Preservice teachers’ blogging: collaboration across universities for meaningful technology integration

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to explore technology integration by preservice teachers (PSTs) through collaborative blogging between two universities. Researchers aimed to learn more about the ways PSTs apply and integrate technology into classrooms. As digital natives, many PSTs assume that because they already know how to use technology personally, they can also teach using technology. However, learning to integrate technology effectively in educational settings is a challenge. This two-phase qualitative study analyzed blogging between PSTs (n = 83) enrolled in elementary teacher education courses in two different regions of the United States. Data sources included anecdotal records, PST blog post and replies, PST and elementary student technology project artifacts, and questionnaires. The data revealed three themes related to technology integration by PSTs: (1) collaborating in an online community expanded professional learning, (2) PSTs demonstrated shifts in purposes, use of digital tools, and self-efficacy when learning to integrate technology, and (3) blogging served as a conduit for meaningful technology use. Findings show that collaboration through blogging with peers outside the walls of a university classroom was a catalyst for meaningful technology integration.     

Oral Language and Reading in Bilingual Children

This article examines the question: Do lexical, syntactic, fluency, and discourse measures of oral language collected under narrative conditions predict reading achievement both within and across languages for bilingual children? More than 1,500 Spanish–English bilingual children attending kindergarten–third grade participated. Oral narratives were collected in each language along with measures of Passage Comprehension and Word Reading Efficiency. Results indicate that measures of oral language in Spanish predict reading scores in Spanish and that measures of oral language skill in English predict reading scores in English. Cross‐language comparisons revealed that English oral language measures predicted Spanish reading scores and Spanish oral language measures predicted English reading scores beyond the variance accounted for by grade. Results indicate that Spanish and English oral language skills contribute to reading within and across languages.     

The German registry: The evolution of a recordkeeping model

The German registry system is unique in its approach to records management. By way of better understanding this approach, the historical development of this registry is portrayed in its characteristic phases: first the adoption of the practice of using registers in the Middle Ages; second the transposition of this practice into a complete recordkeeping system in the Prussian administrations of the 18th and 19th centuries; third the attempt to streamline this system in the early 20th century; and fourth the nature of the registry in modern German administrations, and in particular how it has adapted to the use of electronic records. Apart from the historical presentation, however, this study also aims to highlight central concepts of the German registry, including entries, action files, and the idea of registry itself being applied to the entire activity of keeping records. Finally, it is suggested that these concepts can provide new insights into various areas of archives as well as into current recordkeeping problems. This article is a completely revised version of the thesis which I submitted in 1997 (under the title “The German Registratur”) for the Master of Archival Studies degree at the School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, University of British Columbia. My thanks to Angelika Menne-Haritz and Wendy Duff for their comments during the writing of this revision.     

Alternative Assessment in a HighmStakes Environment

How generalizable are the results of alternative assessments? How much psychometric evidence d o we have about these approaches? What effects do alternative assessments have on subgroup differences in performance? What are the probable consequences of using alternative assessments?     

青春的一步

Weset off to the mall to buy tennis shoes.Not just any tennies-the every 14-year-old girl in suburbia covets this season