Identifies stages in user adoption of virtual learning (i.e., Internet-based courses and traditional courses with Internet components) for higher education students and faculty. Instructors' stages of virtuality are: excited, apprehensive, questioning, determined, overstimulated, questioning revisited, and exhausted. Students' stages are:…

A teacher who became computer literate by playing with one over the summer, describes how even just one computer in the classroom can help differentiate curriculum, be used for individualized instruction, augment resource materials, access the World Wide Web for the latest discoveries, assist visual learners, and create new student and teacher…

Describes a teachers' focus group devoted to informing parents about their reading programs and emergent literacy practices. Describes development and use of a home-based literacy inventory to raise awareness of emerging literacy in routine activities. Discusses demonstration of the educational philosophy and instructional practice of emergent…

Educators will face a public backlash against educational technology unless they clearly state what K-12 students are to gain from it, ensure teachers are prepared to use it, and document the results. This article discusses the development of a document describing required technology competencies for students and educators, focusing on national…

Describes how two teachers changed daily techniques in a child care home and center to promote developmentally appropriate practice and literacy in creative ways. Areas and activities presented include reading aloud together, using books with different genres and themes, sequencing as a reading prerequisite, using experience charts and…

Interactive research can build English-as-a-Second-Language students' language skills and cultural awareness. This paper describes a research project in which Spanish-speaking students at a San Francisco college advanced their language skills while developing basic computer-literacy skills as they conducted meaningful, relevant research projects…

Describes a school-based family-literacy program initiated by a first-grade teacher in an inner-city school. Describes how joint parent/child classroom activities and parent/teacher discussion sessions (1) provided opportunities for parents to explore their own and their children's uses of literacy; (2) increased their knowledge of literacy…

Describes how the Centre of Excellence for Literacy and Literacy Education in Nigeria strives to promote reading clubs at the grass-roots level to foster literacy empowerment. Shows how these reading clubs enhance democratic participation and critical thinking. Offers a sample of material for discussion and discussion questions for mature readers.…

Reports on a study of the implementation of a structuralist approach to teaching text in elementary school classrooms in Australia. Examines the pedagogic practice of one teacher, highlighting the impact of a restrictive and reductive approach to text on her teaching methodology. (Author/VWL)

Discusses the role of the library media specialist in promoting information literacy, focusing on aligning national information-literacy guidelines to state and content-area standards. The integration of information-literacy guidelines into a Minnesota middle school curriculum is described. A sidebar presents an outline that aligns national…

Explains the relevance of reading-comprehension research for classroom teachers, discussing how knowledge of the world and active engagement with ideas in the text influence comprehension and looking at how to develop both these capabilities. Four sections discuss the power of background knowledge, reading aloud and discussing literature with…

Teachers must know how to integrate technology into the classroom to improve learning; use technology to help students master content and performance standards; and know when technology is appropriate to help learning. Two sets of recently released technology standards can help school leaders develop comprehensive staff-development plans: the…

This commentary reviews the articles in this theme issue and analyzes American Sign Language (ASL) bilingual approaches to supporting children with deafness in acquiring English text skills. Also discussed are theoretical explanations for how bilingual contexts may contribute to progress in English literacy and spoken English. Issues for the…

Discussion of the development of information literacy focuses on a study in New Zealand elementary schools that examined teachers' understanding of information skills; teachers' understanding of resource-based learning; the role of the library; a model of information problem solving; students' experiences; conflicting information; and reading and…

Discusses how early childhood teachers can provide a classroom environment that puts into practice theories related to emerging literacy. Describes holistic strategies used in one kindergarten that enhance literacy learning, including shared book experiences, huddle groups, language samples, self-directed learning time, student-developed…