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This paper reports on a qualitative and quantitative study in which the service learning projects of college students in special education teacher training were analyzed using elements of quality service learning as criteria. The study used the "portraiture" method of analysis, which attempts to combine empirical and aesthetic description and allow for convergence of narrative and analysis. Qualitative analysis of each student's service learning project resulted in classification as based on either the "deficit" model, the "empowerment" model, or the "reciprocal empowerment" model. This analysis examined whether the project provided quality service only (deficit model), provided quality service and involved collaboration (empowerment model), or provided quality service, involved collaboration, and represented all stakeholders' voices (reciprocal empowerment model). Results over the 4 years of the study showed a significant decrease in the percentage of projects classified as utilizing the deficit model and a significant increase in projects classified as "reciprocal empowerment". The paper supports the value of reconceptualizing and deliberately structuring the service learning environment to provide opportunities for all students to become contributors, problem solvers, and partners in improving communities. (Contains 10 references.) (DB)

This paper reports on overall accomplishments in meeting goals for technology infusion at California Lutheran University's School of Education, using evaluation data collected over 3 years. Data came from surveys completed by administrators, faculty, and students about their experiences using technology at baseline (1997) and over the next 3 years. Results indicated that students used e-mail often, and this use increased dramatically over the study period. Word processing as a tool also increased over time. The use of database applications, spreadsheets, and word processing slowly increased as a course requirement over time. Students' beliefs that more technology was needed in the School of Education declined over time, as did their beliefs that the use of video recorders and videotapes helped in understanding course material and that distance learning enhanced the learning experience. The overall analysis indicated that the use of technology was being integrated at a rate that was comfortable for most students, and that students were less likely to feel that more technology was needed in teaching and learning in the School of Education. (Contains 16 figures and 35 references.) (SM)

This article describes Web-based portfolio systems, examining what is known about implementing Web-based student portfolios. The first two sections address the culture and ideologies needed for successful implementation, discussing faculty role in the portfolio process and broadening the definition from a portfolio of student artifacts to a collaborative Web-based portfolio system. The third section describes the enhanced communications embedded in a Web-based portfolio system. The final section provides a checklist of 12 critical success factors needed to successfully implement the Webfolio system at the program and individual course level. The 12 critical factors are in the areas of information services cooperation; administrative support; technology infrastructure; portfolio culture; student learning centered culture; implementing force and project champions; implementation milestones; training and help resources; faculty members who believe Webfolios will make a difference in the quality of education and understand their role in it; standards of competency-based curriculum; integrated curriculum developed by teams of faculty; and supervisors and mentors who use the Webfolio to provide feedback. (Contains 14 references.) (SM)

The premise of "Judicious Discipline" states that for students to become responsible citizens they must be given responsibility. Its operating theory is that building a school culture through a non-punitive, democratic approach to classroom management and school discipline produces students who are responsible for their own actions and who consciously strive to do good for society's sake. It claims that students in schools and classrooms where "Judicious Discipline" is practiced establish and maintain better interpersonal relationships than students and educators in schools where the rewards and punishment or stimulus/response theory is practiced. It asserts that in schools/classrooms where the principles of "Judicious Discipline" are applied, educators contribute favorably to students' social development, their sense of autonomy, and help to prepare them better for living and learning in a democratic society. This paper describes and discusses an action research project that was approved by Gustavus Adolphus College (Minnesota) and employed both quantitative and qualitative measures to test the theoretical outcomes of implementing "Judicious Discipline." The findings indicate that "Judicious Discipline" provided students, educators, administrators, and staff with a common language of civility used to solve social problems and think about what was right and good. (Contains 18 references and 10 tables.) (BT)

A Media Studies program enhances the goals of formal schooling by providing every student with knowledge and skills to wisely select, access and use the communications and information tools they will need to be responsible citizens in a free society. All students deserve a good media education. This paper provides a model to address this need through the successful implementation of a Media Studies program with students who are identified as "at-risk" and who need a special education. This study employed a non-equivalent control group design, identifying one treatment group, and one control group within the same high school. Students enrolled in a "Reconnecting Youth" special program and were taught 15 formal lessons in media literacy. The control group was composed of six males, and the treatment group was composed of five males and one female. The six students in the treatment group were all selected for the "Reconnecting Youth" special class because they wished to make changes in their drug and alcohol use, school attendance, or mood management. The control group students, considered to be mainstream students, were randomly selected from the "Reconnecting Youth" teacher's other classes. The study's findings provide empirical evidence that students benefited from these formal lessons in media literacy. It can be argued that the media literacy lessons helped the treatment group to better comprehend television advertisements and text advertisements. (Contains 33 references and 4 tables.) (AEF)

This paper describes a philosophy and framework for classroom management and school discipline which represents a citizenship approach, based on the Bill of Rights, that teaches students about their rights and responsibilities for living and learning in a democratic society. The Judicious Discipline framework outlined in the paper could work well with most character-building curricula marketed by commercial publishers. The paper provides a brief summary of Judicious Discipline in action; discusses developing character through democratic culture; and describes and reports on an action research project implemented at an elementary school in Mankato, Minnesota which has been using Judicious Discipline for 5 years. Contains a table and 32 references. (BT)

California Lutheran University's (CLU's) School of Education created Project MAGNETIC CONNECTIONS to strengthen links between teacher preparation programs and K-12 schools through real-time connections and shared learning opportunities between partners. Three technology-rich schools became laboratories for learning for CLU students and faculty, connected via distance learning capabilities to CLU students on other campuses. All students developed Web-based electronic portfolios that documented their progress through preservice education. They were taught and mentored by highly trained teacher educators and visiting scholars. The project included conferences and workshops to redesign the teacher preparation curriculum to infuse technology into teaching and learning. It used a participatory evaluation design. Higher education faculty, preservice teachers, and K-12 teachers were evaluated. Evaluation included document analysis of course syllabi, portfolio contents, and training materials; pre-post technology use surveys of faculty and student teachers; focus groups with faculty and preservice teachers; and analysis of online transcripts. Results indicated that progress was achieved in five areas: developing and maintaining K-12 partnerships; implementing a Web-based electronic portfolio system; providing professional development for teacher educators; implementing the use of distance learning technologies; and revising the teacher preparation curriculum to infuse technology. (Contains 20 references.) (SM)

This paper discusses current developments in neuroscience and cognitive psychology that have significance for education and learning, and considers the effects of violent and emotion-laden media messages. Topics include: (1) the developing brain, including the roles of genetics, experience, metaphorical imagination, and culture; (2) the links among emotion, cognition, and body; (3) brain plasticity and the effect of culture; (4) the importance of a healthy school culture; (5) learning as a biological process; (6) the genetic cycle of learning; (7) the importance of serotonin for learning and memory; (8) the importance of time in learning; (9) the importance of homeostasis; (10) endorphins and addiction to media messages, including desensitization; (11) the importance of context and a healthy school culture; (12) a role for school and classroom management; and (13) a role for education and legislation. Together, education and legislation must work to foster maximum potential for the media and their messages, and, at the same time, minimize their adverse affects on the individual and society. (Contains 39 references.) (MES)

This paper presents a composite of four separate research studies conducted to assess the impact of constitutional language on classroom environments. The studies were designed to examine the uses of "Judicious Discipline" in a variety of classrooms and how the use of a common language based on rights and responsibilities affected the behavior of students. The studies covered a variety of locations including New York, Minnesota, and Oregon. The studies reveal the need for educators to take the time to teach students about their individual rights as well as their social responsibilities. Students who have had the opportunity to learn about their societal expectations as they are balanced against personal freedoms, are more likely to attain a level of autonomous social development. Teachers are less likely to feel frustrated about student behavioral problems and more likely to experience reduced levels of work-related stress. The studies also indicate that when teachers provide students with a common language of civility, there is a common ground for discussion, mediation, and reconciliation of many social problems that typically develop in the classroom. The data from the studies indicate that students who are taught to engage in civil discourse tend to use it to resolve conflicts peacefully, rather than resort to verbal or physical assaults. Evidence in the studies suggest this approach to classroom management is also effective in special needs classrooms. (EH)

Students need democratic models operating in their daily lives and opportunities to exercise their democratic rights and responsibilities. From 1995-1997 an action research project studied the effect "Judicious Discipline," a democratic citizenship model for school and classroom management, had on students, educators, and parents. "Judicious Discipline" is the only model for school/classroom management that is based on principles of democracy and operates at the principled level of moral development. Students and educators in two southwest Minnesota schools, an elementary school with 425 students, and a middle school with 300 students participated in the project. Quantitative data were collected through a questionnaire administered to all students in both schools at three separate times throughout the 1995-96 school year. Instruction was by the school principal, counselors, and other resource staff. The importance of conducting democratic class meetings emerged from the action research project findings. A different questionnaire was used to determine stages of social development at which students in various home rooms operated. Two teachers in the middle school conducted democratic class meetings and 10 teachers did not. A comparison of survey results indicated that the two teachers who conducted democratic class meetings generated a class climate that was more aligned with autonomous social development than did the 10 teachers with no meetings. Democratic class meetings have certain key elements that the model calls for, such as determining who can call a meeting, setting ground rules, having the teacher lead the meetings, writing down goals, and not coercing student participation. (Contains 3 tables and 15 references.) (BT)

This study examined the effects of including a technology literacy component in first-year students' programs at a liberal arts college. The program was designed to systematically help students use and critically evaluate the technology and what it can do to enhance the living and learning environment. The study employed a non-equivalent control group design, identifying one treatment group and two control groups from intact classes of first-year students. The treatment consisted of 10 hours of instruction in digital systems and applications. The technology literacy component was taught in a computer lab and was volitional on the part of the student. Topics addressed were: e-mail; word processing (at three levels); World Wide Web; computer basics; Web publishing (at two levels); using Excel; and digitizing graphics. Questionnaires were administered at the beginning and end of the semester to all students. Pre-questionnaire scores indicated few differences between the mean scores for each group. Post-questionnaires revealed consistent differences, with the students in the treatment group having the highest mean scores for reported skills and perceptions. Results indicate the benefits of having a technology literacy component in students' first year of college. (AEF)