Program exclusivity and competition in the cable television industry

The authors argue that program exclusivity will be an important factor in the future of the cable television industry. They assert that prohibiting cable program exclusivity may limit the First Amendment rights of cable programmers and operators. The authors conclude that the best chance for increasing competition if program exclusivity continues is to increase the number of market participants.     

An investigation of two-way text messaging use with deaf students at the secondary level

Deaf and hard-of-hearing students are often delayed in developing their independent living skills because of parental restrictions on activities outside the home due to worries about their child's inability to communicate, their whereabouts, and their general safety. Recent accounts of the use of two-way text messagers suggests that, like electronic mail, distance communication problems that have long plagued deaf people may be ameliorated--by the use of such technology (M. R. Power & D. Power, 2004; S. S. Rhone & Cox News Service, 2002). This project was designed as an initial foray into investigating the use of two-way text messaging technology as a way of increasing the independence of deaf adolescents and reducing their parents' anxiety about their safety and responsibility. All the deaf and hard-of-hearing students in the deaf and hard-of-hearing programs at two urban high schools (ages 13-19), the staff of the deaf departments at these two schools, and the parents/guardians of the students participated in this study. Preuse surveys, postuse surveys, and monthly statistics on the number of times each pager was used enabled us to chart how often the participants used the technology. The data were used to identify concerns that parents have about student independence and safety, the extent to which deaf students engage in independent activities, and expectations surrounding how two-way text messaging use might increase independence and literacy skills. The data collected on this project to date confirm that two-way text messaging technology is indeed useful for deaf adolescents and helps alleviate some of the concerns that have kept them from developing independence as quickly or readily as their hearing peers. The potential policy implications for this research are discussed.     

Preschool predictors of dyslexia status in Chinese first graders with high or low familial risk

The present 4-year longitudinal study examined preschool predictors of Grade 1 dyslexia status in a Chinese population in Hong Kong where children started learning to read at the age of three. Seventy-five and 39 Chinese children with high and low familial risk respectively were tested on Chinese word reading, oral language skills, morphological awareness, phonological skills, rapid naming, and print-related skills from age 4 to 6 and a standardized dyslexia test at age 7. Results showed that children of the high risk group performed significantly worse than the low risk group in Chinese literacy, phonological awareness, and orthographic skills at age 7. All the children with dyslexia had word reading difficulties in at least one preschool year. Results of the logistic regression showed that preschool verbal production, syllable deletion, and letter naming were the best predictors of dyslexia outcome at age 7. As in alphabetic languages, preschool oral language skills like verbal production, phonological skills, and print-related skills are the most significant predictors of children’s later reading difficulties.     

INDIVIDUAL VARIABILITY IN MEMORY TRAINING WITH THE ELDERLY

Although magnitudes of memory improvement for the elderly tend to be larger for a learning skill training and a social support group compared with a waiting list group, the individual variability is sufficiently large to obscure statistical differences in the treatment effect. In our examination of individual variability in the data two possible confounding factors were uncovered: (1) low baseline performers tend to improve regardless of the treatment whereas high baseliners tend not to improve or decline in their posttest performances; (2) high verbal IQ subjects tend to perform well on all memory tests. A lesson learned in this study is that if these two variables are not equally distributed across treatment and control groups spurious results may be obtained.     

Response to Intervention: Following Three Reading Recovery Children on Their Individual Paths to Becoming Literate

Research Findings: In the United States a shift has occurred in how children are identified for long-term special education services. Since 2004, U.S. funding for special education services has included a provision for early intervention services, focusing on the importance of providing supplemental instructional opportunities to students who are not successful in learning from the core classroom instruction. Commonly referred to as response to intervention, this model involves educators monitoring how well students respond to intervention instruction, with referral for special education services for those who make little progress. Practice or Policy: In this article, we propose that intervention instruction should be responsive to the learner as well as focus on how well the learner responds to the intervention. Given that contextual circumstances, including instructional experiences, impact the child's literacy achievement, providing intervention instruction that is contingent upon each child's literacy strengths and needs is the best way to ensure each child's successful response to intervention instruction. As an example of an intervention using responsive instruction, this article describes different instructional approaches provided by Reading Recovery teachers with 3 children who were initially the lowest readers and writers in their classes. All 3 children were able to progress to on-grade-level reading and writing proficiency as a result of the intervention.     

Solving ill-structured problems in asynchronous online discussions: built-in scaffolds vs. no scaffolds

Solving ill-structured problems is regarded as an important learning outcome in education as it allows learners to apply theories learnt into real practice. An asynchronous online discussion, with extended time for reflection, is an appropriate learning environment to engage learners in solving ill-structured problems. However, scaffolds may be needed to support learners in the online discussions. This study explores the effect of online scaffolds in supporting a group of graduate students' ill-structured problem-solving processes in asynchronous online discussions. The results of this study showed that the use of the online scaffolds did not lead to a significant difference in the number of ill-structured problem-solving processes. Further analysis revealed that wrong selection of message labels and under-usage of sentence openers affected the results of this study. Improvements for online scaffolds include having more precise message labels and sentence openers based on Socratic questioning approach.     

Easily cracked: scientific instruments in states of disrepair

There has been much scholarly attention to definitions of the term "scientific instrument." Rather more mundane work by makers, curators, and users is devoted to instruments' maintenance and repair. A familiar argument holds that when a tool breaks, its character and recalcitrance become evident. Much can be gained from historical study of instruments' breakages, defects, and recuperation. Maintenance and repair technologies have been a vital aspect of relations between makers and other users. Their history illuminates systems of instruction, support, and abuse. These systems were, for example, evident in the development of astronomical instruments around 1800 within and beyond the European sphere. Episodes from that milieu are used to explore how instrument users sought autonomy, how instruments' mutable character was defined, and how judgments of instruments' failure or success were ever secured.