This paper presents two studies using focus groups with people with learning disabilities. One study was about "What is it like for people with learning disabilities who have a family or friend with cancer?" and other study was about "How to break bad news to people with learning disabilities?" Two of the researchers had…

Changes in preferred methods of learning among many students in recent years have challenged educators to introduce more interactive and experiential teaching methods. "Hot seating"--where a person, such as an invited subject expert is interviewed by an audience--is a well-established interactive method of learning, but is often limited…

In this paper we analyze the main areas of research into educational videogames and in the evolution of the technologies and design methodologies that are making these interactive systems increasingly natural, immersive and social. We present the design and development of a prototype for a collaborative educational videogame based on a Massively…

Since at least Verkuyl (1972), aktionsart has been considered a property of phrasal configurations minimally resulting from a combination of a predicate and its internal argument. This has been demonstrated most clearly in the literature on telicity where certain predicate-argument configurations allow for a telic interpretation while others…

Seven adults participated in simulated teaching sessions with an experimenter who role played as a student with developmental disabilities. The experimenter engaged in problem behavior and either (a) terminated problem behavior contingent on participant reprimands (negative reinforcement) or (b) did not terminate problem behavior contingent on…

Phosphodiesterases (PDEs) are known to play a key role in the compartmentalization of cAMP signaling; however, the molecular mechanisms underlying intracellular localization of different PDE isoforms are not understood. In this study, we have found that each of the supershort, short, and long forms of apPDE4 showed distinct localization in the…

This study explored the impact of role-playing on the quality of peer feedback and learners' perception of this strategy in a case-based learning activity with VoiceThread in an online course. The findings revealed potential positive impact of role-playing on learners' generation of constructive feedback as role-playing was associated with higher…

We taught three high school students with high-functioning autism to increase their novel peer-directed questions when using a communication book to converse with general education partners at school. Novel question training was associated with participants asking peer-directed questions not displayed in communication books across a variety of…

Canada, like other first-world countries, relies in large part on professional immigrants trained in other cultures and languages to complement its workforce in a wide range of professions, including medicine. International medical graduates (IMGs) who are nonnative English-speaking (NNES) and who have trained in different medical contexts are…

This study investigated the effect of a literature-based program on eight Jordanian university students' communicative performance. The research design was essentially qualitative (observation was the primary instrument); however, triangulation was achieved through the use of other instruments, including pre- and posttests, interviews, journal…

This study explores how a group of learners of English as a second language (ESL) criticize in everyday situations compared to the native speaker (NS) with a view to expanding the range of speech acts under inquiry in the interlanguage pragmatics (ILP) literature. Data were collected from five NSs of New Zealand English and five intermediate…

The Mock Trial is an experiential exercise adapted from a law school process that encourages students to think critically about theories, topics, and the practice of management in an innovative classroom experience. Playing the role of attorneys and witnesses, learners ask questions and challenge assumptions by playing roles in a trial with…

This paper describes a role-play exercise used in a second-year tertiary Systems Analysis and Design course, and the quantitative and qualitative analysis of the students' responses to a survey that solicited their perceptions of that role-play experience. The role-play involved students in eliciting user requirements from customers during a Joint…

Combining a variation of John Rawls' "veil of ignorance" mind experiment with role-playing and case studies allows instructors to create assignments that engage students in the full range of learning processes, encourage them to consider a wide range of viewpoints, provide them with opportunities to apply the cognitive and the affective components…

Although salespeople have long been urged to recognize and adapt to customer needs and wants by observing communications style and other cues or signals by the buyer, nonverbal communications by the salesperson have received much less empirical scrutiny. However, nonverbal communications may be important in this context; research in several…