Gender Politics

On Judith Butler's Gender Politics
  Kigan Chang

In her Bodies That Matter, Judith Butler debates (homo)sexuality by raising the question: "When one asks whether or not sexual identities are constructed, a more or less tacit set of questions is implicitly raised: Is sexuality so highly constrained from the start that it ought to be conceived as fixed? If sexuality is so contrained from the start, does it not constitute a kind of essentialism at the level of identity?" Essentially, Butler's main contention is that the assumption that sexual difference is irreducible should be challenged when it rejects the idea that "sex" is either primary, univocal or essentialist. The materiality of the gendered body is significant only insofar as it is genealogically invested in historically specific ways.   full text

Editor's Note:
  Phil Brocato

Accelerated Learning:
  Rick Sheridan

Online Learning

Motivations for Enrollment and the Retention of Adult Online Students
  Lynne K. Fukuda

Online instruction may vary from simple correspondence or asynchronous communication through electronic mail, chat rooms for classroom discussion, and video-taped classes.

Online classes and online programs take more effort than anticipated by many students requiring preparation and computer skills. There are many obstacles hindering students new to computer-mediated learning (CML). It takes a certain breed of adult students to enroll and remain in an online course or in an online program and finally, to complete the course successfully. What I primarily looked for in this study, were the reasons why adult students enroll in an online program and how they manage to continue with their program.  full text

Student Essay:
  Rachel Madsen

Student Essay:
  Lan Hao

Essay:
  Maureen Connolly

Computer Mediated Communication

Computer Mediated Communication Information Technologies: Follow The Yellow Brick Road
  Michael C. Pickett

Computer mediated communication (CMC) and information technologies (IT) have emerged as a valued pedagogical tool from which to reach many learners in many modes. This paper provides a "primer" from which to create an impetus to assimilate these emerging technologies into one's pedagogical awareness.

It discusses a model looking at the selection and integration of computer mediated communication contributing to a rewarding and innovative knowledge discovery experience for today's increasingly demanding learners.   full text

Pokemon-Porque no, man?
  Gustavo Ortiz