Cases on Online Discussion and Interaction : Experiences and Outcomes

Discussion, whether in online or face-to-face environments, is central to attaining and disseminating information. Cases on Online Discussion and Interaction: Experiences and Outcomes contains examples of online discussions in a variety of contexts and for a variety of purposes, allowing readers to understand what is likely to facilitate discussion online, what is likely to encourage collaborative meaning-making, what is likely to encourage productive, supportive, engaged discussion, and what is likely to foster critical thinking. This book assembles cases that address an array of research methods, online communication media, forms of expression, communication contexts, and philosophical perspectives.

is Professor of Communication at The University of Southern Maine. He is the author of Meaning and Mind: An Intrapersonal Approach to Human Communication (1989), Human Communication on the Internet (2004, with Joan Aitken), co-editor of Intrapersonal Communication Processes (1995), as well as numerous articles and chapters. He wrote the entry, ""Cognition,"" for the International Encyclopedia of Communication, 2008. He has been teaching since 1974. He teaches a range of courses in communication with cognition, discourse and meaning as underlying themes. He developed and taught the course ""Intergenerational Communication and the Internet,"" in which college students mentored older adults in Internet use. He was named The Russell Chair, 2009 - 2011 in Philosophy and Education for a two-year period. The distinction carries the responsibility of presenting one or more public lectures on issues in education and/or philosophy during each of the two years. He was awarded recognition for STELLAR scholarship and teaching, University of Southern Maine (USM) 2003 and 2007. He has received a Center for Technology-Enhanced Learning Development Grant at USM (2007) to develop the course, Research Methods, for online delivery. In 2009 he received a Alfred P. Sloan Foundation grant to expand the online capacity for his department to deliver the major in communication and media studies. His resume is available at: http://www.usm.maine.edu/com/resume.html. His current research interest explores discussion online versus in the classroom. He is trying to find out what facilitates active and high quality discussion in education.

is Professor of Communication and Leadership, at Park University. Previously, she taught at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, University of Louisiana-Lafayette, and University of Arkansas-Fayetteville. Aitken's main lines of research have been in Internet communication and communication education. She has completed 40 graduate hours as an online student and taught online courses for three universities. During her career, Aitken obtained $3.5 million in competitive grant funding, including $1.5 million as the primary grant writer, and others as a collaborative team member. She has taught internationally in Jamaica and the People's Republic of China. A former editor of the National Communication Association's Communication Teacher, Aitken has published several books and more than 50 articles and book chapters. She has co-authored or co-edited three books with her close colleague and friend, Leonard J. Shedletsky.

Aitken's most recent book was coauthored with Roy M. Berko and Andrew D. Wolvin, is entitled ICOMM: Interpersonal Concepts and Competencies, and published by Rowman & Littlefield.