巧克力迷的天堂--宾夕法尼亚

I pun up to the dowdy brick factory in ablink-and-youll-miss-it Pennsylvania town.Itdoesn't look promising.But I open the door.and the sweet dark smell of chocolate draws mynose first into the Wilbur Chocolate Co.factorystore in Lititz.Although the town seems ahnostdeserted.the tiny store is packed with shoppersloading baskets with“Buds”.drops of silky choco-late.I slip into the endearingly amateurish muse-um in the next room,where a dress shop dummyleans against old chocolate-making equip-merit.Then I see it.Behind cocoa tins.there's awindow onto a working kitchen.A white-haired ladypipes blue icing on chocolate ballet dancers.Ringthe bell,a sign says,and shell hand-dip a chocolatejust for you.I ring,and float into chocolate nirvana.     

Evidence for confounding in computer-based instruction studies: Analyzing the meta-analyses

A thirty percent sample of the computer-based instruction (CBI) studies meta-analyzed by Kulik et al was examined for evidence of confounding. The purpose of the analysis was to explore the validity of competing claims about the contribution of the computer to measured achievement gains found in CBI studies. Some of these claims propose that CBI effects are overestimated and others argue that CBI effects are underestimated. The result of the analysis strongly suggests that achievement gains found in these CBI studies are overestimated and are actually due to the uncontrolled but robust instructional methods embedded in CBI treatments. It is argued that these methods may be delivered by other media with achievement gains comparable to those reported for computers. Construct validity cautions are offered for those who wish to use meta-analytic results as evidence for implementing CBI in schools and for the design of future CBI research.     

Effects of presentation modes,explicitness, and student aptitudes on learning

Research on the relationship between learner aptitudes and presentation modes has taken several approaches — and raised a number of questions. This study sought to clarify the relationships between modes of presentation (verbal vs. spatial), explicitness of presentation (little or much), and student aptitudes (verbal vs. spatial). Explicit guidance clearly was helpful in teaching the fourth-grade subjects, regardless of type of aptitude, how to compute surface areas of two- and three-dimensional objects. The relationship between mode of presentation and aptitude was less clear. The authors discuss their findings at length and suggest several areas for future aptitude-treatment-interaction research.     

Tennessee Promise: A Response to Organizational Change

Community colleges in Tennessee, either directly or indirectly, experienced unprecedented change as a result of Tennessee Promise. The present study explored how student support service administrators at three community colleges responded to organizational change as a result of the Tennessee Promise legislation. Investigators selected community colleges for the multi-site case study because the legislative impact would be actualized by the preparations made to serve incoming Promise recipients. The delivery of orientation services framed organizational change because the service staff facilitate connections and provide information to incoming students. Challenges like a shifting population, ill-equipped infrastructure, inadequate remediation support, heightened interest for social engagement opportunities, misinformation, and unmet fiscal needs left administrators seeking coherence through the change process. Investigators found community college administrators react to change similarly. Administrators acknowledged change as continuous, created a culture of innovation among stakeholders, and were not afraid to fail as responses to the organizational change phenomenon.     

Supporting Transgender College Students: Implications for Clinical Intervention and Campus Prevention

This study examines the experiences of transgender college students in coping with stress in comparison to their cisgender peers. Undergraduate and graduate students from 73 colleges, totaling 26,292 participants, of which 47 identified as transgender completed an online survey. Transgender students reported greater exposure to trauma and higher rates of suicidal experiences, as well as different precipitants to reported stressful periods and sources of support than their cisgender peers. Implications for individual and group counseling as well as outreach and prevention to better support transgender students are explored.     

解决分布式需求的内在冲突

2006年8月,GEN(I网络创新的全球化环境)项目组公布其项目的设计原则。来自普林斯顿大学、麻省理工大学、华盛顿大学等学校的十二位专家编写了这份报告。该报告阐述了GENI的研究范围、用户的需求、需求的内在压力,以及工程设计的原则。报告指出了GENI的价值主张,广泛的部署、多样化可扩展的网络技术集合、对真实用户流量的支持仍是GENI关注的原则和方向。上期已经介绍第一部分——“分布式需求定义GENI的重心”,本期刊出第二部分——“解决分布式需求的内在冲突”。     

Media will never influence learning

The purpose of this discussion is to explain and sharpen different points of view about the impact of media and attributes of media on learning, motivation and efficiency gains from instruction. This paper is an attempt to summarize my arguments about the research and theory in this area and to respond to Robert Kozma's criticism of my earlier discussion of these issues. I will first briefly summarize my arguments about media effects; next I will attempt to characterize the many reactions to the controversial claim that media do not influence learning or motivation. Finally, I will respond to the specific criticisms advanced by Robert Kozma this issue.This article is based in part on a debate between the author and Robert Kozma at the 1993 international convention of The European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction at Aix en Provence, France, September 4, 1993, and on a February 1991 Article by the author inEducational Technology titled When Researchers Swim Upstream:Reflections on an Unpopular Argument About Learning From Media (pp. 34–40).