The social underpinnings of learning make it important to understand how people experience themselves and form relationships in web-based educational environments. Social presence is a critical factor of a communication medium that plays an important role in building community and improving the effectiveness of instruction. The components of…

This paper explores auto-photography as a form of research practice in the area of identity and self-esteem research. It allows researchers to capture and articulate the ways identity guides human action and thought. It involves the generation and examination of the static images that participants themselves believe best represent them.…

This article looks closely at one instantiation of a poetry-centered practice as supported by June Jordan's Poetry for the People, specifically in the context of an inaugural poetry contest. It builds on an earlier empirical study, which investigated the partnership between Poetry for the People and one East Bay Area high school and the rich…

Studies described briefly in this paper indicate that use of cameras generates enthusiasm, develops self-concept, and increases communication skills. The content of the traditional ESL (English as a Second Language) materials is inadequate for dealing with either the syntactical or conceptual needs of (1) the silent child, (2) the child who can…

The "problem of the 21st century" is rapidly expanding diversity alongside stubbornly persistent status and power inequities by race, ethnicity, gender, class, language, citizenship and region. Extensive technological, economic, political and social changes, along with immigration, combine to produce a global community of great diversity…

This document is a prospectus for a pilot project being developed by Teacher Corps Rural-Migrant, University of Southern California, in cooperation with the Cutler-Orosi Unified School District in Tulare County, California. The project aims to "utilize visual literacy to teach English as a second language and to develop other communication…

Picturing Peace is an ArtsBridge collaboration in which K-12 students learn to use digital cameras to communicate their feelings and ideas about peace. The photographs of three student cultures were analyzed. Both local and universal symbols of peace were found, such as nature, light, community, environment, peace signs, play, spiritual symbols,…

The "ISSS Annual Conference Proceedings" is a peer-reviewed professional publication published once a year following the annual conference. (Individual papers contain references.) [For the 2009 proceedings, see ED504973.]