Purpose: This report seeks to address the preliminary findings from a large-scale study of the different ways in which the asynchronous discussion forum (ADF) is being used in the online learning environment. Design/methodology/approach: A conceptual approach is taken. Findings: The structural and functional variation of the ADF is depicted within…

Early childhood teachers may express positive views about inclusive practices but are the practices implemented in their classrooms? This study examined preservice and inservice teachers' attitudes toward inclusive practices as reflected in the teachers' behaviors. This qualitative study utilized open-ended initial interviews, observations with…

A rapid ethnograhic study of 10 itinerant teachers in two school districts and 21 other professionals working with the itinerants was conducted. Rapid ethnography starts with the same assumptions about culture as conventional ethnography. However, it is not constrained by the assumption of cultural ignorance on the investigator's part. Thus, it…

A content analysis was performed to determine the trends in the field of educational technology for the period October 1, 1994 through September 30, 1995. Sources for the analysis included five leading professional journals in educational technology, papers given at annual conventions of three professional associations, dissertations from five…

This kit consists of: (1) a leader's guide; (2) an 18-minute videotape containing three 6-minute discussion starter segments analyzing typical commercials and advertising techniques; (3) a special issue of "Media Values" magazine on the theme "Fatal Attraction: The Selling of Addiction"; (4) an 8-page booklet "Awareness to Action: Media Literacy…

The work reported in this paper is part of an ongoing qualitative study of faculty uses of the Internet at the University of Georgia. The goal of the study is to categorize the functions of "class pages" (i.e., World Wide Web sites that have been personally developed by instructors to support traditional face-to-face classes) from both…

A readability study for the Albuquerque Technical-Vocational Institute (T-VI) was undertaken to provide information regarding the reading ability required to complete training and to function in entry-level jobs. Readability formulas were applied to materials used in training and on the job. In addition, students were tested for level of reading,…

Student materials, teaching suggestions, and resource lists for using newspapers in various content areas in elementary and junior high schools are presented. The first section provides an overview of a newspaper by having students identify items on the first page, reply to a "Dear Abby" letter, analyze a photograph, examine a ski…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 18 titles deal with the following topics: (1) the meaning of "Cold War" in two York, Pennsylvania, daily newspapers; (2) Tom Paine and the disclosure of secret French aid to the United States; (3) "Schenck V.…

As the first volume in a set of programmed instructional materials to help college students improve their communication skills in preparation for the job market, this booklet presents an overview of communication skills and a section on active listening. Designed for students to use on their own, the format of the program is to present a situation…

A study examined the match between the vocabularies of children of different ethnic and socioeconomic status groups and the school vocabulary revealed by readability formulas and word lists. The Spache 1040 and the Dale 769 readability formula word lists were used as indicators of school vocabulary in the early primary grades, and a corpus of talk…

The authors report the findings of a study conducted on a dually listed undergraduate/graduate distance learning course for Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). They collected data on students' interactions with the course content and course technologies to investigate differences in how graduate and undergraduate students…

A survey of educators was conducted to determine the relative importance of eight desirable characteristics of competency based education materials and then to apply the results to materials actually in use. Initially, 129 vocational instructors, administrators, and instructional designers were surveyed using a pair-comparison method. Objectives…

This volume consists of appendices to the final report on a study of the nature and variability of relevance judgments connected with document searching. Included in these appendices are: (1) all test materials and forms used in the experiments with medical librarians, medical experts, medical scientists, and medical students who were asked to…

The paper is designed to aid social studies educators and teachers in selecting curriculum materials. It is presented in three sections. Section I outlines problems involved in choosing among curricula. These problems include similarity of traditional social studies textbooks; recent proliferation of innovative curricula which have not been…