Despite federal mandates to educate students with disabilities in the least restrictive environment, teachers continue to have mixed feelings about their own preparedness to educate students with disabilities in the general education setting. However, research has documented that teachers with more positive attitudes toward inclusion are more likely to adjust their instruction and curriculum to meet individual needs of students and have a more positive approach to inclusion. With inclusion becoming the norm in today's schools, teacher educators are now faced with the challenge of making significant changes to educational programs in preparing pre-service teachers to be ready to meet the needs of all students. These programmatic changes mirror the continuous melding transformations in progress now in traditional general education and special education programs. However, there is limited information about how these new teacher educator programs influence pre-service teachers' confidence or attitudes toward inclusive education as future teachers. To investigate this influence of teacher preparation programs on pre-service teachers' attitudes toward inclusion, a survey method was used to collect data from pre-service teachers in one teacher-preparation program. The responses from pre-service teachers were analyzed indicating that pre-service teachers from this particular teacher preparation program in which general education curricula were infused with special education curricula in special education survey courses had improved positive attitudes and confidence toward inclusion. The implications of this study for practice and future research are discussed.

Recent years have witnessed an increased interest in using social media/social learning with online courses. Many students value the social aspects of their university education and hesitate to take online courses thinking them to be devoid of socialization. On the other hand questions have arisen with regard to privacy and instruction into the social dimension of students. This study examined the following questions: 1) Does social media and social learning promotes educational opportunities for improved student understanding? 2) Do students view social media as an asset to courses -does it enhance understanding and keep student engaged? 3) What do university students see as problems with the use of social media? An online survey was developed consisting of 34 questions relating to the demographics of the sampled 1376 university students and questions relating to the previously mentioned questions. Percentages, t-tests, and correlations were analyzed. Results found subtle nuances and interesting trends (as well as further questions), but overall the results indicated positive attitudes and confirm the value of using social media/social learning in online courses. The findings of the study also suggest implications for teaching improvement with online courses at the university level.

In this study the authors investigated 80 pre-service teachers about their perception towards multicultural education and teaching of culturally and linguistically underrepresented diverse students. Participants completed a modified version of the Diversity Orientations Survey. First, results show that the majority of pre-service teachers largely agreed for the need for the inclusion of multicultural education to teacher education program with regards to teaching linguistically culturally diverse students. Second, participants indicate lack of awareness with regards to understanding of multicultural education in terms of cultural awareness in the teaching of special needs students. This paper conceptualizes pre-service teacher’s perceptions towards multicultural education in general and discusses the teaching of culturally, linguistically and underrepresented diverse learners in K-12 schools. The authors propose reforms in the curriculum of teacher education preparation programs in colleges of education of inclusion of comprehensive multicultural education course at each level of education.