This study explores the complicated nature of the interface as a mediational tool for inexperienced writers as they composed hypertext documents. Because technology can become so quickly and inextricably connected to people's everyday lives, it is essential to explore the effects on these technologies before they become invisible. Because…

The use of fictional writing, and in particular fictional dialogue, has gained increasing credibility and popularity within the field of qualitative social science research (Clough, 2002; Denzin, 1997; Tierney, 1998) but research in early childhood education has yet to exploit such methodologies. This article asks: what is meant by the term…

A considerable amount of the effort and enthusiasm that goes into the development and implementation of technology-mediated learning environments often fails to create effective settings for learning. Too often the opportunities and advantages of the use of technology in the learning process are poorly exploited. This paper explores ways in which…

This study examined the effects on older adults' psychological health of participation in a volunteer role that afforded opportunities to form friendships with age peers and to express nurturance toward another person. Access to these important social provisions was expected, in turn, to contribute to greater self-esteem, less loneliness, and less…

Purpose: The authors adapted distributed cognition theory to provide a detailed account of how school leaders use knowledge of the new programs, existing initiatives, and school contexts to guide policy implementation. Research Design: The study used distributed cognition theory to show how policy implementation studies provide an occasion to…

Purpose: This study's broad objective was to examine the effectiveness of surface electromyographic (EMG) biofeedback for motor learning in the voice production domain. The specific objective was to examine whether concurrent or terminal biofeedback would facilitate learning for a relaxed laryngeal musculature task during spoken reading. Method:…

In order to build a knowledge-based society and meet the needs of lifelong education, open learning opportunities are growing at exponential rates. While such growth is commendable, there appears to be a very strong demand for distance guidance services in open education programme selection. The purpose of this study was to develop the online…

This paper is based on experiences with remedial online learning from a national collaboration initiative in the Netherlands involving the University of Amsterdam, Erasmus Rotterdam University and Maastricht University (www.web-spijkeren.nl). The central question is how prior knowledge tests and online remedial summer courses can contribute to…

Combining both the Western perspective of creativity as productivity and the Eastern perspective of creativity as enlightenment, a Program for Enlightened and Productive Creativity (PEPC) for teaching inquiry was devised. The PEPC describes stages through which a student is guided to solve a problem using increasingly complex observation, inquiry,…

This paper reports a qualitative study on students' informal reasoning on a controversial socio-scientific issue. Twenty-two students from four science classes in Norway were interviewed about the local construction of new power lines and the possible increased risk of childhood leukaemia. The focus in the study is on what arguments the students…

Final evaluation of the Workplace Education Program, funded by the National Workplace Literacy Program to provide workplace literacy education programs to 425 members of Chicago (Illinois) area clothing and textile workers union members, is presented. The program's goal was to enhance workers' basic literacy skills for present job stabilization…

The statement presents a consensus of what South Carolina educators expect children to know and be able to do in foreign languages, and the changes needed in the educational system to support what teachers and students do in the classroom. It is not a curriculum guide, but is intended for use by policymakers, instructional leaders, teachers, and…

This report presents findings from the second-year evaluation of the Governor's Educator Excellence Grant (GEEG) program. The GEEG program was federally- and state-funded and provided three-year grants to schools to design and implement performance pay plans from the 2005-06 to 2007-08 school years. GEEG was implemented in 99 high poverty, high…

Measures of quality are now in widespread use across states as part of quality improvement initiatives. For example, many states are currently using global measures of quality that were first developed for research and practice purposes (such as the Environmental Rating Scales) in their Quality Rating Systems (QRSs). Although global quality…

Numerous studies have been undertaken demonstrating that online learning is an effective teaching tool, working best when combined with more conventional teaching methods. There is a paucity of data both examining the longitudinal blending of an e-module with more conventional modes of curriculum delivery and also relating to the time and…