The purpose of this study was to design portfolios as an instructional tool for English e-mail writing, in order both to enhance motivation and lessen English writing apprehension. The class was offered as an elective course of English for eighteen 2nd-year junior high school students and the class met 11 times with 50 minutes for each lesson from April to July of 2005. The participants answered both the pre- and the post-questionnaires including 19 items concerning English writing apprehension in each. The ANOVA revealed that writing apprehension significantly lessened in 11 out of 19 items. Particularly, the students' aversion to writing in English and English writing evaluation apprehension decreased. The reasons for these changes were discussed from four aspects of the ARCS motivational model in the viewpoints of both quantity and quality of data. As a result of this, it was found that the effects of portfolios, such as enhancement of motivation for further learning, peer evaluation and experiences of sharing of learning at conferencing, gave potential influences on the students' changes. Furthermore, the covariance structure analysis was administered for the purpose of investigating the relationship among the variables found in the portfolios, such as motivation and writing apprehension. The results of the analysis showed that enhancement of motivation could lessen writing apprehension.

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The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between PC and mobile phone use and mental and skill factors related to the digital divide. The mental aspects are computer anxiety (operation anxiety, computer avoidance and technology anxiety), and the skill aspects are handling skills of mobile phone functions and information handling skills. In order to examine the research questions, surveys (questionnaire method) were conducted on university students. As a result, users that mainly access the internet and e-mail through mobile phones feel stronger operation and technology anxiety than users who use both PCs and mobile phone for internet access and e-mail. Users that mainly access the internet and e-mail through mobile phones do so because 1) they experience anxiety when using a PC and 2) feel that PCs have a negative influence on society. Users that mainly access the internet and e-mail through mobile phones need to overcome these two aspects of computer anxiety for implementing PC use. No significant difference exists in skills between users that mainly access the internet and e-mail through mobile phones and those that use both PCs and mobile phones. Further research is necessary for re-examining the concept and measurement methods of computer skills.

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At the onset of the 21st century, the reality was that most schools had the connectivity to explore teaching and learning in unconventional ways. The spread of Internet access has contributed to unprecedented growth of adolescent -media interaction at school and outside of school. The use of technology outside of schools shows much possibility for providing valuable lessons about innovative learning environments for students and making students reflect on their own interactivity with media in everyday life. Thus, this research aims to explore and review effective methods about integrating adolescent-media interaction outside of school into classroom lessons. As a result, some findings were identified from research on media discourse analysis, game analysis using an activity theory approach, and an analysis of adolescent media communities.

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Advances in educational technology and the continued emergence of the Internet as a major source of global information have encouraged educators to take advantage of this growing array of resources and move beyond traditional face-to-face and distance education correspondence modes toward a rich technology-mediated e-learning environment. Moreover, ready access to multimedia at the desk-top has provided an opportunity for educators to develop flexible, engaging and interactive learning resources, incorporating multimedia and hypermedia. This paper presents the findings of a study that investigated individual factors influencing academics' adoption and integration of educational technology at an Australian university, for the purpose of developing interactive multimodal technology-mediated distance education courses. These distance education courses include a range of multimodal learning objects and multiple representations of content in order to cater for different learning styles and modal preferences, with the aims of providing a more inclusive curriculum that more closely reflects the on-campus learning experience and improved learning outcomes. Individual factors influencing academics' development of these courses included pragmatic, opportunistic and personal motivations and concerns. Implications for distance education providers and individual marketing educators arising from these factors and subsequent recommendations are presented.

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Along with the growing popularity of video games, titles with contents that are not suitable for children and adolescents started to appear. Game rating systems based on age have become a more important decision making factor during purchase, and research that are more objective on the rating system has become necessary. In this research, we will 1) examine the effects of video games, 2) present the current status of rating systems in different countries, and 3) present original rating standards with special focus on the depiction of violent acts. A questionnaire research study with 151 students in 3 universities was conducted on the rating system's appropriateness using contents of popular game titles, it has found that the rating standards presented in our study is mostly appropriate and the recognition of violence is different by gender.

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Long distance education with the use of televised programs via communication satellite has been used in Thailand since 1995. The key station of the televised program is the Wang Klaikanwong School which is located in Hua Hin, about 240 kilometers south of Bangkok. At this school Japanese language education programs have been conducted with the cooperation of Thai teachers and Japanese volunteer teachers. The education program from Hua Hin can be received anywhere in Thailand and the surrounding area by an ordinary TV set. However, we consider that Japanese language education is not well supported in the rural parts in this country at the present time. Therefore in order to assist the education program in the rural areas, the dispatch of senior volunteers who works as a Japanese language teacher has been tried during the last two academic years (from 2006 to 2007, and from 2007 to 2008). The schools which made use of the dispatched volunteers were four Rajaprajanugroh schools. Two of them are located in Northern Thailand, Pal and Mae Ai, and the rest are in North-east Thailand, Nong Khai and Si Saket. These Rajaprajanugroh Schools usually use televised programs broadcasted from Wang Klaikanwong School. We hope that the dispatch of the senior volunteer teachers will play an important role in mutual understanding for both Japanese and Thai people. It is strongly advised in this study that an arrangement of a support system for volunteer teacher and senior volunteer is necessary and an urgent issue for the success of the dispatch program and distance education in Thailand.

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