The purpose of this longitudinal study was to identify the short- and long-term impact of business communication education on students' skill developments and performance outcomes. Nearly 400 students at an AACSC International-accredited business college participated in the study during their sophomore and senior years. The findings indicate that…

Detecting cancer at a pre-cancerous stage, identifying chemical-warfare agents, removing contaminants from ground water: these and many more efforts are underway as the era of nanotechnology dawns. The newest of the new technologies, nanotechnology is this century's gold rush to build manmade machinery from microscopic particles. The…

This paper criticizes the checklist model approach (authority, accuracy, objectivity, currency, coverage) to teaching undergraduates how to evaluate Web sites. The checklist model rests on faulty assumptions about the nature of information available through the Web, mistaken beliefs about student evaluation skills, and an exaggerated sense of…

The Google Book Search Library Project, in which millions of books from libraries will be scanned and made searchable on the Web, has led to controversy and legal action. Publishers are suing Google for copyright infringement, while Google claims their use falls under the fair use privilege of the "Copyright Act". An overview of the library…

On-line collaboration is becoming increasingly common in education and in organisations. It was believed that this could in itself cause stress for collaborators. An analysis of on-line learning diaries, phone interviews and questionnaires indicated that on-line collaboration could cause stress, and this stress was linked to the dependency of the…

The School of Physiotherapy at Curtin University of Technology in Perth, Western Australia, recognizes that learning is influenced by many variables. Therefore, evaluation of teaching and learning should focus on changes in knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behavior. In 1999, physiotherapy faculty at Curtin University developed Course Evaluation…

Many U.S. institutions of higher education are initiating and expanding the use of the Internet for collecting and reporting student ratings of instruction. The primary objective of this study was to better understand the effects of the Internet on student ratings of instruction in higher education. More specifically, data were collected to…

For some, it seems that the dream of a perfect research machine is almost within reach. Google announced late last year that it would digitize millions of bound books, making available online the full text of public-domain books and excerpts from works still in copyright. Thrilling and dazzling as the potential for research and distribution…

The emergence of powerful mathematical computing environments, the growing availability of correspondingly powerful (multi-processor) computers and the pervasive presence of the Internet allow for mathematicians, students and teachers, to proceed heuristically and "quasi-inductively." We may increasingly use symbolic and numeric computation,…

In this article, the author takes a close look at alternative certification programs and is convinced that, because they vary so extremely in their requirements, all of them cannot possibly be producing highly qualified teachers. Here, he talks about Non-University Certification Programs (NUCPs). These are alternative certification programs that…

This article discusses the use of computer-based technology in the educational system. The author contends that while this technology is useful as an instructional tool, it is no substitute for face-to-face education. The author provides four principles of learning that will allow teachers to use this type of technology in the service of discovery.

Energy issues have moved up the public agenda in recent decades, and were highlighted in President Bush's State of the Union address when he declared, "America is addicted to oil...." and pledging to "replace more than 75 percent of oil imports from the Middle East by 2025." The author observes that oil dependence and energy independence will be…

Most researchers and the Census Bureau expect the U.S. population to hit the 300 million mark sometime in October. This will make the United States the world's third most populous nation--behind China and India. In this article, the author found several websites dealing with the specific 300 million target, population growth in general, and…

Mass digitization of the bound volumes that we generally call "books" has begun, and, thanks to the interest in Google and all that it does, it is getting widespread media attention. The Open Content Alliance (OCA), a library initiative formed after Google announced its library book digitization project, has brought library digitization projects…

The Internet and the Web offer academic institutions solutions for covering the massive demand for education and transition towards student-centered, social constructivist educational models, in accordance with the demands of the knowledge-based society. This article reports on an investigation aimed at presenting a synthesis of recent research on…