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.     

The “Mere Presence” Hypothesis: Investigating the Nonverbal Effects of Cell-Phone Presence on Conversation Satisfaction

Prior research has supported the mere presence hypothesis, which suggests that cell phones act as an environmental nuisance that negatively impact the quality of face-to-face interactions. This study conducted an experiment to determine whether cell-phone presence negatively influences conversation satisfaction. Specifically, network member dyads (N = 46) engaged in unstructured conversations where one partner’s cell phone was either absent or present. The results revealed that, whereas the mere presence of a cell phone did not influence conversation satisfaction, individuals’ recollection of whether or not a cell phone was present did significantly negatively impact their pre- to posttest reports of conversation satisfaction. Implications of these findings for research on the mere presence hypothesis as well as directions for future research are discussed.     

Community Technology and Community Building: Early Results from the Creating Community Connections Project

As community technology and community-building initiatives move toward greater synergy, there is a great deal to be learned regarding how they can be mutually supportive, rather than mutually exclusive. This article sheds light on the possibilities inhered at this nexus. The project that constitutes the basis for this paper is the Camfield Estates-MIT Creating Community Connections Project, an ongoing effort at Camfield Estates, a predominantly African-American, low- to moderate-income housing development. As part of this project, we worked with residents to establish a technological infrastructure by offering every family a new computer, software, high-speed Internet connection, comprehensive courses, and a web-based community-building system, the Creating Community Connections (C3) System, that I codesigned with residents. This article presents an overview of the Camfield Estates-MIT project, theoretical framework developed in relation to this work, research design and methodology, project methodology and timeline, and early results. It concludes with a set of recommendations for the community technology and community-building movements.     

Learning from the Learners: Preparing Future Teachers to Leverage the Benefits of Laptop Computers

Technology is changing the teaching and learning landscape. Teacher preparation programs must produce teachers who have new skills and strategies to leverage the benefits of laptop computers in their classrooms. This study used a phenomenological strategy to explain first-year college students' perceptions of the effects of a 1:1 laptop experience on their readiness for college and the uses of technology for instructional purposes by high school teachers. Participants in the study had experienced a 1:1 laptop initiative for two or more years while in high school. The study included interviews with 15 participants from two different countries and five different high schools. Recommendations from student voices in this study call for teacher preparedness beyond the levels of traditional teacher preparation curriculum. Teacher preparation programs and ongoing professional development need to embed curriculum with practical applications of technology integration for teachers so that they are truly classroom ready to leverage the computers that students come to class expecting to use.     

Managing the knowledge environment: a case study from healthcare

An organization's future is viable to the degree it can create, obtain, and leverage its intellectual capital in an effort to manage knowledge for sustained, competitive advantage in the market place. Failure to do so can spell disaster. Case in point: Due to a festering crisis between his strategic intent and the organization's operational capacity to support it, in May 2000, the Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System (SRHS) board of directors voted for its chief executive officer (CEO) to resign. His resignation signaled the need for new learning, in addition to more effective management and communication practices in improving the identifying and codifying of knowledge and then facilitating the sharing of it organization-wide. This article focuses on delineating the process principles in managing a supportive environment necessary for the sharing of knowledge to spark creative thinking in devising innovative solutions that the hospital used in adapting to its market.     

A Parent-Implemented,Technology-Mediated Approach to Increasing Self-Management Homework Skills in Middle School Students with Autism

Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in secondary school settings (i.e., grades 6-12) typically struggle with multiple academic challenges. Critics have noted that secondary schools traditionally have not been particularly effective in helping students with ASD develop self-determination (e.g., self-management) skills, which are considered pre-requisites to success in academics. Thus, there is a significant need for increased parent-professional collaboration in secondary schools. This study examined the effectiveness of coaching parents to implement a technology-mediated (e.g., iPad) approach to increasing the homework-related self-management skills for mathematics of five middle school students with ASD. Results indicate that these five students significantly increased their math homework self-management skills as a consequence of effectively using iPad applications when coached by their parents.     

The role of educational technology professionals as perceived by building administrators

Educational Technology (ETEC) professionals in the United States (US) fill multiple roles in public school systems. While these roles can be classified into broad categories, what remains unclear are the expectations and priorities for the completion of these roles and the tasks associated within each role category. In order for ETEC professionals to be successful, they need clear guidance on what their performance expectations and prioritized roles should be. This research seeks to add clarity regarding expectations by surveying K-12 building administrators to identify perceptions of ETEC professionals within their schools regarding their actual and ideal performances relative to eight role categories. Results indicate that these US building administrators place high importance on the Technological and Administrative Communication categories. The data also show that there is a significant gap between the ideal and actual performance expectations of ETEC professionals in all eight role categories, but most demonstrably within the Instructional Support and Teaching/Training categories. Results also signal the desire for ETEC professionals to focus more on training and collaboration with teachers regarding technology integration within classrooms. This suggests that administrators want ETEC professionals to complete more instructional tasks than they currently perform. Findings from this study hold implications for the training of ETEC professionals and can potentially inform the curriculum of educational technology preparation programs in the US and beyond.     

Replication of the Mere Presence Hypothesis: The Effects of Cell Phones on Face-to-Face Conversations

Research on the mere presence hypothesis shows mixed findings for the effects of cell phone presence on various conversation outcomes. The current study performed a partial replication of Przybylski and Weinstein’s (2013) study, which showed that strangers were likely to report lower levels of relational quality and empathy (among other variables) when a cell phone was placed in their view, particularly when their conversations were rated as meaningful. The results of the current study failed to replicate Przybylski and Weinstein’s (2013) findings, because cell phone presence did not significantly influence relational quality or empathy, nor was meaningfulness a moderator of cell phone presence on conversation outcomes. Changing norms in cell phone usage and competing explanations for cell phone effects are explored as possible explanations for the failure to replicate.