Describes technical communicators' abilities to learn about software within organizational constraints and resources. Notes that these writers' tactics for learning software included using it themselves, talking to co-workers, studying program specifications, learning from comments on internal reviews, and studying old manuals. Evaluates each…

The potential of qualitative approaches to provide an informed critique of quantitative data, or a much richer understanding of motivation and attitudes toward information, was tested in 1994 in two Malawian rural communities. Results confirmed and questioned earlier quantitative studies; argues that the project is a model for practical,…

Describes a field study of four public libraries that examined the extent to which differences in local implementation of the Public Library Association's long-range planning process produced differences in planning outcomes. Reasons for deciding to plan, participant evaluation of the process, and specific outcomes are highlighted. (LRW)

A symposium was held to discuss the question, How and to what extent is technical and vocational education in Europe encouraging occupational mobility? Following the symposium, a series of visits was conducted to view innovative practices and experiments concerning this question; countries visited included Belgium, Switzerland, the United Kingdom,…

This is the story of how one man, Atawe, born in the remote village of Wiyava in the Eastern Highlands of (Papua) New Guinea in the mid-1950's has increasingly immersed himself in a lifestyle which, even just a few years before he was born, was completely unknown to his people. His story is traced as he progressed from a village where the language…

In September of 1981, the Fatherhood Project at Bank Street College in New York City began field research investigating the ways in which America's major social institutions were responding to the call for greater male involvement in childrearing. The research effort attempted to identify innovations in five major institutional sectors: the law,…

This final report of the Family and Community Studies Project (part of the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory) presents an investigation of the impact of three types of parent education programs on the participant families. The study examines the underlying change philosophy of each program and the changes that families participating in…

Uses the metaphor of "performance" from an interpretive perspective as a guide to understanding the nature of managerial communication. Develops three managerial processes of "rationality,""sociability," and "authority" and illustrates these processes with observational data from a field study of managerial…

In third world countries a key to the course of nation building is the modernization of the organizational and administrative infrastructures that drive the development process. The focus of this paper is the ministry of education (MOE), an institution that has found its role changed dramatically since midcentury in most Latin American nations. In…

Two designs of undergraduate terrestrial ecology and behavior field courses are described and compared. These include using a variety of projects and using a single individual research project. The relative educational benefits of each are considered and the advantages of each type of course are discussed. (Author/CW)

This monograph speaks to the general problem of helping schools improve their effectiveness and specifically is concerned with the nature of strategies most appropriate for use by university-based research and development personnel. The purpose is to identify and describe some of the more important features of effective, clinically oriented…

This report summarizes the classroom events associated with the implementation of trial mathematics curriculum materials at five community schools in Papua New Guinea. The field-notes prepared by classroom observers during the study of the Indigenous Mathematics Project formed the data base. Lessons implemented in at least four of the five sites…

A 4-year project, Conceptions of Reading, was established to provide information about how teachers use reading theories and models and other conceptions as they plan and carry out reading instruction. The nature of the methodology dictated that the over-all goal of the project be to characterize how teachers think about reading and their reading…

Presents the planning, implementation, and assessment of a four-week summer program entitled Florida Education in Geology and Ecology: FLEDGE-ling Camp for Girls. Exit surveys and follow-up interviews proved that girls learned most from field and hands-on activities. Outcomes included a change in view of science and scientists and an increase in…

Describes environmental projects completed by Worcester Polytechnic Institute students in Bangkok, Venice, and Guayaquil as part of a program studying the interaction of science or technology and society. The lessons provide a model for environmental education at other institutions. These interdisciplinary projects promote environmental awareness…