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To curb unauthorized downloading, the major film, music, and software corporations have developed public education campaigns aimed at children, extolling the virtues of copyright and the immorality of piracy. Some were designed to be shown among movie trailers in theaters, others are made available online; some are delivered to schools as curricular materials to be incorporated into K-12 classrooms. Through an examination of the materials themselves and through interviews with their designers, this presentation examines not only their characterization of copyright law, but their implicit claims about how, why, an by whom culture is produced, circulated, and consumed. These campaigns traffic in and perpetuate an industry-centric idea of what copyright is for, how technology is meant to be used, and why culture is important, helping to structure the dynamics of cultural participation. Amid these assumptions, comfortable roles are offered to young users of new media -- particular that of "consumer" rather than "user" or "citizen" -- roles that are far from neutral in the current debates about cultural policy, and work against the tide of emerging forms of creativity and collaboration. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of popular music as an entrée for discussion in college classrooms is nothing new. Critical analysis of explicit and implied messages in lyrics, track collections, and cover art can cultivate student interest while bringing issues as diverse as political action, sustainability, white privilege, inter-racial and inter-SES communication, and violence in popular culture to the forefront. "Poverty of Philosophy" provides a powerful message to students whose lives have often not required them to confront these issues. This project explores ways in which teachers may use, students might relate to, and outcomes can be affected by the pedagogical introduction of music as social criticism and call to action. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper aims to present and discuss the key findings of a research project conducted during 2004 into stakeholder perceptions of public relations education in the UK. Quantitative and qualitative data is presented and discussed on the structure of curriculum and specifically the balance of theory and practice. Employer perceptions are analysed to understand their views and occasional contradictions. For example on the one hand employers perceive public relations education as over theoretical and lacking practical application; on the other, it is blamed for failing to instil the analytical flexibility found in non-PR graduates. The paper concludes with discussion and recommendations for the future of public relations education in the UK context. 112 words [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building on industrial organization, this paper examines how governmental policy can stimulate the production of digital educational content for primary and secondary education in The Netherlands. This paper fits in the media economics tradition within communication science, with a strong focus on how market structures and behavior of market players influence the performance of media markets. As the market for digital educational content is still in an embryonic state, I conducted a scenario exercise to investigate how different forms of governmental policy could influence the structure, conduct and ultimately performance of the market for digital educational content. Based on interviews with publishers of digital educational content and representatives from governmental organizations engaged in ICT and education, four scenarios are proposed. These scenarios detail how different forms of public funding and market standardization could influence the production of digital educational content for primary and secondary education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the new millennium, the world is marching into the knowledge society, in which most of the population will be knowledge workers. In contrast to manual workers in an industrial society, every knowledge workers needs to strive to become a specialist with high creativity, outstanding information technology skills, an independent and critical mind, team spirit and a great enthusiasm for learning. To meet the challenge of the new millennium, many countries are undergoing a structural change to transform themselves from industrial societies to a knowledge societies. They are eager to reform their educational systems. This paper takes Hong Kong as a target of investigation. In Hong Kong an educational reform is underway, highlighting the importance of cultivating future knowledge workers. Meanwhile, media education is also getting momentum in Hong Kong. This paper aims at examining how media education can contribute to the nurturing of young leaders and help them become competent knowledge workers in a knowledge society. The analysis is based on the media education projects conducted in Hong Kong. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to examine the role and effectiveness of media education programs in post-colonial Hong Kong. Adopting a case study approach, the paper describes and evaluates two new media education projects designed to train young people's critical thinking skills. It also outlines the challenges to such programs in a post-colonial society, highlighting issues such as the legacy of the colonial system. Findings of the case studies indicate that the legacy of the colonial education system, which tended to "spoon-feed" students, was to constrain the effectiveness of media education in Hong Kong. However, in general the young participants did benefit from the media education curricula and workshops. It is found that piecemeal media education programs enhance young people's "specific" critical analytical skills rather than their "general" critical media awareness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the role of teachers and of pedagogy in developing students' critical skills toward reflective and critical engagement as citizens in society. Two field studies serve as a framework for this analysis of the ways fieldwork can contextualize and make problematic the "vision" of critical pedagogy. Within this context, I locate power and empowerment within critical pedagogy to examine the ways in which the theory frames not only the struggle but who does the fighting and the site at which the battle occurs. The first portion of the paper focuses on the author's position as a critical educator and her practices in the classroom. Next, she looks at both the phenomenological and the ethnographic studies for points of intersection with and opposition to ideas about power, the authority of the teacher and the space of the classroom in critical pedagogy. In the third portion of this paper, she explores the possibilities for communication research to inform and critique cultural/educational practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the inequality of Internet use in China. Based on the official survey of Internet use and demographical statistics, the author finds that the Internet is still a privilege of a small group of people. Among many demographical features, income, education and location are three influential factors of the digital divide. The paper gives the insight of the distorted relationship between these three demographical factors and Internet use. While the majority of Chinese suffers from low income and few opportunities of education and job, the majority of Internet users are people of high income and high education. The regional distribution of Internet users corresponds to resource disparity of different geographical areas. The paper further analyzes the social-economic structure and Internet policy that lead to the digital divide. The paper suggests that, to bridge the digital divide, the Chinese government has to work out a way balancing economic development and human development in terms of Internet policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on one facet of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in education--their use in support of classroom instruction at the university level--by way of a case study of the Jumpstart Assistance Program for Curricular Technology at the University of Southern California’s Center for Scholarly Technology (CST). Jumpstart was initiated in 1995 to provides grants, consultation, and technical implementation to faculty interested in bringing new media into their instruction. Using Dutton’s (1999) model of tele-access as a theoretical framework, and based on Web site analysis and interviews with CST staff and faculty participants, the paper considers whether and how the Jumpstart program achieved its goal of developing pedagogical innovations. Several themes emerge from the analysis of nine Jumpstart projects: increased tele-access to primary images and documents on the Web; a shift in pedagogy towards the visual and away from the verbal; a shift in student work from linear text to hyperlinked multimedia; and the asynchronicity of tele-access by the students to course information. The paper concludes that the innovations in the Jumpstart courses promote a shift from a passive to an active learning role for participating students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the past two decades there has been a proliferation of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) education initiatives and models with a wide range of aims including to equip students with essential "twenty-first century skills" and narrow the achievement gap for under-served communities. These initiatives and models are at the centre of a contemporary reform movement that is characterised by market-based initiatives where federal and regional Departments of Education are increasingly looking to and depending on industry leaders for solutions and resources to ameliorate what is perceived as a failing public education system. Despite rhetoric to the contrary, there is still little evidence that these initiatives are achieving such aims. As such, educators and researchers continue to wonder why there continues to be sustained investments in these initiatives without evidence to suggest they are actually working. To begin answering this question, this paper conducts a Social Network Analysis (SNA) of a rapidly expanding IBM-led public private partnership high school model called Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH). The P-TECH model, intending to serve marginalised youth, has been touted by President Obama as the future of American secondary education (Shapiro, 2013). This model was chosen as an emblematic example of the foundational transformation the U.S. K-12 education system is seeing. Along with the market-driven education policies it is a transformation where governance and control continues to shift from the public to private sector. Utilising a Political Economy of Communication (PEC) framework, the analysis illuminates the ways in which forces of digital capitalism are propelling these models and the sustained investments without evidence to suggest their aims are being realised. The findings show how key interpersonal ties play a large role in shaping the shifting landscape of U.S. K-12 public education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite high levels of global connectivity in the 21st century, American citizens are significantly unaware of global affairs. The Department of Education named social media as a viable option for improving the internationalization of classroom curricula, yet minimal research exists to quantitatively support such a claim. What little research does exist has exclusively investigated Facebook, while no research has looked into the viability of other popular social media platforms, such as Twitter or Instagram. Through an experimental design, this paper probed how the presentation of textually-based (Twitter) and visually-based (Instagram) messages affect American college students' recall of digital information pertaining to global affairs. It also investigated how communicator credibility effects how college students consume globally related information. Results showed that participants were most responsive to visuallybased information published by professional news outlets. Such findings help to better understand the relatively under-investigated digital intersection of international communication in American education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the discursive role and positioning of arts journalism at a prominent Afrikaans language newspaper, Die Burger, in South Africa during a period of radical transformation in society in the 1990s. In this study, conducted within a critical-cultural paradigm, arts journalists are considered to be manufacturers of cultural capital, a term devised by Pierre Bourdieu as part of his comprehensive field theory framework. While Bourdieu uses cultural capital in the main to describe the role of education and culture in the maintenance of elite power hierarchies, this paper investigates how the nature of cultural capital at Die Burger was affected by power shifts when competing elites jostled for dominance in a post-apartheid dispensation. By drawing on Michel Foucault's theory of discourse, the focus of research further incorporates the discursive positioning of arts journalists in their coverage of arts and cultural events in the 1990s in relation to shifting configurations of power. The argument is that arts journalism at Die Burger can be situated within networks of power and thus contributed to the structuring of post-apartheid society. In the words of Antonio Gramsci, arts journalists became involved in hegemonic and counter-hegemonic struggles. Flowing from these theoretical departure points, the paper identifies critical discourse analysis (CDA) as an appropriate research method for textual analysis and adapts a fivephase model suggested by Teun van Dijk as part of his contextual CDA approach. To affect triangulation and enhance the textual analysis, the paper also employs semi-structured indepth interviews with arts journalists who were prominent at Die Burger in the 1990s. The paper found that arts journalists were at the intersection of different and often diverging and contradictory power-points in post-apartheid discourses at the newspaper. On the one hand, some arts journalists embraced a legacy of editorial independence at the arts desk and sometimes created oppositional discourses to the official political view of the newspaper: for instance on the issue of alleged "collective guilt" for Afrikaners and whether Naspers should appear before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) to explain its role in supporting the National Party (NP) during apartheid. On the other hand, many arts journalists shared the editor's apparent aversion to the international cultural boycott supported by the ANC and harboured some of the same skepticism about the so-called Africanisation of society and resultant attacks on Eurocentrism in the arts. ANC and harboured some of the same skepticism about the so-called Africanisation of society and resultant attacks on Eurocentrism in the arts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to examine one of the collaborative partnership strategies used in the community efforts to develop the underprivileged children in Malaysia. One of the strategies for which the collaborative partnership can use as a means of sustaining themselves is having a curriculum as a tool to integrate the partners. In this project, the curriculum was developed by community members to assist community partnerships efforts involving underprivileged children. The objectives of the curriculum are to impart information communication technology (ICT) knowledge and skills, personal development elements to learners, and to encourage learners to contribute to the society with their ICT knowledge via a community service project. Based on the available documents, this paper examines how the curriculum is able to bring the stakeholders together in the collaborative partnerships, and how underprivileged children are engaged in collaborative partnership efforts. The focus of this analysis will be the distinctive conjunction of three elements in the curriculum: personal development, ICT, and community service. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes an approach to literacy that focuses not only onskills and social practices, but first and foremost on the mental capacities andconstitution needed in order to cope with a changing information environment. Weshow that being literate in an age marked by Social Media age encompasses not onlylocating, accessing, processing and using information appropriately in varioussettings, it also means being able to mentally cope with the abundance ininformation. Literacy today is a means to successfully and sustainably participate insociety and in conversation, and this paper closes by proposing several streams of research that might inform new measurements for this kind of literacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines recent and contemporary responses by U.S. university administrators to the volume and legal challenges surrounding on-campus and in-residence peer-to-peer (P2P) traffic. Since the earliest days of online P2P activity, universities have served as key flashpoints in the broader file-sharing and intellectual property debates. But while there has been considerable policy attention to the emerging file-sharing case law, and some attention to the shifting legal and political strategies of IP holders most affected by P2P traffic (or most aggressive in asserting their rights), the multiple, frequently ambivalent, and highly varied responses of university network administrators have for the most part escaped sustained attention. This paper draws on survey, interview, and ethnographic data to explore the distinctive and heterogeneous policy sets put together by campus network administrators and decision-makers in dealing with IP issues associated with on-campus file-sharing practice. Such institutional policy sets constitute a crucial and understudied border zone between law and culture, functioning as: a) key translation points through which external IP claims get filtered (e.g., DMCA take-down notices); b) key micro-regimes through which a substantial amount of IP regulation is practically accomplished; and c) key laboratories for digital citizenship, through which the moral, cultural, and practical terrain of IP and file-sharing practice in a densely networked world are set. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes student-centered learning (SCL) for achieving an optimal educational protocol for students in public affairs, specifically in courses such as criminal justice (CJ), health affairs (HA), public administration (PA), and social work (SW). All public affairs disciplines described in this paper are infused with pedagogical strategies in communication, through the use of communication concepts and theories. The authors' ultimate goal is to catapult influence vis-à-vis public affairs researchers and professors who dedicate their careers to regularly teaching and polishing their practice relative to this increasingly important discipline in academia and in the public sector. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The diplomatic landscape has recently undergone crucial changes including the shift from the traditional government-to-government diplomacy to public diplomacy. Despite the growing importance to engage in communication with foreign publics, however, governments have not remold their diplomatic structure to adopt to this change and are not equipped with appropriate tools and tactics. Motivated by the lack of an effective instrument for public diplomacy, this paper explores how popular culture can successfully serve as the next generation tool for the task. The Korean Wave, a feverish popularity of Korean pop culture in Asian countries, is employed as a case that demonstrates the capacity of pop culture being an effective tool of public diplomacy. From an analysis of secondary data, it is evident that the Korean Wave has facilitated the goals of public diplomacy by 1) promoting Korean cultural values through activating Korean language learning and tourism, 2) improving the national image, and 3) ameliorating damaged national image in countries that had experienced diplomatic friction. The paper concludes with suggestions for governments to devise a way to facilitate mutual communication and build common understanding and relationship in order to utilize pop cultures as a sustainable instrument for public diplomacy. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Canada has a high level of broadband use (Zamaria & Fletcher, 2007). Canadian youth in particular are heavy users of information communication technology, and statistics gathered by the Media Awareness Network show that their use of communication tools is increasing (Media Awareness Network, 2005b). This paper reports on student perceptions of broadband visual communication technology in the context of two "Diet and Body Image" Virtual Classroom sessions held April and November, 2007. On each occasion these two sessions connected more than five hundred students in schools distributed across Canada through the use of videoconferencing as well as the BVCam - a video recording service based on the H.323 protocol for videoconferencing on IP networks (Authors, 2008a). While the students in this study regarded video and videoconferencing as important tools for communication and learning they also mentioned several barriers to the use of broadband visual communication in the classroom. The biggest challenge identified in this study was the students' perceptions of video and videoconferencing. Preconceived notions of broadband technology affected the way in which students envisioned and used the technology in the Virtual Classroom. This paper explores the student's responses to videoconferencing and video and suggests ways in which broadband tools can more effectively meet the pedagogical objectives of the Virtual Classroom. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analyzing the data from a nationally representative sample of 9th graders, this paper examines several hypotheses developed from the premises that first, individuals' citizenship is to be constituted through their deliberative and participatory experiences; second, with provisions of civic curricula and opportunities for extra-curricular activities, public schools are a fertile ground for adolescents to acquire such experiences, and consequently to benefit from them in their development of citizenship preparedness; and third, through political discussion with others prominently present in adolescents' everyday life, such school experiences could be added to and/or integrated with extra-school experiences such as news media use to affect their citizenship preparedness. Via multi-level modeling with political discussion as well as civic literacy and citizenship conception as the dependent variables, this paper obtained evidence in support of the key hypotheses. The paper discussed the implications of the results, especially in terms of the research agenda for revived political socialization research in the deliberative framework. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes an empirical study on postgraduate students in a local university to investigate whether instant messaging (IM) tools are used as enabler tools for learning in tertiary institutions. We first developed a theoretical model based on the Technological Acceptance Model (TAM). We then undertook a survey of 104 postgraduate students. The findings indicated that external factors such as technology utility, network externality, media influences, self-efficacy and affection have a significant effect on perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEOU). In our study, PEOU has significant influence on the students' acceptance of IM tools as enabler for learning, contrary to past research result of PU influencing acceptance intention. Overall, the findings suggested students' perceptions of IM tools are easy to use and useful in the context of learning. The paper concludes with a discussion on implication to education. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to begin to define the characteristics of the home-show TV genre from a visual perspective. As Home and Garden Television (HGTV) was the first cable network to offer non-stop programming about the home, it has influenced both cable and traditional networks. This paper draws important conclusions about the genre from a visual narrative analysis of HGTV program content. A rhetorical analysis examined 9 episodes representing the most popular shows throughout ten years of HGTV production, from its 1994 launch through 2005. This analysis was guided by the theoretical lens of the narrative paradigm and visual semiotic and metaphor theory. It finds that the pictorial syntax of the shows can be interpreted to suggest a summary of visual conventions of this genre. The study's value lies in its extension of a traditionally linguistic theory to pictorial imagery, and in its usefulness in understanding genre from a pictorial narrative point of view. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The significance of ‘home’ is deeply rooted in our culture's stories. It is setting of limitless spiritual and emotional tales, idealized family values, and maternal acceptance and approval: it is the American Dream. Television is a dominant medium that narrates our cultural myths. After nearly a half-century of turning on living room television sets to enjoy stories of soap operas, crime dramas and comedy serials set in the home, in 1994 Americans were introduced to round-the-clock television programming about the home—that inclusive place that signifies self and the American Dream. The twenty-four hour, seven-day cable network, Home and Garden Television (HGTV), launched from its middle-America home base in Knoxville, Tennessee, skyrocketed in distribution both domestically and globally, and achieved profitability in a record four years to become one of the fastest-growing networks in television history. Key to HGTV's transformational message is its stories that focus on resolution and allow viewers to 'inject' themselves into its struggles and triumphs. To better understand this genre, this paper takes a historical look at mass media’s service to women and domestic consumption in the United States, the media forms that gave impetus to the home-makeover genre, and the creation and influence of HGTV on our cultural landscape. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computer and video games have become one of the most popular forms of entertainment. Since half of all Americans age six and older play computer and video games and the average age of game player is 29, it is promising to use computer and video games as an entertainment-education form for health intervention. Guided by theories, television and radio based E-E programs for health intervention have been proved to be effective. Considering the fact that traditional media (television and radio) and computer and video games differ in nature in terms of interactivity, we need to be cautious to apply available theories for entertainment education in the domain of gaming. This paper discusses three major lines of theoretical approach for traditional entertainment education and explores the possibility of extend those theories in the domain of interactive media for entertainment education programs for health intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the use of media, information and communication technologies by a working class, largely Latino population in Texas. The study interviewed 28 adults in-depth, examining their life history with media and technology. Conceptually, the study builds on Bourdieu's ideas of cultural, social and symbolic capital as well as elaborating a concept of linguistic capital, particularly focued on recent migrants. The study examines the way that Latinos and other working class people have to negotiate fields of competition in language, education, technology and work. It also uses the generational perspectives of Daniel Bertaux, looking at how generations of families work toward social mobility using their capital and struggling to compete in fields that they are not always very familiar with. The study finds that several distinct groups use technology quite differently, based on their levels of formal education and their language skills, more than other aspects of their human capital. Also very important was how recently people had migrated to the U.S., whether recent or longer term, first, second or third generation migrant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This articles seeks to understand the connection between literacy and technology by examining some of the the common pedagogical practices. First, it will discuss two models of pedagogy: the linear method and the constructionist method. Then, the paper will illustrate how the two approaches can be integrated to overcome the shortcomings identified in each method. Finally, the article will analyze feedback given by students of a communication theory class, which uses an integrated approach to help students learn the concepts of communication theory.

The failure to indigenize imported social theories in Korea affords precious theoretical insights for the future of critical communication studies. Since Korean society has evolved out of a mixture of the pre-modern, postcolonial, modern and postmodern elements, attempts to rigidly graft modern and postmodern theories onto Korean society have ensured that both theories remain unfinished projects in Korea. This paper argues that contributions from both camps are still feasible and imperative modes of indigenizing social inquiry in Korea. Theorizing the social still requires comprehensive structural analyses and constructive ideals of progress, as well as insights into subject formation that grant social agency to individuals. As the Korean example illustrates well, critical communication studies must transcend the false dichotomies of modern vs. postmodern to answer specific concerns and problems facing a given society today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to examine recent trends and developments in the public relations industry and to discuss their implications for public relations education. The paper focuses on the building blocks for developing a winning educational program, and calls attention to two particular aspects of learning and development - developing a spike in industry sector/practice area and improving communications skills. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature on participatory communication for social change contains a variety of definitions specifying exactly what participatory communication is. Definitions various focus on project planning, implementation, evaluation, interpersonal communication, radio, participatory communication as a means to an end, participatory communication as an end in itself, and more. There is also debate over whether social marketing and entertainment-education can be employed in a participatory manner. Some say yes and others no. This paper reviews past and current approaches, and argues that Habermas's theory of communicative action provides a useful approach to the definitional problem. It presents a scheme for differentiating among kinds of communication for social change using this theory's classification of "action types," differentiating "communicative" from "strategic" action, as well as subtypes within these. And it argues that communication behavior, in terms of action types, should be fundamental in determining participation rather than a school of thought or program type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I argue for the need for "critical" media literacy mainly informed by Paulo Freire's notion of liberating pedagogy, Henry Giroux's insights into the politics of mass media and popular culture, and Douglas Kellner's articulation of multicultural and multiple literacies. In so doing, I first start with pointing out some serious deficiencies of current media education, then proceed to discuss how critical pedagogical theories can be applied to media literacy education, and finally suggest some feasible ways of concretizing critical media literacy. At last, I conclude by arguing that the current media literacy education needs to be transformed in order to serve as a liberating pedagogy, which opens up a possibility of alternative and oppositional media education and practices for both teachers and students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature on media literacy contains a dazzling variety of definitions. This paper structures the multitude of definitions using a constructivist model of media use. The overview shows that present definitions focus mainly on people's knowledge about media institutions, the social network surrounding the production and reception of a media message, the actual message content and the manner in which people interpret media content, while neglecting the socializing potential of the media as well as people's awareness of the magnitude and nature of their use of the media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Distance education has taken on a new shape with the introduction of new digital technologies that have made the process of interaction between the teacher and student a far more vibrant process. This change, and the fact that distance education often takes place with the use of text-based systems, leads to the re-thinking of the distance education "classroom" as a discursive space where the voices of the teachers and students take on unique qualities. Using the construct of "voice" this paper argues that the role of the teacher and the student is constantly changing as multiple voices can be heard in the discursive pedagogic space of distance education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are many examples of the convergence of religion, education, technology, and popular culture created within Jewish elementary schools in Israel. But what happens in elementary school, during the students' formative years, when Jewish values taught daily often conflict with popular culture messages communicated from the Internet? How do educators along with their students evaluate Internet messages? Do the various educational streams from secular to Modern Orthodox differ in their approach to using the Internet? This paper examines the extent to which Israeli Jewish education in elementary schools particularly the State-religious -- Modern-Orthodox's Mamlachti-Dati schools - utilize computers and the Internet and encourage popular culture in their classrooms. The findings of this pilot study indicate that the degree that Jewish values emanate from religious education influenced teachers and administrators' approaches to Internet Technology. Educators' approaches to the Internet reflect their concerns regarding its influence on values, trust and their students' decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the border metaphor, this paper examines the inherent border tension between the need for specialized levels of understanding about scientific and technical policy issues ? such as the continuing biomedical policy debate over stem cell research ? and the demands for broad political participation in a democratic political system. Measures of biomedical literacy, attentiveness to biomedical policy, and political contacting about biomedical and health issues are defined, measured, and used to construct two structural equation models. One model examines the factors that produce biomedical literacy and biomedical issue attentiveness among adults, including current communication patterns. A second model identifies the factors that are associated with political contacting on a biomedical policy issue, exploring the border relationships between biomedical literacy and issue attentiveness in producing measurable political behaviors. The ramifications of these findings for future communication research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Education systems lie at a crossroads between organizational and institutional existence, causing change within these systems to be highly contested and frustrating processes. As technical organizations, schools are accountable to both internal and external constituencies. As institutions, they rely on the public's support of the system for legitimizing their existence. This paper examines that conflict. Following an application of institutional change principles laid out by Meyer and Rowan (1983), this study examines the implementation of the TAAS test in the Texas education system. From a review of public information from the TEA and news reports from the initial year of testing in 1990 up to 1999, public communication in the popular press is examined as it serves as the border between resistance and legitimization. A model is developed to explain the pattern that emerges from this review, and a metaphor of inoculation is proposed to explain the model more fully. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Universal education is only a dream in most developing countries. While public education has made great strides in countries like India, it still falls far short of quality education for everyone. Furthermore, many children are unable to attend school regularly because of work obligations to their families. Mobile phones have tremendous penetration even in poor villages, and show great potential to improve education. But to do so for working children, cell-phone learning must happen outside the classroom. Adoption and use of learning applications must be spontaneous by the children, and supported by their parents. There must be appropriate times and places for learning, which mesh with children's routines. Designing such informal learning applications requires deep understanding of the contextual forces in the children's environments. This paper summarizes the results of two phases of fieldwork aimed to chart the contextual forces that would influence technology use by children in rural villages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Viêt Nam, land rights have been the topic of conversation since the 1990s. It was not until the change in their 1980 Constitution that Viêt Nam's land rights shifted towards a more state controlled issue. Through the revision of more recent constitutions, Viêt Nam has turned the power over land rights to the people of Viêt Nam. Even though the Vietnamese people now control the land there are still many gender inequality issues that hinder Vietnamese women's ability to access, purchase, own, and operate land in Viêt Nam. Within this paper, I will re-examine the issue of land rights in Viêt Nam in hopes of furthering the discussion of possible solutions to this problem. Specifically, I delineate the current political structure surrounding land rights. Second, I discuss past research on land rights and the debates surrounding women and land rights in Viêt Nam. Lastly, I re-address the issues emerging from the discourse of women and land rights in Viêt Nam from a communicative stance to further explain how the gendering of land, more specifically the gender inequalities surrounding issues of land rights in Viêt Nam, can be dismantled through educational strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on smoking behavior suggests that lower-educated adolescents are most susceptible to take on smoking. This paper reports an experiment that investigates the effects of adapting fear appeals to this target group. Fear appeals were manipulated on the levels of content (appeal: long-term health vs. short-term cosmetic) and form (modality: image vs. text). Results demonstrate that, for short-term cosmetic fear appeals, the fear text generated more relevant cognitive responses than the image. For long-term health fear appeals, the fear text was considered as easier, was better understood and evaluated more positively than the image. These results illustrate the advantage of using texts over images when targeting lower-educated adolescents and show the importance of adapting anti-smoking advertisements to this group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper takes on a public relations perspective in examining the Singapore government's relations with secondary school youth in the context of national education. It searches for the most appropriate framework for, firstly, explicating the government's communication with its youth-public in national education; and secondly, for suggesting ways to overcome its communication impediment with this target public. The review examines three public relations approaches: symmetrical, rhetorical and postmodern. While each approach yields descriptive, explanatory, normative potential, the postmodern approach offers significant potential for "heuristic provocativeness" (Shoemaker, 1997) in addition to being the most productive heuristic for understanding the government's communication endeavor with Singaporean youth in the context of national education. The conclusion reiterates Toth's (2009) call for a pluralistic approach to the study and practice of public relations. At the centre of the discussion is the role of public relations in facilitating understanding and mediating relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For some time, Canadian practices and experiences in the field of media literacy have been considered exemplary in comparison with developments in other national jurisdictions. At the same time, it would be a mistake to suggest that there is a single, coherent program or approach to media education in Canada. In this paper, we examine the difficulties this eclecticism has created and also note major institutional and ideological divisions which have undermined attempts to develop a coherent strategy for media education in Canada. In response to this situation, we examine how successful attempts to develop critical youth media production practices in informal, community-based learning environments offer important lessons that can inform how media literacy is developed in formal, school-based learning environments across the country. Given the long history of media literacy in Canada, we contend that this study of national practices and concerns can provide an important lens from which to envision the development of future media education initiatives in jurisdictions around the world. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the intersection between public relations and public diplomacy. It argues that states with modest military and economic resources can become important actors in the international system by forming partnerships with domestic and international constituencies who are committed to such attractive goals as peace, welfare, health, education, human rights, and sustainable development. Public relations is posited as a function that builds and manages relationships, and, therefore, is critical for strong diplomatic partnerships. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of language and linguistic assimilation in the differentiation between the consumption of English language media or Spanish language media has a direct impact on both education and occupation in terms of social mobility. The relationship between media consumption and social class among Latinos can be examined with a generational context as language specific media consumption changes from first generation immigrants to third generation immigrants. The specific question being addressed herein is whether language or ethnicity had more impact on Latinos' mobility in terms of educational achievement and occupational prestige. Results presented in this paper imply the importance and impact of the maximization of the accumulation of linguistic capital in order to accelerate the acquisition of educational attainment, which has a relationship with the shift of U.S. Latinos from the consumption of Spanish language media to English language media. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little is known about how perceived face threat influences classroom participation. This is significant because face concerns have been identified as critical in influencing individuals' behaviors in social interactions. Significant gains have been made over the past decades on the influence of face threat in a variety of contexts. The purpose of this study is to advance our understanding of the influence of perceived face threat on classroom participation and the cultural variability. The paper argues that perceived face threat has influence on classroom participation, and individuals differ in the level of perceived face threat in classroom participation across cultures. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we examined the effect of instructor Facebook participation on students perceptions of teacher credibility and teacher attraction. Results showed lower student perceptions of teacher credibility and teacher attraction for instructors on Facebook when compared to instructors not on Facebook. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

K-12 schools around the United States have implemented peer mediation programs that are successful in educating students on healthy conflict management practices, however, Colleges and Universities are just now starting to follow suit. This paper reviews the literature surrounding peer mediation in schools and further introduces a case study of the implementation of a peer mediation program on a state University campus. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to Berthrong (2000), Confucianism is a way of cultural formation as well as a way of life. The Confucians had profound insights into human nature, character, thought, and conduct. But, as Tawney and Chiang (2002) note, Confucianism has been criticized as being conservative and oriented toward the past. Because Confucianism developed in an agricultural and patriarchal society, certain aspects of the Confucian teachings would have to be adapted to a modern environment. It is important to point out, however, that several basic features of Confucianism are in fact modern in their nature. For instance, not only are the Confucian thoughts on self-cultivation and humanity timeless, but they also have much to offer to the global community as a whole, and to the West in particular. In this paper, I will first examine the Confucian model of self-cultivation, and then discuss its implications and lessons for the West. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three studies were conducted to develop and validate a scale for measuring visual verbal redundancy (VVR) in video advertisements. It is hypothesized that when the visual and verbal features of a video ad are consistent, ad effectiveness will increase. In the first study, 24 undergraduate students viewed 10 anti-smoking public service announcements (PSAs) and rated visual verbal redundancy with a 12-item scale. Ads pre-selected by experts to be high in VVR were rated significantly higher than those pre-selected as low. The second study utilized a nationally representative sample of adult smokers who each viewed 5 PSAs and rated visual verbal redundancy with a 4-item scale. VVR showed discriminant validity from message sensation value and argument strength but some convergent validity with transportation. The final study consisted of 427 adult smokers who each viewed 4 PSAs and rated visual verbal redundancy with a 3-item scale. Ads high in VVR were evaluated as more effective than those low in VVR. The result of the three studies is a well-validated and reliable scale for rating visual and verbal redundancy in video advertisements. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Communication scholars have strived to establish theoretical backgrounds that can be used to directly or indirectly change a range of behaviors. Recently, a series of studies have proposed an integrative theory with critical predictors of behavior, based on the most common behavior change theories. Because of the salient effectiveness of communication campaigns, campaigners need to understand what factors lead individuals to have an interest in the campaigns. The purpose of this study was to explore crucial predictors within the integrative theory and apply them to an actual communication campaign for preventing violence on campus. Results showed that college studentsÂ’ attitude and perceived norms significantly predicted intentions to attend the campaigns, with attitude having more salient influence on intentions. However, self-efficacy did not significantly predict the intentions. Ultimately, the study offers more effective understanding of better messages and stronger strategies for making violence prevention campaigns on campus more successful. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultraviolet radiation (UVR) is a known human carcinogen and skin cancer is increasing alarmingly in the U.S. Sun safety must start in childhood to reduce lifetime UVR exposure and severe sunburns. The effective Sunny Days, Healthy Ways (SDHW) skin cancer prevention curriculum for children ages 5-11 was translated into three age-appropriate interactive multimedia computer programs on CD-ROM with core messages tailored to usersÂ’ risk for sunburn. Each computer program provided up to 60 minutes of playtime and included at least five health communication modules covering shade, peak sun hours, cover-up clothing and sunscreen. The ability of the computer programs to increase knowledge, change attitudes favorably, and increase sun protective behaviors was evaluated in a pair-matched randomized pretest-posttest control group study, employing 12 public primary schools, 63 classes and teachers, and 847 students in the western U.S. The computer programs were compared to teacher-led presentations from the original SDHW curriculum. The results consistently showed that adding the interactive computer program to the teacher-led presentation improved self-reported behavioral outcomes over the teacher-led presentation alone. Outcomes showed that the skin cancer prevention computer programs were effective at providing health education and producing health behavior change, especially in younger students. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While many countries have had media education programs in secondary schools for decades, the US only began incorporating media education into their state educational standards in the 1990s. Moreover, media education has come late to the social studies. Given the need for substantial curriculum development and teacher training in this area, educators can benefit from knowledge of how social studies teachers view media education in their field. This article reports on the results of a survey of social studies teachers seeking to integrate media education into their classrooms. An overview of how communication and education literature conceptualizes the aims of media education illustrates the range of goals that might influence these teachers and provides a context for our survey. We surveyed teachers on the goals that motivate their media education teaching, whether they value media education as a tool to teach about media or to enhance understanding of discrete social studies topics, and how comfortable they are with media education in their classrooms. Our results suggest that many teachers: are uncertain about how to integrate media education into their teaching; lack confidence analyzing media; view media education as a way to teach about social studies, rather than about the media per se; and emphasize different reasons for media education than those frequently stressed in theory and policy. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transformational leadership emphasizes communicating a vision and providing shared goals, as well as building follower commitment through motivation, increased morals, values, and beliefs. In educational settings, these may impact teacher outcomes (e.g., teachersÂ’ perceived satisfaction with leadership and perceptions of their own effectiveness). Questionnaires, case studies, and leader narratives help identify transformational leadership factors and measure perceived effectiveness of these factors in practice. Findings suggest transformational leadership does have strong relationships with teacher motivation and student outcomes, most often through principal leadership. Variables influencing transformational leadership include principal leadership, teachersÂ’ and studentÂ’s perceptions, as well as school culture. Understanding how these factors influence learning environments and student outcomes creates opportunities for increasing educational organizational performance. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]