"Report of a Workshop on the Scope and Nature of Computational Thinking" presents a number of perspectives on the definition and applicability of computational thinking. For example, one idea expressed during the workshop is that computational thinking is a fundamental analytical skill that everyone can use to help solve problems, design…

Community-based educational programs for older adults are difficult to evaluate due to randomization and control factors. In order to investigate, under a quasi-experimental research design, the contribution of an educational program on retirement issues to participants' quality of life, and to study the program enrollment patterns, 21 people…

Although gifted children have been the subject of investigation for 60 years, little information is available on gifted adults, particularly in regard to life satisfaction. To investigate life satisfaction in adults who as children were labeled as gifted, 298 adults, with a mean age of 27, completed a Likert-type instrument measuring degree of…

Student-faculty contact is widely accepted as influencing retention within campus-based programs. The difficulties of implementing such contact within a distance learning environment magnify its importance as a topic for investigation. This study sought to evaluate the effect of faculty initiated contacts on student persistence within a large…

An interview study examined the assumptions about adult learning held by 28 educational policy-makers, researchers, and staff developers. Fifteen assumptions were inferred from the interview data, each forming a dimension that describes learning as experienced by the participants: (1) Adult learning experiences are envisioned as similar for all…

College faculty can avoid investing valuable time and resources in inappropriate technologies by staying in step with technological progress. A "future proof" approach to technology recognizes and welcomes small failures, considering them part of the ongoing process of absorbing technology into the learning process. Future proofing attempts to…

The Village College is a uniquely English institution, yet it may be a viable model for rural education in some parts of the United States as well. If so, four adaptations seem paramount: attitudinal restructuring, institutionalization of adult and community education, a demography capable of supporting the effort, and a new model of educational…

New technologies will produce a radical restructuring of work, including a devaluation of current work skills and the creation of new ones at an ever-increasing rate. The robotics industry provides a prototype for the impact of technology on society, and a context for examining the relevancy of schooling in preparing individuals to function within…

This study used LOGO II, an instrument designed to assess students' learning and grade orientations, with a freshman class and again 4 to 5 years later when the same students (N=174) were seniors at the University of Montevallo (Alabama). To determine if there were differential effects for different majors, the data were disaggregated by major.…