Describes briefly two projects of the National Writing Project (NWP) that encourage the incorporation of technology into NWP activities: the NWP/Polaroid Education Program Pilot Project and the "America's Smartest Home Videos" Awards Project. (SR)

Provides 12 steps for planning, implementing, and piloting Web-based training. Shows how a formal pilot can provide insight into how well the proposed solution will work within the organization. (JOW)

Discussion of changes in organizational environments focuses on nonbureaucratic, or nontraditional, organizations, and the role of information technology. A model of a nontraditional organizational design is described and results of a pilot study of the role of information technology in nontraditional organizations are presented. Contains 114…

Describes the development and informal pilot testing of a technology-based model for professional development designed to provide support to teachers in Quebec, Canada. Results from two pilot schools offer support and feedback for the model and identify areas for further research and evaluation. (SLD)

When teachers at Thomas Gardner Elementary School voted in fall 2003 to join Boston's network of "pilot" schools, they had no inkling of the political firestorm that lay ahead. A few months after they moved to become part of the city's nationally watched experiment with small, autonomous public schools, the president of the Boston Teachers Union…

Online orientation is provided due to the flexibility of online learning. The online orientation consists of the GIANT steps which stands for Get support, Identify your curriculum, Assemble your program, Navigate students through the pilot project and Test students.

Following months of pressure from states and education groups, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings has announced a pilot program that will let some states use what are known as growth models to evaluate the success of schools and districts under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Growth models track the progress of youngsters over…

A panel of 20 experts in orientation and mobility (O&M) reached consensus on concepts and skills that O&M specialists should teach to students who are blind or have low vision. Panelists also agreed on visual, environmental, and behavioral conditions that would require a formal O&M assessment.

Academic libraries increasingly rely on Interlibrary Loan (ILL) departments to obtain research materials. This adds to the workload of ILL at a time when many libraries are experiencing budget cuts and dwindling staff. Collaboration between ILL and Reference can assist ILL by providing searching expertise. Collaboration is facilitated by the…

The paper explores the role of values in design decision-making through the eyes of key authors and a pilot study. "Knowing that" and "knowing how" in designing are reviewed and the problematic distinctions between "know how"; and skill noted. The effect of values on design decision-making is discussed and examples from the pilot study are…

For the construction of its newest school in Quebec (Canada), the Grandes-Seigneuries School Board, which has long been noted for its energy efficiency approach, wanted to set itself an especially challenging project which would reduce greenhouse gas emissions to close to zero. From an architectural standpoint, a series of simple methods, well…

The objective of this article is to present the Pre-Conceptual Map methodology as a formalized way to identify, document, and utilize preconceived assumptions on the part of the researcher in qualitative inquiry. This technique can be used as a stand alone method or in conjunction with other qualitative techniques (i.e., naturalistic inquiry).…

This article examines a pilot program's mentoring component involving first-year interns and veteran teachers in relation to new teachers' needs and effects regarding support and professional development. Mentoring along with delayed work requirements and evaluation increased interns' adjustment to teaching. However, emotional and technical…

UNITEC is attempting to shift from a paradigm that views quality as systems compliance to a paradigm of personal care and individual responsibility where quality is about making a real difference in classrooms. A set of "quality principles" has been developed to replace comprehensive standards and processes specified in the existing…

The Increasing Course Rigor Pilot Project, a joint initiative of the National Governors Association (NGA) Center for Best Practices and ACT, Inc., is one component of Phase Two of the NGA Center for Best Practices Honor States Grant Program. The project, which began in winter 2006 and concluded in summer 2007, was designed to improve the quality…