After reviewing suggestions offered in the other papers in this volume for addressing the research/practice gap in higher education, this final paper discusses how national organizations and professional associations can serve as change agents in building bridges between researchers and practitioners. (DB)

Defends the existence of a synergy between research and education, which requires the acceptance of two principles: (1) education of engineers as the creation of a pro-innovation attitude; and (2) research as an open-minded compromising attitude with progress of valuable knowledge. Argues that research-oriented centers are better-prepared to boost…

Reviews the research and theory supporting the potential utility of measures of nonverbal social communication skills (such as joint attention) for young children with autism. Examples relate these types of measures to current issues, including the "recovery hypothesis," the "pivotal skill hypothesis," and the relative effectiveness of discrete…

Despite the need for more and better research on rural education, recent federal policy trends favoring broadly applicable, "problem-centered" research threaten to abandon responsibility for "targeted" populations to the agendas of private and state-based organizations. Rural research funding is discussed in relation to the…

It is argued that professional doctorates such as the Doctor of Education degree have value as a means of reconstructing the relationship between theory and practice, by demanding a reconstruction of university research relationships with practitioners. In turn, this requires that universities change their conceptualization and teaching of…

Explores how far British government policies influence academic values and ways of working through an examination of the United Kingdom Foresight Programme, a governmental effort to set priorities for research through identification of emerging technologies and markets. Feedback from scientists and social scientists found shifting attitudes toward…

Reviews the recent literature in educational technology to identify the contours of research and debate in the current "topography." Addresses the research questions being framed in educational technology; questions that are not (and should be) framed; what the literature concludes about effects of multimedia on the ability of students…

The National Latino/a Education Research Agenda Project, an initiative developed at the Centro de Estudios Puertorriquenos at Hunter College, aims to give voice, perspective, and a research knowledge base to such issues as school reform and to improve academic outcomes and the long term life chances of Latino students and their families and…

Presents an overview of the types of research on community colleges. Proposes that research literature falls into four, often overlapping categories: informative and promotional research (with little or no analysis), advisory research (what "should" be done), descriptive research, and scholarly research. Concludes that variations in the literature…

This commentary on a previous article (EC 619 261) about medical consequences of child sexual abuse urges prospective studies using large populations to evaluate many variables, as well as selection of projects which are most likely to influence practice or policy and thus affect significant numbers of persons. (DB)

Review of recent research on effective teaching examines six areas of higher education teaching: (1) teaching dimensions and behaviors; (2) teaching considerations (including instructional design, methods, and teaching styles); (3) teaching and motivation; (4) teaching and teacher assessment and evaluation; (5) teaching technologies; and (6)…

This article discusses the effectiveness of a curriculum used in training 177 participants to change their knowledge about childhood sexuality and beliefs about the adult's role in responding. On six of the seven items measuring change, post-training scores were significantly higher. Information dissemination, emerging research, and promising…

Interface and instructional design guides almost completely ignore sound, and research suggests many promising instructional uses remain largely unexplored. Examines information processing and communication theoretical foundations for sound's systematic use in the instructional communication system and proposes a framework for a program of…

Argues for using research to inform policy and practice. Discusses findings of three aspects of an international research project entitled "Emergent Environmentalism." Explores examples of how the evidence generated from this project shapes educational policy and practice in Slovenia and Greece. (CMK)

Using the strategy of "divide and conquer" can lead to victory at the polls. The ballot can include two freestanding questions, either or both of which can pass or fail independently, or it can be designed in such a way that approval of question two is contingent on question one passing. (MLF)