Teachers are often confined to their classrooms with limited or no time to share with colleagues the difficulties they face, their concerns, and their successful initiatives. This leads to a situation where they end up teaching in ways and approaches they believe to be best with no chance to know how others may be approaching similar difficulties…

In Russia, sociologists do not have reliable statistical data as to the number of same-sex unions and the number of children being brought up in these families, and non-Russian studies on the topic are flawed and misleading. Russians are said to be antagonistic to the idea of children being raised in same-sex households. People are concerned over…

Digital technology is transforming life and is beginning to have a profound effect on individual psychic life and the wider social milieu. This article seeks to understand the nature of the new technology and its implications for personal life, culture, and education. The scene is set by comparing the introduction of printing to the revolution…

Purpose: This study evaluates the changes in social networks of older and younger breast cancer patients over a 6-month period following their first diagnosis and how such modifications are associated with changes in the patients' mood state. Design and Methods: Newly diagnosed breast cancer patients were interviewed shortly after their diagnosis…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine key factors influencing students' intent to create a new venture. Based on Ajzen's theory of planned behaviour and Autio's model of intention, it aims to develop a model of entrepreneurial intent that incorporates both human and environmental factors. Specifically, the proposed model aims to focus…

While blogs, wikis and many other Web 2.0 applications can be employed in learning settings, instruction is not the primary purpose for these tools. The educational field must actively participate in the definition and development of what repurposed or new Web 2.0 applications means in educational settings. One way of viewing this needed…

Applying three mathematical modeling techniques, this study proposes and tests the fit of an academic performance model, and then estimates the relative importance of four performance predictors: academic ability, performance goal orientation, educational technology use, and social network density. Drawing on social network theory, findings from…

When students engage with technology to produce media, impetus and inspiration often come from the work of others. In today's new media environment in which students blur the line between school-based technologies and personal devices and engagement, educators find themselves standing on a railroad track facing a speeding high-tech train. If…

The need to engage students studying at a distance in order to reduce isolation, foster a sense of belonging and enhance learning has received significant attention over the past few years. Conversely, very little research has focused on teachers working in this type of environment. In fact, we argue, they appear to be the forgotten dimension in…

Science librarians, as well as other librarians, have seen ample new technologies come and go over the years. Librarians experiment and try to find ways to employ the new tools in our libraries. A driving force in our decision making about what tools to use should always be our patrons and whether the tools can help us do a better job of…

As the world settles in to the reality of globalization, it becomes clear that many incongruous facets of human existence have been forced together into a giant tumbler--economy, information systems, finance and people--giving rise to contradictory but also generative responses. Previously excluded and excised "objects" are now occupying intimate…

Doctoral education in the UK embraces both independent self-directed study and collective shared learning. The extent to which individual doctoral students remain isolated, or become integrated into a network of doctoral students, is a function of the attributes of the individual and the nature of the doctorate and its mode of delivery. Using the…

Innovation is a key driver of organizational renewal and success. However, providing the right environment for innovative ideas to emerge and develop is not easy. This is further complicated by the fact that the professional environment is increasingly virtual as globally dispersed organizational and inter-organizational teams collaborate on…

Learning environment development has been a key part of the Academic Innovation Team's remit for a number of years at Sheffield Hallam University. Beginning with the authors' research into the impact of e-learning on the student experience in 2002--and recognizing the way e-learning influenced students' views of physical spaces--they started to…

Because teachers work in relatively closed classroom spaces, they are notoriously difficult for administrators or parents to observe. At the same time, middle-class parents have demonstrated an interest in "opening" the closed classroom door. Findings from this research suggest that surveilling parents provided advantages for their child during…