Discomfort and Other Factors that Influence the Effectiveness of Graduate Student Peer Consultations

The following study reports the findings of two surveys given to graduate teacher consultants (n=30) and graduate student teachers (n=59) who completed Video-Teacher Consultations at the University of XXX. The surveys assessed the overall effectiveness of the process for both sides and identified the factors that influenced those assessments. We found that the level of comfort expressed by consultants and graduate teachers during their first consultations had the greatest impact on their perceived level of effectiveness. The time between consultants' training and their first consultation also affected their assessments. Other factors that did and did not influence the consultation are also discussed, along with recommendations and best practices learned from our surveys.

VIRTUAL WRITING FORUM WITH DON MURRAY AND THE NATIONAL WRITING PROJECT IN AN ASYNCHRONOUS ENVIRONMENT

This study evaluated the level of participation and perceptions of effectiveness and value among participants in a virtual forum interacting with one another and with Donald Murray, a noted mentor in writing instruction. National Writing Project teacher consultants were invited to participate in a two-week interactive session using Caucus®, a non-threaded, World Wide Web-based, asynchronous computer conferencing system. Eighty-one teacher-consultants responded and participated in the event. Using a multiple perspective framework, data gathered through surveys, interviews, transcript analysis and online discussions suggest that participants, project coordinators and directors, as well as the author himself, found the event a valuable learning experience with interesting possibilities.

Vision and Orientation and Mobility Consultation for Children with Severe Multiple Disabilities

Vision consultants who work with professionals and parents of children with severe multiple impairments perform a professional role that is changing and challenging. Educational planning is unique, since many children with different levels of disabilities must be served in a variety of individual settings. This article discusses the role of orientation and mobility specialists and teacher-consultants for children who have visual impairments and severe multiple disabilities. Examples of programming contributions of both types of vision consultant are given.

Postrzeganie procesu uczenia się języka obcego w perspektywie uczniów dorosłych (badanie jakościowe nauczycieli-konsultantów)

The article aims at presenting a longitudinal two-year study on the per-ception of language learning from the perspective of five adult learners in their late 50s who are teacher consultants by profession and participants of an elementary course in English. The attention is focused on two as-pects: 1) what general expectations they have with regard to the course (ie. language skills, knowledge, teacher, etc.) at the beginning of their learning process, 2) what they achieve or fail to achieve after two years of attending the course. The conclusions may provide some implications for language teachers of mature learners as well as future directions for re-searchers of this topic.