One of the most common questions mathematics teachers hear from their students is a question of content value: "When am I ever going to use this?" This research paper looks at the question of content value for students enrolled in an elementary methods course designed to help them develop their abilities to teach mathematics At the end of each…

A cross-college team of educators has developed a collaborative, multi-disciplinary senior design course at Ohio University. This course offers an attractive opportunity for students from a variety of disciplines to work together in a learning community to accomplish a challenging task. It provides a novel multi-disciplinary learning environment…

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…

In 1996, Bonk and Cummings set out to design, implement and refine Web-based educational psychology courses and laboratory experiences offered to pre-service teachers at Indiana University. Utilizing the American Psychological Association's 14 Learner Centered Principles (1993, 1997), Alexander and Murphy (1994), Bonk and Reynolds (1997), Bonk and…

Presence in online classrooms has been linked to immediacy behaviors, instructor-student interaction, and participation. Research shows that presence can be managed and sustained, but little documentation exists about perceptions of the meaning of presence. An interview-based qualitative inquiry of three online instructors was conducted to…

Five university faculty members identified six broad topic areas in research and statistics that they considered important for Master's level graduate students. The six areas were: (1) types of research; (2) research process; (3) hypothesis testing; (4) data gathering; (5) descriptive statistics; and (6) inferential statistics. These broad areas…

This paper reports on a study of a structured active learning approach to an analytical chemistry course. The purpose of the study was to assess the longitudinal outcomes of this approach and to provide feedback to curriculum developers about the effects of the changes being made in the chemistry curriculum. The data, collected from a cohort of…

This final report and appended conference proceedings describe activities of the Earth Math project, a 3-year effort at Kennesaw State University (Georgia) to broaden and disseminate the concept of Earth Algebra to precalculus and mathematics education courses. Major outcomes of the project were the draft of a precalculus textbook now being…

The Special Intensive Program for Scientists and Engineers (SIPSE) at Diablo Valley College in California replaces the traditional engineering calculus and physics sequences with a single sequence that combines the two subjects into an integrated whole. The project report provides an overview of SIPSE, a section that traces the project from…

In an effort to expand the teaching of culture related to the French language, a high school French teacher undertook a project to teach francophone culture in countries other than France. The report begins with an extensive discussion and review of literature concerning the extent and diversity of the francophone world, the role of cultural…

This manual can be used independently by students in secondary health occupations programs or by persons receiving on-the-job training in a radiology department. The manual includes an instructor's key that provides answers to the activity sheets and unit evaluations. The manual consists of the following five units: (1) orientation to radiology;…

Social work educators must be familiar with issues related to social work, as well as issues from a wider context of education that impact the profession. A practical consideration for academically-based courses involves the relationship between what is taught and what is tested in the social work classroom. Social work educators must decide what…

Blended learning is much stronger when the Web is used to supplement instruction, rather than merely provide information to the students. This paper establishes a foundational knowledge base, where the stakeholders--technology coordinators, faculty, staff, and administrators--can make informed decisions on the role, importance, use, and…

Education can profit significantly from hypermedia and e-technologies. However, in the authors' experience, the majority of students having the choice of learning on the computer or from a printed script or book prefer the latter when it comes to "challenging" formal domains. For online learning material to be successful, its structure…

Many college mission statements convey the importance of citizenship education to prepare future leaders. However, values education often remains, at best, peripheral to the community college curriculum. This digest provides an examination of the classical and current approaches to community college values education. According to the digest,…