A study looked at four groups of mostly senior graphic and industrial design students in their final semester capstone course--a collaborative studio project intended to give them the opportunity to apply their design expertise to real-world problems for real clients. The study examined the ways in which one of these groups used arguments to…

Effective meeting leaders--people who know how to manage meetings, not just hold them--understand the two main arenas of any meeting: content issues and process activities. These two arenas are interdependent upon each other. This book is designed to help educators lead more effective meetings through increased process awareness. Chapter 1 offers…

Students in an honors section of a basic public speaking course asked for a final examination which was not multiple choice. Taught from a multicultural perspective, the course emphasized dialogue, excitement, and democratic principles, as well as issues regarding group differences and how power relations function to structure racial and ethnic…

During the fourth quarter of fiscal year 1995, personnel from the University of Memphis continued to be on-site evaluating the Synergy Foundation's project funded by the U.S. Department of Justice. Through observation of the program, interviewing participants (N=173) and personnel, administering qualitative instruments, and analyzing records, it…

Reaching a consensus with regard to fundamental issues involving pluralistic epistemological ideologies entails discourse and argumentation as one attempts to find a fit among his or her beliefs, other individuals' beliefs, and the particular points under consideration. Thus it may be easy to accept the notion of not reaching consensus about…

A teacher study group is a collaborative group organized by teachers to help them strengthen their professional development in areas of common interest. Groups provide an important structure for gaining autonomy and a major means for growing professionally while building communities of learners and providing avenues for self-actualization. This…

This study examined the effects of computer-mediated communication (CMC) in creating a new environment for the development of a deaf community through a case study of DEAF-L, an on-line discussion venue focusing on issues and concerns relating to deaf people. Data collection took the form of participant observation and analysis of transcripts of…

Competent practice in the field of evaluation calls upon many skills, which all can be taught. This paper suggests one perspective on how these evaluation skills could be acquired. A seven-item question-and-answer format is used to respond to a panel discussing structuring a program to prepare professional evaluators. The following questions are…

The purpose of the focus group design described in this paper was to identify the needs of students in English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) programs for use by researchers, program designers, and teachers. The pilot focus group consisted of students from various programs who were preparing to take the Test of English as a Foreign Language. They were…

The Positive Education Program (PEP) in Cuyahoga, Ohio, incorporates a token economy and group process approach into the daily school routine for emotionally disturbed and behaviorally handicapped students. At elementary and secondary levels, minimum rules and expectations as well as privileges awarded for behaviors are clearly set forth. The…

The nature and process of participatory discussion are discussed, and reference is made to the British system of tutor-led groups. It is suggested that discussion is the essence of university life, since it can be used to discover the ways in which students view the knowledge and principles that the scholar presents. Discussion also provides the…

Three approaches: hypnosis, counseling, and hypnosis plus counseling were used to help smokers stop smoking. Only the third approach produced a fairly high success rate. (SE)

Compared in two experiments were the problem solving attitudes of 30 boys (ages 7 to 14 years) in a recreation camp and 53 boys (ages 7- to 17 years) in a camp for emotionally disturbed children which emphasized the development of problem solving skills. (DB)