Margins
  Donovan A. Landers

      This book, not really a novel, really isn't not a novel. It's not really a treatise on education either, but it's not really not a treatise. This book, the kind traditional publishing houses rank as deformed, is the sort that ends writing careers rather than starts them. Ends lucrative careers, that is.
      Is.
      Do you like the word "is"? Or would you call it a flat tire?
      The English language apparently can't get along without is. My writing career, rich and famous that it has made me, can't get along without Margins. I could call Margins an antinovel. Joyce's Ulysses, Woolf's Waves, and Beckett's Molloyand Murphy: not really novels. Ionesco's Bald Soprano: an antiplay. Matter/antimatter; hydrogen/antihydrogen; electron/positron; proton/antiproton; neutron/antineutron. Matter + antimatter, physicists tell us, produces energy. Trekkies tell us that too. I could call this work an antinovel, but, really, it's part novel, part not. I hope the part + part not unite in the reader's mind to produce thought energy. Lots of thought energy.
      At any rate, this book is the end of my career.     full text >>>

Students' Perceptions of Instructors' Identities: Effects and Interventions
  Jeannie Ludlow, Laurie A. Rodgers and Mary G. Wrighten

This study resulted from the authors' interest in how students' perceptions of faculty identity (primarily race/ethnicity, gender, sexuality, age, and academic rank) influence students' learning and instructors' classroom experiences.  We focused on courses that fulfill the "cultural diversity" general education requirements at Bowling Green State University. 

Our study is comprised of a survey completed by instructors who teach the Cultural Diversity courses and our interpretation of the students' evaluations of these instructors.  As the units do not use the same evaluation forms our analytical method focused primarily on the qualitative data in the surveys and the evaluations, although we do have preliminary information about quantitative data. While reading each instructor's survey along with her/his evaluations (that instructor's data set), we looked for internal consistencies and inconsistencies. We then noted similarities and differences across the data sets and noted consistencies when cross-referenced with instructors' identity markers.     full text >>>

Looking Back from the Looking Glass
  Tim Clukey

Tales told around the campfire always seemed a little too far fetched to be true. But one hot summer night Uncle Frank made us all wonder if maybe strange things can happen--when the conditions are just right.

Uncle Frank was born a little after the turn of the century in a quiet part of the Adirondacks near Jay, New York. He grew up on a farm where the long, cold winters brought people together out of a necessity to survive. Frank looked forward to the few summer months--even if it meant hard days of working in the field. The evenings provided a welcomed break in the action and gave him time to go over to his friend Walt's house, who lived just down the road. Many times they would go hiking in the woods, often staying out well past dark. But most often they would just hang out at Walt's to trade stories and tease Walt's younger sister, Jeannie.     full text >>>

New Addition:
  The Techno Corner

Beginning in May 2005, we will be adding a new monthly column to our website: "The Techno Corner." Authored by Dr. Susan L. Jones, Assistant Professor at Southwest Missouri State University, "The Techno Corner" promises to bring thought-provoking issues to the forefront in technology and distance learning. Each month "The Techno Corner" will feature a new article by Dr. Jones discussing technology or distance learning, including a variety of theories, application in practice, perspectives or possibly Dr. Jones' "pet peeves." Keep an eye out for our new addition and let us know what you think.