This paper makes basic assumptions regarding the development of an intranet architecture that will actively promote the cognitive apprenticeship of a new community of learners. The authors consider the intranet as a dynamic and virtual environment in which individuals may communicate, share resources, and reciprocally generate and organize…

When in the "zone of proximal development" for a particular skill or piece of information, a learner is ready to learn but lacks certain prerequisites. Scaffolding is an interactive process in which a teacher or facilitator assists such a learner to build a "structure" to contain and frame the new information. Scaffolding can…

This paper presents tips for designing an instructional World Wide Web site, providing illustrations from a site developed using Blackboard's Courseinfo that is used in teaching a college technical writing course. The first section discusses overall site architecture, including working with the right equipment, making the leap to an online…

This study investigated designer background characteristics and contextual variables that were hypothesized to influence the incorporation of motivational components in the design of instructional materials, as well as the factors that may affect the perceived level of a project's success. A hypothesized model was developed that depicted…

This guide, part of a series designed to provide practical resources on topics critical to the process of preparing individuals with disabilities for adulthood, focuses on infusing real-life topics into existing elementary and secondary curricula. Chapter 1, "Teaching Real-Life Content," discusses the basic concepts and rationale for teaching life…

This proceedings contains the papers presented at SITE 99, the 10th annual international conference of the Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education. Papers are listed under the following headings: "Concepts and Procedures" (24 papers); "Distance Education" (44 papers); "Diversity" (12 papers);…

The Internet consists of several services that, when combined, can recreate and enhance the interaction possible in teacher education. This paper discusses the strengths and limitations of several computer mediated communication (CMC) technologies available through the Internet, in three categories: (1) one-way CMC (World Wide Web, graphics,…

Having a good command over basic computer applications is essential for teachers to integrate technology in school. Teachers should learn how to maximize the power of computers for their teaching and administrative work. This paper focuses on some effective approaches that can help teachers learn to use computer applications successfully. First,…

This monograph discusses learning communities in the context of community colleges, presents the challenges and benefits of learning communities, provides examples, and outlines the steps for a community college to follow in initiating a learning community. In part 1, the authors discuss the educational context in which learning communities have…

The purpose of this paper is to review problems encountered in World Wide Web-based courses delivered at three different educational institutions (i.e., two community colleges and a university) in the metropolitan Phoenix (Arizona) area. Implications are discussed based on distance education theories of interaction. Interaction is a vital issue to…

This document contains the following papers on issues related to telecommunications and online learning in graduate and inservice teacher education: (1) "Using Qualitative Research Methods To Study Preservice Teachers' Use of a Computer Conference" (Douglass J. Scott); (2) "Interaction and Collaboration among Teachers: On the Use of a Knowledge…

This Occasional Paper (No. 5 from the ACCLAIM Research Initiative) offers counsel for studying rural mathematics education directed at the ACCLAIM Center's first cohort of doctoral students. It discusses the scope of rural math education dissertations, motive, design, related literature, putting rural in rural education research, and the need for…

The topics discussed in this bulletin are those that are significant of new developments in regard to the school-building problem. For example, although elementary and high school buildings are of equal importance, considerable space is given to the evolution of the elementary school building of the city school systems because it represents a…

The influence of two studies--the Westinghouse-Ohio and Consortium for Longitudinal Studies evaluations--on Project Head Start are discussed. The associations of one evaluation with program contraction and the other with program expansion are analyzed in terms of differences in findings, study credibility, climate of opinion, and dissemination of…

Discusses the evolution of a set of research programs (dealing with the removal of liquid contaminants from surfaces) used to introduce graduate students to methods of design, evaluation, and modification within the context of a larger research program. Stresses the simultaneity and interaction of theoretical and experimental studies. (JM)