Despite the last few years' growth in awareness of open-source software in schools and the potential savings it represents, its widespread adoption is still hampered. Randy Orwin, technology director of the Bainbridge Island School District in Washington State and a strong open-source advocate, cautions that installing an open-source…

The formation constant of iron(III) complex with glycine (Gly) ligand in aqueous acidic medium (0.2 M HNO[subscript 3], I = 0.2 M at 28 plus or minus 1 degree C) was determined spectrophotometrically in which a competing color reaction between Fe(III) and SCN[superscript -] was used as an indicator reaction. Under the specified conditions Fe(III)…

Interactive visual learning tools (IVLTs) are software environments that encode and display information visually and allow learners to interact with the visual information. This article examines the application and utility of frameworks in the analysis and design of IVLTs at the micro level. Frameworks play an important role in any design. They…

College instructors have long searched for methods to enhance the learning process for their students. Co-teaching is one method by which instructors from diverse fields merge their expertise in order to facilitate student learning. This study examined how co-teaching might affect the learning process. Twenty-three, largely non-traditional college…

Advances in anatomical informatics, three-dimensional (3D) modeling, and virtual reality (VR) methods have made computer-based structural visualization a practical tool for education. In this article, the authors describe streamlined methods for producing VR "learning objects," standardized interactive software modules for anatomical sciences…

Plagiarism in media and print continues to be a major issue for professors, librarians, and students. Through initiatives and outreach from the B. Davis Memorial Library at the C. W. Post Campus of Long Island University, plagiarism Web sites have been created and workshops and programs continually provided for faculty and students to detect,…

This article describes an "on-the-road" usability study and explains the study's methodological challenges, solutions, and recommendations. The study concerned a library-consortium website, which is a communication and educational tool for librarians who are physically dispersed throughout the state, and an intranet for remote users.…

The pmg add-on package for the open source statistics software R is described. This package provides a simple to use graphical user interface (GUI) that allows introductory statistics students, without advanced computing skills, to quickly create the graphical and numeric summaries expected of them. (Contains 9 figures.)

Thirty years of work as a graphic facilitator listening visually to people in every kind of organization has convinced the author that visual intelligence is a key to navigating an information economy rich with multimedia. He also believes that theory and disciplines developed by practitioners in this new field hold special promise for educators…

Different technological artefacts may offer distinct opportunities for students to develop resources and strategies to formulate, comprehend and solve mathematical problems. In particular, the use of dynamic software becomes relevant to assemble geometric configurations that may help students reconstruct and examine mathematical relationships. In…

In earlier columns, the celestial coordinate system of hour circles of right ascension and degrees of declination was introduced along with the use of an equatorial star chart (see SFA Star Charts in Resources). This system shows the planets' motion relative to the ecliptic, the apparent path the Sun follows during the year. An alternate system,…

In this paper we examine how to design software instructions for user cognition and affect. A basic and co-user manual are compared. The first provides fundamental support for both; the latter includes a buddy to further optimize support for user affect. The basic manual was faster and judged as easier to process than the co-user manual. In…

A child care center's financial health depends on collecting and processing payments. It is one of the most time-consuming and unpleasant administrative tasks. Fortunately, it's an area where the smart use of technology can provide dramatic benefits. This article discusses various tools and technologies that can be used by child care centers to…

Computer-based testing--is an effective teacher's tool, intended to optimize course goals and assessment techniques in a comparatively short time. However, this is accomplished only if we deal with high-quality tests. It is strange, but despite the 100-year history of Testing Theory (see, Anastasi, A., Urbina, S. (1997). Psychological testing.…

Purpose: This paper aims to provide context for papers in this special issue on Australasian e-learning. The paper aims to examine the background to Australian flexible and transnational education and to evaluate the educational and intuitional flexibility of three typical products of the Australian educational software industry.…