Teacher-education programs have the responsibility to prepare their future teachers by instilling in them the desire, confidence, and ability to be reflective practitioners, lifelong learners who continues to grow and develop professionally after graduation (Klenowski, 2000). In an effort to fulfill this responsibility, Teacher-education programs are beginning to make reforms to adhere to national standards, which prompt them to create alternative means for assessing pre-service teacher's performance and the success of the teacher-education program. One such alternative is the electronic portfolio. This study investigated the use of Louisiana colleges and universities' electronic portfolio system known as PASS-PORT. The purpose of this study was to predict the factors that contribute to the impact PASS-PORT's working portfolios have on pre-service teachers' learning of constructivist practices, confidence using technology, and technology skills. To analyze survey data, the researcher used the Partial Least Squares (PLS) approach to Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), which is a method for estimating the likelihood of the success of PASS-PORT given information about other factors that influence the use of PASS-PORT. (Falk & Miller, 1992). Of the most important findings, the research suggests that pre-service teachers' success of learning outcomes, as mentioned above, can be predicted by their infused use of PASS-PORT. In order to achieve infusion they must follow through the levels of use-frequency, routinization, and infusion. As pre-service teachers use PASS-PORT more often it will become a part of their routine and eventually lead to their use of the program to its maximum potential. Other contributing factors are explored.

Institutions are becoming more cognizant of preparing students for global leadership through measures such as service-learning and community service. Colby and her colleagues (2003) suggest that institutions should guide students to believe that they are members of a shared social structure. Black students are a group whose civic participation has sharply declined between the 1970s and 1990s (Putnam, 2000) when 50 years ago they were one of the most active civic groups (Davis, 1993). This exploratory study investigated the relationships between Black students citizenship perspectives and independent variables such as institution type, racial identity, gender, classification, major, age, and socioeconomic status (SES). This research included a total sample of 379 Black students who attended, one of four universities. These were, according to the Carnegie classifications: (1) a large public masters college and university I, predominantly White institution (PWI) in the South; (2) a large public masters college and university I, historically Black institution (HBI) in the South; (3) a large public doctoral-extensive, PWI in the South; or (4) a large public doctoral-extensive, HBI in the South. Students completed two surveys, the Revised Service Experience (RSE) survey and the Black racial identity scale (B-RIAS). This exploratory factor analysis study combined elements of citizenship related to values, knowledge, skills, efficacy, and commitment (Eyler & Giles, 1999) to create factors. After ensuring that the factors held meaning, they were used as dependent variables. The Black racial identity stages (Helms & Parham, 1985), which is the extent to which Blacks identify with other Blacks, were utilized as independent variables, along with institution type, major, age, gender, classification, and SES for subsequent regression models to explore the relationships to the citizenship factors. Results show that seven factors underlie the RSE, while three factors underlie the B-RIAS. Regression results indicate that students who possess higher racial identity stages score significantly higher on some civic measures than those students who possessed lower racial identity attitudes. Women scored significantly higher on some civic measures than men. Students who belong to a hard-science major scored significantly lower on some civic measures than students who belonged to soft-science majors.

The field of educational technology has been and continues to be an influential component within the vast array of educational strategies, pedagogies, plans, and processes designed to enhance student learning. Faculties are realizing the relevance and potential of educational technologies in their teaching and professional and personal growth. However, the distance between envisioning technological use and actual implementation is often a long, winding road for many educators.<p> University faculty members are in the midst of a strong emphasis by various stakeholders to travel that road and to travel it with speed and accuracy. The mainstream members of tertiary level faculties encounter both obstacles and support along the road in varying degrees and proportions. The purpose of this exploratory mixed methodology study was designed to reveal the voice of those often hesitant travelers and to determine the how, when, why, and why not of their choosing to integrate technology into their teaching and learning. Data were collected through a survey administered to faculty from three academic colleges and interviews of selected survey respondents.<p> Data were analyzed descriptively, by way of path analysis, and with the constant comparative method. This study attempted to provide insight into the processes of the adoption of innovation by mainstream faculty members, thus resulting in a Technology Integration Process Model. The results suggest that faculty members recognize potential benefits of technology in teaching and learning and that peer interactions and collegiality are significant in helping them learn new innovations and strategies. This fundamental knowledge is expected to inform the design of professional development relevant to those continuing on the journey and those who have not yet chosen to travel.

This case study investigates the methodologies used to deliver online course content to postsecondary students with varying learning disabilities. The research provides a holistic picture of the students in their actual learning environment. Two college students diagnosed as learning disabled were studied with three non-disabled classmates in an online college learning environment. The purpose was to attempt to explain how the design of the course affects the students attitudes and performance. The design of the course featured instructional methods that research has shown to be beneficial to students with learning disabilities. Some of these included digitally delivered instructional audio, various textual interactions between the students, and other assistive methodologies. The college level world history course for this study was taught via the World Wide Web through the Blackboard course management system. Interviews, observations, and academic documents were used to provide a complex, holistic picture of the learning experience of the students in this study. The course for this study was a traditional online course taught during the summer 2005 semester. The content and assessments for the students were the same as in previous offerings of the course and were identical for all students. The results provide an insight into the impact that these online instructional methods have on the students attitudes and learning strategies. The intention of this study was not to provide definitive answers to the problems that face students with learning disabilities in postsecondary education, but rather contribute to the body of knowledge of this sometimes overlooked element of academia. The results help explain the behavior of the participants of this study and how they reacted to the online environment in which they were place.

Leaders in higher education serve in a variety of roles and many times have very little administrative experience for the positions in which they serve. Radiologic technology program directors are the types of leaders who need strong leadership skills to meet the challenges of their role as program chairs. This study examined the responsibilities of program directors and their satisfaction with their leadership skills in relation to the responsibilities. In addition, the leadership styles of program directors were investigated to determine how those styles are related to the responsibilities and their satisfaction with their leadership skills. This study utilized a mixed methods approach in order to gain a better understanding of the responsibilities of program directors in radiologic technology and their level of satisfaction with their leadership skills as related to the responsibilities. An explanatory design was employed for this study in which qualitative data were used to expand the understanding of the quantitative data. The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) was administered in order to determine the leadership style, and the Leadership Matrix was used to measure the level of importance of responsibilities and the level of satisfaction with leadership skills in relation to the responsibilities of program directors. The quantitative data were collected by surveys which were mailed to 590 program directors in Joint Review Committee on Education in Radiologic Technology (JRCERT) accredited programs. Two hundred and eighty four program directors responded for a 48% response rate. Interviews were conducted with 13 program directors who responded to the quantitative portion of the study. Multiple regression and two-way ANOVA procedures were used to analyze the quantitative data, and themes and patterns were identified in the qualitative data. The findings of this study identified two responsibilities of program directors for professional development: budget and resources and faculty affairs. Additionally, relationships between program directors ratings of the level of importance of the responsibilities and leadership style, institution type, and program type were discerned. Finally, relationships between program directors levels of satisfaction with their leadership skills in relation to the responsibilities and leadership style, years of experience, and highest degree completed were established.

"Acting White" (Fordham & Ogbu, 1986) is a common term among researchers who study academic achievement and racial identity among minority students which signifies the tension some academically successful minority students experience as they excel in school. Black students who contend with such tension may be teased, alienated, or rejected by their peers who view academic achievement as characteristic of White people. In order to avoid the accusation of "acting White," many Black students underachieve, conceal their academic talents, or make no efforts to pursue academic goals. For Black female high-achieving students, "acting White" is laden with gender-specific strategies of "silence" to cope with the tension they experience (Fordham, 1993). This tension involves their attempt to dissociate from the stereotypical description of "loudness" for Black females. These students often suffer from a lack of socialization with their peers due to their choice of an academic identity while forsaking a positive racial identity. Such students are isolated from their Black peers, maintain low profiles, and remain detached from the social scene at school. The primary purpose of the present study is to examine the experiences of successful Black female students. Conducting such research is significant because many other studies on Black female students have focused on their deficits rather than success. Data collection for the study occurred through two phases. For Phase I, potential participants were given the Racial Identity Attitude Scale (RIAS-B) (McDermott & Spencer, 1996) to measure their level of racial identification. School records were analyzed to confirm their grade point averages. The six girls with the most positive outliers - the highest RIAS-B scores and the highest grade point averages, were invited to participate in Phase II. Phase II utilized ethnographic methodologies to investigate the participants' experiences at school, home, and in the community. Data collection techniques included document analysis, shadowing, participant-observation, semi-structured interviews, and focus groups. Results were coded to identify commonalities of the participants' experiences, and to distinguish characteristics that enable their success. This study shows how, theoretically, Black female students educated in an urban middle school "loudly" proclaim pride in their academic accomplishments and racial identity.

This study seeks to understand the perceptions of advisors and students about the TRIO Student Support Services they provide or receive, with particular attention to how their perceptions relate to best practice theories of developmental and prescriptive advising behaviors. By comparing the perceptions of stakeholders to the theory behind the services, a better understanding of the current advising practice of Student Support Services (SSS) is obtained. Data for this study were derived from the Academic Advising Inventory (AAI), a compilation of both advisors and students perceptions of services in SSS. Observations and quantitative data were used in this study. Five advisors and 25 students from three institutions participated in this study. Advisors and students overwhelmingly perceived developmental advising in observed advising sessions; however, advisors and students scores widely ranged. Advisors tended to overscore their advising behavior and students tended to underscore their advisors advising behavior. Inconsistencies were detected of perceptions of topic/activity frequency between advisors, students and me. Students also reported being very satisfied with the advising services they received in the SSS programs. Results of this study can be used to: 1) identify optimum advising behaviors in Student Support Services; 2) raise the importance and recognition level on the differences and similarities of advisor and student perceptions of services which can and do have an impact on the creation of advising policies; 3) recognize and understand kinds of discrepancies and homogeneity of advisor and student perceptions of advising services to assist and support the needs of disadvantaged students; 4) assess, design or revise advising training programs for SSS advisors and possibly for campus-wide advisor training programs as well.

This study provided insights about incorporating an online community of practice into a professional development program designed to facilitate the instructional implementation of technology. Two middle schools in a southern state served as a comparative case study where this model of professional development was implemented. The primary goal of this research was to gain understanding of how principals interact with teachers and the roles principals assume during these interactions. A second goal was to determine how teachers perceived principal participation and how their levels of competence and efficacy were influenced by this experience. During four weeks of implementation principals participated with their teachers as members of the online community. Qualitative data were collected from the online threaded discussions, focus group interviews with teachers, individual principal interviews, and periodic teacher self-reports. Quantitative data from a Likert-scale survey and unit plans scored with a numeric rubric were collected. Results showed that principal contributions to the online community fell into two categories: emotional support and professional support. In addition, principals noted that the any time, any place aspect of the online community of practice was beneficial and allowed them to increase communication with their teachers. Through their participation principals gained insight about their teachers beliefs about technology integration, their reactions to professional development, their varying levels of competence with technology, and their motivation to use technology. Challenges identified by principals included their limited technology proficiency, difficulties facilitating full participation by faculty, and time constraints. This experience also allowed teachers to gain insights about their principals priorities and their values and beliefs about learning. Findings revealed differences in the support and pressure strategies utilized by these principals which reflected varying leadership styles. These differences impacted teachers perceptions of the experience and the quality of the culminating activity. Techniques used to provide support, such as showing humor, encouraging competition, encouraging peer relationships and making suggestions had a positive impact on perceptions, whereas pressure had a positive impact on task performance. Implications of principal leadership style as exemplified through their participation in an online community of practice are discussed.

Statewide studies of school library media centers in at least sixteen states (other than Louisiana) indicate that effective school library media center programs have a positive impact on student achievement. According to these studies, effective school library media centers have: (a) a qualified library media specialist, (b) adequate support staff, (c) current and large collections, (d) access to information technology that is integrated into the curriculum, and (e) time for collaboration with the faculty. This study was developed to explore the role of technology in the collaborations between school library media specialists and teachers. Data revealed that interactions between school library media specialists and teachers concerning the use of technology to teach information literacy skills occurred with frequency and in a variety of ways at the three selected exemplary school library media centers. However, barriers sometimes prevented collaboration from resulting. Climate in the school library media center was found to be crucial to collaboration and to the teaching of information literacy skills. Data indicated that technology should be only one of the tools used in teaching of information literacy skills to students, although computer literacy skills were perceived as increasingly important in this effort. According to the data from the surveys, interviews, and observations, teachers and administrators perceived the library media specialist to be the person with expertise in both technology and information literacy on their campuses, thereby necessitating involvement in continuing professional development. The findings of these best practices of technology interactions and the teaching of information fluency skills led to the formation of the Integrated Model of Information Fluency for Student Learning.

This study explored the socialization experiences of African American male faculty at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and predominately White institutions (PWIs). Rosch and Reichs Enculturation Model was used as the theoretical framework. To gain a better understanding of the socialization experiences of African American male faculty, a group that has traditionally been underrepresented and marginalized in academia, Critical Race Theory (CRT) was incorporated into the study. More specifically, counter-storytelling, a basic tenet of CRT, was used to learn the stories that African American male faculty tell about their socialization experiences. A mixed methodology research design was utilized. Interviews were conducted with 16 full-time tenured and tenure-track African American male faculty at both institutional types in Phase I. In Phase II, 128 African American male participants responded to a questionnaire about their socialization experiences. The findings of this study revealed that the experiences of African American males in the academy were both rewarding and challenging. The stories that participants told revealed a number of differences in the socialization experiences of African American male faculty at HBCUs and PWIs. However, quantitatively there was no difference in the socialization experience of African American male faculty at HBCUs and PWIs.