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The present study examined the impact of professional development training on Canadian and Kenyan teachers' confidence, comfort, and perceptions of their abilities to teach early literacy skills in the primary or elementary grades. Data were collected prior to and following training on how to integrate early literacy software as part of ongoing in-class instruction. Domain and technology constructs consistent with Mishra and Koehler's (2006) technology integration model were assessed, as were perceptions related to delivery pacing. Overall, outcomes reflected more similarities than differences across the two groups of teachers. Limitations in foundational knowledge regarding concepts specific to early literacy were evident in both groups, despite higher levels of perceived confidence in Kenyan teachers compared to Canadian teachers in some content areas. Perceived comfort using technology and teaching with technology were highly correlated, with no differences observed across teacher groups. Pacing was perceived to be faster for Kenyan teachers compared to Canadian teachers. Implications for professional development in this domain are discussed.

The present study compared the learning and experiences of Kenyan teachers randomly assigned to either an online or a blended 12-week intensive teacher professional development program (TPD). The TPD addressed the fundamentals of early literacy development as well as how to use early literacy software to support students learning. TPD outcomes were assessed through surveys, course performance and discussion elements. Teachers demonstrated pre- to post-test gains in domain knowledge, lesson plan construction and comfort teaching early literacy skills. Few differences were observed between the online versus blended formats. However, teachers endorsed a blended instructional format over online-only or in-person formats. Challenges regarding resources and infrastructure were identified as barriers to technology integration within the classroom. Some cultural challenges were identified as potential barriers for young learners using software developed in Western countries. Overall, both online and blended formats appear to be effective TPD delivery systems for Kenyan teachers, however, findings highlighted challenges that need to be addressed to optimize learning when using technology. Future research recommendations include broadening the teacher sample to assess potential differences due to regionalism, associated differences in access to resources, and further examination of teaching experience on learning in the two types of online formats.

Learning gains associated with multiple-choice testing formats that provide immediate feedback (e.g., IFAT®) are often greater than those for typical single-choice delayed feedback formats (e.g. Scantron®). Immediate feedback formats also typically permit part marks unlike delayed feedback formats. The present study contrasted IFAT® with a new delayed feedback format, Personal Point Allocation (PPA), designed to encourage students to carefully evaluate test questions prior to assigning mark weightings for each question (whole, or partial marks). Organic chemistry students (N = 299) used IFAT® and PPA for 2 term tests followed by IFAT® for the final exam. Student responses were examined in terms of movement from correct and incorrect answers on the term tests to correct and incorrect answers on identical questions on the final exam. Of all response types (correct [right arrow] correct, correct [right arrow] incorrect, incorrect [right arrow] correct, incorrect [right arrow] incorrect), approximately half reflected correct answers on the term test to correct answers on the final exam (correct [right arrow] correct). Shifts from incorrect to correct answers exceeded shifts from correct answers to incorrect answers. The pattern of outcomes, i.e., the relative numbers of each response type, did not differ between PPA and IFAT®. Discussion considers the relative merits of IFAT® and PPA.

Terms such as 'compulsion' and 'addiction' are often used when describing young adults' response behaviors regarding texts and messages. Purpose of the Research: The present study documents response patterns for texts and messages in a higher education classroom context. Both the number of texts and messages responded to and the time taken between receipt and response were examined. These measures, as well as perceptions about multitasking and learning, were examined with respect to performance for lecture content. Students were assigned to either a texting or social media message condition. Within each of these conditions, students were either instructed to respond to texts/messages immediately or at their own discretion. Principal Results: Consistent with characterizations of habits/compulsions, the majority of participants in all conditions responded to most of the individual texts/messages. In no condition did all participants respond to all of the texts/messages. Students in the discretionary texting condition took longer to reply to texts/messages than those in the immediate social media condition for the vast majority of texts/messages received. Higher performance scores were found for test items not associated with the arrival of texts/messages. Students acknowledged some potential for multitasking to impact learning, however, these perceptions were not related to the volume or timing of text/message responses. Major Conclusions: This study identifies that students responding to texts/messages in the educational context is more complex than a simple habitual behaviour and that the pervasiveness may make the behavior a challenge even in live lecture contexts.

The present study examines experiences of mentor teachers and their teacher colleagues following three days of professional development training for early literacy instruction and a literacy software program (ABRA). Four Kenyan teacher-mentors were interviewed and 34 teachers were surveyed. Training included program specific and curriculum integration content. Thematic analysis of interviews yielded six themes, which identified perceived barriers and facilitators to adoption and integration of ABRA in the Kenyan elementary school context. Consistent with integration models, barriers involved infrastructure and access to technology, and challenges integrating the pedagogy of the software within the constraints of the existing curriculum. These challenges placed extra burdens on the 'ambassador' role, a key strategic initiative, which may require alternative support for program continuance, adoption, and fostering teachers' professional development. Ambassadors and teachers agreed on the majority of challenges identified. Recommendations were noted to address cultural norms to enhance accessibility of the software.

Work and negotiation experiences were examined among early adolescents (12-15 years) through a survey (N = 157) and follow-up interview (N = 89) conducted in two Canadian cities. Key findings, based on a mixed-method research approach, were (a) gifts were the primary income source; (b) females completed more chores than males, and younger adolescents received payment for chores more than older adolescents; (c) discussion of negotiation rarely occurred between participants and parents or peers; (d) neither age nor gender impacted absence of negotiation; (e) those who had negotiated for more money reported satisfaction; (f) gender differences in negotiation strategies were present; and (g) age differences in beliefs about negotiator qualities were found. Consistencies and changes from extant literature were discussed.

This study provided workshops for parents on either early literacy or socio-emotional learning to examine the impact on their children's reading and social skills development (n = 576 parents; n = 584 children). Parents of kindergartners were offered interactive workshops designed to help them identify everyday opportunities to support reading skills or social skills development. Families were randomly assigned by school to workshops on one of three topics: (1) traditional text reading, (2) traditional text reading with computer-assisted learning opportunities, and (3) social-emotional learning. As expected, academic performance improved over time across all conditions. Additional gains were detected on specific language and literacy measures among children in both reading conditions whose parents attended the workshops in comparison to children of parents who did not attend. Gains were observed on academic measures for children in the socio-emotional condition relative to children in the reading conditions. Findings suggest that parental involvement in instructional workshops on early literacy and social development may have significant effects for children's academic success. This study provides evidence for the potential of involving parents in their children's educational interventions as a valuable addition to or alternative to traditional child-directed intervention programs to increase positive outcomes, reduce costs, and enhance parental efficacy.

Multiple-choice testing with dichotomous scoring is one of the most common assessment methods utilized in undergraduate education. Determining students' perceptions toward different types of multiple-choice testing formats is important for effective assessment. The present study compared two alternative multiple-choice testing formats used in a second-year required chemistry course: (i) Immediate Feedback Assessment Technique (IFAT[R]) and (it) Personal Point Allocation (PPA). Both testing methods allow for partial credit, but only the IFAT[R] provides immediate feedback on students' responses. Both survey and interview data indicated that, overall, most students preferred IFAT[R] to the PPA testing method. These positive ratings were related to potential increase in reward, ease of use, and confidence. IFAT[R] was also perceived to be less stress producing and anxiety provoking than PPA. Interview data not only supported these findings, but also indicated individual differences in preference for each of these two methods. Additionally, students' feedback on strategies used for either testing method and suggestions on how to improve the methods are discussed. Key words: multiple-choice tests, assessment, test-taking, anxiety, immediate feedback, partial marks. Les evaluations a choix multiples avec notation dichotomique sont l'une des methodes d'evaluation les plus courantes utilisees dans l'enseignement de premier cycle. Pour une evaluation efficace, il importe de determiner la perception qu'ont les etudiants a l'egard des differents types de formats d'evaluations a choix multiples. Dans la presente etude, nous avons compare deux differents formats d'evaluations a choix multiples utilises dans un cours de chimie obligatoire de deuxieme annee: (1) la technique d'evaluation par retroaction immediate (IFAT[R]) et (2) l'allocation de points individuelle (API). Les deux methodes d'evaluation permettent d'obtenir une partie de la note, mais seul 1'IFAT[R] offre aux etudiants une retroaction immediate sur leurs reponses. Les donnees du questionnaire comme celles de l'entretien ont indique que, dans l'ensemble, la plupart des etudiants preferaient 1'IFAT[R] a la methode d'evaluation par API. Ces evaluations positives etaient liees a l'augmentation potentielle de la recompense, a la facilite d'utilisation et au degre de confiance. La methode IFAT[R] etait egalement perue comme moins stressante et anxiogene que la methode API. Les donnees des entretiens ont corrobore ces constatations, mais elles ont egalement montre des differences entre individus quant aux preferences pour chacune de ces deux methodes. Nous discutons en outre des commentaires des etudiants sur les strategies utilisees pour chacune des methodes d'evaluation et des suggestions sur les facons d'ameliorer ces methodes. [Traduit par la Redaction] Mots-cles: evaluations a choix multiples, evaluation, passage d'examens, anxiete, retroaction immediate, notes partielles., Introduction Multiple-choice tests are common assessment methods in higher education contexts, especially in the sciences and in larger, first- and second-year courses. (1,2) Despite the prevalence of multiple-choice tests, their [...]

To support students in an introductory organic chemistry course, scaffolding in the form of weekly Learning Task Inventories (LTIs) were introduced. LTIs are chapter-by-chapter lists of detailed learning tasks students are expected to master during the course. This paper describes efforts to effectively implement LTIs, the effect of differing implementations of LTIs on students' final exam grades and students' reactions to the use of LTIs.

Media multitasking is a common artifact of the increasing presence of technologies in classrooms. However, research indicates learning decrements when students engage in inappropriate or "off-task" media multitasking during class time. This is a concern as many innovative teaching practices call for the use of technologies. The present study examined 'on-task' (using media technologies to support learning) and 'off-task' multitasking when students were required to use online demonstrations as part of a collaborative group work activity within three regular, live classroom sessions. In total, 107 introductory psychology students participated as part of their regular classroom instruction. Both survey measures and direct observation indicated that students engaged in both on-task and off-task multitasking during the online and face-to-face group work components. Fewer students reported going off-task than expected. The proportion of students engaging in multitasking increased over time from the first to third demonstrations. Interestingly, perceived relevance of the online demonstrations predicted on-task behaviors. Overall, outcomes suggested that employing relevant online activities as part of ongoing instruction fostered more on-task behaviours and were perceived to be relevant learning tools. Implications for instruction are discussed.

The accessibility of mobile technologies opens a new world of possibilities for parents to support their children's learning through game-based numeracy apps. Carefully designed numeracy apps can be effective at improving children's foundational numeracy skills. In the absence of industry standards for quality, however, it is important to understand how parents choose numeracy apps for their children. Forty-five parents of children 3 to 6 years old completed a survey and explored four numeracy apps of varying quality and instructional supports. Parent ratings were consistent with trained coders in identification of the highest rated app. However, ratings for the three remaining apps differed from the coders' ratings. Other factors apart from quality influenced parental ratings. For example, parents who had higher perceived math teaching confidence and those whose children used technology more often generally were more favorable in their app ratings. Overall, the study revealed strengths and challenges parents have evaluating numeracy apps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metacognition is a fundamental skill that allows advanced learners to adapt to diverse learning environments. Metacognition, however, can be domain specific and students may fail to generalize metacognitive skills across domains. Thus, students in higher education may require specific training to acquire relevant metacognitive skills in differing domains or may need cueing to engage their metacognitive skills and knowledge in new domains. The present report describes the development of a co-curricular metacognitive program for chemistry students and suggests how this program could be adopted by other chemistry courses or adapted for other domains in higher education. Several supports were introduced in this program including self-assessment of competence with learning task inventories (LTIs; i.e., detailed lists of learning tasks), self-assessments of confidence regarding in-class content questions, and performance predictions and postdictions on tests. In general, exposure to these supports resulted in overall performance and confidence gains. However, individual differences were evident with some students demonstrating greater learning gains than others. Initial Dunning-Kruger effects associated with preand postdictions, with low-performing students overestimating grades and high-performing students underestimating grades, decreased over exposure. A summary of the evolution of this metacognitive co-curricular program, the educational literature that steered it, and the differential impact on students is explained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study followed an innovative introduction of mobile technology (i.e., BlackBerry® devices) to a graduate level business program and documented students' use of the technology from the time students received the devices to the end of their first term of study. Students found the BlackBerry® device easy to use, and were optimistic regarding its potential role as an instructional tool. Students were self-directed in their use of the devices and found ways to use them within and outside of their classroom even when specific uses were not provided by instructors. Students used their devices most frequently for communication purposes. Overall, although supporting a modest positive view toward this initial introduction to mobile technology as a learning tool, classroom instructional use was more limited than student-directed use in and outside the classroom.

The current study extends previous literature regarding the effectiveness of learning about academic integrity through peer instruction by assessing the impact of a peer instructional approach for actual and perceived learning gains over time. One trained residence don provided one interactive 30-min presentation covering four major aspects of academic integrity and misconduct (i.e., definition, detection, consequences, and importance of academic integrity) to groups of undergraduate students. In total, 192 participants attended the workshop and were surveyed for their knowledge of academic integrity immediately before the presentation, immediately after the presentation, and after a four week delay. Perceptions regarding the presentation also were assessed. Consistent with previous literature, results indicate perceived learning gains and preference for having an interactive presentation delivered by a residence don. In addition, actual gains in knowledge were found immediately after the presentation and gains remained evident over a four-week delay. Outcomes suggest that peer instruction is a viable and effective approach for educating students about academic integrity.

Despite the increase in the use of interactive technological devices, little is known about the impact that play context has on the production of spatial language by parents. To investigate whether there is differential parental spatial input afforded by play contexts with their preschoolers, 34 children (20 girls, 14 boys) and their primary caregivers engaged in 30-min 3-dimensional (3D) spatial play using blocks and puzzles and virtual 2-dimensional (2D) spatial play using an iPad® in 2 separate home visits. There were no significant differences in the average amount of spatial talk and the number of spatial categories used by parents in both 3D and 2D play contexts. However, the amount of parental spatial talk decreased significantly with older preschoolers using the iPad®. In the 3D play contexts, parents produced more words related to spatial dimensions, location and directions, and continuous amount than in the 2D play contexts. However, in the 2D play contexts, they produced more words associated with orientations and transformations as well as deictics than in the 3D play contexts. Our findings suggest that technology can be effectively introduced into play contexts to elicit enriched parental spatial input by supporting parents and caregivers with best practices.

The primary goal of this research was to extend our understanding of the strengths and weaknesses inherent in online and offline early literacy software programs designed for young learners. A taxonomy of reading skills was used to contrast online software with offline closed system (compact disc) based programs with respect to number of skills taught, quality of instruction and scaffolding during instruction. Overall, online programs were more comprehensive and provided instruction for more skills than offline software at either the Kindergarten or Grade 1 level. However, offline programs demonstrated some developmentally appropriate selectivity in skills trained. Quality of instruction was variable within and across all programs. Scaffolding of instruction was also variable and surprisingly few programs, either online or offline, provided automatic movement across levels of difficulty. These outcomes have important implications for the selection of instructional materials by parents and educators involved in early literacy instruction and also for future software design.

Disclosure is a critical element of interpersonal relationships and individuals are often evaluated on what they share with others, whether in personal, professional, or learning contexts. Technology now allows for many different outlets for communicating with other people. We used experimental methods to explore the impact of communication medium (i.e. print diary, online diary, blog, or email) on psychosocial perceptions of a potential peer mentor. Female participants gave more positive mentor ratings on likeability, likeliness to disclose to the mentor, and perceived closeness than did males, but not on judgments of the mentor's privacy. Participants judged the mentor to be more private when they viewed the print diary than in the online conditions and when reading the online diary than the blog (the least private condition). We also found that women were more likely to reciprocate disclosure when they viewed disclosures in the print condition than in the blog.

The Simple View of Reading (SVR) describes Reading Comprehension as the product of distinct child-level variance in decoding (D) and linguistic comprehension (LC) component abilities. When used as a model for educational policy, distinct classroom-level influences of each of the components of the SVR model have been assumed, but have not yet been demonstrated in basic research. Hierarchical linear modelling (HLM) of the SVR is thus explored here in a longitudinal experiment with 701 children in 50 grade 1 (year 1) classrooms. Multilevel results showed independent distinct classroom-level effects for both D and LC with up to 68% of the classroom-level shared variance explained by these two components. Overall, the model fit thus suggests that the SVR is a good model for framing the underlying structure of classroom-level literacy attainment in grade 1.

This paper investigates the nature of the relationship between satisfaction with high school sexual health education and the pursuit of a post-secondary human sexuality course. In an initial study, first-year university students who received high school sexual health education in Ontario completed a questionnaire which assessed their satisfaction with sexual health education and asked whether students were pursuing or intended to pursue a human sexuality course in university. Students who were less satisfied with high school sexual health education and, in particular, those who did not rate sexual health education as contributing to their understanding of themselves as sexual beings, were more likely to pursue a university-level course. A second qualitative study investigated potential reasons underlying this correlation. Eleven first-year students enrolled in a human sexuality course were interviewed about (a) their satisfaction with their high school sexual health education and (b) their reasons for taking the course. The findings suggest that dissatisfaction with sexual health education may be a result of students perceiving they had not learned enough personally relevant information and/or received a biased education in high school. These factors, which seem to determine dissatisfaction, may motivate students to pursue additional education in university.

This report describes a cluster randomized control trial (RCT) intervention study of the effectiveness of the ABRACADABRA (ABRA) Web-based literacy system using a classroom-level RCT intervention with 1,067 children in 74 kindergarten and Grade 1 or Grade 1/2 classrooms across Canada. The authors closely followed the CONSORT criteria for executing and reporting high-quality RCT studies. Well-trained teachers delivered the ABRA intervention to their regular classrooms for 20 hr per child over one full semester. At posttest, the ABRA intervention classroom showed significant advantages over controls in phonological blending ability, letter-sound knowledge and, marginally, for phoneme segmentation fluency. A secondary analysis exploring the effects of different levels of program implementation showed that with fidelity of implementation (80% of intervention teachers), advantages were evident at posttests in phonological blending, phoneme segmentation fluency, sight word reading, and letter-sound knowledge. It is concluded that ABRA is an effective resource for key skills associated with early reading. Implications for the role of both Web-based technologies and extended professional development for technology in aiding in the scale-up of evidence-based reading interventions are discussed. (Contains 2 figures and 5 tables.)

The current study developed a taxonomy of reading skills and compared this taxonomy with skills being trained in 30 commercially available software programs designed to teach emergent literacy or literacy-specific skills for children in preschool, kindergarten, and Grade 1. Outcomes suggest that, although some skills are being trained in a developmentally appropriate manner (e.g., Alphabetic Knowledge), others are absent or have incomplete presentations. Additionally, the quality of instruction for skills being trained was generally quite low due to limited examples for training each skill and few opportunities to practice the skills. Finally, scaffolding by providing access to easier and more challenging items and automaticity in moving children among levels of difficulty were inconsistent across software packages and within the software. Recommendations on best practices for choosing emergent literacy software packages and for designing pedagogically appropriate software for young children were provided. (Contains 3 tables, 1 figure, and 2 notes.)

As computers become an increasingly ubiquitous part of young children's lives there is a need to examine how best to harness digital technologies to promote learning in early childhood education contexts. The development of emergent literacy skills is 1 domain for which numerous software programs are available for young learners. In this study, we developed 2 tools that can support early childhood educators in the selection and use of early literacy software. First, based on models of reading and input from experts in reading research, we developed a taxonomy of reading skills. We then used this taxonomy to assess the literacy skills being trained in 30 commercially available software programs designed for children in preschool, kindergarten, and Grade 1. Our results indicated that although some skills were trained in a developmentally and pedagogically appropriate manner, others were absent or had incomplete presentations. The software programs were also evaluated for quality to determine whether the programs utilized the instructional supports available in technological formats. There was great disparity across and often within programs such that many software programs provided few or limited examples for each skill, few opportunities for practice, and not all programs had the capacity to shift learners across levels of difficulty. These findings suggest that educators should carefully plan which software packages they wish to use to support ongoing instruction in preliteracy skills.

The purpose of the present study was to examine the impact of multi-tasking with digital technologies while attempting to learn from real-time classroom lectures in a university setting. Four digitally-based multi-tasking activities (texting using a cell-phone, emailing, MSN messaging and Facebook[TM]) were compared to 3 control groups (paper-and-pencil note-taking, word-processing note-taking and a natural use of technology condition) over three consecutive lectures. Comparisons indicated that participants in the Facebook[TM] and MSN conditions performed more poorly than those in the paper-and-pencil use control. Follow-up analyses were required to accommodate the substantial number of students who failed to comply with the limited use of technology specified by their assigned conditions. These analyses indicated that participants who did not use any technologies in the lectures outperformed students who used some form of technology. Consistent with the cognitive bottleneck theory of attention (Welford, 1967) and contrary to popular beliefs, attempting to attend to lectures and engage digital technologies for off-task activities can have a detrimental impact on learning. (Contains 3 tables.)

Multiple reaction monitoring mass spectrometry (MRM-MS) is an emerging technology for blood biomarker verification and validation; however, the results may be influenced by pre-analytical factors. This exploratory study was designed to determine if differences in phlebotomy techniques would significantly affect the abundance of plasma proteins in an upcoming biomarker development study. Blood was drawn from 10 healthy participants using four techniques: (1) a 20-gauge IV with vacutainer, (2) a 21-gauge direct vacutainer, (3) an 18-gauge butterfly with vacutainer, and (4) an 18-gauge butterfly with syringe draw. The abundances of a panel of 122 proteins (117 proteins, plus 5 matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) proteins) were targeted by LC/MRM-MS. In addition, complete blood count (CBC) data were also compared across the four techniques. Phlebotomy technique significantly affected 2 of the 11 CBC parameters (red blood cell count, p = 0.010; hemoglobin concentration, p = 0.035) and only 12 of the targeted 117 proteins (p < 0.05). Of the five MMP proteins, only MMP7 was detectable and its concentration was not significantly affected by different techniques. Overall, most proteins in this exploratory study were not significantly influenced by phlebotomy technique; however, a larger study with additional patients will be required for confirmation. Key words: mass spectrometry, biomarkers, proteomics, plasma, multiple reaction monitoring. La spectrometrie de masse en mode MRM (<>; MRM-MS) est une technologie emergente pour la mesure et la validation de biomarqueurs sanguins, cependant ses resultats peuvent etre affectes par plusieurs facteurs pre-analytiques. Cette etude exploratoire a ete concue pour determiner si des differences dans les techniques de phlebotomie avaient un effet significatif sur l'abondance des proteines plasmatiques en vue d'un travail futur visant le developpement d'un biomarqueur. Du sang a ete preleve chez 10 participants en sante au moyen de quatre techniques : (1) IV 20 gauges sous vide (<>), (2) 21 gauges sous vide direct, (3) aiguille papillon 18 gauges sous vide, et (4) aiguille papillon a 18 gauges avec seringue. L'abondance de 122 proteines (117 proteines et 5 metalloproteinases matricielles (MMP)) a ete mesuree par LC/MRM-MS. En plus, les donnees issues de l'analyse de la formule sanguine complete (CBC) ont ete comparees pour les quatre techniques de prelevement. La technique de phlebotomie a affecte significativement deux des 11 parametres de la formule sanguine (nombre de globules rouges, p = 0,010; concentration de l'hemoglobine, p = 0,035) et seulement 12 des 117 proteines ciblees (p < 0,05). Des cinq MMR, seule MMP7 s'est averee detectable mais sa concentration n'etait pas affectee par la technique de prelevement sanguin. Globalement, la plupart des proteines examinees dans cette etude preliminaire n'etaient pas affectees par la technique de phlebotomie; cependant, une etude de plus grande ampleur comportant plus de patients sera necessaire pour en confirmer les resultats. [Traduit par la Redaction] Mots-cles: spectrometrie de masse, biomarqueurs, proteomique, plasma sanguin, <> (MRM)., Introduction Blood is a desirable sample for biomarker development because its collection is routine in most general, acute, and urgent care health settings. Multiple reaction monitoring mass spectrometry (MRM-MS) combined [...]

Support requests were documented for 10 teachers (4 kindergarten, 4 grade one, and 2 grade one/two teachers) who received just-in-time instructional support over a 2 1/2 month period while implementing a novel reading software program as part of their literacy instruction. In-class observations were made of each instructional session. Analysis of the 80 just-in-time support sessions indicated that the greatest number of support requests pertained to computer software, and computer hardware. A smaller number of support requests involved classroom management, reading, and "other" issues. As expected, the greatest level of support was required during the initial stages of implementation, with support requests declining over time. Interestingly, the types of support requested remained constant indicating that software and hardware concerns persist as the most problematic concerns when integrating technology. The vast majority of problems were addressed immediately through just-in-time support allowing classes to continue as planned. The implications for support for integration are discussed.

Sixty-four seniors were introduced to computers through a series of five weekly workshops. Participants were given instruction followed by hands-on experience for topics related to social communication, information seeking, games, and word processing and were observed to determine their preferences for instructional support. Observations of sessions as well as pre- and posttest surveys were completed. Overall, participants were more likely to request instructional support that involved scaffolding rather than direct instruction or a combination of instructional approaches. Survey results indicated more positive and less anxious attitudes toward computers over time. Men experienced an increase in comfort and use of computers over sessions. Discussion centers on creating educational environments that optimize computer learning among seniors. (Contains 2 tables.)

The purpose of the study was to examine the role of domain knowledge when retrieving and using information from the Internet as a resource for essay tasks, as well as to investigate the quality of Internet searches and its relation to essay performance. In two experiments, 100 undergraduates searched the Internet for 30 min and completed two essays; one in which they had high domain knowledge and one in which domain knowledge was low. Two control groups of 70 undergraduates just wrote the essays. Searching the Internet for information enhanced essay performance relative to the control groups only for the topic for which participants had high domain knowledge. In the second experiment, analyses of Internet searches revealed large individual differences in search behaviors and these behaviors did not relate to essay performance, although individuals highlighted the importance of domain knowledge in making their searches easier. Domain knowledge is one factor that educators should pay attention to when using the Internet for learning tasks, particularly when study time is limited, in order to maximize the ability of students to successfully retrieve and use information from the Internet. (Contains 1 figure and 3 tables.)