The Digital Enquirer

Suzanne P. Stokes, Ph.D. Troy State University, AL Krista P. Terry, Ph.D. Radford University Abstract Nontraditional students in an upward mobility nursing track delivered largely through distance learning technologies enroll in a one-hour credit elective course to learn skills required for success in the online learning environment. The course, "Introduction to Technology in Nursing Education," began as a traditional classroom course. Its transformation to an online course reflects strengths inherent through using a systematic instructional design process in course development. An overview of the Dick, Carey, and Carey (2002) model of instructional design, examples of design components reflected in the course, and illustrations of instructional objectives and strategies from the lessons are presented. Introduction Designing and developing online learning environments for purposes of allowing students access to course materials, methods in which they can interact with content...

Martin Horejsi Beverly B. Ray Idaho State University Introduction The National Council for the Social Studies (2001) defines responsible citizenship as “the knowledge, skills, and attitudes [required if one is to] assume the ‘office of citizen’ in our democratic republic” (p. 319). “A critical purpose of the educational institution in a democratic society is to prepare its citizens for their role as participants in that society…[as]…full and equal citizens” (Lindsay & Justiz, 2001, p. 7). In fact, education for all students is a moral mandate in a civil society (Dewey, 1944; Parker, 2001). To ready students for civil life, America’s public schools are charged with the task of educating all students for responsible citizenship. While opportunities exist throughout the curriculum, elementary social studies classrooms provide many opportunities to foster citizenship skills and dispositions (Parker, 2001; Maxim, 2003). Citizenship education includes helping all students contribute and ...

Jennifer A. Alexiou-Ray Elizabeth Wilson Vivian H. Wright & Ann-Marie Peirano University of Alabama Abstract Attitudes of students, school personnel, and parents toward technology use within schools are an important and often overlooked component of successful curriculum integration of technology. Due to negative responses toward increased technology use in her classroom, one teacher engaged in an action research study to explore why students, parents, and other school personnel were resistant to technology integration. Students, once accustomed to the changed classroom environment, were excited to be engaged in new types of learning experiences. School personnel were pleased with the accessibility of classroom information and support services technology provided. Lastly, parents noted that though the style of teaching was different, it offered many new possibilities for their children. From the results of the surveys, it appears that much of the initial resistance to technology in...