In the summer of 2003, members of Purdue University's School of Technology decided to produce 90 hours of HDTV-quality instructional video as part of a distance-learning initiative. To fully exploit the power of the video medium and the added resolution of high-definition television, the team used virtual-set and advanced computer-graphics…

This article reports findings from a study exploring the generativity (Gibbons, Nelson, & Richards, 2000; Parrish, 2004) and discoverability (Friesen, 2001) of learning objects in the hands of the learner. Through the convergence of two separate pilot projects--the Canadian EduSource initiative through Athabasca University, and the…

The integrative studies model for classroom activities that the author proposes and illustrates in this article combines the chronological focus of traditional disciplines with the thematic orientation of an interdisciplinary approach. A theme or pattern acts as the vehicle for organization. Students are presented with a variety of information…

Worldwide web technology is a perfect match for teaching about history. The technology boosts teachers capacities because it gives its students access to the documents that reveal the processes of historical change, and it helps students develop better analytic skills by learning to interpret documents. This amazing conjuncture of new technology…

Globalization provides history teachers with an opportunity to link past to present in new ways and to test historical thinking. This is particularly true in world history surveys, but has relevance to Western civilization or United States history surveys as well. For globalization in turn, the historical perspective offers opportunities for more…

A considerable amount of experiences in teaching object-oriented concepts using the Java language have been reported to date, some of which describe language pitfalls and concrete learning difficulties. In this paper, a number of additional issues that have been experienced as difficult for students to master, along with approaches intended to…

For more than 20 years, the American public has grown accustomed to the drumbeat of bad news about their schools. Poor performance on standardized tests, gaps in achievement between minority and white students, and high student drop-out rates have become part of the modern lexicon. Although college- and university-level science educators are not…

A model curriculum, such as that developed by the ACM/SIGITE Curriculum Committee (2005), has two important functions. First, it provides a base structure for newly developing programs that can use it as a platform for articulating a curriculum. Second, it offers an existing curriculum framework that can be used for validation by existing…

This integrative review of literature on online educational best practices is intended to provide a quick reference for those interested in designing online business courses and programs. Primarily American in its perspective, this review may be helpful for business schools seeking optimal online course designs that foster quality learning…

At some point in their educations, students must learn copious amounts of information. To do this, they use a variety of well-known strategies such as study groups, note-taking services, and videotapes of lectures. In fall 2004, a group of first-year dental students at the University of Michigan (U-M) School of Dentistry asked to have all dental…

The purpose of this paper is to share a comprehensive project developed by three early childhood teacher educators. Over the past three semesters groups of preservice teachers ranging from 16 to 25, from a small state university were asked to engage in thematic literacy play centers during the first semester of their teacher preparation program.…

Problem-Based Learning (PBL) method emphasizes students' own activity in learning about problems, setting up their own learning goals and actively searching for and analyzing information. In this paper, we describe and discuss our experiences on applying PBL, especially the seven steps method widely used in medical faculties, in an introductory…

One of the principal objectives of engineering education is to prepare graduates for the practice of engineering in industry. Industry involvement in the educational process can be very helpful in devising programs to meet this objective. Yet, engineering education has a number of other stakeholders including students, faculty, academic…

In this article, the author presents an overview of concrete as a building material and as an example of a particle composite, and discusses the origins of concrete in ancient Rome. He then describes an activity in which students can cast a concrete patio stone. Students can apply the technological design process, as well as the elements of…

Helping teachers to change practices by adopting new tools and pedagogical approaches is of interest to a wide range of educational researchers and practitioners. This article describes a teacher, Ms. Hogan, who is an early adopter of a technological innovation: the authoring tool Squeak. We analyze email messages from Ms. Hogan applying Rogers'…