The mission of the NetPro European project is to develop project-based learning through the Internet. The NetPro project is creating tools and services to facilitate communication and collaboration between distant students, and to manage access and control of project deliverables. NetPro project teams form cross-institutional learning communities.…

It is important to build a community of learners so that cooperative learning takes place. This is more difficult to accomplish online, where the lecturer has to overcome the natural reticence of students to post in shared class spaces. This paper suggests contructive methods of ensuring the success of an online course. These include: (1)…

This publication presents a case-based approach to improving teaching practice, offering informal conversations between isolated educators who were brought together to share their problems and air concerns via the use of cases. An introduction offers an overview of professional development cases, explaining what cases are and how to get started.…

Teachers in this study participated in a 3-year grant funded by the U.S. Department of Education Fund for Innovation in Education. The purpose of the grant was to provide teachers with support in implementing standards-based education. Both treatment and control groups of teachers received instruction in implementing standards-based education from…

This paper examines the use of professional reading groups as a strategy to help college and university administrators stay informed and meet administrative challenges. It reports on a study of 26 institutions by the American Council on Education, which examined the process of large-scale institutional change. This study's findings support reading…

Findings suggest, among others, that argumentativeness is an important variable in the perception of leadership, with the highly argumentative individual chosen leader over the moderate or mildly argumentative individual. Highly argumentative individuals were also rated as more influential on the group's decision. (PD)

Focuses on personality as a predispositional factor which is predictive of the direction of both persuasive argumentation by group members and, subsequently, decision shifting. Tends to validate the value theory of polarization by showing that persuasive argumentation can mediate the effect of personality on decisional shifting. (PD)

Describes a method of peer group teaching that stresses group responsibility and awareness of goals. (JL)

Found that of five "task-achievement functions" examined, two serve as accurate predictors of group problem-solving effectiveness. Specifically, found that (1) a negative relationship exists between group effectiveness and attempts to "establish operating procedures"; and (2) a positive relationship exists between group…

Describes a model which recognizes active and passive roles of teachers and learners as a means of identifying five basic methods of teaching. (CHC)

Identifies the dominant metaphor in five orientations to research in small group communication. Argues that these orientations provide little pedagogical assistance in small group instruction. Proposes an alternative humanistic perspective for group instruction as a persuasive, individualized process in which ultimate control over learning resides…