In 1995, Public Agenda and the Institute for Educational Leadership joined forces to develop a means for citizens, community leaders, and educators to hold public conversations on issues facing America's schools. Conversations help community members build common ground for improving schools. Success hinges on credible local sponsors, group…

Describes a study of doctoral program students that investigated whether more frequent instructor-initiated emails would result in more favorable student perceptions of the student-faculty relationship, higher student ratings of perceives sense of online community, higher degree of satisfaction with the learning experience, and higher levels of…

Presents the methodology, results, and difficulties encountered in the development and delivery of a course through the Internet at a university in Rio de Janeiro. Provides a model for group work, including group discussions; and shows how a Web-based environment can be used to provide support and to facilitate cooperative learning. (Author/LRW)

Describes a classroom game called the prisoner's dilemma that illustrates the conflict between social incentives to cooperate and private incentives to defect. Explains that it is a simple card game involving a large number of students. States that the students should be introduced to the real-world applications of the game. (CMK)

Discusses the quality of teacher-pupil dialogue in the guided reading session of the Literacy Hour and its relationship to pupils' powers of comprehension. Suggests that talk in this context is teacher-dominated. Argues that there is a case for making time available during the guided reading session for a period of discussion in which pupils are…

Describes the outcomes of recent research on children's talk while engaged in joint literacy activities in primary school. Uses the results to discuss the value of classroom talk and computer-based activities for promoting children's literacy development. Shows how group discussion can help children's literacy development. (SG)

Investigates use of oral narratives by a Mexican-born girl (Isabela) participating in small group literature discussions in a bilingual second-grade classroom in the U.S. over a year. Examines both the role of narratives in Isabela's discussions of texts and the role of context in shaping her talk. Suggests a notion of achievement that departs…

Discusses the role that online instructors should take when facilitating asynchronous discussion forums. Presents a study of an online astronomy program in an Australian university that investigated ways that the rate at which instructors posted and how often the instructors initiated discussions correlated to student posting rates and student…

Interviews and observations in literacy programs for welfare recipients indicated that, when learners tried to discuss problematic issues, teachers deflected discussion, upholding official discourses and ideological beliefs about learners and program purposes. The curriculum-in-use supported dominant discourses about meritocracy and racist and…

Describes a study that was conducted to investigate instructor perceptions of the impact on instruction when asynchronous text-based Internet communication technology was integrated into distance courses at the University of Alberta. Highlights include the theory of transactional distance; and results of interviews with instructors regarding…

Provides classroom activities to enable students to learn about the economics of auctions. Explains that the students complete a written assignment listing products that are sold at auctions and participate in a classroom discussion. Includes ideas following the discussion, such as the alternative hypothesis strategy, housing auctions, and…

Describes university intergroup dialogue programs, which bring together diverse students to discuss issues related to their diversity and develop comfort with and skills for discourse on difficult topics. Examines their basic tenets, themes, and variations. Research on the impact of intergroup dialogue programs in higher education indicates that…

Presents a collection of excerpts from a recent virtual class discussion students (primarily senior English majors planning to become English teachers) had on a course listserv regarding young adult literature. Contains annotations of 10 recommended works of YA literature. (SG)

Describes an in-class demonstration devised to guide class discussion of the purposes and forms of U.S. legal scholarship for foreign students in U.S. graduate law programs. Asserts that this reasonable investment of class time should result in a significant improvement in students' seminar papers and theses. (EV)

University preparation programs in school counseling, special education, and social work services remain separate with pre-service collaboration virtually nonexistent. A multidisciplinary electronic discussion forum was implemented to overcome the traditional barriers of space and time to allow students to use the Internet to collaborate in their…