Search

Threaded discussion forums are asynchronous, World Wide Web-based discussions occurring under a number of different topics called threads. By allowing students to post, read, and respond to messages independently of time or place, threaded discussion forums give students an opportunity for deeper reflection and more thoughtful replies than chat and instant messaging sessions do. Research evidence strongly suggests that, by offering the following instructional benefits, threaded discussion forms are excellent tools for engaging online students: (1) they foster lively interaction between students and between students and faculty; (2) they serve as catalysts for active learning, group learning, and other types of learning requiring dialogue and the exchange of ideas and concepts; (3) they promote development of learning communities; (4) they motivate students to become highly engaged in their learning activities; and (5) they are well suited to covering topics that may be too sensitive, controversial, or personal for some students to discuss face to face. Instructors must also be aware that engaging students in threaded discussion forums may also add a great deal of reading to students' regular course load, distract students from equally or more important coursework, and create overwhelming work for instructors. (An annotated list of 13 online discussion resources and 15-item bibliography are included.) (MN)

The advent of the Internet, the World Wide Web, and global infrastructures for e-learning are revolutionizing how colleges and universities deliver degree programs to adult students. Benefits of on-line degree programs to working adults include flexibility, convenience, and time and cost savings. New technologies that greatly affect how online degree programs function include archivability, searchability, replicability, hypertext linkability, communication devices, and representation and modeling tools. Blackboard and WebCT provide a network without instructors having to build their own infrastructure. Comparing online programs is best done with an assessment tool such as the one Diane Billings developed in 2000, which compares faculty support, use of technology, educational practices, outcomes, and student support. Use of that tool to find the best online human resource degree programs in the United States yields a list of bachelor's degree programs (Indiana State University; University of Maryland University College; Western Governors University; Southwestern College) and a list of master's degree programs (Kennedy-Western University; Western Carolina University; Walden University; Upper Iowa University; Capella University). (The information on programs, amounting to over half of the paper, includes program foci, statistics, enrollment procedures, telephone numbers, and website addresses. The document contains 22 references.) (AJ)

This manual is a gaming simulation that career development professionals can use to promote awareness of and sensitivity to the job search experience encountered by their clientele. Goals of the simulation are to approximate a real life job search experience from different perspectives, while at the same time making it fun and interactive. Players participate in a complete job search consisting of the following areas: research, search, preparation, interview, and negotiation. The manual contains all the directions and materials needed to facilitate the simulation. Contents include the purpose of the game; learning objectives; audience; context for which the game is suited; facilitators' qualifications and duties; number of players; playing time; resources needed to play the game; directions; description of materials provided (role cards, name tags, tests for Station #1, online simulation of job search, classified section of newspaper, word of mouth cards, examples of application materials, interview personalities, interview questions, job proposals, and W-2 form); and debriefing ideas and questions. Descriptions of each of the six stations, including an objective, follow. Titles are Know Thyself; Seek and Ye Shall Find (a Job); Organization Station; Dress for Success; Interview U; and Negotiating Station. An appendix contains game materials. (YLB)

This publication describes counseling approaches supervisors and human resource professionals can use to help marginal employees become better adjusted and more productive in the workplace. Three case studies are also provided for training purposes. The counseling tools are as follows: (1) Adlerian counseling, involving the belief that humans' interest in the social aspects of life is a prime motivator for many behaviors; (2) behavioral and cognitive-behavioral approaches, which hold that all behaviors are learned, faulty thinking leads to inappropriate behavior, and old behaviors can be replaced by learning new behaviors; (3) existential counseling, focusing on the meaning of life and humans' responsibility and freedom of choice for deciding their fate; (4) gestalt therapy, focusing on the importance of being whole and understanding how earlier events affect current problems and stresses; (5) person-centered counseling, which holds that all humans are basically good and trustworthy and tend toward growth, awareness, and trust in self; (6) rational-emotive therapy, holding that humans are both rational and irrational and cause problems for themselves by what they think; (7) reality therapy, focusing on getting clients to realize what they are doing now and deciding whether it is working; and (8) transactional analysis, which holds that the decision to change and responsibility to change are the client's. Discussion questions follow each case study. (YLB)

In a brief introduction, this article calls giving and receiving feedback one of the most important skills a manager can possess, defines feedback, provides examples of giving and receiving feedback, highlights the importance and benefits of good feedback, and directs the reader to nine selected feedback resources on the World Wide Web. The second part of the article contains a short mini-assessment center activity intended as a feedback-learning simulation. Instructions for using the 32-minute activity, along with the necessary scenarios and feedback evaluation sheets, are included. The activity is intended for any group of supervisors or team members. (Author/KC)

This paper describes five maxims for an effective faculty mentoring program developed at Western Carolina University (North Carolina) designed to increase retention of new faculty. The first maxim, "ask what the program will do for the school," emphasizes that a program should not be undertaken until this question has been specifically and thoroughly answered. This section notes that at Western Carolina University (WCU) the mentoring program was set up to help new faculty and their families. typically from urban areas, adjust to a rural southern lifestyle. A description of the second maxim, "formality follows functionality," details how the WCU planners designed the function of their program and then let the content of the elements influence their decision about administrative policies and procedures. The third maxim, "choices increase chances for compatibility," discusses the central importance of the matching procedures that bring suitable mentors and mentees together. The fourth maxim, "helpers need helping too," shows the importance of support for mentors in manuals and support groups. The final maxim, "hindsight improves foresight," discusses the value of evaluation after the program's first year of operation. Three figures are included. (JB)

This document contains the materials required to play a gaming simulation titled "Night Rehearsal" that is designed to familiarize both nontraditional college students and college personnel with some of the challenges facing nontraditional students entering college. Presented first are a brief discussion of some of the barriers typically encountered by nontraditional students and five references on the topic. Next, an overview lists the rules of the simulation, which requires 2-3 hours and which is designed for 15-30 players. The remainder of the document contains the following materials about/for the simulation: conceptual frame, features relationship map, main characteristics representation grid, game materials list, background scenario, floor arrangement, rules and procedures, role play cards, forms, tests, chance cards, cumulative record, efficiency cards, name cards, diploma template, and answers to test questions. (MN)

A new species of Redudasys (Macrodasyida: Redudasyidae) is described from Texas and Oregon, U.S.A. A single Texas specimen was reported (but not formally described and named) in 2014 from an artesian outflow in Spring Lake, San Marcos, Texas. The Texas specimen provided the first record of Redudasys from outside Brazil. Fifteen specimens were found and studied in 2015 and 2016 from sand pockets among boulders in the Little Nestucca River, near Pacific City, Oregon. Redudasys neotemperatus n. sp. is morphologically and genetically distinguishable from Redudasys fornerise K(isielewski, 1987a), the only formally described species in the genus up until now, and morphologically distinguishable from ‘‘Redudasys sp.’’, an unnamed form reported by Garraffoni et al. in 2010 without genetic information. The Texas and Oregon specimens agree well morphologically and genetically., Marine Swedish Gastrotricha

FISH & WILDLIFE REFERENCE LIBRARY Technical Report #83-7-01 September 1983 DISTRIBUTION OF THE LARCH MOUNTAIN SALAMANDER (PLETHODON LARSELLI) IN OREGON With Notes on Other Plethodontids 'A X Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Nongame Wildlife Program DISTRIBUTION OF THE LARCH 14OUNTAIN SALAMANDER (PLETHODON LARSELLI) IN OREGON With Motes on Other Plethodontids James J. Kirk Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Nongame Wildlife Program Technical Report #83-7-01 September 1983 CONTENTS FIGURES AND TABLES ....................................................... ii ABSTRACT ................................................................. 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................. I STUDY AREA AND METHODS ................................................... 2 RESULTS .................................................................. 3 Distributional Records .............................................. 3 Pitfall Trapping