The study reported in this paper examined the types of professionaldevelopment activities, support systems, and organizational structures necessary for community college faculty to make transitions from traditional teaching to Web-based teaching. Results indicate that (a) instructional change can by initiated through sustained professional development; (b) change is more meaningful and effective when it occurs in context over a sustained period of time; (c) faculty can embrace innovations when supported by knowledgeable professionals and their peers; and (d) students welcome the use of Web-based components in course work. The implications for practice may be useful to those wishing to increase faculty's online instructional competence.Many colleges and universities are offering online courses to serve wider audiences, deliver more cost-effective instruction, or increase the quality of learning in existing courses (Harley, 2002). According to a recent National Center for Educational Statistics (2003) report, 56% of all 2-and 4-year degree-granting institutions offer distance education courses. User-friendly Web-based course-delivery systems are enabling faculty to teach online or integrate Web-based resources into course materials easily. Colleges are investing in these systems with the expectations that faculty will incorporate them into instructional practices (Floyd,

This article reports the results of a survey administered to elementary classroom teachers to determine their abilities to recognize signs of abuse, their perceptions of the reporting process, and their understanding of issues of liability. Teachers indicated that many of them were unable to recognize signs of child abuse and were confused about reporting procedures. In addition, some were consciously choosing not to report because they did not think that child welfare agencies would provide any effective relief for the child. Furthermore, some teachers were ignorant of the immunity provisions designed to protect them and of the criminal penalties for not reporting. Some teachers were also fearful of ramifications for reporting, including harassment by the abuser, a lawsuit, or alienation from co-workers or administrators. Collectively, the results provided insight into teachers' thoughts and behaviors in regard to child abuse and indicated that many teachers are in need of training to identify symptoms, to become familiar with reporting procedures, and to clarify misconceptions about the law.Physically and sexually abused children come from all kinds of families and socioeconomic conditions, but most have one thing in common-they go to school. For

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita displaced thousands of K-12 students and demonstrated that when K-12 schools close unexpectedly and indefinitely, educational chaos results. Events such as deadly flu outbreaks or bioterrorist attacks will have the same impact on education. These possibilities demonstrate the need for state and local officials to begin taking action to ensure that schooling can continue when it is not feasible for students to attend school in person. The development of online learning communities, first to supplement face-to-face instruction and then as a total online replacement, is an uncomplicated and cost effective way to continue schooling without disrupting the learning process. Basically, schools would move online until it was safe to return to school campuses. This article presents a set of guidelines for establishing the infrastructure needed to develop online learning communities and the types of training and support needed to sustain them.

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Encouraging students to become better stewards of the environment and to be more educated in science content knowledge is an important goal of today's educational leaders. Eight lessons were created to aid an established stewardship program (Coastal Roots) in introducing hands-on activities to middle school children in southern Louisiana. Students were tested on science content in the lessons using a pre-test, eight multiple choice quizzes (each focusing on a particular lesson), and a post-test. The “children's attitudes toward the environment scale” test was administered to evaluate environmental awareness changes in the treatment and control group students. Students who received the horticulture lessons improved their post-test scores by 11.4 points (P ≤ 0.05) in the first year and 25.07 points (P ≤ 0.0001) in the second year of the study. Significant increases in individual lessons were found both years. In the second year, students who received the lessons were more aware of their role in the environment than those who did not receive the additional lessons (P ≤ 0.01). The addition of horticulture lessons to the middle school curriculum enhanced student knowledge and stewardship of the environment.