The SCAN programme: Bringing distance education to isolated native communities on the James Bay coast 1989–1991

SCAN was a unique programme to bring secondary school education to remote Native reserves on the James Bay coast of Ontario, Canada. Using audiographic teleconferencing, teachers based in Moosonee delivered courses to four odier coastal communities. The experience was not successful. A number of factors have been determined as contributing to the demise of the programme. Among these were the lack of community ownership of the programme and the lack of a clear understanding by the parties of their respective responsibilities.     

You can lose what you never had

An often-used idiom states: you can't lose what you never had. Yet contrary to this expression, it is possible to lose what you never had – at least when special education support is concerned. In Ontario, as in other jurisdictions, special education exists as a codified system. An ever-changing nexus of discourses and documents – including normalisation, legislation, regulations, and memoranda – set out how special education is to function in the province. The documents themselves articulate how learners' needs are to be formally identified, as well as how students are to be supported. Within this network a phenomenon of non-identification has arisen whereby some students do not get identified and yet would have qualified for special education support had they gone through the process. Yet what leads to this phenomenon? To what does the phenomenon itself lead? Should Ontario's special education system be readjusted to address the phenomenon of non-identification, or is identification itself an inherently flawed practice? To explore these three questions, this paper will analyse Ontario's identification policy, examining what it allows, what it dictates, as well as the challenges it creates.     

Career plateauing: Implications for career development specialists

Conclusion While career plateauing is a major challenge facing contemporary organizations, possible solutions are available. The career development specialist possessing a variety of skills geared toward both proaction and reaction can be instrumental in designing interventions which minimize the negative impact of plateauing. While career plateauing can be a devastating problem for many high achieving, self-sacrificing baby boomers, for others it may present an opportunity to escape the internal pressures for success. Much of what happens to a plateaued employee is determined by the resources possessed by the employee as well as the organization's response to the employee. The activities of the career development specialist constitute much of what is considered the organization's response. A career plateau may mark the beginning of a period characterized by frustration and depression or it may present the opportunity for a new challenge or reappraisal of life direction and goals.     

Cognitive efficiency: Toward a revised theory of media

Within and beyond the field of educational technology, Richard Clark's writings are widely believed to have shown that any number of media are equally capable of delivering any instruction, so that media choices are about cost and efficiency but not about cognition and learning (Clark, 1983; 1994b). However, if it is accepted that one type of efficiency is cognitive efficiency, then it follows that media choices are often about cognition and learning and can profit from an understanding of cognitive processes. Media and learning can then be reconnected in limited ways that do not compromise any of Clark's main points, and doing this will bring media work into line with current research into the role of surface information codes.     

Ready,Aim, Fire! Violent Video Game Play and Gun Controller Use: Effects on Behavioral Aggression and Social Norms Concerning Violence

In addition to individual risk factors, recent findings surrounding the effects of violent video game play have provided compelling evidence that the contextual features of games also contribute to increased outcome aggression. The current study focuses on the relationship between violent video game play and the use of gun controllers on both social norms related to aggression and real-life behavioral aggression. As predicted, both violent video game play and gun controller use were positively related to behavioral aggression. The implications of these findings are discussed along with their influence on future research in this area.     

Examining the Potential Gender Gap in Online Health Information-Seeking Behaviors Among Digital Natives

This investigation focused on gender differences in young adults related to health consciousness and online health information seeking. Contrary to prior research, gender was not a significant predictor of either health consciousness or health information-seeking behavior. Furthermore, health consciousness was found to be a more influential predictor of online health information-seeking behaviors than gender.     

Routines That Build Emergent Literacy Skills in Infants, Toddlers, and Preschoolers

Many children lack adequate exposure to environments that promote emergent literacy. This limits brain stimulation and can have a life-long negative impact on one's knowledge and skills. Salient points relate to the healthy development of literacy, including practical information and applications. Emphasis is placed on strategies for motivating infants, toddlers, and preschoolers as they slowly and steadily build the competences that serve as the groundwork for reading, writing, speaking, viewing, and listening.     

EEG analysis of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and comorbid reading disabilities

This study investigated electroencephalographic differences between two groups of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, combined type, with reading disabilities (ADHD + RD) or without (ADHD) and typical control participants. Twenty participants were included in each group. All participants were between the ages of 8 and 12 years, and groups were matched on age and gender. The electroencephalographic (EEG) was recorded during an eyes-closed resting condition from 21 monopolar derivations, which were clustered into nine regions for analysis. The EEGs were Fourier-transformed to provide absolute and relative power estimates for the delta, theta, alpha, and beta bands. Ratio coefficients were also calculated for the theta/alpha and theta/beta ratios. Compared with controls, the clinical groups demonstrated the increased slow-wave and reduced fast-wave activity commonly reported in the ADHD literature. The ADHD + RD group had more relative theta, less relative alpha, and a higher theta/alpha ratio than the ADHD group. A number of hemispheric differences were also found in the delta and alpha bands. These results suggested that some of the EEG divergences found in the ADHD + RD group represent an electrophysiological component associated with the reading disability that is independent of the EEG divergences found in ADHD.     

Matters of HEARTS: health,experience of abuse,resilience, technology use,and safety of older adults

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to assess the HEARTS (Health, Experience of Abuse, Resilience, Technology use, and Safety) of older adults (OAs). More particularly, we aimed to assess three components of the HEARTS (health, experience of abuse, and resilience) of OAs and explore the relationships among health, resilience, the experience of abuse, and other demographic variables. Forty-two male and female OAs in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA participated in the study. A correlational design was used in this study. The variables correlated were health, the experience of abuse, and the resilience of OAs. We used a community-engaged research approach in that participants were more than research volunteers but stakeholders in the research project. Findings showed that the means for more positive health features (physical function, and social roles) increased with increases in education, while more negative health features (anxiety, depression, fatigue, sleep disturbance, pain interference, and pain intensity) decreased with higher levels of education. Regression models indicated that above and beyond demographic features, resilience had a significant prediction of anxiety and depression. None of the other health outcomes were significantly predicted by either resilience or older adults’ abuse suspicion.

Adding health to years in older adults is a collaborative effort with healthcare providers, healthcare systems, families, and communities. This study has identified three components of HEARTS (Health, Experience of Abuse, and Resilience) that blend with successful aging and provide data and possible prevention and intervention strategies, and family and community education programs that could add health to years in older adults.     

Entrepreneurial orientation, technology transfer and spinoff performance of U.S. universities

This paper adopts a resource-based perspective to understand why some universities are more successful than others at generating technology-based spinoff companies. In this respect, we derive eight hypotheses that link attributes of resources and capabilities, institutional, financial, commercial and human capital, to university spinoff outcomes. Using panel data from 1980 to 2001, our econometric estimators reveal evidence of history dependence for successful technology transfer to occur although faculty quality, size and orientation of science and engineering funding and commercial capability were also found to be predictors of university spinoff activity. We conclude by drawing implications for policy makers and university heads.