For most of the last century, the United States has been recognized as having the best system of higher education in the world. No other nation has a postsecondary system that has been as successful in advancing knowledge and innovation, while also making college accessible to its citizens regardless of their financial circumstances. Yet today,…

Higher Education institutions in the United States are considering Open Source software applications such as the Moodle and Sakai course management systems and the Kuali financial system to build integrated learning environments that serve both academic and administrative needs. Open Source is presumed to be more flexible and less costly than…

Behavioral genetic research has concluded that the more important environmental influences result in differences between siblings (referred to as "nonshared"; "e[superscript 2]"), whereas environmental influences that create similarities between siblings (referred to as "shared"; "c[superscript 2]") are indistinguishable from zero. However, there…

Objectives: After the termination of parental rights (TPR), there is no guarantee that youth will achieve legal permanence through adoption either quickly or at all. This study identifies obstacles in reaching adoption after TPR. Methods: Data are extracted via brief case reviews of 640 children and in-depth case reviews of 145 children to…

Objective: This study attempts to uncover barriers to participation in a marital enrichment program that had been expected to be attractive to eligible couples. Method: Work products associated with a multiyear demonstration project were subjected to ethnographic analysis. Results: Eligible couples did not see congruence between the program's…

This article is concerned with the influence of western educational approaches in non-western countries and societies. This influence is frequently referred to as educational neocolonialism in the sense that western paradigms tend to shape and influence educational systems and thinking elsewhere through the process of globalisation. Given the…

This study sought to determine aspects of training provided to transracial adoptive parents by public and private U.S. adoption agencies. Responses to a survey of a random sample of public and private agencies indicated that about half of the agencies that facilitate transracial adoption provide relevant training. Findings pose implications for…

Supporters and opponents of transracial adoption agree that minority children have a right and a need to develop a sense of ethnic identity and a knowledge of their cultural heritage. Maintains that questionable social and psychiatric assumptions are used to justify this position and deny the legitimacy of transracial adoption. (MDM)

Explored the backgrounds and personal motives of 70 families who adopted Indian children in the late 1970s and 1980s. Focused on what kind of people seek to adopt children of another ethnic group and with a higher likelihood of chronic disabilities. Found strong resemblance to altruists and rescuers of Holocaust victims. (Author/DLH)

"The NMC Horizon Report" series is the most visible outcome of the New Media Consortium. (NMC) Horizon Project, an ongoing research effort established in 2002 that identifies and describes emerging technologies likely to have a large impact on teaching, learning, research, or creative expression within education around the globe. This volume, "The…

This study investigates users' perception and acceptance of mixed reality (MR) technology. Acceptance of new information technologies has been important research area since 1990s. It is important to understand the reasons why people accept information technologies, as this can help to improve design, evaluation and prediction how users will…

As video-based instructional materials become available to distance learners to learn practical skills at a distance, it is important to assess the instructional effectiveness of these materials and to understand how students respond to them. This paper is the second part of a larger exploratory study that assessed the instructional effectiveness…

Businesses and other organizations are relying increasingly on virtual teams to perform a range of business activities. A key challenge in utilizing virtual teams is to support collaboration among team members who are separated by distance and/or time. In this paper we use a research model based on a combination of the Technology Acceptance Model…

In early 2009, Congress directed the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to develop a National Broadband Plan to ensure every American has "access to broadband capability." Congress also required that this plan include a detailed strategy for achieving affordability and maximizing use of broadband to advance "consumer welfare, civic…

The vast majority of high school students plan to attend college--and believe that a bachelor's degree all but guarantees them a high-paying job. What many of them don't know is that those who are not well prepared are not likely to graduate. They also don't realize that plenty of career-focused certificates and associate's degrees lead to…