Personal self-efficacy is an important theoretical orientation that helps to explain students' learning and academic achievements. One area of research inquiry has involved the four major sources of information and their predictive effects on self-efficacy. As an extension for examination, the purpose of our investigation was to explore the…

This research examines the Vietnam War as a topic of study in the era of standardized curricula. Standards for teaching the Vietnam War, both state and national, are often ambiguous. They may, therefore, allow teachers to interject their own thoughts and biases into the classroom. To better understand what may actually inform one state's social…

Many textbooks define economics as the social science that studies how people make choices when faced with scarcity; or how a society decides what to produce, how to produce, and for whom to produce. Regardless of the definition, students' economic understanding is fundamental to their financial well-being and their ability to build successful…

The article reports the results of a 2008 national survey of political theorists concerning what and how they teach. The results are based on 1,086 responses from professors at accredited, four-year colleges and universities in the United States. The responses include information about which thinkers are currently being taught, the status of…

As the United States becomes more racially and ethnically diverse and draws more students from across the globe, more representative data are needed to understand at-risk and underrepresented populations in higher education, particularly in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. The authors argue that the current…

The complex topic of global climate change continues to be a challenging yet important topic among science educators and researchers. This mixed methods study adds to the growing research by investigating student conceptions of climate change from a system theory perspective (Von Bertalanffy, 1968) by asking the question, "How do differences…

This dissertation examines the impact of internet technologies on the field of health communication. Access and use of health communication technologies has and will continue to become increasingly important to manage and treat chronic conditions and other ailments, particularly in the context of health care reform that promotes improved quality…

Over the last 20 years, state education agencies (SEAs) have been given considerably more responsibilities for directing and guiding the improvement of low-performing schools. At the same time, federal policies strongly pressed SEAs to use research to design these supports. Very few studies have explored the SEA as an organization, or its role in…

This paper discusses three possible ways of applying podcasts in distance education: podcasts of recordings of virtual classes, podcasts produced for specific pedagogical aims, and podcasts produced by external organizations. Through a survey we gained insight in the (until now limited) experiences of our distant students with podcasts, and also…

This document covers the data terms used in the "Students and Courses 2009" publication and its associated data tables. The primary purpose of this document is to assist users of the publication to understand the specific data terms used within it. Terms that appear in the publication are listed in alphabetical order with the following…

Purpose: The paper aims to provide an overall methodology and case study for the innovation and extension of a digital library, especially the service system. Design/methodology/approach: Based on the three-dimensional structure theory of the information service industry, this paper combines a comprehensive analysis with the practical experiences…

The very nature of information seeking in today's world suggests that credibility is an important factor in how one goes about seeking and using information. The proliferation of Web-based resources and the ability for nearly anyone to publish on the Web force individuals to make judgments of quality and authority as they flow on- and offline in…

We provide an expanded environmental scan to assess the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) faced by education communities. Grounded in the literature, we identified 48 indicators and grouped them into 6 broad categories: (1) budget levels, (2) funding patterns, (3) community needs, (4) external economic conditions, (5)…

To address the important challenge of taking good care of India's environment, substantial, good quality information is crucial. Unfortunately, pertinent information is in very short supply. Much of the nationally collected information lacks quality and is incomplete. Modern science has demonstrated that good information flows from an open,…

This pilot study examines the new teaching assistant (TA) preparation programs used by Ohio universities, both public and private, that graduate students to staff first-year composition (FYC) classrooms. I collected information about the preparation programs and the components of preparation from in-house materials from each of the schools,…