This document presents the proceedings of 16th Annual Research Forum held June 15, 2011, at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Included herein are the following 25 action research papers: (1) The Effects of Prompted Math Journaling on Algebra 1 Students' Achievement and Attitudes (Heidi I. Arnold); (2) Group Work and Attitude…

At least 10% of students in private Christian schools are considered students with special needs. Private Christian schools vary in the degree to which they educate these students and in the approaches that they take toward educating them. This study examines whether or not private Christian Schools are allowing students with special needs access…

The need for alternative education programs that work is paramount in light of the nation's public education crisis. The problem is that alternative education programs fail to adequately address the issues that At-Risk students bring to, and face in, the alternative and/or the traditional classroom. This study utilized a qualitative and a…

The 21 urban research universities that are members of the Great Cities' Universities (GCU) annually enroll approximately 20 percent of the students in the United States who are preparing to teach in K12 urban schools. This study examined the experiences of GCU-sponsored, school-university teacher preparation partnerships in Atlanta, Houston,…

Providing tools for dialogue exchange does not ensure that students will respond to teammate postings or that online groups will grow in cohesiveness (Murphy, 2004). Students decide whether or not to reply, and it is increasingly important to understand how students make these decisions due to the increase in distance education, Millennials, and…

This article describes one university's approach to developing collaborative alliances within the university and between members of the university community and stakeholders in the community. As this five-year initiative moved from Phase 1, the internal component, to Phase 11, the external component, training was offered to members of funded…

This whitepaper outlines the development and use of the Zing team learning system (TLS) and suggests this tool represents a new breed of collaborative tool for the development of useable knowledge arising from group learning and problem solving. A key feature of this tool is that it scaffolds the learner's use of the thinking and decision making…

Project TRREE is a three-year, federally funded project conducted by the Kentucky Department of Education. The purpose of the project is to develop a systemic approach to increase the number of highly qualified special education teachers with a focus on recruitment of linguistically, culturally and ethnically diverse educators. Taskforce members…

This qualitative study explored how collaborative technologies influence the informal learning experiences of virtual team members. Inputs revealed as critical to virtual informal learning were integrated, collaborative technological systems; positive relationships and trust; and organizational support and virtual team management. These inputs…

How does individual learning impact team learning? Through an exploratory case study, data was collected from questionnaires, documentation review, observations, and interviews. Three themes emerged describing how an autonomous learner affected team learning. The results indicated that the autonomous learner influenced team learning through…

A year-long collaborative action research project used networked technologies to connect researchers at a university-based online professional development program and a group of practitioner researchers based in a range of schools and educational agencies in several countries. They studied the process and effects of online professional development…

This paper examined the nature of open and distance learning institutions as organizations where synergy of efforts of all personnel is required in order to achieve the aims and objectives of the institution. It explored the huge infrastructural and personnel requirements of distance learning institutions, especially at inception, and the…

As yet little research into the perspectives of Chinese students studying in mainland China's Higher Education Institutions has been undertaken. This paper explores the issue of students' support needs and presents the findings of a study carried out in 2005-2007 at a public university in North East China. The Action Research method used…

Since school psychologists enact an important role on a crisis team, they need to increase their awareness and knowledge of both terrorism and crisis management. This paper and accompanying workshop address three objectives: (1) School psychologists will increase their awareness and knowledge of the threat, nature, elements, types, targets, and…

A weak negative attitude towards learning science was noticed among the students in Qatar, a matter that was reflected on their achievement in national tests. To test if the use of PBL would improve the students' attitudes towards learning science, a sample of 25 nine graders from Hamza school were motivated to plan their own investigations and to…