The Promising Practices Network (PPN) on Children, Families and Communities (www.promisingpractices.net) began as a partnership between four state-level organizations that help public and private organizations improve the well-being of children and families. The PPN website, archived in June 2014, featured summaries of programs and practices that…

Web 2.0 technologies, open source software platforms, and mobile applications have transformed teaching and learning of second and foreign languages. Language teaching has transitioned from a teacher-centered approach to a student-centered approach through the use of Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) and new teaching approaches.…

Underlying recent developments in health care and new treatments for disease are advances in basic medical sciences. This edition of "Webwatch" focuses on sites dealing with basic medical sciences, with particular attention given to physiology. There is a vast amount of information on the web related to physiology. The sites that are included here…

Oakland University's Kresge Library first launched its Web site in 1996. The initial design and subsequent contributions were originally managed by a single Webmaster. In 2002, the library restructured its Web content creation and management to a distributed, collaborative method with the goal of increasing the amount, accuracy, and timeliness of…

Purpose: This paper aims to investigate how public libraries in Ireland are using their websites to present local studies collections online. Design/methodology/approach: All the websites of public libraries in Ireland were evaluated against a checklist of 50 criteria by one of the authors. An analytic description was provided of the four…

In 2 studies, the authors explored preadolescent and adolescent use of personal homepages in relation to mastery and identity formation. In Study 1, the authors attempted to determine the prevalence of personal homepage and online journal (blog) construction among a random sample (N = 500) of preadolescents and adolescents. Adolescents were more…

Objective: In light of public concern about the dangers to young people from maintaining online journals or "blogs," this exploratory paper examines whether bloggers are at increased risk for online sexual solicitation or harassment. Method: A national telephone survey of 1,500 youth Internet users, ages 10-17, conducted between March and June…

Enrollment managers are awash in a sea of change. With each academic year, they attempt to harness the new recruitment opportunities that arise through a varying array of technologies. Technology allows them to reach more students than ever before, given all the ways that students now choose to communicate. But, some caveats come with choosing…

When the Johnson County Library (JoCo Library), a midsize suburban public library in Kansas City, Kansas, completely rebuilt its 2,000-plus-page website--one that had remained relatively stable for almost 5 years--the reaction from patrons and staff members was overwhelmingly positive. The web development team at the JoCo Library realized that the…

Librarians expend considerable resources to develop services and implement new products catering their users' changing needs. Such efforts begs for the involvement of library users in the development and/or beta process. The authors, both academic librarians, realized that much of their online services were underused, so they devised a plan to…

Instructional tool in the form of a user-friendly, web-based navigational chart for pre-service as well as in-service teachers to teach norm referenced and criterion referenced testing. This chart was designed based on a major facet of testing: comparing and contrasting norm referenced and criterion referenced testing models (Kubiszyn & Borich,…

This article explores the Digital Vaults and offers suggestions in introducing this site to students. The Digital Vaults, inspired by the permanent Public Vaults exhibition launched by the National Archives in 2004, is not just another website, but it designed to be an online exhibit and teaching tool, by offering both exposure to historical…

This article presents a compilation of data regarding the role of online social networks within campus communities, specifically for nonacademic purposes. Both qualitative and quantitative data methodologies are used to provide a unique perspective on a constantly evolving topic. Interviews of students and administrators allow for candid…

Some professors, librarians, and administrators have begun using Twitter, a service that can blast very short notes (up to 140 characters) to select users' cell phones or computer screens. The practice is often called microblogging because people use it to send out pithy updates about their daily lives. No need to wait until you are back at your…

The author discusses "Design Squad", a television program designed to introduce students to the engineering process. Each episode tells the story of how two teams tackled a particular challenge. A graphic announces each stage (e.g., brainstorm, design, build, test, and redesign) as the teams construct their solutions. These graphics make visual…