This paper examines the impact of a distance education program offered by the University of Pretoria, South Africa, on the professional practice of teachers. A pilot study was conducted using a combination of surveys and focus group interviews. Findings reveal that the program was beneficial to graduates' personal development, professional…

This paper addresses the question: how can e-learning be embedded in traditional universities so that it contributes to the transformation of the university? The paper examines e-learning strategies in higher education, locating the institutional context within the broader framework of national and international policy drivers which link…

Focus groups are conducted each year within the mid-Atlantic region of the United States to gather information on school restructuring to help Research for Better Schools (RBS) in its planning process. This document reports on the round of focus groups held in spring 1994 to determine the ways in which partnerships might further school…

Instructional message design must attract attention and result in learning by facilitating perception, comprehension, and retention. The purposes of this research are: (1) to develop a conceptual framework for message design; (2) to develop a systematic procedure for message design; and (3) to provide one basis for the development of a performance…

A study examined discussions on an instructional listserv, an open forum with several hundred subscribers across the world. The study investigated the coherence of a group of electronic mail (e-mail) messages taken from an academic listserv under one topic. Coherence is important as it contributes to the comprehension of a text. Participants on…

Findings of a study that explored focus group participants' views on public schools and Kentucky's recent education reform efforts are presented in this document. In May 1992, 7 focus groups, with a total of 70 participants, were conducted at 6 locations throughout Kentucky. Three groups consisted of citizens who were not public school employees,…

This paper reports the findings of a research study that investigated the ways in which Australian regular class teachers cope during inclusive education and the specific issues which are stressful for them. The study was undertaken in primary schools in Queensland, Australia, during 1997. Initial focus group interviews with 17 regular class…

Ownership rates of advanced communication technologies among Hispanic families are lower than the national average. Going beyond socioeconomic (i.e., family income, educational attainment, and occupation) indicators as key predictors of the so-called technology gap, this paper relies on qualitative analysis of Hispanic families' attitudes and…

This report describes results of six focus groups of people with disabilities convened by the Maine Bureau of Health to determine the feelings, attitudes, and experiences of this population. Four groups were comprised of adults ranging in age from the early twenties to the late seventies; two groups were comprised of adolescents and young adults.…

How public deliberation can be used to bring together schools and communities with linguistic and cultural diversity so that they can focus on educational reform is discussed. Public deliberation is described and its purposes reviewed. Three public engagement formats, forums and study circles, focus groups, and citizens' juries, are described. One…

The "focus group discussion," a qualitative technique often used in market research, has been a useful tool in corporate exploration of employee child care needs and preferences and has led to the development of management policy regarding child care. The child care focus group has helped the employer learn more about employees' child care…

More than 130 service-learning courses have been developed and taught at the University of Utah, a major Research I university, over the last ten years. A series of focus groups were conducted to identify salient factors related to faculty and administrators' perspectives of the advantages and challenges associated with service-learning. The study…

This is a large scale examination of the aspirations and experiences of America's young adults ages 18 through 25. It is an in-depth study based on a national random sample telephone survey of young adults, along with focus groups in California, New Jersey, Texas and Wisconsin. [Additional support for this report was provided by the GE Foundation.]

This brief summarizes the report "Essential but Often Ignored: Child Care Providers in the Subsidy System," examining child care subsidy policies and practices shaping experiences of providers serving subsidized children, particularly those affecting providers' payments and their overall experience with the subsidy system. Research on…

This paper aims to show how its author/researchers were brought to reconsider some of the assumptions behind a small arc project that was being conducted on the professional development of student teachers in Australia. A small group of English Method students were invited to participate in three focus group interviews: before their first teaching…