This investigation examined the impact of social support messages on patient health outcomes. Forty-one American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian patients received a total of 618 e-mail messages from their healthcare provider (HCP). The e-mail messages were divided into 3,565 message units and coded for instances of emotional social…

The University of Alaska Southeast (UAS) has been given the responsibility for providing distance education in Alaska, a vast state geographically with a disperse population. With the vastness of the area for which UAS is responsible for providing educational opportunities, the only cost effective method to meet those responsibilities is distance…

This paper describes several electronic mail systems in use in Alaska. The University of Alaska Computer Network has had an electronic mail system since 1976 that connects its campuses throughout the state. The Department of Education also has had a mail system since the late 1970s that links the 53 school districts as well as the support and…

In this article, the authors show how two first year teachers a continent apart--Kim in the village of Tununak on the Bering Sea in Alaska and Chris in Beaufort, South Carolina, on the Atlantic Ocean--were able to take inquiry stances on their classrooms. In particular, through analysis of e-mails written in Chris' and Kim's first years of…

Considering questions relevant for teachers, students, researchers, and developers of educational innovations, this book centers on the words and experiences of the teachers and students who used QUILL--a system containing both computer-based tools and environments for writing. The first chapter introduces general issues on which the analysis of…

This document provides an overview of Alaska's Legislative Teleconference Network (LTN), which was created to broaden two-way contact between constituents and state legislators through the use of telephone, teleconferencing, and data communications. An executive summary precedes the main report, which focuses on the two entities of the Legislative…

Alaska has been forced by geography and weather to look at numerous innovative solutions to improving communication between families and schools. The Internet is showing more impact than any other technique that has been tried. This has been especially helpful to parents of children with disabilities, due to a severe shortage of special education…

A database that tracked information requests from University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) distance students using the Elmer E. Rasmuson Library's Off-Campus Services (OCS) indicated that, beginning in 2001, students became more self-reliant searchers. Reasons for this trend included: increased number of licensed online resources from which to choose;…