Discusses strategies for transforming community colleges to meet the highly individualized, experiential, community-based learning needs of adult students. Underscores the importance of making lifelong learning part of the institutional mission, administrative commitment, redefining faculty roles and financial underpinnings, an appropriate…

Lends support to the idea that the quality of the cases used in problem-based learning affects the nature of student learning in this context. Outlines seven principles adapted from research on learning and cognition that can help guide case design. Contains 22 references. (DDR)

Examined scientific reasoning in middle school science students and in scientists that analyzed phenomena explanations in class and in references. Found distinctions, but also reasons why student explanations do and should differ. The resulting conceptual model of student scientific reasoning in context emphasizes three contextual areas: available…

Reviews empirical studies from a wide variety of fields to show that computer-based multimedia instruction may be able to help people learn more information more quickly compared to traditional classroom lecture. Topics include interactivity; control of learning pace; novelty; and learners with low prior knowledge or aptitude. (103 references)…

Discusses results from a survey of graduates following a module in e-business and e-commerce at the University of Sheffield that suggest differences in prior knowledge and cultural background impact students' acquisition of domain knowledge and intellectual and information research skills. Considers implications for Web-based instruction.…

Investigated the attitudes to, and extent of, self-reported involvement in Internet-supported dishonest academic practices such as plagiarism among United Kingdom undergraduates. Discusses Internet experience, acceptability of cheating, assessment of risk, gender, frequency of Internet use, and maturity of students, and outlines responses that…

A 56-year-old Canada Native took a college course on Australian Indigenous approaches to knowledge. He observed that initially many students were hindered by their past experience with linear paradigms of structured academic processes. Eventually they let their minds access spirit and feeling in addition to thought, allowing a recall of life…

Despite research to the contrary, most college teachers assume students have more basic knowledge then they do, and they assign essays accordingly. One instructor discusses the poor results of students' knowledge testing, noting his institution's low admission requirements and questioning today's lax standards in the face of the information age.…

Examined the influence of college students' expertise on use of multiple documents about a historical controversy. Found that strategies did not differ significantly across the groups of expert and non-expert students. However, evaluation of usefulness varied as a function of document type and students' expertise. Furthermore, novices and experts…

Discussion of course-related library instruction focuses on a study at Wichita State University (Kansas) that indicated little relationship between students' demographics, previous library instruction, or prior use of library resources and how they evaluated library instruction for an undergraduate anthropology course. Subject interest was more…

Examines how different internal learner characteristics (prior knowledge, self efficacy, and interest) and different external constraints (learner control, instructional design, and level of control) influence the learning process. Discusses learning from multimedia environments (video, hypertext, kiosk, and other hypermedia) within a schema…

Investigated the effects of readers' gender, topic familiarity, enjoyment, and interest on second language reading. University students of Spanish completed a reading passage each day, a written recall comprehension task, and a questionnaire. Findings suggest that in addition to linguistic factors, other variables such as gender, passage content,…

Investigates the effects of verbal and pictorial advance organizers on science text comprehension of children with high or low prior knowledge. Finds that verbal advance organizers assist text comprehension of children with strong prior knowledge, while the addition of a pictorial component aids comprehension of children with weak prior knowledge.…

Compares the relative effects of hands-on and teacher demonstration laboratory methods on declarative knowledge and procedural knowledge achievement. Reports that students in the hands-on class were better on the procedural knowledge test than students in the demonstration class. (Author/YP)

Mixed mode study, allowing students to switch between full- and part-time status according to personal needs, is evaluated in a program designed to remedy underachievement. The contributions of recent developments in credit accumulation, assessment of prior learning, and learning contracts are discussed. (MSE)