This study examined a pre-service, professional development training program for online instructors to determine whether the successful completion had an impact on teacher efficacy. The level of teacher efficacy was measured with a survey given both prior and subsequent to the participation of the participants in the pre-service, professional…

Self-efficacy is a personal belief in one's ability to accomplish particular tasks. Academic self-efficacy relates to one's belief in ability to accomplish learning activities. A convenient cluster sample (n = 105) of undergraduate students at a regional university in the midsouth was administered a survey that measured student academic…

A major trend in Australia is the increasing proportion of the workforce with qualifications. By comparing the relationship between qualifications and occupations for various age cohorts we look at how this trend has changed the prospects of individuals with a particular level of qualification. We find that individuals with diplomas are…

Within this paper, we are focusing on the relationships between teaching strategies, learning styles, and the students' academic achievement in higher education. The main objective of this study is to compare three groups of pre-service teachers having different majors (i.e., Educational Sciences, Economic Sciences, and Foreign Languages) in order…

This work comprises studies on the effects of broadband Internet in schools at three different levels: student performance, household Internet adoption, and individual computer and Internet use patterns and skill acquisition. I focus in the case of Portugal, where by 2006 the Portuguese government had completed a major initiative that upgraded the…

This paper explores the nation's changing child population based on data from the 2010 census. While the number of U.S. children increased only slightly, the demographic shifts within the population were considerable. Some areas of the country (Nevada and Texas) and some demographic groups (including children of mixed race) grew significantly,…

The purpose of this study was to examine higher education administrators' perceptions of the effectiveness of the Academic Quality Improvement Project (AQIP) as compared to the Program to Evaluate and Advance Quality (PEAQ) within the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA). The Higher Learning Commission (HLC), a commission of the…

Artificially engineered metamaterials have emerged with properties and functionalities previously unattainable in natural materials. The scientific breakthroughs made in this new class of electromagnetic materials are closely linked with progress in developing physics-driven design, novel fabrication and characterization methods. The intricate…

Understanding instructors' perceptions of distance education transactions is becoming increasingly important as the mode of distance learning has become not only accepted, but preferred by many students. A need for more empirical data was evident as anecdotal information still dominates the research literature. The study focused on the faculty of…

Congenital amusia is a neurogenetic disorder that affects the processing of musical pitch in speakers of non-tonal languages like English and French. We assessed whether this musical disorder exists among speakers of Mandarin Chinese who use pitch to alter the meaning of words. Using the Montreal Battery of Evaluation of Amusia, we tested 117…

On the 2009 AP[c] Statistics Exam, students were asked to create a statistic to measure skewness in a distribution. This paper explores several of the most popular student responses and evaluates which statistic performs best when sampling from various skewed populations. (Contains 8 figures, 3 tables, and 4 footnotes.)

Proposition 209 banned the use of racial preferences in admissions at public colleges in California. We analyze unique data for all applicants and enrollees within the University of California (UC) system before and after Prop 209. After Prop 209, graduation rates increased by 4.4%. We present evidence that certain institutions are better at…

Problem Statement: Preservice teachers acquire the knowledge and skills needed for elementary mathematics education by themselves obtaining quality university educations and by being actively involved in mathematics. Thus, it is essential to make room in teacher education for student-centered projects and activities. Purpose of Study: This study…

Sourcing data from the National VET Provider Collection and the Higher Education Statistics Collection, this publication provides a summary of participation in tertiary education and training in Australia. It covers participation in Australian Qualifications Framework certificate I qualifications through to doctorates by research, as well as…

When taking mathematics courses, students will sometimes ask their recurring question, "When will I ever use this in real life?" Educators are often unable to provide a direct connection between what they are teaching in the classroom and a real-life application. However, when such an opportunity does arise, they should seize it and…