University students of tomorrow: Changing experiences, changing expectations, changing brains

The rapid pace of technological change is becoming a catalyst to a growing group of college students who are essentially digital natives. Metropolitan universities need to become aware that these students have considerably different experiences, expectations, and even brains than past students. Universities must carefully adjust their programs and teaching methods if they are to retain these students and prepare them for a digital society. This article describes the basis for this call to action

Perspectives on the Use of Internet in Art Classrooms

With the emergence of Internet technology, students have the opportunity to develop skills necessary to live, work and play in the 21st century. More than ever before, students will need to be competent in accessing and managing information from a variety of sources. The Internet allows students to engage in global communication, as well as access the most current information available. For art education, the Internet also provides a real opportunity to blend multicultural, multi-age, gender-inclusive educational reform into the art curriculum by incorporating visual resources and contextual information from many different cultures

Teachers\u27 Authentic E-learning

If professional development is understood to be teachers’professional learning, then authentic professional development occurs when we actively learn—and reflect on that learning, both individually and collaboratively—as we teach. What might characterize authentic learning for teachers—especially as it applies to using Internet tools and resources in the classroom? A series of research studies we have been doing provides some interesting insights into and potential answers to this question

Correlates Among Teachers\u27 Anxieties, Demographics, and Telecomputing Activity

Are educators\u27 anxiety levels or demographics related to their voluntary use of networked resources? In this study, one year of logins and online time for 189 randomly selected educators with accounts on Tenet (Texas Education Network) were correlated with six inter-level subject attribute variables: (a) writing apprehension, (b) oral communication apprehension, (c) computer anxiety, (d) age, (e) teaching experience, and (f) telecomputing experience. The usage data were also correlated with three nominal-level subject attribute variables: (a) gender, (b) professional specialty, and (c) teaching level. Results indicated that writing apprehension was significantly and negatively correlated with network use, and that telecomputing experience and online time were significantly and positively correlated. No other subject attribute variables were found to be correlated with logins or time spent online. These results, and the lack of significant relationships for computer anxiety and oral communication apprehension, lead the authors to suggest that writing apprehension be addressed within the contexts of initial telecomputing training, and increased access to telecommunications tools be made available as users\u27 online experience increases

Using Web Pages to Teach Mathematical Modeling: Some Ideas and Suggestions

Mathematical modeling can perhaps be best defined as “the process of scientific inquiry” for mathematics. This is obviously a comfortable mode for teachers of science, but is rarely seen in the mathematics classrooms of today. This paper explores the possibilities of using interactive web pages to help facilitate an understanding of practical applications based mathematics. Because the scientific process is emphasized as the general operating framework, situations where students can hypothesize and experiment, and create data tables are most valuable. Special emphasis is placed on the fact that students and teachers both need to re-conceptualize effective mathematics instruction in order to really embrace a modeling approach

Sundials and Their Shady Past

Throughout history, patterned approaches to determining and subdividing time have been considered among the greatest natural mathematical connections ever conceived by mankind. Over the years, this mathematical quest for time has certainly been shrouded in utility (as evidenced by atomic clocks that are accurate to within trillionths of a second by using the mathematically predictable resonance frequencies of elements such as Cesium), but the more romantic and aesthetic virtues of historical time pieces lie in the interplay between pure mathematics and architectural beauty. Although the movement of celestial bodies relative to one another has acted as a basis for the historical development of time telling devices, it is the clocks themselves that provide clues to human insights, ingenuity, and romance. And so it follows that perhaps history really is written in the stars

TPACK Development in Teacher Education: A Longitudinal Study of Preservice Teachers in a Secondary M.A.Ed. Program

How does preservice teachers\u27 knowledge for technology integration develop during their teacher preparation program? Which areas of their knowledge develop most naturally, and which areas require more scaffolding? In this mixed-methods, descriptive study of preservice teachers enrolled in an 11-month M.A.Ed. program, we sought to trace the development of participants\u27 technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) over time. Comparisons of self-report surveys, structured reflections, and instructional plans at multiple data points spanning the three-semester program revealed significant development of the participants\u27 technological pedagogical knowledge (TPK) and technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK), but only limited growth in technological content knowledge (TCK)

Correlates Among Teachers’ Anxieties, Demographics, and Telecomputing Activity

Are educators\u27 anxiety levels or demographics related to their voluntary use of networked resources? In this study, one year of logins and online time for 189 randomly selected educators with accounts on Tenet (Texas Education Network) were correlated with six interval-level subject attribute variables: (a) writing apprehension, (b) oral communication apprehension, (c) computer anxiety, (d) age, (e) teaching experience, and (f) telecomputing experience. The usage data were also correlated with three nominal-level subject attribute variables: (a) gender, (b) professional specialty, and (c) teaching level. Results indicated that writing apprehension was significantly and negatively correlated with network use, and that telecomputing experience and online time were significantly and positively correlated. No other subject attribute variables were found to be correlated with logins or time spent online. These results, and the lack of significant relationships for computer anxiety and oral communication apprehension, lead the authors to suggest that writing apprehension be addressed within the contexts of initial telecomputing training, and increased access to telecommunications tools be made available as users\u27 online experience increases