The Newton Polytechnic Center (NPC) at Iowa's Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC), is a cooperative effort among DMACC, Iowa State University (ISU), the City of Newton, the Newton Community School District, and Maytag Corporation to provide the community with innovative educational services. The NPC focuses on the development of…

The rationale for and design of an English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) course that integrates language instruction and cultural awareness of English-speaking communities are explained. It is argued that this approach offers the best opportunity for achieving a genuinely communicative approach to school-based language learning. In the first section,…

During the 1994-95 academic year a series of four focus groups were held to learn more about faculty attitudes toward computing and instructional technologies at the University of North Texas. This report assembles faculty quotes which represent group concerns about: (1) the reliability of the equipment and its technical support; (2) the…

Over the last decade, studies of online catalogs have revealed that they frequently discourage users. Subject queries often fail to produce retrievals or produce retrieval sets that are too large and unwieldy to be easily scanned. Research shows that users are seeking alternative approaches to those that manipulate the subject headings in catalog…

The core features of the preindustrial model of school-to-work transition are needed now. An environment must be recreated in which young people see the vital connections among education, training, and work that were once so clear. The emerging consensus model has these features: combined formal schooling and structured on-the-job training leading…

A 1994 national survey of directors of 69 master's in business administration (MBA) programs gathered information on business language course offerings. Results indicate that while the issue of business foreign languages was of interest to administrators, their inclusion in the MBA curriculum was not widely supported. At present, about 80 percent…

A collection of essays on the integration of English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) and content area instruction in higher education includes: "Using Feedback from ESL Students To Enhance Their Success in College" (Trudy Smoke); "When There Are No Links Between ESL and Content Courses" (Elaine Brooks); "The Adjunct Model of…

A study obtained early information on the effects of the School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994 on states' efforts to develop and implement effective systems of school-to-work transition. Systems in eight states were studied: California, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Oregon, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. State leaders understood the need…

This practicum was designed to improve the interpretative skills of 50 preservice teachers enrolled in the early childhood teacher education program, to enable them to modify the curriculum to improve instruction for students with special needs placed in inclusive education settings. The preservice teachers lacked the ability to design appropriate…

This report presents the final recommendations, in the form of a new set of guidelines, of a federal advisory committee concerning revisions to the Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG). The guidelines provide scoping and technical requirements for the design, construction, and alteration of sites, facilities, buildings,…

This 10-year study compared the achievement of 3 samples of students designated at-risk for school failure and 1 sample deemed not at risk, and followed a transitional first-grade school readiness program (SRP) population from prekindergarten through eighth grade to identify contextual factors associated with student progress. At-risk samples were…

This paper proposes an alternative approach to the traditional education paradigm that has prepared students for the old health care environment. In a changing health care environment, problem based learning (PBL) is achieving popularity primarily because educational outcomes parallel the skills and abilities desired of future clinicians and…

The way in which teachers use technology in their instruction is often a function of their educational and technological background, their previous teaching experience, and the amount of attention the instructor pays to the goals of the course. The three stages of teaching elicit the following types of questions: (1) survival: "How can I survive…

This guide is intended to be used in conjunction with the third module of the Program for Infant/Toddler Caregivers (PITC), a four-module video training course for providers of family and center day care. The videos illustrate key concepts and caregiving techniques for a specific area of care, and the guides provide extensive in-depth coverage of…

Dynamic Learning Communities (DLCs) offer an alternative approach to the traditional Instructional Design (ID) format for learning. This paper outlines the concept of a dynamic learning community as an alternative to teacher-controlled or pre-designed instructional systems. DLCs are groups of people, who form a learning community generally…