Web Site Content Management Systems: Selection and Usage at Land-Grant Universities

American land-grant universities generate large amounts of information for their Web sites, which serve a variety of audiences in addition to students, faculty, and staff. Many of these universities are beginning to search for Web site content management systems (CMS) to help organize this information. However, there are hundreds - if not thousands - of systems in this emerging arena, with no clear market leader. This paper provides a snapshot of the experiences of communicators at several universities where content management systems are in use. The purpose is to provide criteria to help Web site managers at universities and other organizations make more informed decisions as they consider which content management system to implement. Specifically, the study used an online survey followed by a questionnaire to selected Webmasters at land-grant universities across the United States, and tracked comments on a university Web developers\u27 discussion board to determine the Web site content management system that is currently in use or under consideration, usage patterns, advantages and disadvantages, staffing requirements, and advice to colleagues considering such a system. This study does not attempt to offer a definitive answer as to which content management system is the best. After all the questions, comments, and analysis, it confirms Noel Ward\u27s observation (2001), \u27No one-size-fits-all content management solution exists.\u27 However, it does offer some insights into what Owen Linderholm (2001) aptly described as the \u27seemingly endless array of content management software\u27 by identifying some criteria for evaluating CMS choices and it reveals a glimpse into fascinating possibilities for the future of content management systems. Criteria to consider when evaluating a CMS include: Usability of the authoring environment for developers and content providers Internal needs assessment (e.g., cost of the software and the personnel to develop/maintain the CMS and train/coach content providers) Vendor considerations (e.g., what is involved to make the system do what the sales representative says it will do

No Child Left Behind: Key Issues and Instructional Implications for Teachers of African-American Children

This article presents an overview of five key issues: access to materials; student motivation; teacher preparation; instructional practices; and parent-teacher-student relationships, that must be addressed in effecting change in the academic performance of African-American students. These issues are deemed important if the No Child Left Behind legislation is to impact the teaching and learning of African-American students

Fostering Multi-Cultural Awareness: Books for Young Children

Parents are children\u27s first teachers, and in this capacity the home provides the foundation for their later literacy development (Vacca, Vacca and Gove,1987). Parents also transmit values and shape attitudes about people who function as the core for children\u27s socialization in the school and larger community. Therefore attempts at multicultural education should, ideally, entail the active participation of parents. Thomas Sobol, Commissioner of Education and President of the University of the State of New York, believes that young children at home or in preschool need help at home and school in order to understand diversity. They must be helped to develop self-pride and to respect differences among people. It is my belief that the joint involvement of parents and teachers can provide support for a multicultural school curriculum and effective instructional practices, and data for subsequent research. Sobol (1990) seems to concur by stating that teaching young children about the differences and similarities between people will not singularly ensure a more gentle and tolerant society, but might act as a prerequisite to one (p. 30)

The electrophysiological correlates of learning in the developing kitten

The objectives of this experiment were (a) to study the development of classical conditioning in the kitten using light as the conditioned stimulus (CS) , shock as the unconditioned stimulus (US), and leg flexion as the conditioned response; (b) to investigate physiological correlates of learning during the development of classical conditioning such as visual evoked responses (VER), visual following (VF), electrocardiogram (EKG), and galvanic skin response (GSR); and (c) to ascertain the relationship, during development, between physiological and behavioral changes associated with conditioning. Four kittens were exposed to two classical conditioning paradigms. Two Ss received a continuous 10 sec. light paired from the 9th to the 10th sec. with shock, and two received 5 light flashes 2 secs, apart, the last being paired with shock. Four control Ss received the same number of photic stimuli and shocks as their experimental counterparts but on no occasion was light and shock paired. GSR, EKG, VERS and leg-flexion responses were recorded from all 8 animals during a 24 day experimental period. No obvious evidence was found for learning except for suggestive changes in GSR responses. However, it was observed that the development of the short-latency positive and negative N1components of the Ss VERs appeared later than normal or not at all. On the other hand, the long-latency N2 wave demonstrated precociousness showing larger amplitudes and in one of the two paradigms, shorter latencies than normal. The dominant waveform observed throughout the development of the VER in the kittens used in this study was the long-latency negative N2 wave followed by a huge positive after-swing. The typical W-wave usually observed in the adult catTs VER was over-shadowed by the positive-negative complex and in many cases never appeared. A comparison of four VERs obtained from the kitLens in paradigm II (intermittent light) revealed that they were able to give comparable or nearly comparable VERs at 10 days of age to light flashed 2 seconds apart. This suggests that when shocked, the kittens may develop this ability sometime prior to 10 days postnatally. The average latencies of the N2 waves for the kittens used in paradigm I were found to be shorter than that observed in unshocked kittens (Rose, 1971). However, these latencies showed the normal trend of decreasing with age as was observed by Rose

Cross-Lingual Transfer Learning Approach to Pronunciation Error Detection via Latent Phonetic Representation

Extensive research has been conducted on CALL systems for Pronunciation Error detection to automate language improvement through self-evaluation. However, many of these previous approaches have relied on HMM or Neural Network Hybrid Models which, although have proven to be effective, often utilize phonetically labelled L2 speech data which is expensive and often scarce. This paper discusses a ”zero-shot” transfer learning approach to detect phonetic errors in L2 English speech by Japanese native speakers using solely unaligned phonetically labelled native Language speech. The proposed method introduces a simple base architecture which utilizes the XLSR-Wav2Vec2.0 model pre-trained on unlabelled multilingual speech. Phoneme mapping for each language is determined based on difference of articulation of similar phonemes. This method achieved a Phonetic Error Rate of 0.214 on erroneous L2 speech after fine-tuning on 70 hours of speech with low resource automated phonetic labelling, and proved to additionally model phonemes of the native language of the L2 speaker effectively without the need for L2 speech fine-tuning

Preparing reading/literacy specialists to meet changes and challenges: International Literacy Association’s Standards 2017

Lead writers and co-chairs of the International Literacy Association’s Standards 2017provide a hands on guide to using updated standards for the preparation of reading/literacy specialists. Authors share key changes in content, supporting explanations with updated references, and implications for program faculty, state policymakers, and specialist candidates. Standards 2017 adds a new seventh standard for Practicum/Clinical Experiences and sets high expectations for programs to incorporate candidate experiences with technology, diversity, collaboration, and advocacy. Processes to work with colleagues to design or re-design, implement, and evaluate programs are discussed

Becoming us and them : Social learning and intergroup bias

In recent years, research has demonstrated that the basic features of prejudice and discrimination emerge early in children’s development. These discoveries call into question the role of social learning in intergroup bias. Specifically, through what means do we learn to distinguish “us” from “them”? Here we explore this question, focusing on three key issues: how children respond to biased information they receive from others, how children selectively seek out certain types of biased information, and how children communicate biased information to others. We close by discussing the implications of this research for interventions to reduce stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination

Parent-child political value congruency

Bibliography: p. 78-84

An Island in the Lake of Fire: Bob Jones University, Fundamentalism, and the Separatist Movement

The Religious Right\u27s most dogmatic and resolute faction has its roots in three generations of the Bob Jones family of Greenville, South Carolina. An Island in the Lake of Fire is the first in-depth history of this militantly separatist, ultra-fundamentalist dynasty to be written by an outsider with the Joneses\u27 cooperation. Mark Taylor Dalhouse focuses on Bob Jones University (BJU) and the three colorful, charismatic Jones patriarchs, who, in succession, have led the school. Founded in 1927, BJU has a student population of five thousand; in addition, it boasts thousands more loyal, well-placed alumni not only in pulpits and Christian day schools across the country but also in elective offices and major corporations. Through their BJU network, and by their vigilance as self-appointed theological watchdogs, the Joneses have, since the 1950s, played a pivotal role in defining the extreme limits of American religious and cultural conservatism. Billy Graham and Jerry Falwell (whom Bob Jones Jr. labeled the most dangerous man in America ) are among the leading figures who have not measured up to BJU\u27s fundamentalist standards. The defining doctrine at BJU, says Dalhouse, is separation from secularism in the modern world. Drawing on interviews with Bob Jones Jr., Bob Jones III, and others at BJU, as well as on hitherto inaccessible archival sources at the school, Dalhouse discusses the school\u27s separatism in light of such factors as its refusal to seek accreditation and the stringent codes of dress, conduct, and even thought to which BJU students submit themselves. Attuned to the ironies and contradictions of the Joneses\u27 separatist enterprise, Dalhouse points to the high proportion of accounting and finance degrees awarded at BJU, the school\u27s widely admired cinema department (which has a Cannes Film Festival award to its name), and its nationally acclaimed Baroque and Renaissance art gallery. Dalhouse also challenges some widely held impressions about BJU that have circulated among its detractors, including assumptions about the regional makeup of the student body, and about the prospects of BJU students to gain entry into graduate programs at other schools. Filled with insights into the attitudes and personalities of the Joneses, An Island in the Lake of Fire offers a unique window into their influential, yet generally unrecognized, place in right-wing Christianity.https://digitalcommons.cedarville.edu/alum_books/1302/thumbnail.jp