Blending Synchronous Face-to-face and Computer-Supported Cooperative Learning in a Hybrid Doctoral Seminar

Online education is often assumed to be synonymous with asynchronous instruction, existing apart from or supplementary to face-to-face instruction in traditional bricks-and-mortar classrooms. However, expanding access to computer- mediated communication technologies now make new models possible, including distance learners synchronous online attendance of face-to-face courses. Going beyond traditional uses of videoconferencing (e.g., real-time remote viewing with limited student interaction), this article describes the use of freely available technologies to support synchronous cooperative learning activities involving both face-to-face and hybrid doctoral students. Specifically, we describe the rationale behind pedagogical choices and specify how various technologies were re-purposed to create a virtual classroom space in which all possible combinations of face-to-face and hybrid students worked together in multiple small-groups across single class sessions. Implications for course development, the implementation of cooperative learning activities in online settings, and the use of both synchronous and asynchronous methods of online instruction are discussed.     

A Stitch in Time: Skills for the New Literacy

This article examines the relationship between moving image study and English, with particular reference to understandings of the practice of editing. Starting from the premise that English teachers support the study of moving images in their subject, the article interrogates the kind of knowledge and understanding, and the range of skills which are implicated by editing. It ends by calling for a recasting of English in tune with the changes ‐ and convergences ‐ that new digital technologies are already heralding.     

Modelling Occupational Stress and Employee Health and Wellbeing in a Chinese Higher Education Institution

Extensive change is evident in higher education in the People's Republic of China but there have been few studies of the effect of work stress on wellbeing in the higher education sector. The main aim of this study is to test and refine the ASSET (‘An Organizational Stress Screening Tool’) model of occupational stress in a sample of 150 academic and non‐academic employees in a Chinese higher education institute. Using partial least squares modelling, the findings showed that job stressors predicted job dissatisfaction but, surprisingly, did not predict perceived commitment. Employees who reported job dissatisfaction tended to perceive that their organisation was less committed towards them and report less commitment towards the organisation. Job stressors resulted in poorer psychological wellbeing. Greater psychological wellbeing was associated with greater physical wellbeing. The findings suggest that university management should introduce strategies aimed at minimising job stressors as these would result in higher level of job satisfaction, higher level of commitment and ultimately resulted in an improvement in physical health.     

A lending library on parenting

Conclusions The kinds of materials that we would include in a lending library on parenting will displace some of the mystery or uncertainty about the raising of children. In doing so, the materials will help parents to raise their children better and make the experience of parenting more joyful and rewarding. Providing useful knowledge through a lending library is one aspect of a comprehensive and coordinated effort by educators to work with parents in behalf of children. Charles D. Cary is an independent researcher.     

Eastern public speaking conference

Sound, A Textbook. By Arthur Tabor Jones. New York: D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc., 1937; pp. xi + 450. $3.75.

How to Win Friends and Influence People. By Dale Carnegie. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1936; pp. vii + 341. $2.00.

Actor in the Making. By William H. Bridge. Boston: Expression Company, 1936; pp. 115.

Public Discussion and Debate. (Revised Edition.) By A. Craig Baird. Boston: Ginn and Company, 1937; pp. iv + 400. $2.00.

Seeing and Hearing America. By Vida Ravenscroft Sutton. Boston: Expression Company, 1936; pp. 111. $1.75.

How to Improve Your Voice; Modern Theory and Practice for Singers and Speakers. By Gregory Krasnoff. New York: The Dial Press, 1936; pp. vii‐x + 181. $2.25.

Dos and Don'ts of Radio Writing. By Ralph Rogers. Boston: Associated Radio Writers, Inc., 1937; pp. 104. $1.00.

How to Speak in Public: a Natural Method. By Frank Home Kirkpatrick. Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Doran, 1937; pp. v‐xxiii + 199. $1.75.

Tournament Plays. Thirteen hitherto unpublished one‐act plays. New York: Samuel French, 1937; pp. 232. $1.50.

A History of Modern Colloquial English, 3rd ed. By Henry Cecil Wyld. New York: E. P. Dutton &; Co., 1937; pp. xviii + 433. $3.00.

20,000 Words Often Mispronounced. By W. H. P. Phyfe. New edition compiled by Fred A. Sweet and Maud D. Williams. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1937; pp. xvii + 791. $2.00.

You Don't Say! By Alfred H. Holt. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1937; pp. xvii + 165. $1.50.

The Call of the Dead (Totenmal). By Albert Talhoff. Boston: Expression Company, n.d.; pp. 25.

Simplified Lip Reading. New York: Supplementary School for Lip Reading and Speech Correction, 1937; pp. 80. $1.50.

Practical Methods in Choral Speaking. By Marguerite E. DeWitt and Others. Boston: Expression Company, 1936; pp. 253.

European and Asiatic Plays. Edited by Joseph Richard Taylor. Boston: Expression Co., 1936; pp. 730 + x.

Pitch and Intensity Characteristics of Stage Speech. By Milton Cowan. Iowa City: Supplement to Archives of Speech, 1936; pp. 92.

An American Phonetic Reader. By Sarah T. Barrows and Alta B. Hall. Boston: Expression Co., 1936; pp. xvi + 58. $1.25.

An English Pronouncing Dictionary, 4th ed. By Daniel Jones. New York: E. P. Dutton &; Co., 1937; pp. xxviii + 495. $2.00.

Animal Marionettes, Handbook X. By Paul McPharlin. Birmingham, Michigan: Puppetry Imprints, 1937; pp. 31. $1.50.

Puppetry, 1936. Edited by Paul McPharlin, Birmingham, Michigan: Puppetry Imprints, 1936; pp. 158. $2.50.

Speech Composition. By William Norwood Brigance. New York: F. S. Crofts and Co., 1937; pp. 385. $2.25.

Day by Day with American Playwrights. Compiled and edited with an introduction by Irene Childrey Hoch. Visalia, California: Published by the author, 1936; pp. 84. $1.00.

Catholic Evidence Training Outlines. (Third Edition, revised and enlarged.) Compiled by Maisie Ward and F. J. Sheed. New York: Sheed and Ward, 1935; pp. 330. $1.50.

Reading for Skill. By Angela M. Broening, Frederick H. Law, Mary S. Wilkinson, and Caroline L. Ziegler. New York: Noble and Noble, 1936; pp. xiii + 399. $1.30.

A Guide to Pronunciation. By Paul W. Carhart. Entirely rewritten by John S. Kenyon. Springfield: The G. &; C. Merriam Co., 1934.

Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, fifth edition. Springfield: The G. &; C. Merriam Co., 1936; pp. xxvi + 1274.

Poetry Arranged for the Speaking Choir. By Marion Parsons Robinson and Rozetta Lura Thurston. Boston: Expression Co., 1936; pp. 405. $2.50.

Psychometric Methods. By J. P. Guilford. New York: McGraw‐Hill Book Co., 1936; pp. xvi + 566. $4.50.

One Hundred New Declamations. Compiled and edited by Lestee C. Boone. New York: Noble and Noble, Inc., 1936; pp. xxxiii + 434. $2.50.

Film and Theatre. By Allandyce Nicoll. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1936; pp. ix + 255. $2.50.

Principles of Shakespearean Production. By G. Wilson Knight. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1936; pp. 246. $3.50.

Modern Rules of Parliamentary Procedure. By Robert D. Leigh. New York: W. W. Norton and Co., 1937; pp. 106. $1.00.

Scenery Then and Now. By Donald Oenslager, New York: W. W. Norton Co., 1936; pp. 265. $5.00.

Stage Management for the Amateur Theatre. By William Perdue Halstead. New York: F. S. Crofts &; Co., 1937; pp. xviii + 265. $2.50.

Let's Give A Play. By Gertrude Smith Buckland. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1937; pp. 197. $1.50.

Adult Education. By Lyman Bryson. New York: The American Book Co., 1936; pp. 208.     

Introducing the First Hybrid Doctoral Program in Educational Technology

In 2010 Michigan State University launched the first hybrid doctoral program in Educational Technology. This 5-year program blends face-to-face and online components to engage experienced, working education professionals in doctoral study. In this paper, we describe the design and evolution of the program as well as the response from students. We outline key programmatic challenges and opportunities in offering a hybrid doctoral program side by side with an existing face-to-face program. We conclude with two examples of the hybrid doctoral program in action (redesigning coursework and virtual talks) to demonstrate how we confronted these challenges and opportunities in the design of the program.     

The special needs of teachers of special needs children

More and more, special needs children are entering early childhood education programs. But the integration of special needs children into the regular classroom — and their acceptance by their nonhandicapped peers — continues to be a concern of both parents and teachers. Many of the proposed benefits of mainstreaming are based upon opportunities for interactions between special needs children and their nonhandicapped peers. What we know about enhancing the quality of these interactions has definite implications for teachers. After examining the research on social relations and social skills training programs for special needs children, we will discuss these implications.Cary A. Buzzelli is an assistant professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in Birmingham, Alabama. Nancy File is a doctoral student in the Department of Child Development and Family Studies at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.