This supplement describes national adaptations made to the international version of the PIRLS/prePIRLS 2011 background questionnaires. This information provides users with a guide to evaluate the availability of internationally comparable data for use in secondary analyses involving the PIRLS/prePIRLS 2011 background variables. Background…

It used to be that a book was published first as a hardcover, then as a lower-cost paperback. With increasingly tech-savvy consumers demanding instantaneous access to content in various formats, that publishing protocol has in the last decade changed to one in which the book in codex form often remains the focus, but digital "extras"…

With the widespread use of the internet, more and more children get acquainted with its various uses at a young age while an increasing number of teachers are designing learning activities that utilize various internet services. Toward this direction, teachers need practical examples of pedagogically verified learning activities. This paper…

Homework usually consists of the learners' written account of how they interpreted a task set by the teacher, and is generally defined as out-of-class assignments that are handed in for the instructor to grade. Learners may work individually or with partners to answer simple or challenging linguistic exercises, sketch out a mind map, or develop a…

This article analyses Mind the Gap's Boo, a re-imagining of Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird", which features a cast of learning disabled actors. It is concerned with the public reception of the work, particularly the "effect" of an all-disabled cast. What are the consequences, both ethical and aesthetic, for these actors to tell this story on…

In this article, the author suggests that a successful independent school career, especially in an increasingly professionalized environment, follows the model of the best teachers he knew at the start of his career. They did not walk around looking for "either/or" solutions. Instead, they adopted a "both/and" stance. They taught students and…

Objectives: To evaluate an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) adapted for social work in a lab course and examine the degree to which it predicts competence in the practicum. Method: 125 Masters students participated in a one-scenario OSCE and wrote responses to standardized reflection questions. OSCE performance and reflections were…

E-learning promises to reach a more heterogeneous student body comprised of non-traditional learners. As educational institutions reach out to new students, serious concern must be paid to cultural concerns and individual differences. Learning objects provide a framework to think about localizing educational content. The authors provide an…

In the 1990s, the Internet and digital technologies brought astonishing gains in worker productivity and national prosperity. Today, people can leverage that investment and buoy economic recovery by hiring people to move the collections of libraries and cultural-memory organizations--the raw material of the information age--to the Web. Investing…

In investigating how to best support the learning of digital competences at school, it is paramount to take into account the concrete reality (cultural, technological, and institutional) that teachers face in their daily struggle to prepare students for the information society. Hence case studies are needed to inform us on the complex relationship…

This article seeks to explore and discuss activities and strategies for including a K-12 educational component in digitization grant projects in academic libraries. The article is based on cases studying the K-12 educational component of the three following grants awarded to East Carolina University Joyner Library by North Carolina Exploring…

Watching a radio-controlled car zip along a sidewalk or street has become a common sight. Within this toy are the basic ingredients of a mobile robot, used by industry for a variety of important and potentially dangerous tasks. In this challenge, students consider modifying an of-the-shelf, radio-controlled car, adapting it for a robotic task.

Routing is the process of selecting appropriate paths and ordering waypoints in a network. It plays an important part in logistics and supply chain management as choosing the optimal route can minimise distribution costs. Routing optimisation, however, is a difficult problem to solve and computer software is often used to determine the best route.…

The 2009 database marketplace is bounded by two extremes: massive digitization projects to increase access, and retrenchment owing to budget worries. Picture medieval monks hunched over their desks in the scriptorium as they labor to copy manuscripts. A 21st-century version of this activity is being repeated daily in the world's libraries and…

This study examined how teacher educators perceive the incorporation and use of computer technology resources in Teachers' Training Colleges in Bangladesh. This study encompasses the thorough investigation of teacher educators' "computer skills" by using the valid and reliable instruments. The study finally examined whether any…