A survey of 120 executives at eight United States organizations attempted to find out what executives thought about the meetings they attended, and to find out what an organization could do to make meetings more productive. Provides five tips for making meetings matter. (MLF)

Explores impediments to the use of multimedia courseware in higher education and the factors required for multimedia to thrive. Impediments include the smug culture of higher education, finances, standards, the need for multiple talents, and time. (CK)

Suggests using a structured feedback form to facilitate communication between teacher and students. The form has columns for assignments/tests, scores, ways to improve, strengths, and teacher's comments, plus a response column for the student's comments. (MKR)

Discusses factors that are necessary to produce significant change in an organization, including allowing a longer period of time than is expected; making change the primary objective of the chief manager; and accepting the fact that there will be confusion and anxiety among the employees. (LRW)

Describes how an elementary teacher developed a daily writer's workshop. Suggestions for finding time to write include reducing use of workbooks and skillsheets, looking for redundancy in curriculum programs, concentrating on writing for a shortened period of the school year, and creating time-saving instructional strategies. (SM)

Ways to fit in total quality management training include (1) avoiding premature or unnecessary training; (2) restructuring for efficiency; (3) offering incentives for after-hours training; (4) integrating quality philosophy into strategic planning and performance management; (5) providing a context for using the skills learned; and (6) securing…

Explains how to use electronic mail (e-mail) through INTERNET to deliver the results of online searching on DIALOG. Topics discussed include options for delivering search results, including delivery time and charges; limitations of direct e-mail delivery; where results can be sent; and costs, including savings in staff time. (two references) (LRW)

A recent study of Houston secondary schools shows that assistant principals' work centers on routine clerical tasks, custodial duties, and discipline. Daily activities are characterized by brevity, variety, and fragmentation. Assistant principals are seldom charged with instructional improvement activities, except for teacher appraisal. The…

Provides advice for graduate researchers on how to get a research project started, research committee relations, design of the research project, keeping motivated, managing time, maintaining momentum, and safeguarding mental health during the research process. It is noted that the advice would be particularly useful for the completion of doctoral…

Collaborative time for teachers to undertake and sustain school improvement may be more important than equipment, facilities, or even staff development. Although some schools have managed to include pupil-free workdays in their annual calendars, others must find low-cost alternatives. This article presents 15 examples involving creative scheduling…

Based on interviews and observations of effective executives, this article presents numerous strategies for tackling school management efficiently. Suggestions are given for apportioning limited time, examining school problems and opportunities, pursuing administrative development, and benefiting from failures. Includes nine references. (MLH)

Explains how teachers can analyze their performance and set goals to improve teaching techniques through self-evaluation of the amount of time they actually spend on instruction, practice, and management. The paper describes the use of duration recording to measure the amount of time spent in each category of class time. (SM)

Careful planning can help principals manage two schools without eroding their sanity. Two-school principals should use color-coding to keep meetings straight, devise a work schedule that accommodates both schools, develop a workable off-campus communication system, eat lunch with students, and create a card-and-candy student-recognition system.…

New principals need a game plan for an orderly transition. This article outlines a plan organized by seven significant areas of school leadership: administration, curriculum and instruction, professional development and supervision, staffing, student issues, student activities, and communication with important school constituencies. Being…

Results of a literature review were organized into a taxonomy of distance learning strategies: (1) cognitive (rehearsal, elaboration, organization); (2) metacognitive (planning, monitoring, regulating); and (3) resource management (time management, study environment, effort management, social support). (Contains 24 references.) (SK)