The goal of this comparative study was to explore the online interactions among members of two learning communities. The two cases examined two different cohorts in the same professional preparation program for school principals and administrators: a distance-learning cohort and an onsite university-district partnership cohort in which online…

One Master's Program, Initiatives in Educational Transformation, has integrated a computer management system (WebCT) into a learner-centered (Weimer, 2002) community of K-12 practicing teachers. Online discussions were an extension of instructional practices that supported dialogue, reflection, and self-assessment for the purpose of continuous…

The Association of Small Computer Users in Education (ASCUE) is a dynamic organization for people interested in small college technology issues. Its members include information technology professionals, instructional technologists, and faculty members from all over the world who use computers and technology to support teaching and learning. The…

Instructors who teach in online learning environments have the unique opportunity to enhance the interaction of their students through an online threaded discussion board. With effective planning and skillful facilitation techniques, this venue for posting messages can be used as a resource to engage learners in becoming an interactive and…

This article reports key findings from a 2-1/2-year mixed methodological study of professional learning communities, the first of its kind in England. In particular, the concept of effectiveness is explored as it relates to professional learning communities. We describe three ways in which effectiveness can be construed, arguing that any…

Drawing on students' literacy autobiographies, this article critiques the premise that academic discourse and working-class identity are not only static but also in complete opposition. The author argues for a more performative theory of class, a theory that would, she explains, recognize that academic discourse creates social class distinctions…

The adversarial forces of governmental censorship, freedom of expression, and capitalistic appropriation are engaged in an acrimonious debate over "Gangsta' Rap" that is being played out in the public spaces of popular culture. However, as a literacy of lived experience, Gangsta' Rap warrants critical investigation. Many postmodern…

A study explored the debate over comic books and children in the 1950s, addressing the communication role of comic books in forming a new community of comic book fans during that period. Using E.C. (Educational Comics) comic books as a case study, the conventions of the comic books, correspondence between producers and consumers, and articles by…

This paper contends that rhetoric is a force for social change. It also contends that the study of persuasive discourse--how it works, what gives it force--is rhetoric. Pointing out that in the past "persuasive discourse" has meant public discourse of various kinds but that nowadays scholars usually expand the category to include…

This report describes the development of a learning community in a fifth-grade writers' workshop across one school year and two girls' participation in the learning community. The report examines ways in which teacher-researchers' and students' notions and actions regarding collaboration changed; it also describes the curriculum in the writers'…

Writing teachers should draw on their own use of collaborative techniques in attempting to develop similar support systems within the writing classrooms and in the larger university community. Teacher awareness of the problems that faced them in their past attempts at collaboration should inform them concerning their propensity to oversimplify the…

One of the main problems with higher education is that curriculums, both past and present, objectify and marginalize the experiences of people of color and thus reduce diversity in the graduate and professional school populations. African American, Asians, Hispanics, and other minorities are studied in many college-level classes only as an…

Two different groups of sixth graders were studied as one discussed Roald Dahl's "James and the Giant Peach" and the other discussed Mark Twain's "Tom Sawyer." In interviews, students from the two groups offered very different assessments of their experiences, despite the fact that the teacher was the same. The Dahl students,…

It is necessary to continue efforts to adapt the composition curriculum to the diverse needs of the student population. The writing process, even if seen as recursive, varies from student to student and from situation to situation. Students must also be shown that the very conventions and forms of academic writing are culturally situated. The…

A study analyzed the degree to which an African American verbal tradition (Black English Vernacular) survives in the writing of Black students across a generational time span. A total of 867 essays from the 1984 and the 1988/89 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) were subjected to primary trait and holistic scoring analysis, and…