Development of Design Guiding Principles For Constructivist-Based Distance Learning Environments

K-12 teachers are struggling to design effective learning environments that meet the future needs of their students.A number of individuals have suggested that a relatively new theory of learning, constructivism, supports visions of the 21st century, technology-rich, classrooms. The role of technology in the learning process has steadily in-creased as access has opened classrooms to the world providing teachers and students with expanding learning opportunities. The advent of increased access to world-linking technology has increased the use of distance education to enrich and expand the learning landscape for students. To support and facilitate teachers responses to these changes in their classrooms, this project sought to identify a core of instructional design guiding principles for constructivist based distance learning environments. A panel of knowledgeable individuals in the areas of constructivism and technologically mediated education participated in an electronic study. The information produced by the study will be used to further identify designs, examples, and elements for teacher will be available for planning of in service experiences and mentoring processes in the future

Curbing the Spread of Disinformation Through User Interface Design

Solutions to the problem of the spread of disinformation have come from a variety of disciplines. However, little academic research has examined the whether or not the user interface design of social media platforms could affect the spread of disinformation. Drawing from research from the uses and gratifications paradigm and technological affordances, this study examines user behavior on three versions of a researcher-created news sharing social networking service, called The Hive. Findings were inconclusive about the modifications tested in this study but nevertheless revealed interesting patterns in user behavior. This project, by closely examining the relationship between user interface design and user behavior, sheds new light on the problem of disinformation by arguing that users can be prompted to be more active consumers of news through changes in the interface

Design and training for implementation of constructivist-based distance learning environments

In response to societal shifts, K-12 teachers are attempting to design responsive, effective learning environments. A body of theory titled Constructivism has become increasingly important as a foundation for the design of learning environments that prepare students for the future demands of adulthood;When knowledge is being constructed, the tools to support that construction become important. Societal demands, new visions about learning, emerging technology, and connectivity to the information superhighway are offering educators the opportunity and the challenge to rethink and restructure the way they go about designing effective learning environments;This project identified a design guiding framework for constructivist-based distance education and the knowledge necessary for its implementation by distance educators. The intent of the framework is to assist teachers in the creation of constructivist-based distance education learning environments and the staff development needed to support the process. The framework is the result of a Delphi consensus building procedure in which the goal of the Delphi was to identify teacher training elements used for implementation of constructivist-based distance learning environments;The Delphi was carried out via the World Wide Web. The panel members came to moderate or high consensus that a majority (69%) of the items were important or very important for teachers to know or be able to do to implement the learning environments. While the discussion of teacher training needs for the implementation of constructivist-based distance learning environments was extensive, several threads continually reappeared. (1) Learning guide or facilitator roles for teachers; (2) Training needs of students to carry out learning strategies; (3) Embedding of assessment within the learning process; (4) Creation and facilitation of problem-based learning; (5) Multiple approaches to knowledge development;The results focused on the learning process, while technology was relegated to a secondary supporting role. The findings can assist those charged with developing the training program to support the implementation of constructivist-based distance education. Finally noted was the fact that change of this magnitude will require careful and extensive staff development for those teachers expected to effectively create constructivist-based distance learning environments

The Narrator of the Short Poetry of Thomas Hardy

Throughout the poetry of Thomas Hardy, excluding The Dynasts, there reappears a characteristic and constant narrator device which Hardy employs to force the reader to maintain perspective and objectivity upon the action of the poems and to provide a framework of attitudes and conclusions by which the reader can judge the content of the poems

Dealing honestly with an honest mistake

A 70-year-old woman was admitted for a symptomatic left iliofemoral deep vein thrombosis. She underwent percutaneous mechanical thrombectomy, followed by overnight thrombolysis. The next day her clot had resolved, and a culprit left iliac vein stenosis was identified. After stent placement, a heparin infusion was initiated and the patient was taken back to the ward. At 11 the evening after the procedure, the resident on call was contacted to verify the written order. The resident stated that the heparin dose was to be 250 U/h; however, the nurse documented 2500 U/h and changed the infusion pump at the patient's bedside. At 5:30 the next morning, the resident was notified that the patient's partial thromboplastin time was >300 seconds and promptly shut off the heparin infusion. No noticeable adverse events occurred because of the high heparin dosing. The charge nurse was notified, as was risk management. What should the patient be told

Impact of sample collection participation on the validity of estimated measures of association in the National Birth Defects Prevention Study when assessing gene-environment interactions

To better understand the impact that nonresponse for specimen collection has on the validity of estimates of association, we examined associations between self-reported maternal periconceptional smoking, folic acid use, or pregestational diabetes mellitus and six birth defects among families who did and did not submit buccal cell samples for DNA following a telephone interview as part of the National Birth Defects Prevention Study (NBDPS). Analyses included control families with live born infants who had no birth defects (N = 9,465), families of infants with anorectal atresia or stenosis (N = 873), limb reduction defects (N = 1,037), gastroschisis (N = 1,090), neural tube defects (N = 1,764), orofacial clefts (N = 3,836), or septal heart defects (N = 4,157). Estimated dates of delivery were between 1997 and 2009. For each exposure and birth defect, odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were calculated using logistic regression stratified by race-ethnicity and sample collection status. Tests for interaction were applied to identify potential differences between estimated measures of association based on sample collection status. Significant differences in estimated measures of association were observed in only four of 48 analyses with sufficient sample sizes. Despite lower than desired participation rates in buccal cell sample collection, this validation provides some reassurance that the estimates obtained for sample collectors and noncollectors are comparable. These findings support the validity of observed associations in gene-environment interaction studies for the selected exposures and birth defects among NBDPS participants who submitted DNA samples

Wrongful Convictions: Science, Experience, and the Law

3.5 MCLE Credit Hours Schedule: 10:30-11:00 - Registration/Check-In 11:00-12:00 - Introduction to the science behind exonerations by Bradford Jenkins of the Virginia Department of Forensic Science 12:00-12:45 - Lunch 12:45-2:15 - Panel on the Human Experience of wrongful convictions from varying perspectives (Mike Herring - Commonwealth\u27s Attorney, Doug Ramseur - Defense Counsel, Shawn Armbrust, Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project) 2:15-2:30 - Break 2:30-3:30 -Legal wrap up of where we are in Virginia on reforms, discussion of case law and relevant statutes by Brandon Garrett, Professor of Law at the University of Virginia 3:30-4:30- Receptio

Teachers\u27 Training in Distance Education and Their Willingness to Use the Technology After the Completion of Inservice Training

Education is changing. A paradigm shift has occurred within education as the world has moved from the industrial age to the information age (Reigeluth, 1994; Toff ler, 1990). This shift has provided educators with technological innovations that have created new environments of teaching and learning; environments that no longer support the assembly line view of industrialized education. Reigeluth (1994) describes industrialized education as education which treats all students the same; all students are expected to do the same thing at the same time. This sameness forces students to be passive learners and passive members of their school community. Information age education can create environments that see the student as an active participant in the construction of new knowledge. Technology offers an empowering environment for meeting the needs of the students in this new age; an environment that offers a chance for active student-constructed learning and adventurous risk-taking teaching (Dede, 1990; Sheingold, 1990)

Editorial: Technology Leadership for the Teacher Education Initiative

Teacher education leaders must attend to leadership practices that set direction, develop people, and redesign their programs of teacher education in order to develop technology, pedagogy, and technology knowledge and skills in preservice teachers. A planning framework to be used at the 2012 National Technology Leadership Summit is presented here. It highlights focus group results from deans and other college of education leaders as to the context-specific products and processes they would need to create at the local level