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Efforts to bring pre-service and in-service teacher education together need to include changes in the ways educators think about student teaching, teachers, and schools. They need to move from the student teaching as bridge, teachers as artisan, and schools as facilities for production metaphors. Instead they need to change their thinking to see teaching as an ever changing inquiring, problem-solving endeavor, and to see schools as learning communities directly and concretely connected with the university as a learning community. Several factors can inhibit establishing such a vision. The first, inertia, can be overcome only by convincing individuals to participate in change for reasons with which they can personally identify. Organizational and structural obstacles to change require uncalculated work and personal effort often poured into simply making things work. Personal and attitudinal resistance to change among faculty is a serious obstacle which some faculty will not overcome. There must be a mechanism for these individuals to choose not to participate as well as a means for others to drop out in a face-saving way. Errors in perception and conception of the meaning of the change must also be anticipated. A final inhibitor is the time and energy required of large-scale substantial change and these demands must be anticipated and provided for. (JB)

Efforts to bring pre-service and in-service teacher education together need to include changes in the ways educators think about student teaching, teachers, and schools. They need to move from the student teaching as bridge, teachers as artisan, and schools as facilities for production metaphors. Instead they need to change their thinking to see teaching as an ever changing inquiring, problem-solving endeavor, and to see schools as learning communities directly and concretely connected with the university as a learning community. Several factors can inhibit establishing such a vision. The first, inertia, can be overcome only by convincing individuals to participate in change for reasons with which they can personally identify. Organizational and structural obstacles to change require uncalculated work and personal effort often poured into simply making things work. Personal and attitudinal resistance to change among faculty is a serious obstacle which some faculty will not overcome. There must be a mechanism for these individuals to choose not to participate as well as a means for others to drop out in a face-saving way. Errors in perception and conception of the meaning of the change must also be anticipated. A final inhibitor is the time and energy required of large-scale substantial change and these demands must be anticipated and provided for. (JB)

Efforts to bring pre-service and in-service teacher education together need to include changes in the ways educators think about student teaching, teachers, and schools. They need to move from the student teaching as bridge, teachers as artisan, and schools as facilities for production metaphors. Instead they need to change their thinking to see teaching as an ever changing inquiring, problem-solving endeavor, and to see schools as learning communities directly and concretely connected with the university as a learning community. Several factors can inhibit establishing such a vision. The first, inertia, can be overcome only by convincing individuals to participate in change for reasons with which they can personally identify. Organizational and structural obstacles to change require uncalculated work and personal effort often poured into simply making things work. Personal and attitudinal resistance to change among faculty is a serious obstacle which some faculty will not overcome. There must be a mechanism for these individuals to choose not to participate as well as a means for others to drop out in a face-saving way. Errors in perception and conception of the meaning of the change must also be anticipated. A final inhibitor is the time and energy required of large-scale substantial change and these demands must be anticipated and provided for. (JB)

Efforts to bring pre-service and in-service teacher education together need to include changes in the ways educators think about student teaching, teachers, and schools. They need to move from the student teaching as bridge, teachers as artisan, and schools as facilities for production metaphors. Instead they need to change their thinking to see teaching as an ever changing inquiring, problem-solving endeavor, and to see schools as learning communities directly and concretely connected with the university as a learning community. Several factors can inhibit establishing such a vision. The first, inertia, can be overcome only by convincing individuals to participate in change for reasons with which they can personally identify. Organizational and structural obstacles to change require uncalculated work and personal effort often poured into simply making things work. Personal and attitudinal resistance to change among faculty is a serious obstacle which some faculty will not overcome. There must be a mechanism for these individuals to choose not to participate as well as a means for others to drop out in a face-saving way. Errors in perception and conception of the meaning of the change must also be anticipated. A final inhibitor is the time and energy required of large-scale substantial change and these demands must be anticipated and provided for. (JB)

Currently, university composition programs are experimenting with the delivery of online writing courses, without the component of face-to-face interaction. To assess the efficacy of this delivery medium, a study compared two groups of undergraduate students in a course on argumentative writing taught by the same instructor: one group taking the course in an onsite computer-networked classroom (n=20) and the other taking the course online (n=16). In both groups, students had opportunities for synchronous and asynchronous electronic interactions about readings and text production, including group work, hands-on workshop activities, guided discussions, and peer response sessions. The distinguishing characteristic was the absence of the face-to-face component in the online class. With each writing assignment--four argumentative texts of 1,000-1,200 words and a longer research paper--students went through the cycle of determining their purpose and audience, brainstorming, drafting, revising, and editing their work before they submitted a final draft for review to the instructor. Of particular importance for the study during this recursive process were the peer response sessions in which students, working in groups of three, engaged. A collaborative learning survey that measured students' post-treatment attitudes revealed no significant difference between groups in regard to sense of belonging to a discourse community. An audience awareness rubric measured students' ability to inscribe or to represent audience in argumentative discourse. Mean scores for online students were higher than they were for onsite students. Eight appendixes contain a model, survey data, and 6 audience awareness traits. (Contains 30 references.) (NKA)

Currently, university composition programs are experimenting with the delivery of online writing courses, without the component of face-to-face interaction. To assess the efficacy of this delivery medium, a study compared two groups of undergraduate students in a course on argumentative writing taught by the same instructor: one group taking the course in an onsite computer-networked classroom (n=20) and the other taking the course online (n=16). In both groups, students had opportunities for synchronous and asynchronous electronic interactions about readings and text production, including group work, hands-on workshop activities, guided discussions, and peer response sessions. The distinguishing characteristic was the absence of the face-to-face component in the online class. With each writing assignment--four argumentative texts of 1,000-1,200 words and a longer research paper--students went through the cycle of determining their purpose and audience, brainstorming, drafting, revising, and editing their work before they submitted a final draft for review to the instructor. Of particular importance for the study during this recursive process were the peer response sessions in which students, working in groups of three, engaged. A collaborative learning survey that measured students' post-treatment attitudes revealed no significant difference between groups in regard to sense of belonging to a discourse community. An audience awareness rubric measured students' ability to inscribe or to represent audience in argumentative discourse. Mean scores for online students were higher than they were for onsite students. Eight appendixes contain a model, survey data, and 6 audience awareness traits. (Contains 30 references.) (NKA)

Integrated school-community projects benefit both the rural community and the rural school in many ways. On the community side, such projects can stimulate the local economy, improve the quality of life, and strengthen the bonds of community. Schools gain resources and community support for educational initiatives, have the opportunity to develop an academic program rooted in experience, and can help students connect to the roles and responsibilities of adult society. Integrated school-community projects are best pursued through a formally organized collaborative group. Collaborative arrangements give structure to the process of developing an initiative, can help to bridge the factionalism that often arises within a community, provide a forum for airing concerns in a productive way, maintain support and stability during changes in personnel or politics, increase the available pool of resources, and build local capacity for other community development efforts. Eight basic steps in the collaborative process are briefly described: convening a group, assessing strengths and needs, establishing purposes and priorities, learning to work well together, planning projects, implementing the plans, assessing the results, and sustaining achievements. This Collaborative Action Team process is undergoing testing and refinement at 22 sites in 5 Southwestern states. (SV)

Integrated school-community projects benefit both the rural community and the rural school in many ways. On the community side, such projects can stimulate the local economy, improve the quality of life, and strengthen the bonds of community. Schools gain resources and community support for educational initiatives, have the opportunity to develop an academic program rooted in experience, and can help students connect to the roles and responsibilities of adult society. Integrated school-community projects are best pursued through a formally organized collaborative group. Collaborative arrangements give structure to the process of developing an initiative, can help to bridge the factionalism that often arises within a community, provide a forum for airing concerns in a productive way, maintain support and stability during changes in personnel or politics, increase the available pool of resources, and build local capacity for other community development efforts. Eight basic steps in the collaborative process are briefly described: convening a group, assessing strengths and needs, establishing purposes and priorities, learning to work well together, planning projects, implementing the plans, assessing the results, and sustaining achievements. This Collaborative Action Team process is undergoing testing and refinement at 22 sites in 5 Southwestern states. (SV)

Two College of Education faculty members describe their journeys as "professors in residence" immersed in schoolwide change efforts at two different partnership schools. Collaboration with school staff, students' families, and community agencies led to the formation of significant alliances that contributed to the process of school improvement and change. Implications for collaboration among stakeholders, engaged scholarship, and lessons learned are discussed.

Fresno Transformative Climate Communities Collaborative Quarterly Meeting March 13, 2019. http://www.transformfresno.com/

Fresno Transformative Climate Communities Collaborative Quarterly Meeting March 13, 2019. http://www.transformfresno.com/

Fresno Transformative Climate Communities Collaborative Quarterly Meeting March 13, 2019. http://www.transformfresno.com/

Fresno Transformative Climate Communities Collaborative Quarterly Meeting March 13, 2019. http://www.transformfresno.com/

Fresno Transformative Climate Communities Collaborative Quarterly Meeting March 13, 2019. http://www.transformfresno.com/

Fresno Transformative Climate Communities Collaborative Quarterly Meeting March 13, 2019. http://www.transformfresno.com/

The paper introduces some promising cases of social innovation and discusses the possibility/opportunity of moving from them to conceive and develop sustainable enabling solutions. In particular, it focalises two clusters of cases (the creative communities and the collaborative networks) that permit to build a new and practicable vision of a sustainable future: the multi-local society. A vision that should have the capability to catalyze the action of different social actors in a sustainable direction.

RAED provides a computerised infrastructure to support the development and administration of Vicarious Learning in collaborative learning communities spread across multiple universities and workplaces. The system is based on the OASIS middleware for Role-based Access Control. This paper describes the origins of the model and the approach to implementation and outlines some of its benefits to collaborative teachers and learners.

This research was conducted as part of Project CIRCLE, a collaborative project between the University of Texas at Austin College of Education, the Austin Independent School District, and the Eanes Independent School District. The intent of the project was to establish collaborative knowledge-building communities in high school classrooms among secondary students and teachers and university students and faculty supported by innovative constructivist uses of computer technology. The primary goal was to determine the effects of such knowledge-building communities on students' approaches to learning. The study took place in one inner city and one suburban high school in the Austin, Texas area. The Student Perceptions of Classroom Knowledge-Building (SPOCK) instrument measured four aspects of students' perceptions of their own knowledge building and intentional learning behavior: (1) knowledge building; (2) question asking; (3) self-regulation; and (4) lack of initiative. In addition, the instrument measured extent of teacher directedness in the classroom and extent of collaborative learning among students. Overall, the results suggest that the infusion of technologies that support knowledge building, intentional learning, and collaboration can enhance the establishment of collaborative knowledge-building communities in high school classrooms and can influence students' perceptions of the classroom environment. (AEF)

Despite the huge potential of information and communication technology (ICT) to assist communities to increase their overall well-being through community development, there are relatively few examples of sustained community networks built around ICT when compared to commercial applications, even in the developed countries where the technology has been increasingly available for up to 20 years. Researchers report a wide range of potential success factors and impediments. Preeminent amongst these is that collaborative partnerships, social network strategies and the building of social capital at the local level are key issues for the successful adoption of ICT for development. In this paper, the authors describe two successful community ICT projects whose success depended on the use of a collaborative methodology involving universities, governments and communities. Central to this approach is the involvement of the community in all parts of the project. By using such an approach, we acknowledge the rich creativity that exists in each local community and that this creativity can be harnessed in the creation of a community network, which in turn empowers the community. Researchers in universities can play a crucial role in facilitating this collaborative approach.

We investigated techniques that enable a system to learn where it is vulnerable to an attack or programming error, then automatically generate and evaluate ways that it can thwart the attack or recover from the error to continue to execute successfully. The approach is designed to work for systems, such as existing standard information technology installations, that have large monocultures of identical applications. By sharing information about attacks, errors, and response and recovery strategies, the system can quickly learn which strategies work best. The end result is a system whose robustness and resilience automatically grow over time as it learns how to best adapt and respond to the attacks and errors that its components inevitably encounter.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 265-277) and index

Includes bibliographical references (p. 265-277) and index

This research project examined an innovative technology integration model that includes the design, development, implementation, and assessment of the use and integration of technology by inservice and preservice teachers. Personnel from a school district, an area education agency, and a college of education work collaboratively to provide the support and resources that are necessary to facilitate the exemplary use and integration of technology in elementary classrooms. The proposed three-year model provides a framework that will establish mentoring relationships between preservice and inservice teachers and will create classroom opportunities for them to infuse technology with best teaching practices. This paper describes the purpose of the project and discusses various activities that have occurred during the first year of the project. A literature-based rationale for the need to support inservice and preservice teachers in their use and integration of instructional technology is also provided; areas reviewed include technology integration models, technology support for inservice teachers, and technology in teacher education. (Author/MES)

This research project examined an innovative technology integration model that includes the design, development, implementation, and assessment of the use and integration of technology by inservice and preservice teachers. Personnel from a school district, an area education agency, and a college of education work collaboratively to provide the support and resources that are necessary to facilitate the exemplary use and integration of technology in elementary classrooms. The proposed three-year model provides a framework that will establish mentoring relationships between preservice and inservice teachers and will create classroom opportunities for them to infuse technology with best teaching practices. This paper describes the purpose of the project and discusses various activities that have occurred during the first year of the project. A literature-based rationale for the need to support inservice and preservice teachers in their use and integration of instructional technology is also provided; areas reviewed include technology integration models, technology support for inservice teachers, and technology in teacher education. (Author/MES)

Fresno Transformative Climate Communities Collaborative Quarterly Meeting June 18, 2018 http://cmac.tv

Fresno Transformative Climate Communities Collaborative Quarterly Meeting June 12, 2019. http://www.transformfresno.com/ ---- This video is from CMAC — the community media center for Fresno and Clovis, a non-profit organization whose mission is to empower voices in our community through media. Check out more from CMAC: https://www.youtube.com/cmactv Connect with us: https://www.facebook.com/cmactv http://twitter.com/cmactv http://instagram.com/cmactv http://cmac.tv

2017/08/02

In this article, the author talks about incorporating what those in academia do best--scholarship and teaching--and what government bureaucrats do best in administering housing and community revitalization programs into a strong and sustainable system of community engagement and outreach. He frames the discussion by focusing on some examples of outreach and engagement programs that he is familiar with from his work as secretary of the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). The author contends that successful outcomes can be achieved by believing in a vision that requires cultivating a dedicated collaborative engagement between communities and institutions of higher learning. Universities will also benefit from this vision, which can lead to financial growth, community support, and real-life, real-time learning opportunities for students, faculty, and researchers. (Contains 1 figure.) [Keynote Address by Raymond A. Skinner, Secretary, Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development, at the Ninth National Outreach Scholarship Conference at Penn State on October 7, 2008: "The Scholarship of Outreach and Engagement: What Is It and Why Does It Matter?"]

This paper focuses on using the Internet for instruction in terms of World Wide Web-based software that project organizers or participants can use to facilitate a richer collaboration when using the Internet for inquiry lessons and that facilitates the process of developing on-line communities of learners. Knowing the potential use and strengths of this software enhances the knowledge of techniques and tools for those who wish to facilitate or participate in Internet-based instruction or an Internet-based community of learners. The following topics are discussed: (1) expected outcomes of using the Internet for instruction, including exemplary science instruction, Internet-based collaborative inquiry, and communities of learners; (2) software to promote collaborative inquiry or communities of learners; and (3) two Web-based project components and the "Forum" and "Links" software used to facilitate these processes, i.e., organizing and facilitating student-student or teacher-teacher interactions, and locating and using Web sites for the collaboration or inquiry process. (Author/AEF)

This paper considers four aspects of online communities. Design, mechanisms, architecture, and the constructed knowledge. We hypothesize that different designs of communities drive different mechanisms, which give rise to different architectures, which in turn result in different levels of collaborative knowledge construction. To test this chain of hypotheses, we analyzed the recorded responsiveness data of two online communities of learners having different designs: a formal, structured team, and an informal, non-structured, Q&A forum. The designs are evaluated according to the Social Interdependence Theory of Cooperative Learning. Knowledge construction is assessed through Content Analysis. The architectures are revealed by Statistical Analysis of p* Markov Models for the communities. The mechanisms are then identified by matching the predictions of Network Emergence Theories with the observed architectures. The hypotheses are strongly supported. Our analysis shows that the minimal-effort hunt-for-social-capital mechanism controls a major behavior of both communities: negative tendency to respond. Differences in the goals, interdependence and the promotive interaction features of the designs of the two communities lead to the development of different mechanisms: cognition balance and peer pressure in the team, but not in the forum. Exchange mechanism in the forum, but not in the team. In addition, the pre-assigned role of the tutor in the forum gave rise to its responsibility mechanism in that community, but not in team community. These differences in the mechanisms led to the formation of different sets of virtual neighborhoods, which show up macroscopically as differences in the cohesion and the distribution of response power. These differences are associated with the differences in the buildup of knowledge in the two communities. The methods can be extended to other relations in online communities and longitudinal analysis, and for real-time monitoring of online communications.

The popular model of collaborative learning views classrooms as contexts where nonmembers of "valued" communities become members by mastering accepted knowledge, discourse forms, and methods. Although attractive to educators, this model allows only for changes in individual students, not in "valued" communities. Further, its emphasis on "normal discourse" maintains established knowledge, promotes static definitions of communities, and suppresses the creation of new meaning and the dynamic process of communal redefinition. If educators seek to prepare students for the kinds of communities and organizations they will enter, then current collaborative methods are effective and appropriate. However, if their role is to promote critical thinking and to nurture students' existing power to define their communities and to act within them, then methods that are dialogic and that focus on problem-posing must be explored. As a first step, educators should refuse to confine collaborative methods to classroom "peer groups." They should promote the "abnormal discourse" that occurs when disciplines, departments, and classrooms come together. Redefinition of learning, thinking, and writing must be university-wide and must involve students in the process of critiquing the current educational system. (Author/RS)

The popular model of collaborative learning views classrooms as contexts where nonmembers of "valued" communities become members by mastering accepted knowledge, discourse forms, and methods. Although attractive to educators, this model allows only for changes in individual students, not in "valued" communities. Further, its emphasis on "normal discourse" maintains established knowledge, promotes static definitions of communities, and suppresses the creation of new meaning and the dynamic process of communal redefinition. If educators seek to prepare students for the kinds of communities and organizations they will enter, then current collaborative methods are effective and appropriate. However, if their role is to promote critical thinking and to nurture students' existing power to define their communities and to act within them, then methods that are dialogic and that focus on problem-posing must be explored. As a first step, educators should refuse to confine collaborative methods to classroom "peer groups." They should promote the "abnormal discourse" that occurs when disciplines, departments, and classrooms come together. Redefinition of learning, thinking, and writing must be university-wide and must involve students in the process of critiquing the current educational system. (Author/RS)

The popular model of collaborative learning views classrooms as contexts where nonmembers of "valued" communities become members by mastering accepted knowledge, discourse forms, and methods. Although attractive to educators, this model allows only for changes in individual students, not in "valued" communities. Further, its emphasis on "normal discourse" maintains established knowledge, promotes static definitions of communities, and suppresses the creation of new meaning and the dynamic process of communal redefinition. If educators seek to prepare students for the kinds of communities and organizations they will enter, then current collaborative methods are effective and appropriate. However, if their role is to promote critical thinking and to nurture students' existing power to define their communities and to act within them, then methods that are dialogic and that focus on problem-posing must be explored. As a first step, educators should refuse to confine collaborative methods to classroom "peer groups." They should promote the "abnormal discourse" that occurs when disciplines, departments, and classrooms come together. Redefinition of learning, thinking, and writing must be university-wide and must involve students in the process of critiquing the current educational system. (Author/RS)

Event Date: 16 May 2011 Royal Holloway Central London 11 Bedford Square London, WC1E 6DP   Royal Holloway University of London Department of Geography Collaborative Art: Practices, Spaces, Communities This workshop aims to interrogate and…

Event Date: 16 May 2011 Royal Holloway Central London 11 Bedford Square London, WC1E 6DP   Royal Holloway University of London Department of Geography Collaborative Art: Practices, Spaces, Communities This workshop aims to interrogate and…

Event Date: 16 May 2011 Royal Holloway Central London 11 Bedford Square London, WC1E 6DP   Royal Holloway University of London Department of Geography Collaborative Art: Practices, Spaces, Communities This workshop aims to interrogate and…

In the United States today, more jobs than ever before require at least some postsecondary education. Yet too many young adults are either not enrolling or not succeeding in college. This scenario exists across many different types of communities, but schools in rural areas, particularly those with large populations of low-income students, face unique challenges in preparing and inspiring students to attend college. To address these challenges, the AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) Center--a nonprofit organization working to close the achievement gap for minority and low-income students--partnered with three rural school districts and the local state college in central Florida to develop and implement programming focused on strengthening college preparedness among middle school and high school students. Supported by funds from an Investing in Innovation (i3) development grant from the U.S. Department of Education, the partners worked together to implement the AVID College Readiness System (ACRS) across eight schools, train secondary and postsecondary instructors in a shared set of teaching strategies and best practices, strengthen the academic rigor of their classes, and develop a set of "alignment activities" for school staff members focused on collaboration and consistency of teaching and study strategies across middle school, high school, and college. The i3 grant also includes an evaluation, conducted by MDRC, of implementation and outcomes over the first three years of the project. The implementation study examines how closely the implementation of the ACRS hewed to the model design and examines the drivers of and obstacles to its success. The outcomes study uses a "pre-post" nonexperimental method (which does not capture causation) to compare both school staff outcomes and student outcomes before implementation with outcomes during the implementation years to explore the promise of the system to positively affect schools and students. The report presents several key findings: (1) Overall, analyses show that the ACRS was implemented successfully at most schools with fairly high fidelity to the model. There was mixed success implementing the alignment activities. (2) Positive change was seen in teachers' reported use of most ACRS teaching strategies, and in teachers' and other staff members' reported attitudes toward academic rigor and college preparation for all students and reported collaboration within and across grade levels and schools. (3) Little difference was found between the reported study habits and learning skills, engagement in school, and postsecondary expectations of students surveyed before implementation and of those surveyed after three years of exposure; however, on average, both groups had relatively high positive responses on most of the measures. (4) Students were more likely to take advanced courses, such as honors and Advanced Placement, and earned more credits in these courses, which are intended to strengthen their preparation for the rigor of college work. (5) Little difference in other measures of students' academic performance (grade point average and English Language Arts standardized tests), educational attainment (overall credits earned and graduation), and high school persistence were found after three years of implementation compared with the outcomes before implementation.

Event Date: 16 May 2011 Royal Holloway Central London 11 Bedford Square London, WC1E 6DP   Royal Holloway University of London Department of Geography Collaborative Art: Practices, Spaces, Communities This workshop aims to interrogate and…

Event Date: 16 May 2011 Royal Holloway Central London 11 Bedford Square London, WC1E 6DP   Royal Holloway University of London Department of Geography Collaborative Art: Practices, Spaces, Communities This workshop aims to interrogate and…

The Department of Defense and, subsequently, the U.S. Navy have embraced a strategy of exerting influence through information dominance versus amassing a large presence. This philosophy, called Net-centric Warfare, uses sensor and network technology to leverage naval platforms towards realizing effects previously achievable only by a larger force. In adapting this strategy, the U.S. Navy has realized many benefits, but has also increased its reliance on the technologies implementing Net-centric Warfare. One such technology is the U.S. Navy's future Military SATCOM terminal, the Navy Multiband Terminal, which will provide critical off-ship bandwidth required for these leveraging effects. The Navy plans to sustain the NMT system using the same methods as previous systems. When considering Operational Availability, these legacy methods do not adequately address attributes affecting system performance, creating a risk the NMT system will not perform as needed to successfully execute Net-centric Warfare. This risk can be managed by transitioning away from traditional methods to those utilizing online collaborative technologies. These technologies, coined 'Web 2.0,\" center around member participation to foster communities. Much like the philosophy of Net-centric warfare, these communities leverage the experience of individuals to the benefit of the entire community.

Fresno Transformative Climate Communities Collaborative Quarterly Meeting December 12, 2018. http://www.transformfresno.com/

Fresno Transformative Climate Communities Collaborative Quarterly Meeting December 12, 2018. http://www.transformfresno.com/

Fresno Transformative Climate Communities Collaborative Quarterly Meeting December 12, 2018. http://www.transformfresno.com/

Fresno Transformative Climate Communities Collaborative Quarterly Meeting December 12, 2018. http://www.transformfresno.com/

The purpose of this paper is to qualitatively examine the relationship between problem based learning, authentic assessment and the role of community in fostering learning in digital contexts. The authors used "Digital Moments" to create a meaningful learning environment and build the online class community. They then collaboratively developed assessment strategies and tools with students following problem-based learning methodologies. Given that the pace of information is rapid and changing, the authors argue that online learning must occur in a context that embraces these three concepts: 1. Students must be empowered through PBL to choose real world tasks to demonstrate their knowledge, 2. Students are allowed to choose the modality to represent that knowledge and participate in designing the tools for assessing that knowledge and 3. They do so in a supportive online community built through the sharing of Digital Moments. The paper chronicles the interconnection between problem based learning, authentic real world assessment tasks and a supportive online community. This resulted in developing learner autonomy, improving student engagement and motivation, greater use of meaningful self and peer assessments and shared development of collective knowledge. Further to this, it builds a foundation from which authentic assessment, student ownership of learning and peer support can occur in an ongoing way as learners make the important shifts in power to owning their learning and becoming problem-based inquirers in future courses. As a result, in order to fully embrace the online learning environment, we cannot limit ourselves to simple text based measures of student achievement. Stepping into this brave new world requires innovation, creativity and tenacity, and the courage to accept that as the nature of knowledge has evolved in the digital landscape, so must our means of assessing it.

The purpose of this paper is to qualitatively examine the relationship between problem based learning, authentic assessment and the role of community in fostering learning in digital contexts. The authors used "Digital Moments" to create a meaningful learning environment and build the online class community. They then collaboratively developed assessment strategies and tools with students following problem-based learning methodologies. Given that the pace of information is rapid and changing, the authors argue that online learning must occur in a context that embraces these three concepts: 1. Students must be empowered through PBL to choose real world tasks to demonstrate their knowledge, 2. Students are allowed to choose the modality to represent that knowledge and participate in designing the tools for assessing that knowledge and 3. They do so in a supportive online community built through the sharing of Digital Moments. The paper chronicles the interconnection between problem based learning, authentic real world assessment tasks and a supportive online community. This resulted in developing learner autonomy, improving student engagement and motivation, greater use of meaningful self and peer assessments and shared development of collective knowledge. Further to this, it builds a foundation from which authentic assessment, student ownership of learning and peer support can occur in an ongoing way as learners make the important shifts in power to owning their learning and becoming problem-based inquirers in future courses. As a result, in order to fully embrace the online learning environment, we cannot limit ourselves to simple text based measures of student achievement. Stepping into this brave new world requires innovation, creativity and tenacity, and the courage to accept that as the nature of knowledge has evolved in the digital landscape, so must our means of assessing it.

The Austin Independent School District, Texas (AISD) receives federal funds through the U. S. Department of Education's Title IV Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities (SDFSC) grant program. The purpose of the Title IV SDFSC grant is to supplement local schools' efforts to eliminate violence and the use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs among students. With 1999-2000 Title IV SDFSC expenditures of more than $13 million, AISD used a multifaceted approach to the prevention and reduction of student substance use and violence. The approach included prevention and intervention efforts at each campus, and all campuses received Title IV funds based on a per pupil allocation. Programs and services were provided through campus-level activities, district-level student programs, curriculum and staff development, and support staff and services. The yearlong evaluation identified several key factors that have been instrumental in the progress AISD has made toward grant goals. These key factors include: staff teamwork; AISD partnership with community organizations; and the variety of programs directed at students. Recommendations are made for the improvement of services provided under this grant. Nine appendixes contain supplemental information about the grant, program implementation, and the evaluation process. (Contains 6 tables, 17 figures, and 48 references.) (SLD)

The Austin Independent School District, Texas (AISD) receives federal funds through the U. S. Department of Education's Title IV Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities (SDFSC) grant program. The purpose of the Title IV SDFSC grant is to supplement local schools' efforts to eliminate violence and the use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs among students. With 1999-2000 Title IV SDFSC expenditures of more than $13 million, AISD used a multifaceted approach to the prevention and reduction of student substance use and violence. The approach included prevention and intervention efforts at each campus, and all campuses received Title IV funds based on a per pupil allocation. Programs and services were provided through campus-level activities, district-level student programs, curriculum and staff development, and support staff and services. The yearlong evaluation identified several key factors that have been instrumental in the progress AISD has made toward grant goals. These key factors include: staff teamwork; AISD partnership with community organizations; and the variety of programs directed at students. Recommendations are made for the improvement of services provided under this grant. Nine appendixes contain supplemental information about the grant, program implementation, and the evaluation process. (Contains 6 tables, 17 figures, and 48 references.) (SLD)

Substance abuse continues to be one of the most damaging and chronic health problems faced by Indian people. American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) substance abuse prevention and treatment programs must be framed within the broader context of the widening health disparities between AI/AN communities and the general population. Successful treatment and prevention of health problems, including substance abuse, must be driven by community needs and blend complementary strategies from Western medicine and traditional healing practices. This collection of works by substance abuse experts and public health researchers explores, within a public health framework, the multiple dimensions of AI/AN substance abuse treatment and prevention from an AI/AN community perspective. Chapters are: (1) "Prevention of Alcoholism, Drug Abuse, and Health Problems among American Indians and Alaska Natives: An Introduction and Overview" (Joseph E. Trimble, Fred Beauvais); (2) "Prevention Principles for American Indian Communities" (James R. Moran); (3) "Worldview, Identity, and Prevention in American Indian Communities" (Grace Powless Sage); (4) "Prevention in Alaska: Issues and Innovations" (Gerald Mohatt, Kelly L. Hazel, Justin W. Mohatt); (5) "Using the Community Readiness Model in Native Communities" (Pamela Jumper-Thurman, Barbara A. Plested, Ruth W. Edwards, Heather M. Helm, Eugene R. Oetting); (6) "Native American Perceptions of the National Association for Native American Children of Alcoholics: In Their Own Words" (Jeannette L. Johnson, Bradford W. Plemons, Edward Starr, Raymond Reyes, Candace Fleming, Anna Latimer, Joseph E. Trimble); and (7) "Do School-Based Drug and Alcohol Abuse Prevention Programs Work in American Indian Communities?" (Fred Beauvais). (Contains references in each chapter.) (TD)