Books and online discussion groups encourage youth to develop strong narrative voices. Includes an annotated bibliography of books and Internet sites dealing with discovering the self and others; exploring race, culture, archeology, technology, war, poverty, gender and urban problems; creating and critiquing stories; and publishing industry…

Drawing on students' experiences, examines ways that Electronic Discussion Lists (EDLs) can enhance a sense of community on a college campus. Provides a brief history of electronic mail and discussion groups and outlines the uses of EDLs, such as its effectiveness in voicing complaints and in clarifying values. (RJM)

Describes a literature discussion group consisting of eleven social studies representatives involved in a discussion of children's multicultural literature and articles. Focuses on story as a resource for exploring diversity and for sharing personal experiences and responses with others. Includes the discussion group's schedule and a list of…

Reports on results of offering face-to-face discussions to students in a computer-based introductory psychology course. Authors found scant research on the inclusion of discussion in computer-based classes. Of 210 students registered in the class, only 17 indicated an interest in extra-credit discussion sessions. Participants' course outcomes…

Focuses on a nationally run reading and discussion program called "Let's Talk about It" as an example of the kind of community outreach program that universities could employ to the mutual advantage of institutions and the public that they serve. (RS)

Describes "community meetings" in early childhood classrooms, designed to create an intentional community devoted to learning to live with and consider the perspectives of others. Discusses how meetings work, community meeting and the topic of exclusion, students' learning about themselves, awareness as a kind of solution, airing a…

Discusses the value of cooperative learning in higher education and presents a case study of how Towson University used computer technology to develop a Web-based project that allowed students to collaborate across disciplines. Describes the use of online discussion groups, multimedia, and hypertext to facilitate cooperative learning and…

At Mount Royal College (Alberta), the perceptions of enrolled college students are seen as an important part of academic program review, but identification of appropriate scheduling of meetings may be difficult. The solution found was to obtain faculty assistance in selecting students and to schedule focus groups as breakfast meetings, which…

This article takes a look at tech guru Will Richardson's new book, "Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms." Whether it's blogs or wikis or RSS, all roads now point to a Web where little is done in isolation. The biggest, most sweeping change in the people's relationship with the Internet may not be as much the ability…

Working within a theoretical framework of sociocultural theory, with a particular focus on the construct of scaffolding, this five and a half month qualitative study explored the ways in which one third-grade teacher supported students' move towards literature discussion groups. Data sources including expanded field notes, video and audiotape…

Technology reshapes our thinking about learning in multiple ways. This article proposes that middle school students can use asynchronous online discussions to improve their responses to literature, increase their engagement with the classroom community, and recenter the classroom around student voices. Working in small groups, students read the…

For years, experts have said that the way to get things done is to schedule them on the calendar and to find a partner to join in the effort. Following this advice, the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) joined the Leadership Initiative at WestEd in inviting superintendents and district teams to think through improving…

Technology offers promising opportunities for creating new types of classroom learning environments. This paper describes three technology models used by teacher education interns: electronic portfolios, negotiative concept mapping, cognote-supported electronic discussions. As implemented in the current study, these models invoke graduated…

The purpose of the present study was to examine the nature of the discourse generated by two different online approaches to mathematics teacher professional development. Thirty mathematics teachers participated in online activities involving analysis and discourse about artifacts of teaching practice. Half were randomly assigned to a group that…

This mixed-methods study probed the effectiveness of three kinds of objects (video, theory, metaphor) as common reference points for conversations between online learners (student teachers). Individuals' degree of detail-focus was examined as a potentially interacting covariate and the outcome measure was learners' level of tacit knowledge related…