Technical communicators are expected to work extensively with visual texts in workplaces. Fortunately, most academic curricula include courses in which the skills necessary for such tasks are introduced and sometimes developed in depth. We identify a tension between a focus on technological skill vs. a focus on principles and theory, arguing that…

While nature is often claimed to be a space of harmonized balance or an antidote to the chaos of the modern world, we need a more grounded assessment of nature as endlessly changing and much less predictable than we like to assume. In this essay, I explore Karen Traviss' provocative exploration of unbalanced nature and unbounded bodies in her…

Humans and animals need healthy organs to live. Due to medical conditions and accidents, some organs fail to function properly. For these reasons, the medical community has experimented and can now perform successful organ transplants, allowing patients to continue to live their lives. Many countries have medical programs where individuals can…

In schools around the country, Gen Xers, Millennials, Baby Boomers, and even a Veteran or two are working side by side. While anyone holding a job in this shaky economy is grateful, gratitude does not make generational clashes less difficult. Adding to the mix, many Baby Boomers initially poised for a mass exodus by 2010 are holding on for dear…

Not long ago, television sets in classrooms were a novel idea and most professors could remember the days of slide rules, mimeograph machines, and manual typewriters. Now, even DVD players can seem quaint. But education has been altered by the breathtakingly rapid technological advancements of the last 10 years, and just like the rest of the…

Supported by critical theoretical frameworks, this book is a purposeful engagement with bodies of knowledge rooted in popular culture, yet routinely excluded from "common sense" visions of curriculum. Aimed at teachers as well as teacher-educators, the book examines areas such as Disney, African American stand-up comedy, intersections of…

This study aims to examine students' acceptance of mobile technology usage for learning. A questionnaire designed with five open-ended questions was distributed to 20 students from the Faculty of Industrial Art and Design Technology of Unisel (Universiti Industri Selangor), Malaysia. Results construes that students were not keen on m-learning…

The purpose of this study was to provide a historical overview of the development of the General Studies (GS) program at LSU Shreveport from its inception in 1967 until 2007. Sources of data were primary, secondary, and archival documents, student information accessed through the university mainframe, alumni information obtained from a…

Unprecedented uses of information and communication technology (ICT) and particularly social media (e.g., Wikipedia, Facebook, and Twitter) are occurring in times of crisis. This dissertation investigates the socio-technical practices emerging from the use of social media and how these practices help to "sustain the living heritage" of…

The pervasiveness of Internet technology in the educational environment of the United States has altered the way educators present information in the classroom. The schools of Northern Virginia, located in several of the financially wealthiest suburbs of the United States, provide a technologically advanced school system to explore Internet…

Some innovations change everything. The rise of personal computers in the 1970s decimated the mini-computer industry. TurboTax forever changed tax accounting, and MP3s made libraries of compact discs obsolete. These innovations bear the traits of what Harvard Business School Professor Clayton M. Christensen terms a "disruptive innovation."…

There is a growing optimism among international organizations such as United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) can transform developing countries such as Nigeria to developed ones in a relatively short time. Experiences from Asian and European countries such as India, Bangladesh, Malaysia,…

Although the term "technology" means different things to different people, most would generally agree that it is about "stuff." For some it may be more complex than this, and for others it may simply involve using or studying high-tech gadgetry, such as computers and iPhones. Understanding the interdependence between design and culture is a…

The purpose of this research was to investigate collaboration between agricultural science teachers and Extension agents in Texas from the perspective of successful collaboration. Programs, leaders, and participants in both agricultural education and Extension can be impacted positively through collaboration. However, successful collaboration…

Over the last decade policies framing the enterprise agenda for UK higher education institutions (HEIs) have consistently emphasized the potential impact of successful universities on both regional and national economies. Such policies have been backed by significant public funding to ensure that the UK HEI sector is able to compete globally in…