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This exploratory research documents the use of the web conference technology WebEx™ to expand the variety of focus group data collection methods. Drawn from four synchronous online focus groups with older adults from across Canada, who create and use online personal learning networks to enhance and support their informal self-directed learning processes, these reflections are elaborated to include lessons learned regarding recruitment, group moderation, data triangulation, and the implementation of web-based conferencing. Recommendations for research practice include consideration of research populations, geographical location, research topics, web conference systems, moderation processes, and researcher biases. This application of the WebEx™ platform to conduct synchronous online focus groups demonstrates the validity of integrating online communication tools into the research context, thus bridging the gap between the traditional face-to-face and online focus group methods and heeding the call to researchers to continue to share their experiences of novel approaches to conducting educational research.

For the past two decades, there has been persistent debate around whether there is a difference between the fields of instructional design (ID) and learning design (LD). While differences in the two approaches are certainly apparent, there are cross-over points that can provide ID and LD researchers and practitioners with opportunities for dialogue about the purposes and remit of research-based practices for optimal design. Though potentially disruptive, initiating dialogues among learning and instructional designers could lead to more thorough and critical analyses of both ID and LD repertoires. Should boundary crossings occur, there is a potential for a "third space" for the contemplation, research, and practice of design. A goal of this article is to use the notion of Van Gogh's Yellow House as an anchoring metaphor for the third space -- a location for shared discourse, inspiration, collaboration, and challenge for a community of designers of/for learning. Using the impressionist and expressionist terminology to help elucidate the ways of thinking of designers of both traditions, this article examines the history, underlying philosophical approaches, methodologies, and design goals of ID and LD. We conclude that the emergence of a third space for design can help us move beyond the LD and ID dichotomies. We suggest that a socio-materialist perspective alleviates issues of incommensurability by acknowledging ontological multiplicity.

Information and communication technologies have had an enormous impact on how we live, work, communicate, re-create, and connect with others. However, there is a paucity of research regarding older adult learners' adoption and adaptation of Internet-based tools, techniques, and resources to support their informal, self-directed lifelong learning goals. This research contributes to our understanding of "how" and "why" older adults leverage the Internet and social media tools to create, develop, and maintain "online personal learning networks" (oPLNs) for the purposes of self-directed knowledge acquisition, personal development, and the facilitation of healthy aging.

The study investigated how retired older adults (age 55+) use the Internet and social media to facilitate informal, self-directed learning, specifically, exploring how they use mobile devices (smartphones, tablets) to enhance, access and maintain their online personal learning networks (oPLNs), facilitating "on-the-go" learning. Following a mixed methods approach, Phase I of this two-phase research project implemented a 52 question online survey distributed to 385 (n = 218 males, n = 165 females) retired older adults (age 55+) from across Canada. Results indicated 634% use mobile devices to access the Internet outside the home, 589% use a mobile device to specifically communicate with their oPLNs, and 468% use apps to support their mobile learning. Implications for the use of mobile devices to empower older adults' personalized learning opportunities is discussed.

This paper examined a particular online learning activity, embedded within a computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environment incorporated as part of the larger context of participation in a unique national agricultural leadership development program. Process outcomes such as a high level of collaboration and active peer facilitation as well as demonstration by participants of a variety of holistic thinking skills were observed via a transcript analysis of online interactions. This led to speculations that the particular design features embedded within the context of the online collaborative "issues analysis project" (IAP), were thought to clearly reflect a constructivist approach. Methods to confirm this included evaluating the learning activity in light of nine characteristics of an authentic task in CSCL environments, and using activity theory as a conceptual framework with which to further examine the extent to which the IAP reflected the values and principles of a constructivist online learning environment.

Many commentators have argued that Canadian university continuing education has gradually abandoned its historical commitment to social justice in educational programming in favour of a market-oriented approach. Although such literature clearly expresses a deeply-felt sentiment among continuing educators, it has tended to have two problems. First, many proponents of this view have not explained what they mean by social justice, which makes informed discussion of this issue difficult. Second, in praising historical adult education as a social justice movement, many commentators have neglected to provide coherent and pragmatic alternatives for the present. This article addresses these two problems by providing a dialogic theory of social justice, derived from political philosophy, as a conceptual framework to examine ways in which a new understanding of social justice could be practically applied in both strategic and program planning for university continuing education. This conceptual framework is then used to guide and inform a discussion of how information and communications technologies (ICT) can be used by university-based continuing education units to develop and implement learning opportunities designed to empower persons and organizations working for social justice. (Contains 1 endnote.)

Explores the relationship between learners' sociodemographic characteristics and their level of participation in computer conferencing. Discusses six variables: sex, age, education level, occupation, residence in urban or rural areas, and region of residence in Canada; and suggests implications for the design and facilitation of computer conferences. (Author/LRW)

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