The Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to Use Technology (PT3) initiative has funded various efforts to improve and enhance the technology preparation of preservice teachers. At Arizona State University, these efforts have focused on providing preservice teachers with opportunities to develop, implement, and evaluate their own instructional activities that utilize technology effectively and appropriately in authentic situations, to give them the myriad of tools necessary to integrate technology into teaching and learning activities. This paper focuses on the integration of these efforts into the field-based elementary education program, and discusses our formative evaluation of the field-based technology integration model, through the following questions: What are the preliminary successes of the model with regard to student perceptions, attitudes, and integration of technology into instructional activities? and What components of the model require additions or modifications?The Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to Use Technology (PT3) initiative has funded various efforts to improve and enhance the technology preparation of preservice teachers. Many of these efforts have focused on supporting education faculty, others have concentrated primarily on preservice teachers, and still others have developed repositories of resources for dissemination. However, these initiatives have not occurred in isolation. After publication of the Office of Technology Assessment (1995) national report, Teachers and Technology: Making the Connection, many colleges and universities began examining more effective means for technology preparation. This report examined schools' technological capabilities, barriers to student learning via technology, and teachers' current preparedness for technology integration. The report concluded that, "Despite technologies available in schools, a substantial number of teachers report little or no use of computers for instruction" (p. 1). The report also stated that teachers still struggle with integrating technology into the curriculum, and attributed much of this to inadequate training: "Most teachers have not had adequate training to prepare them to use technology effectively in teaching . . . On average, districts devote no more than 15 per- (Schrum, 1999;Strudler & Wetzel, 1999;Topp, Mortensen, & Grandgenett, 1995). This lack of support leads teachers to use technology for low-level, supplemental tasks such as drill and practice activities, word processing, educational games, and computer-based tutorials (Strudler & Wetzel, 1999;Willis, Thompson, & Sadera, 1999). As Abdal-Haqq (1995) stated, " [F]ew teachers routinely use computer-based technologies for instructional purposes" (p. 1).Inadequate instruction and support for technology integration is not an issue only with K-12 teachers; research has demonstrated that technology preparation provided by teacher training institutions to preservice teachers with regard to technology has similar problems. In a review of the literature related to technology and t...

Using a social-ecological framework, we drew on a targeted literature review and historical and contemporary cases from the US labor movement to illustrate how unions address physical and psychosocial conditions of work and the underlying inequalities and social determinants of health. We reviewed labor involvement in tobacco cessation, hypertension control, and asthma, limiting articles to those in English published in peer-reviewed public health or medical journals from 1970 to 2013. More rigorous research is needed on potential pathways from union membership to health outcomes and the facilitators of and barriers to union-public health collaboration. Despite occasional challenges, public health professionals should increase their efforts to engage with unions as critical partners.

Objective. The increasing numbers of minority, low-income, and contingent workers in the U.S. labor force present new challenges to occupational safety and health interventions. Formative research can be used to help researchers better understand target populations and identify unanticipated barriers to safety changes. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health initiated an intervention project to improve health and safety among homecare workers in Alameda County, California. Investigators conducted systematic formative research to gather information to guide intervention development.Methods. Various qualitative methods were used including 11 focus groups (conducted in English, Spanish, and Chinese) and 10 key informant interviews. This article focuses on two picture-based focus group activities that explored workers' views on their relationships with consumers and their perceived barriers to interventions.Results. Findings indicated cultural differences regarding workers' perceptions of their relationships with consumers. Chinese homecare workers mostly focused on respecting elders rather than initiating changes. Some English-and Spanish-speaking workers described efforts to negotiate with consumers. Results also identified workers' perceived barriers to interventions, such as consumers' resistance to changes and lack of resources. These findings played important roles in shaping the intervention materials. For example, given the lack of resources among consumers, the project tried to tap into communitylevel resources by collaborating with local stakeholders and developing community resource guides.Conclusion. Formative research can be a valuable step to inform the development of occupational health and safety interventions for diverse, underserved worker populations.

The associative imagery technique is a qualitative tool with which researchers use carefully selected photographs or images to trigger participants' responses to explain difficult behavioral and social concepts. In this article, we describe the development and implementation of the associative imagery method in focus groups to understand the complex relationships between homecare workers and their clients as part of a larger health and safety intervention project conducted by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. A total of 116 homecare workers and clients were recruited for the study. We found that participants used images mainly in two ways. First, the images served to remind participants of specific persons, events, and/or objects. Second, the images facilitated recollections and reflections that allowed participants to metaphorically describe their experiences, feelings, and emotions. Both usages of imagery generated comments that answered the research question in a more relevant, descriptive, and vivid way.

A university-based labor education program provides training to unionists, emphasizing the skills needed by workers and their representatives in order to promote their rights to health and safety on the job. The article describes two examples of this training approach. The first example is a training program for video display terminal (VDT) operators which prepares them to take a leadership role in advancing policies to regulate working conditions for VDT users. The second is a program designed to improve the quality of safety, or "tailgate" meetings in the construction industry by promoting an approach that encourages active worker participation in identifying potential hazards and developing solutions. The methodologies used to achieve action-oriented outcomes are described.