Since its establishment through the Smith-Lever Act, the Cooperative Extension Service has sought to use non-formal education programs centered on community needs to provide research-based information. However, the onset of the information age has transformed the way knowledge is shared and as a result altered the way people access information.…

While the editors of "Across the Disciplines" were working at the Michigan State University (MSU) Writing Center in 2011, they began focusing on the issues of graduate writing support through their involvement with the graduate writing groups hosted through the MSU Writing Center, conducting research on the benefits of such groups. When…

Oakland University (OU) Libraries undertook an assessment of how to leverage its resources to make online tutorials more focused on users' needs. A multi-part assessment process reconsidered Web tutorials offerings through the lenses of faculty and staff feedback, literature review, and an analysis of other universities' online tutorial offerings.…

Within the context of a pilot leadership seminar, this participatory action research project explores how to effectively lead in turbulent learning environments regulated by federal policy that mandates high levels of student achievement coupled with a rigorous standards-based reform movement. Our analysis indicates: (a) adult development is a…

This report describes a program designed to enhance social studies skills and knowledge. The target areas for enhancement are geography, economics, history, and core democratic values. The need for strengthening these skills was documented by literature, and surveys. An analysis of probable cause for lack of social studies skills revealed that…

Describes the "Book Club Plus Inquiry Group," a group of classroom teachers and university teacher educators in Michigan involved in practitioner research. Offers perspectives from the group on the question of what counts as teacher research. Concludes with a model of their conception. (SR)

Describes a Learning Development Model developed by a Michigan school working to foster an evolving process of staff collaboration and curriculum integration. Supportive professional-development activities include staff-planned and -facilitated workshops, staff writing and sharing of learning activities, and local university partnerships requiring…

Educational collaboratives are organizations in which educational administrators, university and college faculty, classroom teachers, intermediate district staff, and graduate and undergraduate students share energy, expertise, time, and other resources to plan and implement joint programs of preservice and inservice education, action research,…

Two teacher educators utilized professional standards to inform their teaching. They used reflective dialog, action research, and critical inquiry in a standards-based language arts curriculum to support revisions and improvements in classroom practices and curriculum development. This led to new ideas about collaborative structures and stimulated…