I first met Jim Greer at the NATO Advanced Study Institute on Syntheses of Instructional Sciences and Computing Science for Effective Instructional Computing Systems in 1990 in Calgary, Canada. It was during this meeting that I came to realize that Jim was one of those rare individuals that could help "translate" computer science…

The purpose of this essay is to conceptualize accessibility in digital education for school children through a minimal computing perspective. This perspective prioritizes the contextual, social, and relational as part of the ethic of minimal computing mantra to consider "What." "We." "Need." To achieve our goals, we…

Are there computers in the classroom? Does it matter? "Students, Computers and Learning: Making the Connection" examines how students' access to and use of information and communication technology (ICT) devices has evolved in recent years, and explores how education systems and schools are integrating ICT into students' learning…

In this reflective conversation, Dr. Joe Renzulli and Dr. Sally Reis respond to questions about the newly developed Renzulli Learning System. They discuss the system in light of the Schoolwide Enrichment Model (SEM) and provide information regarding its use with curriculum compacting and Renzulli's "Three Ring Conceptualization of…

In this article, the authors focus on homework as an adjunct for learning in secondary school classrooms. Four types of students are profiled, with detail on how the students respond to homework assignments when they do not understand the content. The authors then review three changes in homework practices that can engage students, including…

In the last decade, the concept of Open Educational Resources (OER) has gained an undeniable momentum. However, it is an easy trap to confuse download and registration rates with actual learning and interest in the adoption and reuse of OER. If we focus solely on access, we cannot differentiate between processes of mere information foraging and…

Faculty and administrators of higher education today face a challenge with their student populations, many of whom are part of what is known as the net generation. As students become more technologically advanced, faculty must be technologically ready to meet the needs of students. Many college faculty and administrators are from earlier…

After carrying out a project over several years in eight upper secondary schools in Thuringia on the effects the use of a handheld CAS (Computer Algebra System) has on the students' skills in mathematics, the former ban on the use of such technology in mathematics education was revoked. Late in the project (2002) a survey of all students in the…

According to the 2008 Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE): 82 percent of community college students surveyed have part-time jobs (and over half of this group works more than 20 hours a week); almost all (93 percent) reported commuting to campus and 21 percent said they spend between six and 20 hours a week in the commute;…

The dual purpose of this article is to provide a synthesis of the findings related to the use of computer simulations in physics education and to present implications for teachers and researchers in science education. We try to establish a conceptual framework for the utilization of computer simulations as a tool for learning and instruction in…

Describes the access to and use of computers in homes, schools, and classrooms by kindergarten children and first graders. Includes examination of data by selected characteristics of children, teachers, and classrooms. Data are from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-1999. (SLD)

The Discipline Monitoring System (DMS) is a computer-assisted model allowing individual secondary schools to analyze their disciplinary actions. The Montgomery County Public Schools (Maryland) adopted this model to manipulate the following data: who is suspended, who is referred, who makes referrals, characteristics of these persons, and events…

What uses of computers have effects on student engagement that seem most predicative of important learning? This research provides some evidence about this, examining empirical associations between kinds of software students use, teachers' pedagogical motivations behind their use, and one measure of student engagement: teachers' estimates of the…

Nearly all Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) states have a state-sponsored virtual school, and the remaining states are either planning or beginning initial implementation. Just 12 years ago, none of the 50 states used the Web to provide courses to middle grades or high school students. By 2000, several SREB states, including Florida,…

This article presents a framework for the cognitive diagnosis of learners' errors in an interactive learning activity occurring in an intelligent learning environment. The proposed framework supports the implementation of an authoring tool. This tool helps instructional designers to specify the features of a component for cognitive diagnosis. Two…