This paper examines the value of a task-based approach to engaging with original works of art and focuses in particular upon the experiences of a group of PGCE Art and Design trainees when they visited an exhibition entitled, Air Guitar: Art Reconsidering Rock Music, to carry out given tasks. The extent to which a task-based approach might…

Performance theorist Herbert Blau's "The Audience" (Baltimore and London, Johns Hopkins Press, 1990) is an important yet neglected theoretical text on theatre audience. Deconstructive, dense and allusive in nature, Blau's text creates a real challenge for his reader. This paper presents a study of "The Audience" employing what I am calling…

This study was the third in a series examining the relationships among conductors, ensembles' performances, and festival ratings. Participants (N = 51) were asked to score the quality of video-only conducting and parallel audio-only excerpts of performances at a state-level concert festival of nine bands, three each that had received ratings of…

A hands-on lab for a lower division research methods course used an online format with Web page, Web forms, an e-mail listproc, and chat room. The virtual section received a higher rating for overall value than did the in-person labs. Students liked its convenience and flexibility. There were no significant differences in examination performance…

Strategies of response for HIV/AIDS education should account for structural relations of power, be culturally relevant to its audiences, and have the community as the focus of the intervention.

Recent reexaminations of adolescent literacy have expanded previous cognitive psychological models of reading to include views of the social and cultural aspects of literacy. The term critical literacy refers to approaches that focus on the social forces that influence the creation and interpretation of texts. When applied to the study of literary…

Humorist Louis Lippman describes how proper lecture etiquette requires a professor to twist repeatedly between screen and paying customers to read and explain his Powerpoint projections. Such Rotary Academic Whiplash invariably results in the gravest of musculo-pedagogical distress. (Contains 1 note.)

With the advent of English as a global language, the ability to write well in English across diverse settings and for different audiences has become an imperative in second language education programmes throughout the world. Yet the teaching of second language writing is often hindered by the great amount of time and skill needed to evaluate…

Introduction: Continuing medical education (CME) for physicians and other health personnel is becoming increasingly important in light of recertification requirements. Interactive learning is more effective and may be useful in a continuing education setting. This study examines the use of an audience response system (ARS) as an interactive…

In this article, the authors present the results of a survey of students at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands concerning the students' opinions about how PowerPoint should be used in university lectures. The most important outcome of the survey is that a vast majority of the respondents prefer a modest layout. Most students dislike…

This article examines LibQUAL+[TM]'s instrument, fundamental assumption, and research approach and proposes a functional/technical model of academic library effectiveness. This expanded view of library effectiveness complements LibQUAL+[TM], emphasizing it to be dependent upon users' experience of service delivery, as LibQUAL+[TM] recognizes.…

Audience response systems (ARS) or clickers, as they are commonly called, offer a management tool for engaging students in the large classroom. Basic elements of the technology are discussed. These systems have been used in a variety of fields and at all levels of education. Typical goals of ARS questions are discussed, as well as methods of…

Honoring students' home dialect is a complex task when preparing them to take state writing tests that require the use of Standard English. Working with students who had failed the test and were in danger of not receiving a diploma, Michelle Crotteau created a supportive learning environment in which students could develop linguistic and…

This book outlines the principles of planning, implementing, and evaluating successful professional meetings and conferences in education. The following are among the topics discussed: (1) the knowledge base of effective meetings and conferences (nine principles held by effective meeting designers; characteristics of effective meetings and…

This paper undertakes a review of the literature on writing cognition, writing instruction, and writing assessment with the goal of developing a framework and competency model for a new approach to writing assessment. The model developed is part of the Cognitively Based Assessments of, for, and as Learning (CBAL) initiative, an ongoing research…