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The article offers information on action research that implements online learning community (OCL) software to foster conversation at a specific graduate school. It mentions that the design of the research is informed by theories of conversation, online learning, social networking, and by popular Web 2.0 technologies. It notes that the application is oriented towards and controlled by individuals rather than being centered on courses. It concludes that the stakeholders appreciated and found value in the online learning community.

This study attempts to reconcile viewpoints on the role of errors in the design of computer-based training (CBT) systems. From one perspective, errors are detrimental to learning; from another, they can be beneficial. The results of an experiment are presented and discussed. When a CBT system is designed to allow learners to correct their own errors, they learn significantly more than when errors are prevented. When learners are allowed only to correct errors that others have made, they do not learn significantly more than when errors are prevented. Implications for the design of CBT systems and possibilities for future research are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: Many students who participate in online courses experience frustration and failure because they are not prepared for the demanding and isolated learning experience. A traditional learning theory known as self-directed learning (SDL) is a foundation that can help establish features of a personalized system that helps students improve their abilities to manage their overall learning activities and monitor their own performance. Additionally, the system enables collaboration, interaction, feedback, and the much-needed support from the instructor and students' peers. A Web 2.0 social-technology application, MediaWiki, was adopted as the platform from which incremental features were developed to utilize the fundamental concepts of SDL. Students were able to customize content by setting specific learning goals, reflecting on their learning experiences, self-monitoring activities and performances, and collaborating with others in the class. SDL skills exist to some degree in all learners, this study finds that students' SDL abilities can improve when a course adopts a personalized and collaborative learning system that enables the students to be more proactive in planning, organizing, and monitoring their course activities. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• Administration of an opioid antagonist, nalmefene, altered operant learning in laying hens. • Nalmefene suppressed both learning and performance of three tasks. • Opioid system likely plays a role in mediating rewarding experiences for laying hens during operant learning. There is limited research into mesolimbic function specific to birds and, specifically, how neurobiological reward mechanisms affect learning in domestic laying hens (Gallus gallus domesticus). A more thorough understanding of these mechanisms has implications for the improvement of welfare. Reward is proposed to involve two separate processes of 'wanting' regulated by dopamine and 'liking' regulated by opioids. This study examined the effect the opioid antagonist, nalmefene, on learning in domesticated hens. Eighteen Isa Brown hens were randomly assigned into either a saline or nalmefene treatment group. Hens in the saline group (N = 9) received 0.9 % saline (0.5 mL/kg pectoral muscle injection). Hens in the nalmefene treatment group (N = 9) were administered an opioid antagonist (0.4 mg/kg nalmefene in 0.9 % saline pectoral muscle injection) to disrupt the reward pathway. Prior to administration of treatments, hens were habituated to the training table, cup and trainer. Training occurred over three consecutive days on a series of three tasks using operant conditioning. Hens were dosed with either saline or nalmefene thirty minutes prior training. Hens were trained for one five minute session each day. Learning tasks included (1) pecking a target, (2) colour stimulus discrimination, and (3) pecking a target on cue presentation. All tasks were trained by the same trainer who was blind to treatment, using clicker training to shape responses. By the final day of training (Day 3), more saline hens had completed Task 1 and Task 2 than hens that received nalmefene (P < 0.0001). No hens in the nalmefene treatment group completed any training task. This study demonstrates that hens treated with an opioid antagonist failed to learn any tasks during operant training sessions, using a food reinforcer, over three days. We show that hens did not learn when the ability to experience reward is blocked, providing evidence that performing operant tasks is rewarding to hens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]