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This article describes the origin and curriculum of Identity Dialogues, a program which facilitates conversations about power and privilege among international and domestic students. It was developed as a result of findings from an ethnographic study of an unstructured conversation partner program at the same institution. The study found that power-laden issues were influencing the interactions and confirmed that intercultural competence development has to be actively facilitated (Bennett, 2009). Identity Dialogues sessions start with an examination of participants' own cultural histories and then they are guided to analyze stereotypes and microaggressions. Finally, participants create action steps for fostering intercultural competence in their communities.

Recent studies find that observational returns to rural-urban migration are near zero in three developing countries. We revisit this result using panel tracking surveys from six countries, finding higher returns on average. We then interpret these returns in a multi-region Roy model with heterogeneity in migration costs. In the model, the observational return to migration confounds the urban premium and the individual benefits of migrants, and is not directly informative about the welfare gain from lowering migration costs. Patterns of regional heterogeneity in returns, and a comparison of experimental to observational returns, are consistent with the model’s predictions.

A flipped classroom is an instructional model in which students learn basic subject matter knowledge prior to classroom meetings, and then come to classroom for active learning experiences. Previous research has shown that flipped classroom have a positive impact on students' learning. Most current studies focus on students' learning experiences in flipped classroom courses. However, this qualitative case study investigated three higher education instructors' adoption of flipped classroom, with special focus on the adjustments they made and the suggestions they offered to make a successful flipped classroom course. Semistructured interviews and course artifacts were collected from the three instructors. Findings highlighted that they made a main adjustment on allocating a brief period of in-class time to address students' pre-class learning materials, and they suggested that helping students form good learning habits and integrating resources from other courses and other program activities into flipped classroom instruction can enhance the instructional efficiency. Findings also reveal that instructors look forward to more peer assistance among instructors.

The flipped classroom is an instructional model which allows for more advanced learning activities during in-class time while introduces subject knowledge to students prior to class. To address a gap in the recent research regarding higher education instructors' experiences, perceptions and adoption decisions of the flipped classroom instruction, this study aimed at investigating the critical factors which were predictive of a higher education instructor's decision to adopt a flipped classroom instructional model through exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and multiple regression in a US university. The results revealed that performance expectancy and technology self-efficacy were significant predictors. Although facilitation condition was significantly correlated with instructors' adoption decisions, it was not a significant predictor. This study suggests that in order to improve higher education instructors' adoption decisions of the flipped classroom and other active learning instructional models, it is of priority for institutions to remove the internal barriers to instructors' adoption decisions of these instructional models, such as improving their performance expectancy and technology self-efficacy.

The excess of mystery and 'meaning' in Twin Peaks: Season 3 (2017) reflects the post-truth ontological dissonance of information overload, tantalising the thirst for answers that dominates digital communication. Combining its clues and codes with payoffs for 'long-term fan investments' (Hills, 2020: 197) situates the series between two modes of fan participation: the curative puzzle-solving of complex 'Quality TV', and cult television's 'hyperdiegesis'. Season 3 is complex cult television, encouraging forensic and creative engagement. Replicating the polarisation of contemporary discourse while simultaneously promoting algorithmic literacy informs Mark Frost's politicised vision for Twin Peaks, and David Lynch's aesthetic experiments amplify this. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares the perceptions of two groups of students who participated in the first cohort of the WebIT online Master of Science Degree in Instructional Technology at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville over a two-year period. The program completers (n=11) are the students who completed and graduated from the WebIT program. The dropper-respondents (n=5) are those students who dropped out of the WebIT program prior to completion. Both groups volunteered to complete an electronically-administered survey about their WebIT experiences. Each survey contained 46 comparable items. The WebIT students' expectations and preferences for an online program are discussed. Group responses to several questions on a program exit survey illustrate several possible differences between the members of the two groups that may provide insight into a possible relationship between the question topics and the high rate of attrition observed during the first cohort of the WebIT program.

The flipped classroom model is an instructional model in which students learn basic subject matter knowledge prior to in-class meetings, then come to the classroom for active learning experiences. Previous research has shown that the flipped classroom model can motivate students towards active learning, can improve their higher-order thinking skills, and can improve their collaborative learning skills. However, most current studies focus on students' experiences with flipped classroom learning. Because so few studies address the instructor's perspective, and instructors' perspectives on technology integration can directly influence their practice of incorporating technology in instruction, this study sought to focus on instructors. This paper is a qualitative case study that reveals instructors' experiences and perspectives on using the flipped classroom model in instruction. Structured interviews were conducted with eight faculty members who either previously had used or planned to use the flipped classroom model. Findings include instructors' perceived definitions of the flipped classroom, how they improved teaching and learning by using the flipped classroom model, their perceived benefits and challenges of the flipped classroom, and perceived approaches of using it in an effective way. The participants also recommended peer assistance among instructors as valuable support to implement the flipped classroom model in instruction successfully.

The flipped classroom is an instructional model in which students viewed the learning content before class through instructor-provided video lectures or other pre-class learning materials, and in-class time is used for student-centered active learning. Video is widely utilized as a typical pre-class learning material in the flipped classroom. This paper reports the findings from a survey about students' attitudes and preferences regarding the pre-class learning experiences in an undergraduate science course that utilized a flipped classroom model. Findings demonstrate that students had positive attitudes towards using pre-class videos in the flipped classroom. Students had different perceptions towards the four types of pre-class learning materials used in this course, including three types of videos and text-formatted materials. Students' attitudes and preferences on pre-class learning materials did not differ across class levels, major fields, or previous experience of learning via videos. Students suggested that pre-class videos should be kept short and engaging.

This paper shares the perceptions of a group of 11 successful online students regarding the value of the collaborative learning community that developed as part of their participation in the first cohort of the WebIT online Master of Science Degree in Instructional Technology program, at The University of Tennessee at Knoxville during 2008-2010. All 11 students began the program in the Summer semester of 2008 and graduated at the end of the Spring semester, 2010. These students voluntarily completed an electronically-administered Program Completion Survey to provide the WebIT program faculty with information to help improve the design and delivery of the program. The survey consisted of 66 items, 17 of which constituted a subscale that addressed aspects of collaborative learning community. These seventeen items were further grouped into 6 concept clusters that serve to organize the discussion in this paper. The WebIT online program characteristics appeared to be strongly supportive of the emergence of a collaborative learning community among the program completers. These results demonstrate the value of promoting cohort group inter-connectedness as well as the benefit of incorporating professional practice experiences within the instructional program.

This paper describes results from a case study that focuses on the initial implementation of a new, online instructional program, the WebIT M.S. in Instructional Technology, offered at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville during 2008-2010. Survey data were collected from two groups of students: a self-selected sample of those students who dropped out of the WebIT program within the first year (the DROPPER-respondents), and the students who successfully completed the WebIT program in Spring 2010 (COMPLETERS). These two groups of students were compared in an attempt to identify possible differences that would help program faculty make future admission decisions; and, to identify program design characteristics for possible program revision. Eleven findings are reported and discussed. These findings may be of value to others currently involved in the delivery of an online program or those who may be interested in developing a new online program.

The purpose of this article is to describe a simple laboratory activity in which students collect a series of measurements and then use graphical analysis to determine the nature of the relationship between an object's mass and the volume of water it displaces. In this activity, students explore the relationships between the mass of a floating object, the amount the object sinks in the water, and its displaced volume. The data will reveal a unique relationship between an object's metrically measured mass and volume and its buoyancy in water. This can lead to an elaboration of the density concept and provide a concrete model for systems involving other forms of balance and equilibrium. (Contains 5 figures.)

Presents an extension of an activity published in 1993 that teaches students about infectious agents and what steps can be taken to prevent the spread of disease. Gives students an opportunity to consider how scientists investigate diseases when they occur. (Author/SOE)

Describes the development of a Web-based software tool, the Technology Competencies Database, at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign that will enable faculty to effectively collaborate in providing technology experiences to preservice teacher education students. Discusses the National Council on Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) adopting standards for instructional technology developed by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). (Author/LRW)