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Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the perceptions of university students who served as outside facilitators for evidence-based nutrition education for elementary-age children. Design: Qualitative case study. Methods: Thirteen undergraduate university students facilitated four nutrition education sessions for elementary-age students in an after-school programme using the Choice, Control, Change model as part of service learning curriculum. University students completed pre- and post-participation surveys. Elementary-age participants completed surveys after each session. Results: University students saw the benefit of this type of experiential learning with the following themes: knowledge application, learning about diverse perspectives and having a positive impact. Before the first nutrition education session, the university students felt excited, nervous and/or enthusiastic, and during and immediately after the sessions reported they felt confident. Participant engagement was low/mixed and classroom management was challenging, which may be linked to the university students' perceptions that they were underprepared to work in a distracting social environment, and with behaviour typical to elementary-age children. The education session recipients reported they gained knowledge about healthy behaviours and believed that eating healthy foods is important. Conclusion: There are gaps in nutrition education programme theory and implementation by outside facilitators. These findings are relevant to those who provide health education services for surrounding communities. This study provides information about implementation barriers when outside facilitators lead nutrition education, alongside recommendations to improve these types of programmes in the future.

In this paper, I draw together myriad theoretical and philosophical sources to think through the intensification of emotion amid and emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic. I begin with three narratives from my own teaching and learning, which ground the subsequent conversation. I then characterize the current movement in educational theorizing known as the affective turn. The affective turn, I suggest, attunes educational inquiry to small, yet vital, moments of classroom interaction often taken for granted in public education. Toward considering those vital moments in more nuance, I discuss psychoanalyst Wilfred R. Bion's notion of the alpha function -- a nonconscious digestion of emotion we perform for others when they are overwhelmed. When coupled with Nel Noddings' evocation of the ethics of care in education, the alpha function offers an understanding of the hidden emotional labour in teaching. This hidden dimension of the teacher's task, the portion of the job that deals in regulating our own emotions and in helping students make sense of theirs, I suggest, is becoming more difficult amid the affective situation of the COVID-19 pandemic. I conclude the paper by gesturing toward a threefold response to be taken up more fully elsewhere: humility before the task of teaching, a reverence for the work of feeling, and a willingness to organize toward a more caring school system.

Community-Based Research (CBR) presents a wide range of benefits in higher education to students, community partners, and universities. Yet on our campus (and many others), CBR remains less common than other high-impact practices (HIPs) such as service learning and undergraduate research due to lack of effective institutionalization. Moreover, when CBR projects are undertaken, they result in a level of engagement with CBR that produces fewer of the expected benefits than is ideal. Here we detail our efforts to institutionalize CBR on our campus to appropriately expand the practice and its resulting benefits. These efforts focus on three initiatives: raising the visibility of CBR, diffusing expertise to implement CBR, and providing critical support for designing and implementing CBR. We also include our assessment plan which had to be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This plan utilizes a mixed-methods approach and will explore how our initiatives have made an impact on faculty and community partners involved with CBR, as well as assess interest and knowledge about CBR among faculty and community partners who are currently involved in service learning but not yet involved in CBR. We present our efforts as a model for other universities seeking to increase implementation of CBR.

The purpose of this paper is to describe a state-wide process used to determine which Teaching Works High Leverage Practices (Ball, 2016) pre-service teachers could be expected to implement at a proficient level by the completion of their preparation program (Initial HLPs), followed by two sets of high leverage practices novice teachers could master during their induction years (Induction and Expert HLPs) (Ball & Forzani, 2011; McLeskey & Brownell, 2015). Data were collected from a wide variety of stakeholders, including K-12 teachers, administrators, and educator preparation program faculty from across the state (N=203). Findings identified five High Leverage Practices that the majority of stakeholders indicated should be a priority for educator preparation programs in the state.

Alternative grading methods, such as standards-based grading, provide students multiple opportunities to demonstrate their understanding of the learning outcomes in a course. These grading methods allow for more flexibility and help promote a growth mindset by embracing constructive failure for students. Implementation of these alternative grading methods requires developing specific, transparent, and assessable standards. Moving away from traditional methods also requires a mindset shift for how both students and instructors approach assessment. While providing multiple opportunities is important for learning in any course, these methods are particularly relevant to an upper level mathematical statistics course where topics covered often provide an additional challenge for students as they lie at the intersection of both theory and application. By providing multiple opportunities, students have the space for constructive failure as they tackle learning both a conceptual understanding of statistics and the supporting mathematical theory. In this article we share our experiences--including both challenges and benefits for students and instructors--in implementing standards-based grading in the first semester of a mathematical statistics course (i.e., focus primarily on probability). Supplementary materials for this article are available online.

Knowledge exchange (KE) is increasingly important in higher education internationally, yet relatively little attention has been paid to it as a pedagogic opportunity for students. This paper draws on 26 interviews with stakeholders within and outside HE to develop a model of student-led knowledge exchange as a guide for learning through KE. The model includes the following elements: Preconditions, Prior Knowledge, Planning and Place, Pedagogic Context and Product, and offers an analysis of different forms of KE which occur between individuals in a learning triad consisting of student, facilitator and external participant. The research foregrounds a social view of learning where valid knowledge comes from diverse participants in the exchange, including students themselves. Students act as a catalyst for multi-directional KE -- a finding which challenges the implied hierarchies evident in much of the literature on this topic. The model is offered as a starting point for developing a pedagogy of KE in higher education.

Students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) who attend inclusive postsecondary education (IPSE) programs gain many new and beneficial skills, including independent living, social, and employability skills. Another skill set that may be strengthened by attending an IPSE program is self-determination. There is limited research available identifying the impact of IPSE programs on self-determination growth. We addressed this gap by using a longitudinal study designed to examine the changes in self-determination levels of students with IDD across 3 years in an IPSE program. Data collected from 23 students with IDD at 4 points of time within 3 years showed that there was an increasing trend in students' self-determination levels at the end of each year. The difference was highly significant between the baseline and the end of the third year. This suggests that IPSE programs can play a critical role in the improvement of the self-determination levels in students with IDD. Implications and future research are discussed.

This case study will describe the rapid transition our Office of Student Success and Advising and Office of Admissions made from March 11 to April 7, 2020 in shifting all academic advising and new student orientation (NSO) from in-person to remote efforts due to the 2019 coronavirus disease pandemic. The Office of Student Success and Advising provides academic advising to all undergraduate students out of a single unit on campus (separate from any academic school). We partner with the Office of Admissions as they funnel students to NSO, where advising and related offices offer a rich program that culminates in students enrolling for their first semester. Our hallmark is our personal touch, so one might have predicted that being suddenly forced to rely heavily on technology to deliver our services would have greatly hampered our effectiveness. However, we leveraged our positive relationships as colleagues, our diverse knowledge of different technologies related to admissions, advising, and teaching, and the support of campus leadership in surging additional staff to our efforts to create both remote NSO and remote advising innovations that honor our developmental, holistic approach to student learning. Having successfully launched and achieved stronger enrollment outcomes than expected, we are convinced that our caring and collaborative professional culture is actually enhanced by our new embrace of technology. In addition, the broader array of technical and human touchpoints provides increased opportunity for assessing student learning and satisfaction with our process. Our practice is nothing like we imagined it would be prior to this experience, but we have already agreed that we will continue to apply many of these approaches into the future.

The motivation for this exploratory qualitative study is to understand what a culture of belonging may look like across six engineering education making spaces in institutions of higher education in the U.S. The research question for this study was: "In what ways are the management, instructors, and staff operating engineering education making spaces influencing a culture of belonging (if any) for engineering students?" We examined the transcripts of semi-structured interviews of 49 faculty members and 29 members of management/staff of making spaces, using thematic coding. From the data, we identified four themes that described the culture of belonging being created in these six engineering making spaces: (a) a 'closed loop' culture for inclusion, diversity, equity, and access; (b) a 'transactional, dichotomous' culture; (c) a 'band-aid, masquerading' culture; (d) a potential 'boundary-crossing' culture. Our primary conclusion was that created cultures in engineering making spaces are extensions of normative cultures found in traditional engineering classrooms. Additionally, while making spaces were attempting to change this culture in their physical infrastructures, it was deemed that the space leadership needs to expand hiring strategies, the nature of making activities, the ambient/physical appearance of the space, disciplines, and required expertise, to create a truly inclusive and equitable culture of belonging.

Graduate students intending to pursue an academic career in the sciences have much to gain by learning to teach science but often have limited training opportunities. In response to this need, we designed a one-semester course, Learning Design in Science Education (LDSE), in which students receive formal training in pedagogical theory with role model demonstration of current best practices in active learning. Building from previous descriptions of similar courses, we added a practical experience for the students to utilize their new skills to design and teach a mini science course at the end of the semester. Additionally, students developed a teaching portfolio, complete with a personal teaching statement, syllabus, course materials, and evaluations from peers and faculty. Overall, the course was well received by the students and there are early indications that students benefited from their participation in the course. In this manuscript, we present the design and outcomes of the course, faculty and student perceptions, and thoughts on improvements for future semesters and its potential for use by others.

Increasing participation and success in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields continues to be a national imperative, with particular attention paid to eliminating barriers for women and underrepresented students of color. Some attention has been paid to the underrepresentation of students with disabilities in STEM fields, while few researchers have focused on the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) students in STEM. Literature about both students with disabilities and LGBTQ students suggest challenges and barriers that may prevent these groups from successfully persisting in STEM majors. This qualitative study examined the campus experiences of five queer students with disabilities in STEM fields at a predominantly white research university. Findings reveal that participants encountered male-centered, heteronormative STEM spaces, physical and social inaccessibility on campus, a lack of intersectional resources, and marginalization in and out of the classroom. We offer a holistic portrayal of students' higher education experiences and of their multiple identities, as students elaborated on their experiences and marginalization related not only to disability and LGBTQ identities, but also to gender, race, and ethnicity. The study offers one contribution to further exploration of the higher education experiences of students with multiple marginalized identities and presents ways that faculty and staff may seek to improve the classroom and overall campus environment for students.

Adults with intellectual and developmental disability (IDD) increasingly are accessing inclusive college programs to gain academic and employment preparation for future community living. Decision-making and self-determination are two inter-related skills taught in these programs. In this study, we investigated an intervention that combined remote audio coaching (RAC) and a mnemonic strategy to teach employment decision-making skills to three college students with IDD. We evaluated the intervention using the range-bound changing criterion design to assess students' stepwise progress. All students substantially increased their employment decision-making skills, generalized those skills to a novel job coach who was not part of the intervention, and maintained the skills after the intervention was removed. We discuss implications of the procedures and results of this decision-making intervention, as well as the goodness-of-fit of the experimental design for evaluating controlled, gradual skill increases.

Rural communities around the United States are facing a critical shortage of teachers due largely to challenges with recruitment and retention. Our vision for responding to this growing crisis is to consider how technology-rich early rural field experiences that emphasize "place-attentive" technology integration can build preservice teachers' interest in and commitment to teaching in rural spaces. More specifically, we propose that teacher educators consider how to provide preservice teachers opportunities for embedded rural field experiences where they build digital videos that document the assets of a community while reflecting on their preconceptions and misconceptions about a career as an educator in a rural community. This process of mapping a community's assets has preservice teachers complete a digital "Rural Community Walk" (RCW) video in which they identify, document, and reflect upon their experiences exploring rurality and teaching. If implemented with fidelity, these rural early field experiences that focus on place-attentive technology integration and the development of the digital RCWs could serve as mechanisms in teacher education that build the pathways needed to increase teacher recruitment and retention in rural communities.

Working from the premise that learning to live well in our places is quickly becoming a necessity of human survival, in this article we weave together divergent experiences of our shared place, the Wabanaki Confederacy or Eastern Canada, and literatures and literacies of that place. This article is methodologically framed using the concept of "métissage" as it has been taken up in Canadian curriculum studies as a form of intertextual life writing. Through our métissage, we are ultimately concerned with theorizing the idea of reading place--making sense of the ways in which settler colonialism has historically made, and continues to make, itself felt on Land. The idea of reading place, however, also demands that we actively engage in disrupting the normativity of settler colonial presence on Land--particularly as manifest through literature and literacy. Toward speaking back to the normativity of this settler colonial presence, the authors draw on divergent pedagogical and literary practices toward ensuring indigenous futurities.

College students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) face challenges searching for jobs, often lacking communication and social skills needed during formal interviews. The COVID-19 pandemic complicates interviews, forcing students to search online and attend virtual interviews. This study used a multiple probe design across participants to examine the acquisition of literacy-based behavioral interventions (LBBIs) on virtual job interviews. Using a video conference platform, students answered interview questions from researchers acting as employers. LBBIs were customized, incorporating students' input. Results indicated that LBBIs were effective for teaching and maintaining virtual job interview skills, and across novel employers. The findings have implications for using LBBIs to teach virtual job interview skills to students with IDD, and for researchers including these students in remote instruction.

This study reports the findings from a survey of 201 recent teacher education graduates from a university in the north-western United States of America regarding the factors that influenced their decision to take a teaching position in a rural or urban community following graduation. Results indicate that an in-depth rural practicum experience, being close to family, and the size of school influenced new graduates' decisions. Other factors such as school culture and administrative support were also found to be important to new graduates' decision making. The article will also share insights that can help to inform state and local educational agencies about strategies in attracting new graduates and in retaining new teachers in rural schools.

Context: Burnout is a common concern in the field of athletic training that may affect athletic training students. They may experience burnout because of stressors related to their clinical education responsibilities and course load. Various buffers have been suggested to reduce burnout in other health care settings; however, there is a limited body of research examining the effect of locus of control and optimism as buffers against burnout in athletic training populations. Objective: To investigate whether a perceived internal locus of control and/or optimism can provide a buffer against burnout in athletic training students. Design and Setting: A cross-sectional observational research design via Qualtrics survey. Patients or Other Participants: A total of 48 professional master's athletic training students enrolled in Commission on Accrediting Athletic Training Education-accredited programs. Data Collection and Analysis: Participants were sent a survey link that included demographic questions, the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory, Life Orientation Test--Revised, and the Rotter Internal/External Locus of Control Scale. Three multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine the relationships of personal burnout, work-related burnout, and client-related burnout with optimism and locus of control. A Pearson correlation was conducted on the significant findings to determine the strength of relationship among variables. Main Outcome Measure(s): Copenhagen Burnout Inventory, Life Orientation Test--Revised, Rotter Internal/External Locus of Control Scale. Results: Significant relationships were identified between optimism and personal burnout (t = -3.30, P = 0.002) and between optimism and work-related burnout. (t = -2.48, P = 0.02). No significant relationships were identified between locus of control and any of the burnout-related variables (P > 0.05). Conclusion: Optimism could be an effective buffer against student burnout in professional master's athletic training programs. Athletic training programs should implement various strategies to promote student optimism including proper social support strategies, time management, and stress management to help reduce the onset of burnout in students.

Engaging undergraduate students in community-based research (CBR) offers rich benefits to both students and communities (Strand, Marullo, Cutforth, Stoeker, & Donahue, 2006). Finding ways to expand its application promises to multiply those benefits. Senior capstone courses represent a promising vehicle for that expansion, as they are also generally research based and extremely common in contemporary higher education (Hauhart & Grahe, 2015). However, CBR and capstones each have multiple goals and present significant challenges, raising questions about the feasibility of merging practices. This research presents a case study of a capstone sociology course organized around group-based CBR projects. The case demonstrates that CBR-focused capstones, if intentionally designed, are feasible. Assessments by students and community partners provide evidence that the course also achieved the goals of capstones and of CBR. Discussion addresses steps taken since the initial case study to sustain and institutionalize the practice, including measures to assist instructors.

Students frequently utilize digital devices and applications to assist studying. Past research has yielded mixed results on their effectiveness, and scant research has compared portable technologies with each other or focused on smartphones specifically. We compared college students' learning of vocabulary on paper, laptop, and smartphone. Students were randomly assigned to one platform for reviewing vocabulary flashcards, and then they completed a memory quiz and answered questions regarding perceptions of these technologies. Results showed equivalency in students' learning across platforms, with the only exception being that students spent longer reviewing paper flashcards. Self-reported cognitive load and satisfaction were equal across platforms. Quantitative and qualitative data also suggested that, though students quickly label both laptops and smartphones as helpful for education, they see more educational value in laptops. This research suggests that smartphones present new ways of learning, but care must be taken with how smartphones are utilized in educational settings.

Academic undermatching--students enrolling in colleges that are less academically selective than those for which they qualify--is a barrier hindering college degree attainment. Given the many reasons students undermatch, this phenomenon is likely to continue; yet, we know little about the characteristics that may be related to degree attainment for this population of students. Utilizing the ELS: 2002 national dataset, we developed an operationalization of undermatch and then applied this operationalization to the BPS: 04/09 national dataset (N = 11,260). Using logistic regression methods, we identified institutional and student characteristics that are associated with degree attainment for undermatched students. Starting at a 4-year institution, completing at least precalculus, having at least one parent with a college education, being female, and being socially and academically integrated into the institution were positively associated with degree attainment. Our results emphasize the critical influence of nonacademic factors on degree attainment for undermatched students.

Universities around the world seek to internationalise students to prepare them for an increasingly globalised world. Outbound mobility experiences (OMEs) are recognised as one of the most effective ways to foster independent thinking, cultural sensitivity, and a sense of "worldmindedness". This article takes a case study from an Australian university and explores efforts to increase student participation rates in OMEs. Through a mixed-method study of three student cohorts (n = 223), important data was gathered relating to how OMEs are perceived by undergraduate and post-graduate students. The results are filtered through thematic discourse analysis and suggest that the university needs to do more to build awareness, explain the professional and employability benefits, and create a travel culture where students are encouraged to grow their international skills and communication competencies. This research has important implications for universities seeking to increase international student mobility and prioritise a global outlook.

This study is the first of its kind to analyze and compare demand-driven acquisition (DDA) ebook programs on a large scale by using eight academic libraries. The purpose is to understand which factors contribute to successful collection management practices and sustainability. Study findings also offer insight into weeding practices and suggest that ebooks removed from the discovery pool too soon may impact service to library users. Furthermore, findings based on formula analysis show that return on investment (ROI) for serviceable content is better achieved through a sustained straight DDA model without short-term loans.

Digital and print readings differ in their affordances. Past research supports a print advantage, but few studies have used within-subjects approaches or compared handheld devices and multiple reading genres. We compared college students' reading of several excerpts on paper, a laptop, and an e-reader. Students read on all platforms, completed comprehension tasks, and answered questions on their perceptions and preferences. Results indicated that students' learning experience with print was superior, with the laptop a close second. In contrast, students' learning from and perceptions of the e-reader were lower. There was no interaction with reading genre. This research suggests that students' preference for print remains strong. When digital materials are used, e-readers appear to be a less viable option for academics relative to laptops.

Many adults with intellectual disability (ID) do not learn the skills needed to maintain safety of people within their communities. In a pair of studies, a total task presentation with a least-to-most error correction procedure was used to teach four college students with ID how to safely remove personal protective equipment (PPE) (gloves), and how to administer hands-only cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). A multiple probe design was used to evaluate the effects of both studies. Results for the first study showed that students' accuracy with PPE removal increased after the intervention, and maintained after the intervention was removed. During the second study, student accuracy of hands-only CPR increased, and the CPR skills also generalized to a novel setting. Social validity data for both studies indicated that students believed they learned and were able to demonstrate the skills, however staff impressions were more variable. Implications and limitations are discussed.

A representative sample of Mississippi residents were asked about their knowledge and perceptions of the Mississippi State University (MSU) Extension Service through an online questionnaire. About half of the respondents were aware of MSU Extension, but fewer than one fifth had used MSU Extension resources. Respondents who were aware of MSU Extension had generally positive perceptions of MSU Extension's characteristics and believed those characteristics to be important. Like previous empirical and anecdotal evidence, these results support continued characterization of Extension as a "best-kept secret." There is a clear need to improve awareness of Extension and the resources it makes available to the public.

The present study aimed to identify student (16-18 years) attitudes towards the subject of music in second-level education in the Republic of Ireland. The study, framed by an interpretivist approach, employed qualitative data collection methods through interviews and focus groups. Findings indicate that student attitudes to music were influenced by the following factors: their innate interest in the subject, which was strengthened by an existing musical skill or talent, and the perceived use of the subject as a pathway for entry to further/higher education or for a student's professional career. The findings also suggested that the music curriculum and the teaching style of the music teacher impacted student attitudes as did the appeal of the practical element of the subject, particularly with regard to the practical assessment component. Some interpretations of these findings are explored.

The American Sociological Association has produced a wide range of reports and materials addressing curricular best practices. Collectively, those materials are an invaluable resource for guiding revisions of the sociology major, but they do not address processes for implementing such revisions. In this conversation piece, we describe the steps by which our department implemented a thorough curricular redesign--a process nearing completion after five years of formal discussions, and with roots reaching back even farther. We organize our discussion around three areas of effort that comprised our process: charting a course, bringing colleagues along, and institutionalizing outcomes. We highlight important milestones, challenges, and successes that we encountered along the way and provide recommendations based on our experiences for colleagues in other departments interested in undertaking their own redesign.

The present study describes student learning and personal outcomes associated with learning research methods in introductory psychology, via one of two semester-long projects: one involving performing naturalistic observation of the behavior of community members, and the other involving performing a 60-minute interview of local veterans regarding a psychological concept (incorporating features of service-learning). Both projects taught the same basic research concepts. Among students completing the observational project (n = 38), strong Time 1 scores on a research methods quiz declined slightly by Time 2 assessment; interest in aggregating and interpreting data declined; and personal attitudes about community service did not change over the course of the semester. Among students completing the service-learning project (n = 41), quiz scores and interest in research did not change, and attitudes about community service changed in some ways over time (depending on student age). It is concluded that encouraging original scholarly inquiry among introductory-level students can have various academic and personal benefits to students, but that service-learning elements in such projects may increase their attractiveness to students. Limitations and recommendations for future research are discussed.

This study employed a survey in examining the important influences that shape a student's selection of a major in the College of Business (COB). In particular, it compared these influences, by major, to assess which items were most (and least) important to the students majoring in accounting, general business, finance, management, marketing, and MIS. The influences, totaling 37, included internal influences (e.g., interest in the field), external influences (e.g., projected salary), and interpersonal influences (influence of significant others). Some of the findings were consistent with those of prior studies. For example, interesting work was highly important for all business majors, and specific interpersonal influences such as parents, high school teachers, and peers were relatively unimportant. The findings presented herein suggest that the overall impact of interpersonal influence may have been underestimated in previous studies. Unlike many previous studies, this study showed that job availability and job security were more important to students than interest in the field. This study augments the extant literature in that the survey was conducted right after the 2009 recession, which allowed an analysis of student decision making during a period of high unemployment and lingering economic uncertainty. Implications and suggestions for further research are discussed.

This project sought to investigate the learning that comes about from the intersection of outbound mobility experience programs (OMEs) with service learning in pre-service teacher education settings. The aim of the program of international service learning in the case study was to encourage pre-service teachers to rethink potentially ethnocentric assumptions. The guiding research question was, "What outcomes ensue from the combination of OMEs and service learning for pre-service teachers?" The focus of the paper was on OMEs that took place in China and Malaysia. Findings included that the combined program aided development of global mindedness, learning by being there, teacher experience in a new context and the development of a professional identity in the participating students.

This article explores doctoral student satisfaction as related to interest in the professoriate and as influenced by issues of social justice, according to a national student survey. Results indicate that 85% of respondents were satisfied or very satisfied with their doctoral education. Most satisfying aspects were individualization or independence, collegiality or collaboration, praxis or translation, and reaching or achieving milestones. Least satisfying aspects were educational environments or climates, course quality, mentorship quality, and finances. Eighty percent reported that satisfaction was "explained by social justice training opportunities and a sense of a socially just institution." At research-intensive universities, satisfaction predicted interest in the professoriate. Understanding student satisfaction may improve doctoral education and the faculty pipeline.

Burgeoning student debt and the ability of programs to adequately prepare students for jobs that will allow them to repay that debt comprise a topic of great interest in the current higher education policy environment. A key accountability measure used by the Department of Education for more than two decades has been the student loan cohort default rate (CDR), which measures the percentage of an institution's student borrowers who default on their federal student loans. Mohave Community College (MCC) had the sixth highest CDR for two-year public institutions for the FY2009 cohort at 36.7%. At risk of losing all federal financial aid eligibility, the institution underwent an impressive transformation in just 3 years, during which time MCC decreased the CDR by 8 percentage points through a combination of challenges and appeals, outreach, financial literacy, and student success efforts. MCC was able to achieve successful transformation through a top-down leadership strategy that included open communication and empowerment.

Classroom assistants and one-to-one assistants are an important part of the staffing structure of many autism support classrooms. Limited studies, however, have examined how one-to-one assistants spend their time in the classroom. The purpose of this article was to examine the percentage of time one-to-one assistants were engaged in instruction or support of students with autism and to determine the factors associated with their engagement. Direct observations were conducted in 46 autism support classrooms. Teachers and classroom assistants were engaged in instruction or support 98% and 91% of the time, respectively. One-to-one assistants were engaged in instruction or support 57% of the time. Classroom assistants' and one-to-one assistants' engagement was significantly correlated. The low rate of one-to-one assistants' engagement suggests an inefficient use of an important resource.

Patron-Driven Acquisitions (PDA) is a new model used for e-book acquisition by academic libraries. A key component of this model is to make records of ebooks available in a library catalog and let actual patron usage decide whether or not an item is purchased. However, there has been a lack of research examining the role of the library catalog as a tool for e-book discovery and use in PDA. This paper presents a case study of using PDA for e-book acquisition in an academic library, with a focus on the role of the library catalog in this purchasing model. The implications and challenges are also discussed.

Technology training in the classroom is critical in preparing students for upper level classes as well as professional careers, especially in fields such as technology. One of the key enablers to this process is computer self-efficacy (CSE), which has an extensive stream of empirical research. Despite this, one of the missing pieces is how CSE actually changes during training, and how such change is related to antecedents and performance outcomes. Measuring change requires repeated data gathering and the use of latent growth modeling, a relatively new statistical technique. This study examines CSE (specifically general CSE or GCSE) growth over time during training, and how this growth is influenced by anxiety and gender and influences performance, using a semester-long lab course covering three applications. The use of GCSE growth more accurately models how students actually learn in a technology classroom. It provides novel clarity in the interaction of gender, anxiety, GCSE, specific CSEs, and performance during training. The study finds that the relationship between anxiety and self-efficacy decreases over time during training, becoming non-significant; it clarifies the significant role gender plays in influencing GCSE at the start of and during training. It finds GCSE influences application performance only through specific CSEs.

Since the 1980s, scholars and others have been engaged in a lively debate about the virtues and dangers of mingling commerce with university science. In this paper, we contend that the commercialization of academic science, and higher education more broadly, are best understood as pieces of a larger story. We use two cases of institutional change at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to shed light on the implications of neoliberalism for public research universities in the United States. We conclude that instead of neoliberalization being a timely strategy for the specific fiscal and other problems facing public universities today, it has become an omnibus solution available to be employed when any opportunity arises and, in fact, helps to define the "problems" of the university in the first place.

The purpose of this study was to explore how connections between families, communities and educators can be facilitated in teacher education courses through the use of playgroups. Barriers to building relationships, as well as the perceived benefits of these relationships to families and pre-service teachers, were also explored. Participants were involved in weekly university-based community playgroups. Focus group interviews were conducted and the constant comparative method was used to analyse interview transcripts. Themes of "Constraints" and "Enablers" emerged from pre-service teachers' transcripts, indicating that they were initially uncomfortable with community and family involvement but eventually made connections as to why this was important. The theme of "positive relationship building" emerged from parents' transcripts, indicating that they saw building relationships with families and communities as an important role of early childhood educators. Implications for the importance of authentic learning situations for fostering these relationships in teacher education courses are discussed.

Online learning critically relies upon good communication between engaged parties in order to convey ideas, meanings, and values. Emerging technologies in collaborative virtual environments are providing new affordances in establishing greater online presence and, in turn, greater abilities to communicate and learn. This study examines how learners perceive, follow, and recall information presented in discussions in both a 2D and a 3D collaborative environment, "Elluminate" (now known as "Blackboard Collaborate") and "Second Life" respectively. This exploratory study shows that learners observing discussions in "Second Life" have a tendency to better organise ideas, better identify who said what, and better recall what information was said throughout the discussion, than with similar discussions in "Elluminate." On average, participants in this small scale study were able to follow and recall conversations in "Second Life" 10-13% better than the discussions in "Elluminate". While findings produced positive trends towards "Second Life," additional testing is required as the scale (n = 42) was small and the frequencies of statistical results in excess of 0.05 were limited. Still, collectively they do point towards valuable insights for online educators in how they choose to deliver content, conduct synchronous class discussions, and communicate with their students. (Contains 5 tables and 1 figure.)

Today virtual world instruction faces many of the same educational challenges faced by Web-based instruction during its infancy. There is a lot of jargon and visions of the future being bandied about, but as Hirumi et al. note in the May/June and July/August 2010 issues of "TechTrends" "there little understanding of how to apply" pedagogical practices in video game settings. i-MMOLE is a research-based instructional design framework created specifically for designing instruction that incorporates virtual world environments. To date, i-MMOLE has been utilized by university students in the creation of more than 300 lesson plans across multiple disciplines and age groups. This article describes the underlying foundation of this framework and how to utilize i-MMOLE in the creation of one's own virtual world based instruction.

Given the diminishing number of Management Information Systems (MIS) majors, an understanding of the factors which influence student choice of major is crucial. It has been noted in many previous studies that interest in a major and career significantly influences the student's choice of college major; indeed, in most studies, it is the strongest influence. Yet extant studies treat interest as a one-dimensional construct; in fact, interest is multi-dimensional, that is, it is comprised of many factors. This study examines the construct of interest and in particular the factors which contribute to vocational interest among business college majors. Using a sample of 452, it compares and contrasts the significant influences on vocational interest among two groups: MIS majors and non-MIS business majors. Findings indicate both similarities and differences between the two groups, leading to constructive recommendations for increasing interest in MIS with the intention of increasing the number of majors. (Contains 4 tables and 1 figure.)

Declining enrollment in MIS Departments in Colleges of Business has been the norm for many if not most universities since the dot.com bust of 2000. This has serious repercussions for the departments involved, students, and the companies that hire MIS graduates. In order to reverse this trend, an understanding of the important factors which influence students to choose a major is critical. Of crucial importance for MIS Departments is understanding the competition: the majors students choose "instead" of MIS. This study examines the influences of what is probably an MIS Department's greatest competitor: other majors within the College of Business. What factors and influences propel students to major in a business discipline other than MIS? Using the Theory of Reasoned Action as a framework, this study examines the similarities and differences between two groups of business majors: MIS majors and non-MIS majors. Using a survey of 413 undergraduate business majors, this study examines the influences which shape attitudes toward choice of major and a student's intention to work in his or her major field. Using structured equation modeling, the findings suggest some common influences across all majors (interest in the field, job availability, and job security), and many differences between the two groups (aptitude, social and personal image, workload of major, and influence of family, friends, other students, and professors). These similarities and differences suggest several ways to approach undecided students with the hope of gaining additional MIS majors. This also applies to students who may consider switching majors. The results of the study provide faculty with the information needed to better counsel and advise students, enhancing a fit between student and career, while simultaneously increasing technology majors. (Contains 4 tables and 2 figures.)

Creating an integrative research framework that extends a model frequently used in the Information Systems field, the Technology Acceptance Model, together with variables used in the Education field, this empirical study investigates the factors influencing student performance as reflected by their final course grade. The Technology Acceptance Model explains computer acceptance in general terms. The model measures the impact of external variables on internal beliefs, attitudes, and intentions. Perceived Usefulness and Perceived Ease of Use, two main constructs in the model, refer to an individual's perception of how the adoption of a new technology will increase their efficiency, and the individual's perception of how easy the technology will be to use. The lower the perceived effort is, the easier the technology will be to adopt. Thus, Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use, Computer Self-Efficacy, and Computer Anxiety were measured to determine their effect on student performance. The proliferation of the personal computer was possible because of the applications written for it. The continuous creation of new applications has created ample ground to test the Technology Acceptance Model to determine how a user will decide to adopt such applications. The recent escalation of delivering online education via the Internet has again sparked a new dimension of information systems. This has given rise to research using the Technology Acceptance Model for applications in the Education field. Today's modern classroom, whether online or campus-based, uses e-learning tools and Learning Management Systems that capture student cognition and engages them in the learning process via technology, while increasing their need for self-directedness. In view of this, the present study also considers the students' ability to work independently. The results of the statistical analysis used in this study revealed marked differences in student perceptions of e-learning tools between students who chose to take an online course and students who preferred to take the campus-based section. Additionally, Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use, and the students' ability to work independently were all statistically significant factors in predicting students' final grades. (Contains 8 tables.)

Context: Over a decade ago, leaders in rural medical education established the Rural Medical Educators (RME) Group, an interest group within the National Rural Health Association, to support faculty in rural medical education programs. This group has convened an annual RME conclave since 2006. In 2008, this conclave convened 15 national leaders in rural medical education at The University of Alabama. Methods: In preparation for the conclave, potential participants were e-mailed a set of questions regarding their respective medical education program's initiating motivation, support, resistance, resources, accomplishments, and continuation plans. Analysis of participants' responses resulted in a question guide that was used at a focus group conducted at the conclave. Purpose: The purpose of the focus group was to explore the experiences of established rural medical educators related to program development and maintenance. The focus group was recorded and transcribed, and then analyzed using the constant comparative method. Findings: Five essential elements for rural medical education programs emerged from the analysis. The elements were: admit the right student, include curricular elements that occur and are required in rural training sites, establish a cadre of rural physicians who are dedicated to education of their successors, secure financial and relational support for the program, and evaluate program progress. Discussion and Conclusions: Discussion about these 5 elements can provide program guidance to neophyte rural medical education programs. Five recommendations are presented in an effort to continue discussion about the essential elements and identify actions that rural medical educators can take to further assist developing programs.

Continuing education divisions in community colleges tend to be among the most entrepreneurial and innovative programs in higher education. This chapter presents data from a national survey of continuing education programs and suggests that shifting economic and institutional factors influence the manner in which community colleges offer those programs.

This article describes curricular accommodations in the foreign language for college students with language learning disabilities. Elements of a model program are discussed, including advising, instruction, and efficacy research. The implementation of these components is described with particular reference to modified programs in Italian, Spanish, and Latin. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)