Massive Open Online Courses based on the principles of connectivist educational pedagogy known as connectivist MOOCs (c-MOOCs) have been carried out with great success during the last years with hundreds of registered participants. Examples are CCK08 (2008), PLENK2010 (2010), MobiMOOC (2011), EduMOOC (2011), Change11 (2011/12), and LAK12 (2012).…

Student retention in higher education has become a critical focus in recent years. This paper describes the efforts of Lone Star College-Online and its Online Student Support Services unit to build and implement a comprehensive suite of services for online students with the intention of enhancing the online student experience and ultimately,…

A parent is a child's first educator in communication, social/emotional skills, motor development, and academics. As the achievement expectations placed on schools increase and the schooling population continually diversifies, the need to increase the overall parental involvement in schools and their ability to assist with academics in the home…

The relationship between art teachers and students' families is a complex one. Because they typically see a large volume of students in a short amount of time, art teachers are rarely the first line of communication when it comes to connecting with families on a regular basis. Most often, communication only occurs when the teacher has great news…

This research targeted the learning preferences, goals and motivations, achievements, challenges, and possibilities for life change of self-directed online learners who subscribed to the monthly OpenCourseWare (OCW) e-newsletter from MIT. Data collection included a 25-item survey of 1,429 newsletter subscribers; 613 of whom also completed an…

Extension educators can easily include technology in regular programming. Several Extension faculty conducted a survey to determine the overall effectiveness of a electronic newsletter (e-newsletter). Results indicated that this e-newsletter had a wide viral reach, provided strong local impact in terms of confidence and behavior changes, increased…

Outlook is CAPE's monthly newsletter. Each issue is packed with information relating to private education: new legislation and regulations, the most recent research, court rulings, national trends, federal initiatives, private school news briefs, and much more. This issue contains the following articles: (1) Private School Students Surpass SAT…

Research Findings: DVD classroom newsletters are one proposed technology tool to promote classroom-to-home connections. The present study explored the experiences of prekindergarten children from predominantly Spanish-speaking homes with bilingual (English and Spanish) DVD classroom newsletters. On average, parents reported that children watched…

The Association of Black Psychologists (ABPsi) was founded on September 2, 1968, in San Francisco, California, in response to the American Psychological Association's failure to address the mental health needs of the Black community. This revolutionary idea was borne out of the efforts of Black early career psychologists and student activists from…

While "thinking outside the box" can be an over-used phase at times, in the world of grants it can provide the genesis of ideas. The "box" is the world of academia accepted by most educators, while "thinking outside" is the process that leads to grant ideas. In the grant world, "thinking outside the box" is a process of doing something that has…

The "National Dropout Prevention Newsletter" is published quarterly by the National Dropout Prevention Center/Network. This issue contains the following articles: (1) Special Olympics Project UNIFY (Andrea Cahn); (2) The Impact of Project UNIFY; (3) Project UNIFY Brings Youth Together to Learn and Graduate (William H. Hughes); (4)…

Each issue of this annual newsletter focuses on a particular area of the Kettering Foundation's research. The 2013 issue focuses on citizens and the importance of the choices they make in politics. In many ways, politics is about choice--not only among policies and candidates in elections, but also among the many actions to address and solve…

The "National Dropout Prevention Newsletter" is published quarterly by the National Dropout Prevention Center/Network. This issue contains the following articles: (1) Laying the Foundation for Success (Mary Caputo); (2) Ready or Not? (Laura Koenig); (3) Every Child A School-Ready Child (Leah Newkirk Meunier); (4) Parents As Teachers (Erin Garner);…

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Course Credits on the Quick: Controversial Online Recovery Programs Speed the Path to Graduation (Andrew Brownstein); (2) Collaborating to Make Schools More Inclusive…

This paper starts with an analysis of the twin purposes of an examination reform programme originally launched in Kenya during the 1970s: first, to broaden the spectrum of cognitive skills being tested; and second, to set up a feedback system based on the performance profiles, providing schools and teachers with guidance as to how pedagogy and…