Commentary on the review by John Rothfork of “Howard, Philip N. and Steve Jones. (2004). Society Online: The Internet in Context. Philip N. Howard, University of Washington

Commentary on the review by John Rothfork of “Howard, Philip N. and Steve Jones. (2004). Society Online: The Internet in Context.” (Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications) Pp. xxxiv + 350 $37.95 (Paperback) $84.95 (Hardcover)   ISBN 0-76-192708-5 Philip N. Howard University of Washington January 31, 2005 Read Rothfork's review Rothfork’s critique represents the best qualities of the contemporary art in reviewing. His writing not only provides constructive commentary on the arguments of each chapter, but he advances research by providing links to new data that often confirms—and sometimes contradicts—the trends and conclusions drawn by contributors to Society Online. The only thing that makes us balk is the Rothfork’s idea of skipping the methods section! We sought to illustrate the wide range of methods used in studying society online, carefully selecting pieces both for research questions and tools for inquiry. Debating methodological points may seem tedious, but methodological innovation has been an important and exciting of consequence of studying society online. Of course Rothfork is right to charge that there is not enough material about sex online. In fact, we admit that there is not enough content about many kind of deviant online behavior online: no crime, no porn, and no hacking. (We would not consider hacking a deviant behavior, but unfortunately most people do.) This is not surprising as we do not have good data about deviant behavior. In the spirit of his constructive critique he offers the latest ballpark figures about the size of the porn industry. We could also have provided ballpark figures about the impact of criminal networks and the cost of hacking. But in survey research, respondents simply don’t reveal their pornographic interests over the phone. For many academic researchers, the procedural hurdles to earn permission from Human Subjects Review Committees to study deviant online behavior, no matter the method, actually discourage such research. Rothfork does a good job of illustrating how important these lines of inquiry are for future research. Rothfork’s review essay itself is an example of an important change in the work of academe. For centuries, the onus has been on the reader to check other sources and make sure the facts of argument are up to date, long after the book is published. In the networked academy, this responsibility is distributed. Contemporary authors and editors need to provide access to raw data. Reviewers and readers can offer access to new resources as they come available, linking those new resources directly to original arguments. Authors and editors, in turn, need to be open to creating links to new data that challenge their own core arguments. We can humbly say that many of the arguments in Society Online still stand on solid evidentiary ground. Those that don’t have been constructively and gracefully updated by this reviewer. Philip N. Howard Department of Communication University of Washington

Perraton, H. & Lentell, H. (Eds.). (2004). Policy for Open and Distance Learning. Reviewed by Dan Drane and Rosalie Ward, University of Southern Mississippi

Perraton, H. & Lentell, H. (Eds.). (2004). Policy for Open and Distance Learning. London: RoutledgeFalmer. Pp XV + 267 $141 (Hardcover)   ISBN 0 415 26306 9 $42 (Paperback)   ISBN 0 415 26307 7 Reviewed by Dan Drane and Rosalie Ward University of Southern Mississippi February 2, 2005 Policy for Open and Distance Learning, edited by Hilary Perraton and Helen Lentall, is a volume of thirteen chapters dedicated to providing a world review of distance education and open learning. Its purpose is to help individuals “allocate resources between educational alternatives and to do so rationally” by examining the options of open and distance learning. Throughout the book, you will find the authors use terms such as open and distance learning and e-learning interchangeably with the online learning. The book acknowledges the escalating role of distance education and addresses the strategies and organization of governments and institutions that have been successful with its implementation and adoption. The chapters highlight arrangements that are flourishing, promote the progress of distance and open learning, and recognize issues that are likely to encumber the system’s development. The overall goal is to aid educational decision and policy makers by allowing them to profit from the experience of others and by answering the questions of “Does it work, and if so what policies are needed to make it work effectively?” (p. 3). The contributing authors of the book “have looked at education in both developing and industralised countries, at all levels of education, and using a variety of technologies” (p. 3). It was important to take this universal approach in order for the reader to gain a clearer understanding of distance and open learning globally and to ascertain the impact of changing technology on education as a whole. In order to maintain the focus and purpose for the book, the authors purposely omitted three themes that are already abundant in literature. First, there are no arguments for or against the use of distance and open learning. Second, it is not intended to be used as a toolkit of instructive guidelines. The book simply identifies policy options and describes their strengths and weaknesses. Lastly, it is not a management guide to operating open and distance learning programs. Policy for Open and Distance Learning explores prior decisions regarding open and distance learning as they relate to educational policy as a whole. Policy for Open and Distance Learning is divided into five parts that cover the topics of policy agenda and its context; inputs in terms of learners, staff and resources; processes including organizational structures, technologies, globalization, and governance; outputs or benefits set in the context of costs; and a conclusion. These five parts are built around and emphasize two basic themes: 1) the maturity of open and distance learning and its place in education, and 2) the role of state and formal institutions. Also included in the book are useful and informative tables, figures, and text blocks enhancing and elaborating on the information provided by the authors. Part 1 Part 1 is composed of the first two chapters of the book. These two chapters serve to orient the reader to the open and distance learning policy agenda and its context. The first chapter begins by providing a theoretical framework for the importance of analyzing policy and the rationale for utilizing distance and open learning. One of points discussed in Chapter 1 concerns the second basic theme. The authors indicate that because of a widely accepted neo-liberal agenda, there has been an erosion of the consensus that “governments, or their institutions, should provide, fund, monitor and accredit education and play the lead role in doing so” (p. 5). With the move away from a centralized control or guidance system, more and more educational institutions are dealing with decisions concerning funding, technology, accreditation, and providing access to education. Individual students must now begin to meet the costs of education, discover the new technologies delivering educational opportunities, and face the new challenges of globalization and the competition between universities for students while at the same time, dealing with the limitations of existing educational systems. Chapter 2 by Hilary Perraton looks at the varied uses of open and distance learning throughout the world, both in developing and industrialized nations. Perraton begins by examining open and distance learning in its most fundamental form of basic education progressing to schooling, tertiary education providing alternate routes for students, and vocational training. He identifies the chief influences that have driven its development as “a desire to widen access, by an intention and by the hope of containing costs” (p. 18). The main policy options open to the various stakeholders are then discussed with particular emphasis given to collaboration strategies, funding, technology, and quality. The process of open and long distance learning has been driven by a desire to “widen access, by an intention to strengthen education in the interests of the economy, by technological opportunities, and by the hope of containing costs” (p.18). The dominant theme of the process appears to be the improvement of education probably because of the recognition that the more education available to the population, the better the possibilities for improved economies, and a higher standard of living. Geography has also been a factor in the push toward open and long distance learning opportunities. Advancements in technology have made it possible to reach more individuals, thus making greater access to education. The delivery of education via technology, in many instances, has helped to reduce the costs of education; however, this is not always true. Containment of costs in relation to e-learning versus tradition education is certainly a legitimate concern for policy makers. Another valid concern in regards to e-learning is teachers’ attitudes. Perraton indicates the attitudes of teachers seem to be ambivalent. This is in keeping with what much of the literature on teachers’ attitudes report. While some embrace with enthusiasm the process, others are concerned about the introduction of e-learning. These teachers worry about increased work load, reduction of staff, and the learning of new technology. Technology is viewed as being a hindrance to the long-term interests of the educational profession. Nevertheless, the process of open and long distance learning is being driven partly by the push for new markets and by the competition of universities to provide services. One interesting point Perraton mentions is that the “idea of widening educational participation in the interests of equity” (p.39) has not been a factor in the growth of e-learning. It is pointed out that policy makers must not only address these new issues but also reanalyze old policy decisions due to the prevalence of e-learning. Part 2 The four chapters making up Part 2 deal with the inputs of students, staff, and resources. Inputs can be described as components of production as well as the amount of effort used to produce a product. Therefore, when we examine open and long distance learning process, we need to know and understand the deployment of the three types of inputs found in education. In conjunction with the inputs, planners need to assess or analyze the potential audience, the diversity or variety of audiences, and how to support the audience that is being served by the process. We are reminded that this analysis is necessary and important because it cannot be assumed that all audiences are the same in terms of characteristics, needs, and motivation. Chapter 3 provides some approaches for learning about the potential audience being served. Janet Jenkins, the author, begins by emphasizing that most distance learners participate in the process by choice and because it is more convenient. Thus, the relations between the learners and the educational providers are different than those found in traditional schools. Acknowledging the differences in student and provider relations leads to the questions, “Why do you need to know about students?” (p. 45), and “What kinds of students on what kinds of courses are using open and long distance learning?” (p. 46). Answering these two questions means that planners must consider and explore the nature, characteristics, distribution, learning needs, costs, environments, and circumstances of potential learners. Based on research, Jenkins suggests that there are some main themes that help to answer the two questions. The themes emerging are: Typical long distance learners may be young or old, but on the average, appear to be a little older and mature than their peers taking similar courses. Long distance education is a good way to involve female learners. Distance learning opens doors to those who are disadvantaged in traditional education. Distance learning provides flexibility. Individuals can have both family and work responsibilities while taking courses. Educational backgrounds vary. There is no evidence so far that indicates how the personality type or learning style affects the attitudes of long distance learners. The most important characteristic appears to be motivation. Like Perraton in Chapter 2, Jenkins believes the most recent and significant development in education is online teaching and learning, but like any development, online learning has both pluses and minuses. Pluses included such things as the potential to create a better environment, enhance interaction between students and teachers, and access to more information and resources. However, teachers and educators are still exploring the best ways to use technology application, how to improve teaching and learning, and how to identify the new skills teachers and students need to acquire. According to Jenkins, little is known about the impact on learning and learners over time in relation to the lost time of face-to-face situations in the classroom. In spite of the potential drawbacks and unknowns, nations around the world, especially in developing nations and poor countries, are pursuing the continued development and expansion of online learning as the best way to give more access to educational opportunities by the greatest number of the population via the Internet. Central to the idea of the push toward online learning is the identification of information about the potential audience needed to determine whether long distance education will work. This information can be obtained from educational statistics, labor market information, interviews, questionnaires, and surveys. The information gained is interpreted, and programs are designed around what the data reveal about student priorities and interests in order to assist policy makers in their decision making process. Market research and analysis are critical tools used in the process of determining the need and use for online education. The factor of globalization along with technology and the need for information plays a major role in expanding distance education. Distance learning via the Internet is being adapted by various countries to meet the needs of their students. They are finding the Internet provides new possibilities for international teaching and learning. In closing Chapter 3, Jenkins offers some useful generalizations on how to approach the ever changing and expanding audience of long distance learning. A few of them are: Select media and technology accessible to students. Financial cost to students should be affordable. Time requirements should be realistic. Learning support should be available to all. Educational culture should be taken into account. Learning systems should account for different learning styles. Student motivation is an important factor in participation and completion. Chapter 4 is written by Szarina Abdullah and provides to us a picture of Asia, the region that is reported to have the world’s largest student enrollment in open and long distance education. Abdullah approaches the topic of the Asian experience with distance and open learning by discussing various research studies concerning the characteristics and needs of Asian students. In spite of the differences among students from different regional areas of Asia, Abdullah reports that there are certain characteristics common among Asian distance and open learning. These characteristics, along with others mentioned, contribute to a phenomenon common among distance learners: high attrition and low graduate rate. Among these characteristics are: Majority of students range in age from 20 to 30 years. Males outnumber female students. Most perceive distance learning as a way to improve their qualifications Most know little about distance learning. Most have a poor academic background. Most are inclined towards pragmatism, not interested in theories. Teachers outnumber other professions among distance learners. Other studies are discussed dealing with learning styles, student needs, social perceptions of distance learning, success rate, the impact of distance learning, and what policies are needed to develop distance learning. Some of the findings of these studies indicated that successful students have three main elements: learning strategies, teaching strategies, and learner focus of control. In Asian society, the tradition of getting an education from a school and university still has a strong hold while in the United States, Britain, Canada, or Australia, distance learning is a manner of education proudly accepted and touted. The success rate among students in distance learning in different countries is also given. For instance, in Africa, there is a 50% dropout rate. India has a success rate of 22.5 to 34 % while in Korea, the range is 14.5 to 34%. After examining the information and results of various studies of distance learning in Asia, Abdullah concludes, “In the final analysis of the performance of any educational system we can look at graduates as the outcomes of the system and their contribution to society. If we gather evidence to show that graduates of open and distance education contribute to the social, economic and political development of nation building, we should be able to convince skeptics of open and distance education” (p. 70). However, not much research has been done following up on how graduates of distance learning programs perform. The few studies that exist show the graduates do perform well and contribute to the organization or business where they are employed. What is needed to further fuel the development of distance learning in Asia are the formulation of policies bringing distance learning to the forefront of national development. So far in Part 2, we have read that open and distance learning students have similar or common characteristics regardless of the geographical and cultural environment. We have also learned open and distance learning makes different demands on students and changes the way students learn when compared to traditional education. It was also indicated that different demands are also placed upon the teachers, staff, and management involved in the educational distance learning process. Thus, Chapter 5, staffing, development, and management, addresses the input of these individuals. People are the key in any organization. As such, people are a major concern in distance education. There are some who assume that online education requires a new division of labor with a different staff undertaking the creation, development, implementation, and teaching of the online courses. However, in most situations, it is the same teacher who teaches in the classroom who handles the online course responsibility. This makes the role of staff policy and staff development a very important issue due to the differences involved the complexities of distance education. Santosh Panda, author of Chapter 5, presents various views on distance learning and explores research dealing with several approaches or models used in educational setting. For instance, Peters (2003) analyzed eight models dealing with instruction ranging from correspondence education to virtual learning. Peters concluded that “distance education is by far the most open and flexible form of learning and teaching” (p. 78). Panda’s purpose in writing this chapter is “to explain how the roles of staff in distance education are different when compared with traditional campus-based classroom teaching” (p. 79). While several differences exist between distance learning and campus-based learning, three features, not found in conventional education settings, are “the use of instructional media by specialist staff, the adoption of quasi-industrial processes by production and distribution, and the use of communication for teaching and administrative purposes to bridge the gap between the institution and the students” (p. 80). There are also differences in organization, utilization of space, and dynamics of staff development and management. One of the main concerns in distance learning is the issue of faculty workload and faculty productivity. Role clarification, coordination, and networking are used to facilitate the management of the various roles of faculty and staff. Every faculty and staff member should have an induction to distance education and how it fits into the institutional goals, operations, work culture, ethics, and team building within the organization. Panda re-emphasizes the overall message of the other authors. As educators, we need to think of the people involved in the system of teaching and learning. Distance learning can greatly enhance equity and promote lifelong learning opportunities. As with almost every educational and institutional endeavor, the bottom line is always finding resources and how to determine who pays for the service and who benefits from the service. Perraton, in Chapter 6, explains that generally speaking, most funding for education and training comes from one or more of five sources: government, the learners themselves, community support, private or nongovernmental sector, and from funding agencies and donors. Usually, the funding is mixed and the person or organization selecting the funding deals with politics and economics and engages in trade-offs in order to acquire the resources needed. Part 3 Part 3 focuses on process. Process is an important topic because process deals with the concerns about management and deployment of resources and outcomes, organizational structure, the choices of technology, the changes brought about by globalization, governance, quality control, and accreditation. Chapter 7 examines organization options which are different from those of conventional education and are probably less familiar to many educators. The authors, Greville Rumble and Colin Latchem, examine the merits of single-mode institutions, limited to open and distance learning, or dual-mode institutions, combining distance and conventional approaches under one administration. They look at strengths and weaknesses of the various models of organization and at the emergent and future prospects for e-distance education. In the 1987 book, A Short Guide to Distance Education, W. Perry and G. Rumble considered three types of organizational models: single-mode institutions, dual-mode institutions, and distance-education consortia of educational, publishing, broadcasting, and other organizations. Their conclusion was that single-mode institutions structured solely to distance education were expensive to develop and therefore needed to be big, so as to achieve economies of scale. Dual-mode institutions offered courses exactly the same content whether on or off-campus. The distance-education consortia was a really good idea but was seldom used or successful. A brief history of the organizations patterns of distance education is provided illustrating the development up to the present time. We learn that distance learning began with correspondence school as early as 1840 (p.118). First and second generation distance based single-mode institutions were successful because of the adoption of the industrialized approach to education. This approach involved the mechanization, standardization, the use of capital-intensive technologies, centralized planning and control, division of labor, reduction in the autonomy of academic producers, and an objectivism of the production process. However, this bureaucratization of education was not limited to distance education. Today, the post-Ford models involving product innovation, process variability, and labor responsibility have become the favored approach. Third generation distance education includes rapid response to the demands of the consumer, more power to academics to control and change course content and pace, and the providing of a more constructivist learning environment. While some institutions found the single-mode model to fit their needs, other institutions favored the dual-mode approach. There are basically two types of approaches utilizing the dual mode approach. One approach is the asynchronous correspondence methodologies using print, correspondence, multimedia, and Internet or web-based learning which can encourage autonomous and constructivist learning. The second approach functions by extending the traditional classroom by using face-to-face instruction via satellite television and other connective technologies which tends to reinforced teacher-centered approaches. Within the framework of the dual-mode, adaptations or variations have been created. These “different approaches to the organization of dual-mode systems” have been “attempts to make distance education as good as conventional education” (p. 124). In addition, higher education has had to find ways to reach more students and a greater diversity of students, to provide for nontraditional students, to meet demands for expansion while facing cuts in programs and staffing, to generate more income, and deal with the mainstreaming of technology into teaching and learning. One of the authors, Rumble, has suggested the dual-mode approach gives a distinct advantage to institutions over the single-mode. The dual-mode approach allows for greater flexibility and offers a wider range of options to the students. The third type of organizational model, the consortia, is increasing in frequency of utilization. Due to globalization, international competition, telecommunications, the need to leverage complementary strengths for a greater market share, and increase geographical coverage, the number of consortia is increasing. Distance education providers are teaming with other providers in providing courses and training. For instance, the American Education Consortium is made up of sixty institutional and affiliate members providing specialized courses to its members via the Internet. This example underscores the globalization, internationalism, and competitive commercialization which has resulted due to the development of networking, partnering, and interdependence of educational institutions and organizations in distance learning. Entering into this picture, we also have corporate universities and training centers created to provide programs relevant to business efficiency, skill development, and employee performance. In some instances, the education and training programs have even been contracted through independent educational institutions. Corporations are recognizing by providing the necessary training and knowledge to their workers, they can not only be more productive and effective, but they can also retain and advance the best employees. The knowledge worker has become a very valuable commodity to businesses and corporations. Over time, it seemed only natural then to move toward for- profit-institutions of distance learning. Initially, an American phenomenon, the for-profit model is expanding in numerous countries around the globe. These for-profit institutions have arisen through a combination of factors including: “dissatisfaction with the responsiveness of traditional institutions to meet the professional and vocational needs of working adults who require the convenience, year-round compressed courses, and individually tailored and individually satisfying flexible learning; recognition of the enormous potential of the educational market; and e-commerce entrepreneurism” (pp. 131-132). Such institutions are borderless and very competitive with traditional educational institutions. In keeping with the expansion of distance education and technology, the term “virtual institution” has become the metaphor for online enrolment, distribution, tuition and administration. Cunningham and Ryan, et al. in their book, The Business of Borderless Education: The Impact of Corporate and Virtual Providers on Higher Education Provision, suggest virtual education may be thought of in two ways. First, it can be an institution which offers conventional services via information and communication technology. Second, it can be viewed as a “hollow” organization that subcontracts its conventional services to other organizations. Basically, the concept of the virtual institution or campus, both in higher education and in high schools, is still experimental and is used as a publishing tool rather than as an interactive tool. Looking ahead into the future, we know that distance education is certainly changing and evolving and will continue to do so as “new players enter the field, exploiting the possibilities of e-commerce, and that time-honored structures and systems may wither or be swept away” (p.136). An important question remains to be answered. Will these institutions “recognize and respond to the need for risk-taking, responsiveness, results-oriented programmes and services, reciprocity and relationships and transform their organizational, administrative and academic systems, or whether new providers will prove quicker, more flexible and more effective in responding to the need for a working-learning culture and infrastructure?” (p.137). Face-to-face study, print, broadcasting (radio and television), cassettes, video-conferencing, computer-related learning—What do all these thing have in common? According to Chapter 8, the answer is technology. Throughout the book, technology has been identified as one of the major forces driving the creating, development, implementation, and expansion of open and long distance learning. The advancements that have occurred in technology have also played a major role in the globalization and spurred the communication process among organizations, businesses, individuals, and governments. Technology, while bringing about new relationships in globalization and economic development, has also presented challenges in its use in various environments. Chapter 8 approaches these challenges with a discussion concerning the issues involved in “regulation of telecommunications, educational access to communications media, and national policies in relation to the digital divide” (p.41). These issues lead into another major challenge of decision and policy making in terms “of the most appropriate ways of using technologies within education, about choices between them for a specific educational purpose, about staff development in relation to them and about their costs” (p.141). Perraton addresses the issues of technologies in education by proposing a set of criteria that can be used to make choices in the selection of media in education. Moses examines the all important cost factor involved in the use of technology in computer-based education. Together they provide an understanding of the issues surrounding technology and a planning approach for the use of technologies in education. Perraton begins by identifying three purposes for communication technologies: “to widen access to education, to raise it quality, and to reform it” (p.142). Decision and policy makers combining their experience with older and newer technologies can then examine the “convenience, constraints, curriculum and cost” in utilization of technology. These same factors are dealt with in an international environment as well as in a local situation. Perraton provides a discussion of each of these factors as well as providing detailed example in tables of the types of technology and computer use for communication with students. Moses then continues the discussion of technology in education by providing information on the categories of cost: professional development, support, connectivity, software, replacement costs, and retrofitting. He concludes that “educational institutions all over the world have used computer systems successfully and creatively to enrich, revitalize and reform their educational activity” (p. 156). The question in educational systems everywhere “is not whether to integrate computers and connectivity into their educational programmes, but how to do it effectively and at levels that yield a true educational benefit” (p. 156). Globalization has been mentioned as one of the major results of the advancement of technology and communication. Needless to say, there are numerous issues involved in the globalization of education. Among them are: the retention of cultural and national identify in a borderless education market, policy decisions, costs, escalating demands of lifelong learning, quality of distance education learning experiences, delivery methods of educational programs, learner support systems, teachers and faculty concerns, accessibility, accreditation, organizational structures, to name a few. Farrell, Ryan, and Hope, authors of Chapter 9, discuss these issues as they relate to education and globalization. They believe that while globalization presents many challenging issues, it can bring benefits to education “with its promise of sharing intellectual resources” (p.179). It is no secret that open and long distance education has faced an ongoing struggle in the establishment of its quality, credibility, and its legitimacy within the academic community due to “a history of poor-quality provision” (p. 181). With the increasing expansion of open and long distance education into the global academic market, there are even more concerns about its status, good practices, standards, and reputation. Bernadette Robinson, author of Chapter 10 on governance, accreditation and quality assurance indicates that attention needs to be paid to the governance, policies, and action overseeing the global trends in electronic delivery of educational programs. This chapter examines three overlapping areas of governance, accreditation, and quality assurance of open and distance education. Governance activities usually include matters of funding, regulation, and the delivery of long distance education. The state’s role in this process is continually redefined and changing from various areas and individuals. Models for governance also vary widely and are shaped by specific traditions, history, and existing bureaucracy. To help deal with these and other challenges, Robinson suggests that several questions should be considered. All of them deal with the examination of issues, policies, and procedures overseeing the accreditation and quality assurance. Other factors entering into Chapter 10’s discussion are those of mechanisms of governance, market forces that aid the control of quality, voluntary professional associations overseeing in varying degrees the process, accreditation standards for academic programs, and what limitation should exist of the governing bodies, policies, and procedures. The author offers a comprehensive list of questions that planners and managers need to ask themselves when planning institutional policy and strategies for quality assurance. Basically, this chapter emphasizes the need and the importance of establishing guidelines and policies to guarantee the best practices and quality assurance possible in open and long distance education. In some countries, it is apparent that this type of planning is going on while in others, there is little evidence of effective planning in regards to open and distance education. Robinson offers some helpful measures for both governmental and institutional external and internal regulations of quality. The author believes that there will be a continued international push towards the improvement of governance, accreditation, and quality assurance; however, the warning is also given that these issues should not take precedence at the expense of the value and worth of education. Part 4 Reehana Raza begins Chapter 11 concerning the benefits of open and long distance education for students, labor force, employers, and society with the statement, “The ultimate test of policy is in its outcomes, and the education sector is no exception” (p.209). This statement sets the tone for Part 4 on the outputs of open and long distance education. It is important to realize that open and long distance institutions must justify and be accountable for decisions revolving around educational output because they play a key role in the dissemination of education through their flexibility, accessibility, and ability to communicate to individuals at a distance via the Internet. The levels of knowledge acquisition in various countries are known to have a major impact on economies, innovations, productivity, democratization, and human rights issues. Therefore, the effectiveness of open and long distance education has become an important issue for policy and decision makers. Because of the nature of distance education, the diversity of its students, and differences in ability and socio-economic backgrounds, it is difficult to do the research and obtain the data to really assess the output of open and long distance education. Certainly there are benefits, but it is difficult to measure them. However, Raza does present a look at some existing evidence of outcomes resulting from open and long distance in the areas of basic education, teacher education, and higher education. So, where do we start the process of measuring or evaluating output/outcomes? First of all, it has to be determined what outcome to measure, for what purpose, and at what level? The difficulty of making these decisions stems from the non-traditional audience that is served and whether or not, the outcomes are examined in terms of private gains for the student, family, or employer or in terms of the social gains for the benefit of society. Another contributing factor to the difficulty is the level of development of the region or country being examined. Access to data, data collection, and data management have also proven to be part of the difficulty when looking at the outputs of open and long distance education. Some of the methods of examination of outputs have included using indicators such as graduates, examination results, course completions, a value-added approach, impact of educational intervention, labor productivity, economic growth, and improvement in the areas of civic responsibility and decrease in crime rates. Another set of problems that exist for researchers is the difficulty in conducting comparative studies and carrying on work that requires receiving data from different institutions. The quality of data, the differences in the standards and expectations of different institutions, and the variation of the types of output compound the difficulty of the examination process of outputs. So, keeping all these issues in mind, what kind of studies are found? The area where the least amount of information about outputs is found is in the outputs of basic education which is used as an alternative to formal primary education or to support primary and secondary education. Basic education has gained a certain level of legitimacy because of its enrollment. It is a means of providing education for those in existing employment, adults and children, and able to reach individual in isolated areas who previously have been unable to access educational opportunities. However, Raza makes the point that reaching people is not the same as teaching or educating people. There is evidence that basic education does reach individuals who want the opportunity but little evidence of the success of the educational/teaching experience. Another area lacking good data is that of teacher education. According to Raza, there are four ways that open and long distance education is used for teacher education: initial professional education, continuing professional development, curriculum reform, and teachers’ career development. Long distance education has been very successful in reaching this audience; however, again there is little evidence about the outcomes of its impact “except to indicate the perceived legitimacy of the method of provision” (p. 215). Other areas where only a very little or crude results exist about the effectiveness of open and long distance education are in examination results and in training teachers. Again, this is due to the lack of specific types of research studies being conducted. The third area Raza mentions is that of higher education. Graduate rates at the tertiary level are scarce, and the data that does exist are relatively old and compiled over a number of years and many courses and institutions. In this discussion on outputs, Raza provides a description of various studies around the world to help demonstrate the difficulty of the process in measuring outcomes. However, she also provides the examples of existing research to show that attempts are being made to determine how effective open and long distance education is and can be. She also makes two noteworthy observations. First of all, although the evidence of open and distance learning is sketchy, there is some evidence that the method of delivery can generate benefits for its target audience. Secondly, the more evidence that can be collected on the outcome/outputs of open and long distance learning, the better policy decisions can and will be made. Three conclusions can be drawn from these observations that will assist policy and decision makers: open and distance learning can be successful in reaching a range of students; evidence seems to exist that open and distance learning is more effective in some areas than in others; and in times of shrinking budgets, the efficiency of education is often at the cost of effectiveness. The key to learning more about the outputs in regard to students, labor force, employers, and society is through more research. The research agenda should include: “(1) encouraging and improving systems of data management and institutionalizing evaluation and research in open and distance learning institutions; (2) continuing to collect date on outcomes in such measures as enrolments and graduation rates; (3) carrying out systematic research into the value-added of these educational interventions, whether in terms of non-market or market implications as well as cognitive and behavioral changes generated by experience; and (4) to understand which particular variables contribute most to the effectiveness of these institutions” (p. 222). Cost effectiveness is always a consideration in an educational delivery system in both traditional and nontraditional settings; however, “Perhaps the best generalization that can be made about the methods of distance education in relation to cost-effectiveness is that they provide tools for designing and building high-quality systems for facilitating learning that are sensitive to the specific needs of students” (p. 244). This conclusion is drawn by Neil Butcher and Nicky Roberts, authors of Chapter 12 on costs, effectiveness, and efficiency. Some key concepts as discussed such as differentiating between effectiveness and efficiency, difference between actual costs and notional estimates, fixed and variable costs, direct and indirect costs, overhead costs, unit costs and cost centers, cost drivers, personnel costs, and capital costs. When thinking of the costs involved in long distance education, “it has become a dangerous piece of conventional wisdom that distance education is less expensive than traditional contact education” (p. 229). The purpose of Chapter 12 is to help the reader understand the many factors that must be considered in determining costs including those related to benefits, comparative studies, design time, and national needs and to suggest ways to avoid cost and income traps. What we do conclude from this chapter is that distance education has been able to fulfill its responsibilities and meet the needs of students because it has been able to demonstrate higher levels of cost efficiency and cost effectiveness than comparable conventional institutions. The reading of this book will help you to understand that open and distance education is becoming a significant factor in policy decisions and in the choice of countries, especially developing countries seeking to bring education to the people. Lentell, in Chapter 13, makes the following statement: “Open and distance learning holds out the promise of increasing accessibility to education and training and enabling the best use of limited educational resources” (p. 249). Central to the book and its message is the belief that through thoughtful and cost effective planning, there can be an expansion of educationally sound open and long distance education programs. If the purpose of open and long distance learning is to widen access to education, what needs to occur in this process of development and expansion is the addressing of some critical issues which are: identifying the target population and their needs; choosing the appropriate type of system; choosing the appropriate technology of delivery; business planning and costing of programs; developing and acquiring support materials; tutoring and supporting students; recruiting and enrolling students; assessing students; managing and administering open and long distance programs, and monitoring, evaluating, and providing quality assurance. Lentell provides a table outlining these issues and how they might be addressed. For anyone who reads this book, it is an eye-opening examination of distance learning on a global scale. It makes us aware of the problems, benefits, importance, and immensity of the educational challenge that exists in providing access via open and long distance learning to as many individuals as possible in order to improve and enhance standards of living, productivity, training of labor forces, political and economic stability, democratization of countries, and a general raising of the levels of knowledge. Knowledge is the key and the basis for all future growth, innovation, development, and improvement in the status of the world’s population.

Bugental, Daphne B. (2003). Thriving In the Face of Childhood Adversity. Reviewed by Karen E. Petersen, Portland State University

Bugental, Daphne B. (2003). Thriving In the Face of Childhood Adversity. New York: Psychology Press Pp. v + 232 $49.95     ISBN 1-84169-058-9 Reviewed by Karen E. Petersen Portland State University February 4, 2005 Thriving in the Face of Childhood Adversity is a book that belongs on the bookshelf of every professional and every parent whose life includes a child with a disability. Daphne Blunt Bugental examines the lives of children with disabilities through a multidisciplinary lens. She uses current information from the fields of social development, developmental neuroscience, social cognition, and evolutionary psychology to examine how the life experiences of children with medical and physical disabilities (MPD) create high risk or resilient outcomes. She sprinkles the research findings with vignettes of children and their families and how they deal with the many challenges that MPD’s inject into the lives of the individuals with the MPD and everyone they interact with. The introduction to the book is also an introduction to the author, offering a glimpse at the motivation that drove her to write this book. She also uses the introduction to clearly outline the remainder of the book. Chapter one provides a historical overview of how MPD’s have been viewed over time and from different cultural perspectives, examining in particular the different religious and philosophical views of different cultures. This section of the book looks to what are the perceived nature and causes of MPD’s and how they vary by culture. She ends the introduction with an inquiry into what can be done about MPD’s. Chapter two delves into this question by exploring the medical model and the changing beliefs from the scientific world. It is here we are first introduced to the social developmental approach and the evolutionary psychology approach of MPD’s and what conditions create an environment in which the child will thrive or fail to thrive. Chapter three is the final chapter in the introduction and it lays a strong foundation outlining how some children with MPD’s seem to escape much of the negative aspects of disability and thrive while others suffer a much more dismal life outcome. She examines risk versus thriving from the response of the parents and the response of the child. She defines the long term effects of risk and the effects of unrelieved stress and the damage it creates through allostatic overload. Following the examination of risk, she defines the positive conditions that are most likely to create an environment where the child with an MPD will thrive. In both cases, it is the early experiences of these children that largely contribute to the long term outcome and whether or not they thrive in the face of adversity. She breaks the book into three categories of MPD’s interweaving the common underlying characteristics that all individuals with MPD’s face with the contextual differences and the unique obstacles individuals with different MPD’s face. The three categories of disabilities covered in this text are disabilities that constrain mobility, attention and response disabilities, and stigmatizing disabilities. Each section begins by creating understanding of the MPD and the type of experience commonly encountered by children with the particular MPD. It next discusses parental response and action to their child and the disability, and concludes by examining the social interactions of children with MPD’s and those they come in contact with. Each chapter is neatly summarized and then integrates the information of the experience of the child, the interaction of the parents and the child, and the social experience these children face out in the world. The first type of MPD covers disabilities that constrain mobility. Bugental chooses to focus on disabilities of visual and orthopedic impairment for this section. To introduce the challenges some of these individuals face, Bugental takes narrative snapshots from the lives of musician Andrea Bocelli, scientist Geerat Vermeil, and poet Kenny Fries. Both Bocelli and Vermeil were born with congenital glaucoma and lost their sight at an early age. Fries was born with malformations to both his feet and legs, surgery was able to do little to correct the condition and as an adult his legs are permanently crossed and visibly scarred. These three men do not deny their worlds are fraught with difficultly and obstacles, yet in their interviews there is a sense of optimism that comes with the reality that though they can not control becoming disabled, they can choose how to live life with their disability. Bugental also uses vignettes for the subsequent MPD categories she examines in the following sections of the book. How do individuals with MPD’s manage to thrive under such adverse conditions? This is the thematic question Bugental addresses in each section of the book. She also addresses the instances and conditions in which children fail to thrive. She first examines the relationship that develops between the parents and children with MPD’s and how that relationship is critical to the long term outcome for their children. Parental investment is crucial for human development, the first months of a parent child relationship sets the stage for how the child will interact in all future relationships. Parents react either by rejecting the child, physically or emotionally, or they invest as many of their resources as possible to compensate for the MPD. Approaching the parental willingness to invest question from an evolutionary perspective, Bugental gives evidence for the conditions when parents are most likely to invest or reject their offspring. Evolutionary psychology makes the claim that we are biologically predisposed to reject those who are deformed or look sickly; such differences indicated disease and danger during the era of evolutionary adaptation. It is imperative to note that this is evidence offered as to why parents may fail to invest in their children, it is not a judgment, nor is it meant to characterize the parents as bad parents. In fact, Bugental makes it quite clear that while there is a biophysiological response to aversion, we are humans and we have the capacity to override the initial reaction and become advocates and managers of the child’s social interactions in the world. The social developmental approach evaluates the characteristics of the child and the ways in which they interact with others and how others respond to those interactions. This approach also takes into account the attributions parents feel about their child with a MPD, if parents feel the child is somehow to blame, the risk of maltreatment increases dramatically. These characteristics seemed to hold across the three types of MPD’s that Bugental focused on through out the book. It is believed that long term effects of high risk children manifest from allostatic overload and an ambiguous environment in which they are never sure if their caretaking needs will be met. Conversely, children who thrive go through what could be considered an inoculation of early stressful experiences, quickly followed by a period where they are comforted and nurtured by their parents. These early experiences serve to buffer them to later life stresses setting up the opportunity to thrive. The social developmental and evolutionary approach are quite parallel for the mobility constraint disabilities and the stigmatizing disabilities, this may have much to do with the visibility of the disorders. There are different risks for children whose disabilities make them appear unresponsive to others around them. Bugental focuses on hearing impairments, ADHD, and briefly mentions Tourette’s syndrome in this class of MPD’s. If Children seem unresponsive to authority, it may elicit a negative response from the adult in charge. When a child fails to respond appropriately adults may perceive the non-response as a threat to their authority. It is when this type of dynamic defines the relationship between the adult and child that the child is at an increased risk for physical abuse or maltreatment. Children with this type of disability also are subject to lack of support or services from professionals who attribute the disability as something the child can control. Much like the biophysiological response to physical anomalies, this reaction may not be conscious, but a manifestation of the “just world” beliefs, that is the belief that people in this world get what they deserve. Bugental again reminds the reader that while this response may not be a conscious one, it is one that can be overridden so that the child can receive appropriate services in the medical and educational arenas. The last social issue Bugental address in conjunction with each category of MPD’s is that of social interactions with others. For all of the disabilities, a common theme emerged in social interactions with others. Parents who invest highly in their child become proactive and manage their child’s social interactions and set up situations that are most likely to produce positive outcomes. The next two strategies that are most commonly used, attempt to normalize the child, or normalize the reaction of others; in cases of physical deformities, particularly facial deformities, cosmetic surgery is a common path to normalizing the child. To normalize the reaction of others, education about the nature of the disability may reduce the natural level of discomfort people feel around others who are not like them. When done well, this can mitigate negative reactions and create an environment conducive to positive social interactions for all parties involved. What makes this book a worthy addition to one’s personal library is the prescriptive program Bugental offers as a way to increase the number of children that can thrive in the face of childhood adversity. After examining the existing programs, Bugental and her staff developed a protocol that identified at risk families and assigned them to one of three conditions. One group participated in a community referral group. They were given information where they could obtain medical services or other services offered in the community; during the study they received no home visitations. A second group received basic home visitation, this group received services based on the Healthy Start model. Parents were taught effective parenting skills, how to build successful social support and how to access services available to them in the community. The number of home visits this group received during the study averaged seventeen. The final group received cognitively enhanced home visitation which included all the same services as the other conditions as well as a two step problem solving strategy that focused on refocusing causal thinking, that is attributional retraining to remove the concept of blame from the environment. The second phase of the cognitive strategy was to encourage parents to think of problem solving strategies, deciding on the most appropriate approach to solve the problem and concludes with a follow up at the next home visitation. The follow up provided the opportunity for the parents to discuss what methods worked and why. This enhanced cognitive training helped parents become competent problem solvers which helped give them a sense of control and allowed them to develop a relationship in which their child had the best chance to thrive. Initial findings of this innovative program are encouraging; the group that received the advanced cognitive training was far less likely to physically abuse their children. While this research is yet to be replicated, it demonstrates the need for early intervention by preventing the problems before they occur. This book is important because it not only outlines the conditions that contribute to positive or negative outcomes of children with MPD’s, it offers a solution to reduce the number of negative outcomes for our children and offers a plan to create an environment where children can thrive in the face of childhood adversity. About the Reviewer Karen E. Petersen is a graduate student at Portland State University. She is currently completing work on her Master’s degree in Special Education. Her interests include psychology, human development, education, motivation and learning, and the interaction between nature and nurture.

Morrell, Ernest. (2004). Becoming Critical Researchers: Literacy and Empowerment for Urban Youth. Reviewed by Beth A. Wassell, Rowan University

Morrell, Ernest. (2004). Becoming Critical Researchers: Literacy and Empowerment for Urban Youth. NY: Peter Lang. Pp. 168 $29.95     ISBN 0-8204-6199-7 Reviewed by Beth A. Wassell Rowan University February 4, 2005 In recent years, researchers have begun to recognize the importance of using students as researchers, especially for critical studies (e.g. Kincheloe & Steinberg, 1998; Tobin, Elmesky & Seiler, 2005). In Becoming Critical Researchers: Literacy and Empowerment for Urban Youth, Ernest Morrell strives to incorporate student voice into critical academic research while helping them develop academic and critical literacies. The focus of his research, however, is not only "the potential of engaging students in critical research relating to popular culture to facilitate the development of academic and critical literacies" (p.6); it also extends to the classroom, teacher and whole school contexts by examining the roles of schools in facilitating critical research that explores inequities between different groups of students. In this book he argues that, through critical research that questions hegemonic structures within schools and the study of popular culture, students gain empowerment, a commitment to social justice and both critical and academic literacies. Morrell begins by explaining a conceptual framework that is comprehensive, yet accessible to practitioners and others outside of academia. An important preface to his study lies in his description of the roles of critical pedagogists: "[they] would like to pry theories away from academics and incorporate them in educational practice" (p. 22). This is precisely what Morrell does throughout the book; within the context of the Pacific Beach Project, he effectively engages teachers, administrators, other school-based stakeholders, university researchers and most importantly, marginalized students, in transformative, critical dialogue that questions school structures. Even further, Morrell internalizes Delpit’s (1995) idea that critical consciousness is meaningless if it is not augmented with the academic skills that students need to be successful in mainstream society. He does this by linking students’ academic tasks and projects to their research agendas and offering them school credit for their participation in the research. Morrell clearly describes the postmodernist notions of building on students’ own knowledge and cultural capital (Bourdieu, 1986) as important foundational aspects upon which the project is based. Using Street’s (1993) definition of literacy practices (as social, ideological and strongly tied to culture, power and other cultural practices), Morrell further links the interrelatedness of literacy and critical research. In addition, he explains that the project explores the students’ movement from the periphery of the research community to more central roles as they engage in "legitimate peripheral participation" (Lave & Wenger, 1991). This theory takes into account the social, contextualized nature of learning while highlighting elements of community, identity and collaboration, all of which become unifying themes in the data analysis and conclusion chapters. In the "Method" chapter, Morrell describes his use of critical ethnography to explore four students’ use of critical research in a diverse (both racially and socio-economically) high school in Southern California. His smaller sample of participants was chosen from a larger group of students who participated in the Pacific Beach Project, which he describes as a partnership effort between a large research university in the area and Pacific Beach High School. Activities generated by the Pacific Beach Project sought to broadly investigate issues of equity and achievement for students of color within Pacific Beach High School. Morrell specifically chose to follow four low-income students (2 African American females, 1 Chicano male and 1 Chicana female), all of who were considered "average" students based on their GPA and the track of courses in which they were placed. Morrell used field notes, interviews, artifacts and student work as means to explore the students’ "interactions with existing texts and production of original texts" (p. 49) as they participated in different phases of the project’s research component. The five analysis chapters chronicle the progress of the project and the students’ development as researchers and as more critically and academically literate individuals. The project group began with a short summer seminar in which students discussed several theories and issues in educational sociology (e.g., connections between critical pedagogy and pop culture, student resistance, etc.), learned the basics of qualitative research, and were asked to present results from a basic study. The chapter shows that this phase of the project was educative in the limited work students could do over a 3-week period (they met 2 1/2 hours a day for 12 days), as they were able to learn the theory, collect data and make presentations. However, the chapter left me questioning the context behind some of the narratives included and looking for further detail regarding the seminar agenda. For instance, after a brief introduction, Morrell describes a vignette in which the four student researchers walk around a college campus with a video camera randomly asking people about "the impact of hip-hop culture on the lives of youth" (p. 71). Although this vignette is rich with vivid description, the chapter neglected to include a preface of the context in which the students embarked on their endeavors. I wanted to know a little more about the process before the data collection—why did they choose to do random, in-person interviews with college-students? Later in the chapter, Morrell mentions that even in this short, chaotic, introductory seminar, the students learned "about the process of becoming legitimate peripheral participants and the literacy events associated with this participation, creating interview questions, and reading literature on the sociology of education in order to prepare. Also the group takes notes and reviews the data from the digital camera in the process of data analysis for the report" (pp. 74-75). Additional description into these elements, including students’ reflections on the processes, would have enhanced the analysis and addressed important logistical questions, such as, what were the specific questions the students created, and how they performed the data analysis. During the school year following the initial summer seminar, the project students were enrolled in a special "A period" class created specifically for them to continue their research. In thischapter, Morrell uses narratives and field notes that capture the students’ participation in popular culture and activist events such as a protest of an racist video game and the premiere of a hip-hop documentary followed by a question and answer session. In both of these forums, the students had the opportunity to interact with texts, engage in critical discourse, collect data, and enhance both critical and academic literacies. In this chapter, he also begins to illustrate how the students’ use of such literacies expanded into other fields for academic purposes, for instance, in formal writing assignments for English class. With the help of English teachers who were also involved in the project, the students were able to use their knowledge "to engage the literary canon and foster academic writing" (p. 98). In chapter 7, Morrell describes the third phase of the project. During this summer seminar, the students had increased opportunities to research issues of youth access, social justice and empowerment in a much more comprehensive seminar. After choosing an issue within the category of youth access to study, the students spent 80 hours discussing theory, posing questions, collecting and analyzing data and presenting their work to a panel of faculty from the affiliated university. The presence of the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles during the seminar created a strong context for the students’ work; they participated in the convention and used it as a site to collect data. Some of the striking vignettes in this chapter show the power of students’ experiences in critical research and social activism. For instance, Imani, one of the focal students, wrote the following journal entry to describe her participation in part of the Democratic National Convention: We also addressed these issues being ignored by mainstream Americans by attending the protest that ended later in what the news called a "mini riot." People gathered from various backgrounds and various issues from socialism to the freedom of Mumia to seek justice and social change. Throughout this day we faced situations ranging from police attempts to silence the voices screaming to be heard, to the moshpit of excited fans chanting along with the band. This was but the first day in a week that will prove to be both interesting and hopefully revolutionary. (p. 110) In the last two analysis chapters, Morrell moves from the micro level to describe the students’ individual transformations to the macro issues of the school as a site for social reproduction. Through evidence in student work and other data, he substantiates the claim that the students’ participation in the multi-phased project helped them to become full participants in the research community while developing both critical and academic literacies. As promised, Morrell gives ample evidence that students moved to central participation; by the final phase of the study, they had published their work in on-line journals, participated in and helped organize activist events, and presented their work at local meetings and academic forums, such as the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association. Through the students’ narratives and other data collected during the two-year study, Morrell uncovers and describes some of the practices at Pacific Beach High School that reify implicit, yet hegemonic structures, such as priority scheduling for A.P., honors-level and orchestra students (the majority of whom were White and middle-class), an Advanced Placement culture in which a set of standards were heavily dictated by White, middle-class culture, a lack of access to quality counseling (for selection of courses, college guidance, etc.), and a conservative parent organization within the school community that denounced what they claimed were progressive policies (i.e. increasing enrollment of students of color in A.P. classes) that might water down the schools’ rigorous instruction in Advanced Placement courses. In attempts to make the work truly transformative, the project students, university researchers and teacher liaisons planned several meetings with other school stakeholders, such as the English department teachers, guidance counselors, and the student government body to initiate dialogue that might shed light on the deleterious effects of the project findings. Unfortunately, Morrell claims "there seems to be little change in who has access to the most rigorous courses at the high school" (p. 140). However, the project has taken a key step in changing oppressive structures in the school by simply identifying the contrasts between the school experiences of White, middle-class students and students of color and by engaging many members of the school community in critical, catalytic dialogue that one can only hope will continue. The book includes several important implications and quality suggestions for urban educators, teacher educators, administrators and policymakers. I would argue that these ideas would also be appropriate, and possibly even more critical, for suburban practitioners in schools that are less diverse, yet equally conflicted with gaps in achievement between White students and students of color. Overall, Becoming Critical Researchers is clearly written, and as mentioned earlier, is accessible to teachers, administrators and other practitioners, although graduate students and teacher educators will find its content an important resource for discussing quality critical ethnography that affirms student voice. Morrell’s claims are clearly evidenced throughout the book in most areas; however, one might question why he chose to include certain vignettes (many of which were thick with ethnographic description), yet leaves other more explanatory elements out of the chapters that focused on the four student researchers. Also, within the conclusion chapters, readers may be disappointed not to find any updates on the four student researchers—did their intensive participation in the project have any enduring effects on their identities? To what extent are they still engaged in work that tackles issues of social justice? Are they still connecting popular culture to critical discourse? In what ways have they become critical researchers in everyday life? In order to expose inequitable structures and then make transformative practices and policies work within our public schools, we must advocate for further studies that incorporate the voices of those that are most affected by the research, namely, students and practitioners. It is their positionality that "gives these street sociologists the perspective from below (or within) that allows for the development of a critical and transformative sociology leading to revolutionary praxis emerging from the people who can liberate themselves" (p. 81). Morrell’s work engages students as capable, critical researchers who have unlimited power to develop and apply academic and critical literacies to their fight for counter-hegemonic practices. I only hope that similar insightful and transformative work will continue to surface in other daunting, yet hopeful, public schools. References Bourdieu, P. (1986). The forms of capital. In J.G. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education. New York: Greenwood Press, 241-258. Delpit, L. (1995). Other people’s children: Cultural conflict in the classroom. New York: The New Press. Kincheloe, J. & Steinberg, S. (Eds). (1998). Students as researchers: Creating Classrooms that Matter. Bristol, PA: Falmer Press. Lave, J. & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated Learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Street, B. (1993). Introduction: The new literacy studies. In B.V. Street (Ed.), Cross-cultural approaches to literacy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Tobin, K., Elmesky, R. & Seiler, G. (Eds). (2005). Improvingurban science education: New roles for teachers, students and researchers. NY: Rowman & Littlefield. About the reviewer Beth Wassell is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Secondary Education/Foundations of Education at Rowan University in Glassboro, NJ. Currently, her research explores beginning teacher practices in urban settings and the challenges faced by secondary English Language Learners in content-area classrooms.

Baumann, James F. and Kame’enui, Edward J. (2004). Vocabulary Instruction: Research to Practice. Reviewed by Sylvia Read, Utah State University

Baumann, James F. and Kame’enui, Edward J. (2004). Vocabulary Instruction: Research to Practice. NY: The Guilford Press. p. xii + 244 $28 (Paperback)   ISBN 1-57230-932-6 Reviewed by Sylvia Read Utah State University February 4, 2005 Though edited collections sometimes suffer from an unevenness in the contributions, this collection of original essays bucks that trend. All of the chapters are written by prominent researchers in the field who both describe current research and offer practical ways for teachers to enact that research in the classroom. Though the book isn’t intended to be a compilation of classroom practices, it describes many ways to integrate research-based vocabulary instruction into the day-to-day life of the classroom. Since the research has shown that vocabulary needs to be taught through four modes (wide reading, explicit teaching of specific words, teaching of word-learning strategies, and development of word consciousness), this book is divided into three main sections: 1) teaching specific vocabulary; 2) teaching vocabulary-learning strategies; and 3) teaching vocabulary through word consciousness and language play. The first mode, wide reading, isn’t addressed in depth, though some of the authors make reference to it as one important component. However, the evidence is compelling that wide reading must be supplemented and that direct instruction of vocabulary is far from a futile endeavor. The first four chapters of the book address ways of teaching specific vocabulary. Beck and McKeown outline a vocabulary program that is based on learning “tier two” words—words that are not overly familiar (brother), nor overly rare (ecclesiastical). Tier two words are found frequently across many domains and thus have the potential for greater impact on students’ reading comprehension. Beck and McKeown argue that learning words from context isn’t as easy as it sounds and even when the context is strong, students aren’t guaranteed to understand the word. The rest of the chapter is devoted to recommendations on how to choose words to teach, how to teach them effectively through “rich” instruction, when to teach, how to teach about the different kinds of context clues, and how to keep good vocabulary instruction going in the classroom. Biemiller extends the argument for direct instruction of vocabulary by looking at the differences in students’ vocabulary upon entering school and how, without deliberate attention to vocabulary growth, the gap widens considerably until by the end of grade 2 there is a 4,000 word difference between students in the highest vocabulary quartile and the lowest vocabulary quartile. He also presents research evidence that shows a serious lack of attention to vocabulary instruction in the primary grades. He offers some simple suggestions for teaching vocabulary that will allow students to learn as many as three words a day including rereading books and explaining words. About ten words a day are taught, but as many as three a day are retained. In fact, he urges that primary teachers try to teach 8-10 words a day primarily through reading and rereading aloud high quality children’s literature and explaining target words. Coyne, Simmons, and Kame’enui wrote one of the most practical chapters in this book. In it, they describe the research base and the principles underlying using shared storybook reading to improve the vocabularies of young children. Traditional storybook reading does nothing to close the gap between children with small vocabularies and those with large vocabularies. What is needed is “conspicuous” and “rich” instruction accompanying high quality children’s literature, which they point out has a complexity of vocabulary greater than that of most adult conversation. A storybook intervention is also described in detail, including a sample of daily lessons plans for reading and rereading picture books with kindergarteners. Stahl and Stahl’s chapter also focuses on the potential for effective vocabulary instruction through read alouds. Children’s storybooks provide an avenue for students to learn relatively rare words that are more academic in nature than the words they hear on television or even in the adult conversation around them. Several effective strategies for incorporating vocabulary instruction into storybook reading are summarized: Text Talk (Beck and McKeown, 2001), picture walks (Clay, 1991), Word Wizard (Beck, Perfetti, and McKeown, 1982), teaching classification, and semantic mapping. The next five chapters address ways of teaching vocabulary-learning strategies. Graves’ chapter discusses the value of teaching prefixes and describes a specific set of lessons for teaching high-utility prefixes. The 15 most frequently occurring prefixes are found in over 4,000 words. Prefixes tend to be spelled consistently and are relatively easy for students to identify. Graves reviews the small amount of research on teaching prefixes, which is all positive, and then provides a four-day cycle for teaching prefixes. The teaching cycle includes explicit description of the strategy, teacher modeling of the strategy, class collaborative use of the strategy using overhead transparencies, guided practice, and independent practice. Graves ends by emphasizing the need for formal review of the strategy, prompting students’ use of the strategy at opportune times, and nudging students toward independent use of the strategy. Marzano argues that researchers need to clarify their use of the term vocabulary. In terms of reference, vocabulary “words” can be general or specific, can refer to concepts or can be singular terms. Marzano argues that vocabulary instruction should include proper nouns, phrases, and also general conceptual terms. Marzano also discusses modes of representation. It is assumed that vocabulary is largely a linguistic concept but dual coding theory suggests that we store our knowledge of words both in verbal form and in image form. This theory is supported by research showing that vocabulary instruction that involves having students create mental images of words is more effective than instruction that relies only on learning word definitions. Marzano also discusses the general agreement that there are differing levels of word knowledge but goes on to argue that a deep knowledge is not necessary for every vocabulary term or for improved reading comprehension. Finally, Marzano discusses indirect vs. direct methods of vocabulary instruction. Learning vocabulary terms requires multiple exposures to words. During reading, students tend to encounter new words only once in a book or passage. Multiple exposures occur over longer periods of time. Through direct instruction, multiple exposures happen more efficiently. Wide reading and direct instruction can also be combined effectively by having students choose words from their reading that they want to learn more about. Overall, Marzano’s vision for vocabulary instruction includes both wide reading and direct instruction. It aims for a top-level linguistic understanding of words accompanied by visual representations of terms. The terms chosen are ones that students will encounter in their academic reading and should include both general and specific words, proper nouns, and phrases. Templeton’s chapter summarizes the vocabulary-spelling connection. By having students study spelling words according to their morphological derivations, students learn how the spelling of words is logically connected to their meaning. Templeton offers a scope and sequence of spelling and vocabulary instruction for the intermediate grades and beyond that is based on teaching suffixes and prefixes, vowel and consonant alternations, and Greek and Latin roots. Bear and Helman’s chapter focuses on earlier stages of literacy learning. They argue that instruction must be targeted according to students’ developmental levels. The three levels they address are emergent, beginning, and transitional. At the emergent level, students’ oral vocabularies are developed through reading aloud and picture sorting. At the beginning level, students’ sight vocabularies increase through the use of word sorts and word banks. At the transitional level, the study of homophones begins and students begin to explore the relationship between spellings of words and their meaning. Edwards, Font, Baumann, and Boland discuss the research on teaching vocabulary through morphemic and contextual analysis. They recommend teaching common roots and affixes, providing explicit instruction in how morphemic analysis works, using word families to promote vocabulary growth, promoting independent use of morphemic analysis, and enhancing students’ understanding that morphemic analysis doesn’t always work. In terms of contextual analysis, they discuss which context clues are most helpful and offer instructional guidelines for teaching students how to use context clues. Finally, they offer an example of how to teach morphemic and contextual analysis in tandem. The final section of the book contains three chapters that address teaching vocabulary through word consciousness and language play. Johnson, Johnson, and Schlichting discuss logology, or word and language play, dividing it into eight categories: onomastics, expressions, figures of speech, associations, formation, manipulations, games, and ambiguities. A short discussion on the research base shows that students’ comprehension benefits from understanding language play such as idioms, metaphor, and simile. The authors focus next on onomastics, or the study of names. They discuss having children study first names and surnames, eponyms, aptronyms, demonyms, toponyms, unusual town and city names, odonyms, anemonyms, nicknames, pen names, and store names. The rest of the chapter is devoted to a discussion of expressions (idioms, proverbs, slang, catchphrases, and slogans) and figures of speech (similes and euphemisms). The chapter ends with a recommendation that teachers include word play in their regular classroom instruction in order to promote students’ interest in language and improve their understanding of oral and written language. Scott and Nagy discuss various ways to develop word consciousness, particularly in the upper elementary grades. Specifically, they discuss how to teach students the difference between oral and written language and the role that word choice plays in both. Through the Gift of Words project, upper-elementary teachers developed vocabulary curriculum while they participated in a 7-year intensive inquiry. With their students, they focused on the language in well-written novels and poems. They also provided scaffolding writing experiences in which students used a Gift of Words Bank to write stories with richly described characters and settings. Through this guided writing experience the students saw how well-chosen words can transform boring writing into powerful writing. Blachowicz and Fisher discuss how to promote word play through “fun” activities such as jokes, riddles, and puns. They suggest ways to create a word-rich classroom environment including having students play card games, board games, memory games, and bingo with words. They also suggest adapting commercial games such as Scrabble, Scattergories, and Boggle for classroom use. Crossword puzzles, codes, jumbles, and computer games have potential for developing students’ interest in words. Word riddles, name riddles, and hink pink help children learn to manipulate words and word parts. Playful discussions using guessing games and drama also have the potential to heighten students’ awareness of words and bring word play into the classroom. Overall, the chapters in this book promote a well-balanced approach to vocabulary instruction, one that is neither heavy-handed kill and drill nor free-for-all read whatever you want. It recognizes the reality that left to themselves, motivated readers’ vocabulary will grow and less-able or less-motivated readers’ vocabulary will fall farther and farther behind increasing the achievement gap that exists when children enter school. It doesn’t offer any silver bullets, but rather a practical set of instructional strategies that, if nothing else, increase the amount of time spent on vocabulary development in elementary classrooms. The sad fact is that vocabulary, particularly in the primary grades, gets very little instructional time during the developmental years when there exists the best chance to close the achievement gap. This book would be useful to both researchers and practitioners. Researchers will find reviews of the best research in vocabulary and teachers and teacher-educators will find excellent instructional strategies, some of which are described in great detail and others in more general terms. References Beck, I. L., & McKeown, M. G. (2001). Text talk: Capturing the benefits of read aloud experiences for young children. The Reading Teacher, 55, 10-35. Beck, I. L., Perfetti, C. A., & McKeown, M. G. (1982). Effects of long-term vocabulary instruction on lexical access and reading comprehension. Journal of Educational Psychology, 74, 506-521. Clay, M. M. (1991). Introducing a new storybook to young readers. The Reading Teacher, 45, 264-273. About the reviewer Sylvia Read teaches language arts methods and children’s literature to preservice and inservice teachers. Her research interests include writing instruction practices in k-5 classrooms, the reading and writing of nonfiction texts with primary grade students, and the authenticity and quality of multicultural literature for children.