This empirical study examined undergraduate college students' perceptions about HyFlex/hybrid courses during the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 305 students (73 male, 234 female) completed an online survey that assessed technological strategies, instructional strategies, and perceptions about HyFlex classes. Students indicated that most of their…

In recent years, American universities have implemented many innovative strategies to enhance the academic success of students, especially those from underrepresented backgrounds. Yet first-generation and/or low-income (FLI) college students continue to encounter barriers to success because they do not have authentic access to digital technology…

Information-systems development continues to be a difficult process, particularly for virtual teams that do not have the luxury of meeting face-to-face. The research literature on this topic reinforces this point: the greater part of database systems development projects ends in failure. The use of virtual teams to complete projects further…

This study examined undergraduate college students' perceptions, general preferences, emotional responses, and comment themes with the transition to a virtual learning classroom during the COVID-19 pandemic from a college in the northeast United States. A total of 148 students (44 males, 104 females) completed an 18-item transition to virtual…

Experience from the fall 2020 semester suggests that fast, frequent testing can help mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in a large and diverse university community, but it must also be emphasized that testing is only one component of a coherent mitigation strategy. A comprehensive approach requires the application of epidemiology and science; rapid…

A growing program of research in science education acknowledges the beginnings of disciplinary reasoning in students' ideas and seeks to inform instruction that responds productively to these disciplinary progenitors in the moment to foster their development into sophisticated scientific practice. This dissertation examines secondary school…

This dissertation presents a qualitative case study of students enrolled in online courses and how they perceived the orientation program they completed before starting these courses. The study was based on the perspectives of students enrolled in a fully online program at a small community college in western Maine. They were interviewed…

In 2006, 4-H National Headquarters and National 4-H Council introduced an initiative aimed at increasing the number and quality of science, engineering, and technology programs that 4-H offers around the country, and increasing the number of youth involved in these programs. By engaging youth in informal science educational opportunities through…

Scientists' involvement in education has increased in recent years due to mechanisms such as the National Science Foundation's "broader impacts" expectations for research projects. The best investment of their effort lies in sharing their expertise on the nature and processes of science; film is one medium by which this can be done…

Maine is the first state to deliver "anytime, anywhere learning" to schools by providing laptop computers to every 7th and 8th grader in public schools statewide. It's an unprecedented attempt by a state to be a catalyst for school technology. The brainchild of then-Governor Angus King, the Independent who herded it through the…

Last summer, a truck arrived at Freeport Middle School in Freeport, Maine, and unloaded more than 130 laptops--one for every seventh-grade teacher and student. What had seemed to be an unlikely pipe dream months before suddenly was a reality. The seventh-grade teachers were eager to get involved in this project, even though they were not sure how…

This monograph describes the rationale and objectives set forth by the Commission on Maine's Common Core of Learning. The commission was charged, in 1989, with defining the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that all Maine students should have upon their graduation from high school. Commission meetings focused on what skills and attitudes students…

This article describes how the Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI) is changing the way the state's middle school students learn. MLTI is the largest education project in Maine's history, aimed at eliminating the digital divide by loaning a laptop to each seventh and eighth grade student and teacher in the state. The Initiative has put…

As everyone enters the 21st Century there is a great deal of discussion in business and education circles alike about the type of skills the youth will need to survive and thrive in this century. At the same time, there is little known today about the level of 21st Century skills students currently have. In part this is because, as a nation,…