Collaborative knowledge building: A case study

What learning conditions are necessary to effectively support the knowledge-building enterprise in a learning community? To answer this question, the case-study method was employed to investigate collaborative knowledge building in a graduate level course designed to incorporate specific constructivist learning principles. These principles included (a) having a collective and authentic community goal to facilitate collaboration and engagement in the community, (b) using cooperative groups to provide for social negotiation and to promote multiple perspectives, (c) personally selecting of course readings and group decision-making to encourage ownership in learning, and (d) employing an integrated set of technology tools to archive the work of the community and facilitate communication. Results indicated that the instructional strategies designed into the course promoted collaborative knowledge building and the acquisition of key concepts through self-directed learning strategies. Results also pointed out the types of technological support required to implement an effective community of learners. A proposed set of guidelines is discussed to assist instructional designers in the design and development of collaborative, knowledge-building environments.     

Counselor Educators and Qualitative Research: Affirming a Research Identity

The lack of enthusiastic research activity among counseling professionals has been a subject of professional concern for the last 2 decades. Many graduates of counselor education programs are not connected to academic research and do not establish a research identity. Qualitative research methods have the potential for creating this connection for some students. To increase understanding of the nature and potential usefulness of this paradigm for increasing counselors' connection to academic research, the authors conducted a phenomenological study to investigate the experiences of counselor education doctoral students as they encountered qualitative research. Students' positive responses were summarized as they reflected 4 themes: worldview congruence, theory and skills congruence, research identity and professional viability, and holistic nature of perceptions and experiences.     

Teachers’ thoughts on e-readers in the elementary school classroom

Despite the popularity of e-readers and the enthusiasm of some for their use in secondary education, their utility in elementary education has not yet been systematically explored. Some advantages and disadvantages to teaching elementary literacy with e-readers are identified here. A convenience sample of ten teachers from a variety of different types of elementary schools and classrooms who were e-reader novices read a chapter of a grade-appropriate book on a Kindle and evaluated its use for their students. The teachers gave their opinions and ideas on how the devices could be implemented. Three specific technological affordances of an e-reader that carry pedagogical implications are discussed: the text-to-speech and dictionary functions, and the idea of unlimited access to books.     

How and why to plan salary schedules

At an early age many of us are taught not to talk about money with others in order to avoid conflict. But if you work in child care, where there are too many demands and too few resources, such evasion isn't helpful or even possible.Child Care Employee Project (CCEP) is a national resource clearinghouse providing resources. It gives assitance to those seeking to upgrade child care working conditions, status and salaries.     

Child Care for Children in Poverty: Opportunity or Inequity?

Data from a nationally representative survey of child care centers and a 5-site, observational study of centers were used to examine the quality of care provided to children from low-income families. Comparisons were made to a national sample of centers; among Head Start, public school-sponsored, and other community-based subsidized centers; and among centers that served families from differing socioeconomic groups. The quality of care in centers that served predominantly low-income children was adequate, but highly variable, with structural indices exhibiting higher quality than observations of global quality and of staff-child interactions. When compared to Head Start and public school-sponsored centers, the community-based centers had smaller groups and fewer children per teacher for preschoolers, but also had less well educated and compensated staff. Centers that predominantly served children from upper-income families provided the highest quality of care across multiple indices, and those that predominantly served children from middle-income families almost uniformly provided the poorest quality of care. The centers that served children from low-income families did not differ significantly in quality from the upper-income centers on most indices. However, the teachers in these programs were observed to be less sensitive and more harsh than teachers in the centers that served more advantaged families. The implications of the findings for research and policy are discussed.     

Designing an Affordable Usability Test for E‐Learning Modules

ABSTRACT: This article provides background and an introduction to a user‐centered design and usability test in an inexpensive format that allows content experts who are novices in e‐learning development to perform testing on newly developed technical training modules prior to their release. The use of a small number of test participants, avoidance of elaborate testing laboratories, and the establishment of clear, concise objectives with a detailed test outline are supported by the discount usability testing approach. This approach reduces testing cost, provides faster results, and yields a more successful product and increased customer satisfaction. Discount usability testing should have broad appeal to new e‐learning developers as a final step before releasing their newly developed training modules.