Changing Teachers – Teachers Changing Schools: assessing a graduate program in technology education

ABSTRACT

Innovative uses of technology may require a revision of educational policy and practice if technology is going to have an impact on the educational system. In 1993 the University of New Mexico College of Education began a four semester in‐service graduate program to develop teacher knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors that might assist the teacher to confront today's challenges without being restricted by past patterns. During the second year of its implementation, a comprehensive research study was instituted to assess the impact of the program. This paper presents findings relevant to the outcomes of the program. The results reveal that significant shifts occurred among participants in the frequency of use of technology and student‐oriented strategies and that participants were increasingly concerned with assuming leadership roles in their schools and school districts. Four dimensions of the program were central in achieving these results: its cohort nature, the fact that it was graduate, the use of telecommunications, and the incorporation of group activities by faculty that modeled frameworks and practices under study. The program was effective in helping participants to examine their educational beliefs and assumptions, to turn their perceptions into practices, and to shift their concerns from personal impacts and insecurities to global and system‐wide impacts and potentials. Graduate study for these educators has become a process of change with already discernible consequences for New Mexico schools.     

Crafting the message: Controlling content on agency Web sites

While much research has focused on the new opportunities that government Web sites offer for greater citizen involvement and improved agency efficiency, less attention has been given to agency decisions about what to post on these Web sites. Here we use interviews with content managers in seven federal agencies to investigate the political and institutional influences behind decisions about Web content. We analyze the approval processes for new content and the emerging governance structures for evidence of greater centralization and political control or greater decentralization and autonomy for Web posters. In the end, it appears that institutional factors persist to influence content governance.     

Predicting teachers’ continuance in a virtual learning environment with psychological ownership and the TAM: a perspective from Malaysia

Educational technology research and development - Psychological ownership (PO) is a sense of being psychologically tied to an object to the extent that it becomes part of the extended self. As...     

Critical Thinking Versus Vocationalism: A Matter of Class?

Popular demands for greater access to higher education may have diluted the “college isn't for everyone” claim, but some members of the privileged class are making a more subtle argument: A classical liberal arts curriculum should be reserved for the elite with low and middle income students receiving vocational training. In this article, we examine the historical and contemporary manifestations of differentiated educational experiences based on class and highlight how this bifurcated phenomenon continues to surface within post-secondary's newest venue—online education. Drawing upon the theoretical tenets of knowledge production and class formation, the methodology section of this article constructs a multilayered sequence model to analyze how the college admission process reinforces this binary in stark, yet unassuming, ways. We present the resulting social justice implications in terms of students’ participation in a classist educational system as well as the antidemocratic repercussions for public institutions. Lastly, we call for recommendations designed to bolster public education's commitment to critically educate all students and to restore its bedrock democratic mission.     

Reviews

Writing in the Academic Disciplines, 1870–1990: A Curricular History. David R. Russell. Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois UP, 1991. 383 pp.

The Politics of Writing Instruction: Postsecondary. Ed. Richard Bullock and John Trimbur. Gen. Ed. Charles Schuster. Portsmouth: Boynton/Cook, 1991. 311 pp.

Rereading the Sophists: Classical Rhetoric Refigured. Susan Jarratt. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1991. 154 pp.

Gender in the Classroom: Power and Pedagogy. Ed. Susan L. Gabriel and Isaiah Smithson. Urbana: U of Illinois P, 1990. 196 pp.

Technology Transfer: A Communication Perspective. Ed. Frederick Williams and David V. Gibson. New York: Sage, 1990. 302 pp.

Writing Strategies: Reaching Diverse Audiences. Laurel Richardson. Beverly Hills: Sage, 1990. 65 pp.

Computers and Writing. Ed. Deborah H. Holdstein and Cynthia L. Selfe. New York: MLA, 1990. 150 pp.

Perspectives on Software Documentation: Inquiries and Innovation. Ed. Thomas T. Barker. Amityville: Baywood, 1991. 279 pp.

Writing Space: The Computer, Hypertext, and the History of Writing. Jay David Bolter. Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1991. 258 pp.

Design of Business Communications: The Process and the Product. Elizabeth Tebeaux. New York: Macmillan, 1990. 516 pp.     

Key Elements of a Successful School-Based Management Strategy

School-based management (SBM) is a standard feature of many current reforms. While previous research found that poorly designed and poorly implemented SBM had few positive effects, recent research suggests that SBM can improve instructional programs and produce higher levels of student learning. This article synthesizes research findings from major studies of SBM to identify the core elements of a successful SBM strategy. By comparing schools that successfully used SBM with schools that struggled to implement SBM, we generate 8 elements of schooling that were associated with successful SBM. In brief, these elements address vision, decision-making authority, power, knowledge and skills, information, rewards, leadership, and resources.     

Effects of Sit up Exercise Training on Adipose Cell Size and Adiposity

Abstract

The present experiment evaluated the effects of a 27-day sit up exercise training program on adipose cell size and adiposity. Fat biopsies were taken from the abdomen, subscapular, and gluteal sites by needle aspiration in 13 experimental and 6 control male subjects before and after a five days/week progressive training regimen. Day 1 consisted of 10 bouts of 10-sec exercise, 7 sit ups/bout, with 10-sec rest intervals; on day 27, 14 bouts of 30-sec exercise were performed, 24 sit ups/bout with 10-sec rest intervals. The total number of sit ups done was 5004. Fat cells were isolated using collagenase and photographed to determine cell diameter. Repeated measures ANOVA revealed significant decreases in cell diameter at the three biopsy sites (p<.01), but no significant differences in the rate of change (pre to post) in cell diameter between sites for the experimental and control groups (p>.05). Body weight, total body fat (underwater weighing), and fatfolds and girths remained unaltered. The results demonstrate that (1) the conventional sit up exercise does not preferentially reduce adipose cell size or subcutaneous fat thickness in the abdominal region to a greater extent compared to other adipose sites, and (2) significant changes in fat cell size may occur in the absence of changes in fatfolds, girths or total body composition.