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This paper describes the attempt to use the Internet to study a particular student culture. The goal is to highlight the ethical and procedural issues encountered in the Internet study of an online student culture. The primary purpose of the study was to examine how closeted gay students experience their identity on campus and in an online environment. Other than the invitation to participate, no messages were sent to chat rooms and no conversations or discussions were initiated in the public forums. Researchers only responded to inquiries that were directed to them privately, and were careful to follow the community guidelines for chat rooms they entered. Ultimately 13 individuals consented to participate in the study, and 7 agreed to be interviewed online. In addition to the formal data collection, researchers engaged in more than 100 exchanges with potential participants. The research application was readily accepted by the college's institutional review board. Several technical problems were evident, especially with regard to Internet access. A positive aspect of the research was that costs for data collection were minimal. The greatest benefit of the approach was that the participants' anonymity was virtually assured. It also appears that the anonymous culture of the Internet caused many dropouts and no-shows among those the researchers expected to participate. The researchers thought that they were not altogether successful in negotiating the Internet culture, and they recognized some problems with reliability and validity. They did attract respondents from 11 different states and at least that many institutions, and they thought the study made a real contribution to knowledge about closeted gay students on campus. (Contains 12 references.) (SLD)

This study examined an institution that is in the process of developing programs and organizations to meet the new challenges faced by higher education. It reviewed the evolution of a new, boundary-spanning organization at a major research university from the perspective of the persons involved. The study looked at the experiences of the people within the organization, at how these experiences reflect a growing professional culture, and at the lessons to be learned by others in similar situations. Cross-sectional ethnographic data were gathered through observations of meetings, interviews, and content analysis of internal documents. Analysis found the data clustered around the following themes: (1) role ambiguity, (2) image management, (3) cultural differences between the study group and other campus units, (4) composition of the study group, and (5) external community service roles. Findings suggest that administrators and faculty will have to: spend considerable time managing constituencies; attend to how people communicate; avoid judging new organizations by conventional standards; and learn to be comfortable with ambiguity. The paper calls for a new language to address the emerging boundary-spanning organizational cultures. (Contains 18 references.) (CH)

Recognition of the school as a cultural phenomenon has implications for the way in which the new principal enters a fully operational school, defines a role, and attempts to exercise influence. This paper outlines a three-part general strategy whereby the new principal can become a participant in the ongoing negotiation of the school culture. First, the new principal must discover the culture of the school by learning how to read the competing sets of cognitions held by school participants. Second, through communication with school participants, the principal helps to shape the context and meanings that influence behavior. Third, the principal legitimizes meanings and reaffirms key values of the school culture. In the micropolitics of the school, the credibility of the new principal depends upon his or her capacity to manage the culture of the school. (Contains 45 references.) (LMI)

This study attempted to develop a reliable and valid instrument for assessing work environment and continuous quality improvement efforts in the non-academic sectors of colleges and universities particularly those institutions who have adopted Total Quality Management programs. A model of a work environment for continuous quality improvement was developed and an instrument was designed to assess non-academic staff's perceptions of the quality process, practices, and results at the University of Michigan (UM). A literature review identified major organizational and higher education models of quality improvement. Researchers designed a study instrument of 217 items which was evaluated by pilot testing with focus groups of UM staff. The final instrument consisted of 201 items that incorporated 35 "quality culture and climate" dimensions. Items focused on perceptions at the respondents' immediate work "unit" level. All permanent non-academic staff completed the questionnaire in February 1994. Of 10,400 questionnaires distributed 4,900 were completed and returned. Results were subjected to data reduction, index development, and reliability and validity testing from which 27 factors emerged. Reliability for indices ranged from .53 to .96. Extensive appendixes contain details of methodology, factor analyses, indices descriptions, and comparisons of conceptual categories and factor indices of a quality culture and a quality climate. (Contains 44 references.) (JB)

This paper reports a study in a technology-assisted Chinese teaching context where one major teaching objective is to encourage international students to participate in speech contests with the theme of 'Tell China, Tell Your Stories'. Results showed that through four weeks' preparation, all the students had a more robust method for presentation delivery and video making than before the project. Moreover, meeting conventional presentation standards was not only an issue of 'language learning', but also an issue of identity construction and negotiation. Finally, all participants had constructed positive ecocultural identities which encouraged respect for individuals, collaborative working, and a sustainable society. [For the complete volume, "Intelligent CALL, Granular Systems and Learner Data: Short Papers from EUROCALL 2022 (30th, Reykjavik, Iceland, August 17-19, 2022)," see ED624779.]

This proceedings documents an international workshop that focused on the research linking indigenous knowledge and indigenous learning with rural intervention programs. Research into indigenous knowledge and indigenous learning could lead to an improvement in rural intervention programs by building upon the knowledge and skills indigenous to rural communities. Individual presentations were on the following topics: (1) indigenous technological knowledge (ITK) in Malaysia relating to agriculture, fishing, forest resource exploitation, architecture, handicrafts, and indigenous medicine; (2) indigenous knowledge in Thailand and the need for ITK research and a close liaison between development workers, researchers, and politicians to safeguard relevance and applicability of research results; (3) the state of research on indigenous knowledge and indigenous learning in the Philippines; (4) research on indigenous knowledge and skills in Indonesia; (5) methodology of research on indigenous learning systems; (6) the application of research to assist intervention agencies; and (7) examples of research applications from coastal zone resources. This document includes summaries of the conference sessions and group discussions and a list of conference participants. (LP)

The "International Society for the Social Studies Annual Conference Proceedings" is a peer-reviewed professional publication published once a year following the annual conference. It contains the following papers: (1) Teacher Perceptions of Authentic Pedagogy: A Case Study of Professional Development in an African American High School's Government Class (Christopher Andrew Brkich); (2) Characteristics of Effective Secondary Level History Teachers (Brad Burenheide); (3) Teaching Secondary Social Studies in Inner-City Schools (Chris Busey); (4) Using the 2008 Election to Teach Political and Social Concepts (Chris Busey and Stewart Waters); (5) Culturally Responsible Teaching: A Pedagogical Approach for the Social Studies Classroom (Brandon M. Butler and Alexander Cuenca); (6) The Battle for Stalingrad: An Interactive Approach towards Learning about World War Two (Jeff Byford); (7) Are We Ready for Another Curriculum Revolution? Evaluating the Strength and Weaknesses of the New Social Studies Projects (Jeffrey Byford, Eddie Thompson, and Cody Lawson); (8) Whitewashed: Social Studies and Raceless Pedagogies (Prentice T. Chandler); (9) Social Studies Professors Theorizing: Insights from Two Decades of Deliberation and Collaboration (Richard H. Chant and Jeffrey Cornett); (10) Revisiting Political Socialization in Secondary Education: A Study of Government Classes in Three Demographically Diverse Schools during the 2008 Presidential Election (Wayne Journell); (11) Heritage Language Learners and the Social Sciences (Christopher John Kazanjian); (12) Global Citizenship Education in the Classroom: A Collaborative Canadian Study (Marianne Larsen); (13) Thematic World History: A Defense and Field Report (Christopher Dean Lee); (14) Utilizing a Personality Template in Differentiating Potential Teaching Styles of Pre-Service Teachers (Sean M. Lennon and Jeff Byford); (15) Who's Responsible for Citizenship Education? Views from Pre-service Educators (Leisa A. Martin); (16) SHOW & TELL: Choosing Appropriate Scaffolding Techniques to Make Social Studies Concepts Comprehensible to English Language Learners (Joyce Nutta and Carine Strebel); (17) Integrating Technology into Teaching Social Studies Methods Course: A Classroom Example (James Oigara); (18) You Tube as a Learning Tool (Russell Owens and Barbara Fralinger); (19) A Case for Infusing Content on Students with Disabilities into Social Studies Teacher Preparation Programs (Kimberly Pawling); (20) Universal Design for Learning in the Social Studies Classroom (Kimberly Pawling); (21) Thinking Critically or Thinking or Thinking Historically: Which Objective do we choose in Secondary History Classrooms? (Anthony Pellegrino); (22) Got History? An Examination of Attitudes, Content Knowledge, and Perceptions Related to Historical Fiction in a Children's Literature Pre-service Course (Sherron Killingsworth Roberts, Vicky Zygouris-Coe, and Patricia Crawford); (23) Enhancing History Instruction with Online Auctions (Kirk Robinson and Scott M. Waring); (24) Utilizing Film to Teach Social Issues (William B. Russell III); (25) Images of the Holocaust: Using Holocaust Art to Promote Higher Order Thinking Skills (William B. Russell III and Stewart Waters); (26) Talkin' the Talk and Walkin' the Walk: The NCSS Position Statements Regarding Controversial Issues Instruction (Kimberlee Sharp); (27) Cross-Border Education: A Basis for Wider Cross-Cultural Communication between Thailand and Cambodia (Sunida Siwapathomchai); (28) Identifying Culturally Responsive Practices in Classrooms Serving Haitian and Haitian American Students (Martha Scott Lue Stewart, Kevin Meehan, and Rosalyn Howard); (29) An International Model: Preparing Pre-Service Teachers for Cultural Diversity (Brenda S. Thompson); (30) Making the Most of Existing Technology in the Elementary and Middle Grades Social Studies Classroom (Scott M. Waring and Amy J. Good); (31) U.S. Monuments and Memorials: Incorporating the Art of Remembering into the Social Studies Curriculum (Stewart Waters); (32) Promoting Global Citizenship by Analyzing Social Issues and Human Rights Violations of the WWII Era (Stewart Waters and William B. Russell III); (33) Using Digital Storytelling for Vocabulary Instruction (Susan Wegmann); and (34) Film, Arts and Culture as Community Outreach Tools: Perspectives from Singapore (Victor Yu). (Individual papers contain references.)