Activities conducted under a grant from the Division of Adult Education Programs, U.S.O.E., are reported on. The Project included the 1970 National Institute on Instructional Television and Adult Basic Education and a variety of pre-Institute activities and post-Institute follow-up activities. State Directors of Adult Basic Education or their…

Discusses the use of "talk" to prepare students for reading; as an instrument for learning and thinking; and as an instrument for social and emotional growth. A taped discussion is presented: seven girls who speak five different languages discuss a story they have read. (EJS)

Describes the development of a computer-assisted college course in group performance skills (GPS) which was designed to expand the instructor's ability to monitor development of individual performance skills and assess their influence on the group output. Computer-mediated communication is explained, and its implications for distance education are…

Using a time-sampling observation method, three experimental fifth- and sixth-grade classrooms were observed during discussion sessions with three desk arrangements: rows, clusters, and circles. Results indicated students seated in circles engage in significantly more on-task behavior. As expected, observed pupil behavior varied significantly…

The journal club is seen as one of the most frequently used instructional methods in postgraduate medical education. The purpose is to evoke interest in scientific research and promote critical reading skills while updating knowledge in specific content areas.(MLW)

Reports an investigation into pupil-talk in small groups during a computer simulation. The role of language as a communication and understanding aid is considered, along with the microcomputer's potential as a stimulus to and generator of discussion. The contents of participants' conversations, at and away from the microcomputer, are analyzed.…

Presents arguments to researching response to poetry that attempts to track the process as it occurs. Describes procedures designed to ensure that the responses that are recorded come close to representing the process by which adolescent readers go about making sense of a poem. (EL)

Proposes use of criteria-based scales, which prescribe levels of writing performance for a particular mode of discourse, as a way to teach and test student writing skills. Pre- and posttesting, teaching for the test utilizing the criteria-based scale, and why this method is successful are also discussed. (MBR)

The author provides staff developers and educational leaders with tools needed to facilitate a workshop or study group, designed around his book. It gives chapter-by chapter activities focused on moral purpose and why it plays such a critical role in changing the context of school leadership. This guide explores in depth: (1) "Changing the…

This paper summarizes the experiences of an instructor and teaching assistant who introduced online communication strategies in a graduate seminar. This paper drew on the findings of a previous paper (Schwier & Balbar, 2002), and examined how to construct structured discussions of content using synchronous and asynchronous communication in…

This paper presents a rationale and a conceptual framework for a wider research project dealing with mathematical communication, and in particular with actions performed by interlocutors whenever they wish to clarify their use of a symbol, a word or an expression. The aim of such actions is often to repair a communicational breach resulting from…

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the activities of collective learning structures. Drawing from ecological-complexity theory it elaborates on a theoretical framework for observing and acting upon collective learning. To interpret the relation between individual action, social interaction and the collective cognitive domain we adopt the…

This study evaluated the output, level of participation, and perceptions of effectiveness and value among participants in a virtual forum. Twenty-three experts in the field of adult education and community development were invited to participate in a three-week interactive session using a World Wide Web-based, asynchronous computer conferencing…

This study examined differences between two populations of composition students over the course of a semester in their perceptions of collaboration as reported in the pre- and post-surveys. In addition, using an assessment rubric developed by the researchers, the study examined students' audience awareness as demonstrated in their writing. Both…

This study investigated the communication styles of 5 mentors in telementoring a class of 33 preservice teachers. Electronic forum was the instrument of communication between the mentors and the students, and a Web-based computer mediated communication system was used to facilitate the instruction in the course. Data collected in an 8-week period…