growing number of non-traditional adult students in online higher education, little is known about the dynamic processes of adult distance learning, through which adult students struggle to develop their learning ability, to balance their life and study, and to become self-regulated learnersultimately competent selves and lifelong learners. Therefore, this article describes ten adult students' learning experiences from their enrolment in a distance programme to their completion of the programme many years later and deconstructs common assumptions of adult distance learners: namely, that they are a homogenous group with intrinsic and static characteristics that spring from their adultness or matureness.

a b s t r a c t a r t i c l e i n f oNumerous studies have explored the affordances of 3D virtual worlds. Although previous studies indicated that virtual worlds would be helpful for experiential and collaborative learning through enhancing physical and social presence, few studies have investigated what determines physical and social presence and what are their roles in learning and teaching in virtual worlds. The current study investigates the influences of individual differences such as age, gender, and epistemological beliefs on physical and social presence. This study also investigates the influences of physical and social presence on situational interest and perceived achievement in virtual role-play. The role-play activity allowed pre-service teachers (n = 151) to teach their peers in realistic classroom contexts within Second Life and to reflect on their language use as teachers. This study found that pre-service teachers' age and epistemological beliefs significantly influenced their physical and social presence in the virtual world. This finding implies that physical and social presence are influenced not only by the representational fidelity of virtual worlds but also by individual differences. In addition, physical and social presence positively influenced situational interest and perceived achievement. More attention should be paid to the roles of physical and social presence in teaching and learning in virtual worlds.