An investigation of two-way text messaging use with deaf students at the secondary level

Deaf and hard-of-hearing students are often delayed in developing their independent living skills because of parental restrictions on activities outside the home due to worries about their child's inability to communicate, their whereabouts, and their general safety. Recent accounts of the use of two-way text messagers suggests that, like electronic mail, distance communication problems that have long plagued deaf people may be ameliorated--by the use of such technology (M. R. Power & D. Power, 2004; S. S. Rhone & Cox News Service, 2002). This project was designed as an initial foray into investigating the use of two-way text messaging technology as a way of increasing the independence of deaf adolescents and reducing their parents' anxiety about their safety and responsibility. All the deaf and hard-of-hearing students in the deaf and hard-of-hearing programs at two urban high schools (ages 13-19), the staff of the deaf departments at these two schools, and the parents/guardians of the students participated in this study. Preuse surveys, postuse surveys, and monthly statistics on the number of times each pager was used enabled us to chart how often the participants used the technology. The data were used to identify concerns that parents have about student independence and safety, the extent to which deaf students engage in independent activities, and expectations surrounding how two-way text messaging use might increase independence and literacy skills. The data collected on this project to date confirm that two-way text messaging technology is indeed useful for deaf adolescents and helps alleviate some of the concerns that have kept them from developing independence as quickly or readily as their hearing peers. The potential policy implications for this research are discussed.     

Solving ill-structured problems in asynchronous online discussions: built-in scaffolds vs. no scaffolds

Solving ill-structured problems is regarded as an important learning outcome in education as it allows learners to apply theories learnt into real practice. An asynchronous online discussion, with extended time for reflection, is an appropriate learning environment to engage learners in solving ill-structured problems. However, scaffolds may be needed to support learners in the online discussions. This study explores the effect of online scaffolds in supporting a group of graduate students' ill-structured problem-solving processes in asynchronous online discussions. The results of this study showed that the use of the online scaffolds did not lead to a significant difference in the number of ill-structured problem-solving processes. Further analysis revealed that wrong selection of message labels and under-usage of sentence openers affected the results of this study. Improvements for online scaffolds include having more precise message labels and sentence openers based on Socratic questioning approach.     

Prevalence,gender ratio and gender differences in reading‐related cognitive abilities among Chinese children with dyslexia in Hong Kong

Based on the data of the normative study of the Hong Kong test of specific learning difficulties in reading and writing, and the Test of visual‐perceptual skills (non‐motor)—Revised, 99 children aged between 6 and 10½ years were identified as children with dyslexia out of the normative sample of 690 children. By excluding 12 children known to score below average in IQ, 87 children, including 20 children not tested for IQ, could be regarded as children with dyslexia, yielding a prevalence rate of 12.6% and a boy:girl gender ratio of 1.6 to 1. The figures would become 9.7% and 2.0 to 1 if the 20 children were omitted from computation. However, gender imbalance could not be readily explained by gender differences in reading‐related cognitive abilities, as there were only minor and subtle differences. Regression analyses to evaluate the relative contribution of different cognitive abilities to reading and writing suggested that orthographic knowledge and naming speed were most important among children with dyslexia. Implications of the findings and the need for early intervention are discussed.     

Training in Place-Value Concepts Improves Children''s Addition Skills

The present study examined whether children's variation in arithmetic performance was related to differences in their understanding of place-value. Training in place-value concepts was provided to a group of Chinese children who were poor in arithmetic. Their performance before and after the training was compared to that of the children in two control groups. The results showed that there were reliable connections between place-value understanding and addition and subtraction skills. Furthermore, training in place-value concepts was found to be effective in enhancing the children's place-value understanding and addition skills. Implications for instructions in arithmetic were discussed.     

Teaching Diversity across Disciplines: Reflections from African-American Faculty in Four Different Academic Settings

The authors, male and female African-American faculty from different academic disciplines at predominantly white institutions, share personal reflections on their experiences teaching postsecondary graduate and professional courses that focus on diversity and multicultural themes. This article provides tools and strategies for improving the overall effectiveness for those who teach diversity courses from a framework the authors have codified as a “3-C” perspective: context, characters, and curriculum.     

Developing Student Character: Community College Professors Who Share Power

This phenomenological study examined the definitions, values, and experiences of seven community college professors who have tried to promote student character development by sharing some of their power in the classroom. Power sharing is a participative gesture, and participative teachers can encourage students to become more engaged in their own learning processes. This participative style of teaching may develop into a partnership between students and teachers. This requires students to make decisions, be responsible for their learning, and work collaboratively with others. Through the practice and habit of making decisions, students may be able to promote their own character development. To facilitate this development, these faculty members focused on awareness, care, student engagement, group dynamics, academic integrity, a welcoming environment, and a sharing attitude. The essential theme of developing character emerged from my reflections of the data gathered from the face-to-face interviews. Five structural themes included diversity, self-identity, commitment, sacrifice, and becoming.     

Communication practices as unobtrusive control: An observational study

This paper reports a study that examines naturalistic communication as concertive control. The paper argues that, while the theoretical perspective considers communication in the powerful role of controlling organizational decision making, research efforts have not, for the most part, examined communication practices. Results of an interpretation of communication interaction observed during organizational meetings identify several communicative practices that are interpreted as unobtrusive control practices. First, premises are articulated and reiterated during meetings. Second, leaders simultaneously reinforce and appeal to organizational premises. Third, as premises are articulated and reiterated, leaders' metacommunication suggests that the premises are being drawn from the members. Fourth, members participate in this process through interactive decision‐making rituals. A more complex interpretation is offered to enrich the understanding of concertive control. Specifically, instances of concertive control also operate as bureaucratic control and simple control. Limitations of concertive control are discussed. Results indicate that premises may be negotiated or not accepted. Finally, in one example, the success of concertive control creates a reversal in control roles.     

Sharing MedlinePlus®/MEDLINE® for information literacy education (SMILE): a dental public health information project

The SMILE project represented a partnership among the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio Libraries, the Gateway Clinic in Laredo, and the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District. The project focused on improving dental practitioners' access to reliable information resources and integrating the best evidence into public health dental practice. Through its training program, SMILE cultivated a set of "power information users" among the dentists, dental hygienists, and community health workers (promotores) who provided public health preventive care and oral health education. The dental public health practitioners gained information literacy skills and increased their knowledge about reliable sites such as blogs, PubMed?, and MedlinePlus?. This project fostered opportunities for expanded partnerships with public health personnel.