Recent research demonstrates that videogames enhance literacy, attention, reaction time, and higher-level thinking. Several scholars have suggested that massively multiplayer online games (MMOs) such as "Everquest" and "Second Life" have educational potential, but we have little data about what happens when such tools are introduced in the…

We present a simple activity in which students measure the resolving power of their eyes. The approach can be used at various levels of sophistication with students having a wide variety of skills and scientific training. We discuss our experiences using this activity with a class of non-science majors as well as with a group of pre-engineering…

While classroom instruction can and should still be used to teach students the fundamentals of engineering, the key to their ultimate success is learning to use that knowledge in a real-world setting. Out-of-class activities, like the American Society of Civil Engineers' (ASCE) National Concrete Canoe Competition, not only give students a hands-on…

This article first presents the theoretical grounding for both storytelling and the social construction of reality. A sequence of classroom-tested tools for combining stories with reality construction is then described. Two tools for framing reality are offered: One is an actual frame that students take out of the classroom to frame a scene in…

In this article, the author describes how he gives students in his English 349, Editing and Publishing, at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point real-world editing and publishing experience by letting them form their own publishing company--the Cornerstone Press. In this class, students write multiple drafts of publishable articles and help…

The needs assessment, a popular tool for helping businesses determine what they need to do to improve their operations, services, and products, can serve as an excellent vehicle for meeting many of the objectives in an introductory business communication course. A needs assessment project, as with other university-business collaborations, provides…

American research universities are renowned for applying cutting-edge science to the improvement of the world's health and environmental systems. Indeed, as a society, people have come to expect this type of intellectual leadership from their great universities. Less appreciated is the robust opportunity for state and local governments to harness…

This paper presents an interview with Douglas Brinkley, an award-winning author and historian and director of Tulane University's Theodore Roosevelt Center for American Civilization. His wide-ranging portfolio includes books on John Kerry and the Vietnam War, Ronald Reagan and D-Day, Rosa Parks, Henry Ford, Dean Acheson and Jimmy Carter. He is…

Incubation studies are traditionally used in soil microbiology laboratory classes to demonstrate microbial respiration and N mineralization-immobilization processes. Sometimes these exercises are done to calculate a N balance in N fertilizer-amended soils. However, examining microbial responses to environmental perturbations would appeal to soil…

Faculty salaries and support for professors' staff, equipment, and sabbaticals are among the key cost drivers of any higher-education institution. College administrators are hesitant to confront faculty members, who, as they defend their turf, often charge that cutting costs will damage the quality of education that they provide. At a national…

This study reports findings from a content analysis of the activities and tasks of a school-based problem-solving team. Analyses of observational data collected over the course of five months found that team tasks and activities fell into the following five clusters: (1) needs identification, program development, and planning; (2) intrateam…

The development of digital information literacy (DIL) has been slow in comparison to changes in information communication technologies, and this remains an issue for the higher education sector. Competency in such skills is essential to full participation in society and work. In addition, these skills are regarded as underpinning the ability to…

The Pilot schools Experiential Education Demonstration (PSEED) project was intended to deepen and embed high-quality experiential education within each participating school's academic programs. A continuation of a multiyear set of initiatives by the Barr Foundation, PSEED was an effort to unify the foundation's content area foci on arts,…

The George Lucas Educational Foundation began in 1991 with an ambitious mission: to demonstrate how innovative learning environments in classrooms, supported by powerful new technologies, could revolutionize learning. As an organization founded by George Lucas, its members believed that the same benefits of technology that were transforming…

The study that informs this article investigated how online learners' participation in and perception of their sense of learning community contributed to or affected their relationship to their workplace environment and their workplace colleagues. The findings support contentions that, in the workplace, the work itself constitutes the most…