There is a wide array of accessibility features (e.g., universal features, designated supports, accommodations) which enable students who need them to better access assessments. Historically, however, there has been wide variation in the language used to describe these supports. For example, the accessibility policies of different states use…

This paper discusses the importance of definitions in the context of academic discussion, highlights the inconsistent terminology used to describe e-learning, and examines a range of different definitions of e-learning used by academic authors since 2011. Following an outline of the methodology, the paper identifies 15 unique definitions of…

The terms 'feedback' and 'formative assessment' are ubiquitous in education, but their conceptual boundaries are ill-defined. This perspective piece explores the meaning of 'feedback' and 'formative assessment', revealing the entanglement and confusion that exists between these two terms. An argument for clarity of terms is made, to avoid…

It has been widely accepted in the science education research community that scientific literacy as a concept and phrase was introduced by Paul deHart Hurd in 1958. Recent research into the origins of the phrase, however, has shown this to be incorrect. Its first published use can be traced back, in fact, to 1945, and the phrase was frequently…

Education research has recently seen the emergence of two distinct frameworks guiding the application of quantitative methods through a more critical and equity-oriented lens. These two frameworks are critical quantitative (CritQuant) studies and quantitative critical race theory (QuantCrit). Although different in their intellectual traditions,…

The purpose of this research is to explore three English synonyms, namely critical, serious, and crucial, with a particular focus on meanings, degrees of formality, collocations, and semantic preferences. Two dictionaries, namely the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary and the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary online, as well as the Corpus…

The term Latinx has received increasing levels of pushback from different entities outside and within higher education. Despite the term's wide popularity in academic spaces, higher education practitioners often utilize it without understanding whom it simultaneously includes and excludes, and whom the term refers to. Such practice perpetuates the…

Modals (e.g., "can," "must") vary along two dimensions of meaning: "force" (i.e., possibility or necessity), and "flavor" (i.e., possibilities relative to knowledge [epistemic], goals [teleological], or rules [deontic] …). Comprehension studies show that children struggle with both force and flavor…

The terms 'open' and 'distance' are no longer helpful for advancing approaches to education traditionally served by open institutions. A proposal to reframe the terms 'open' and 'distance' is made: 'open', it is suggested, needs to be linked more explicitly to education that is increasingly available, inclusive, scalable, and sustainable.…

While the Two or More Races category has been the de facto mechanism to count multiracial college students since 2010, little research has critically examined how this category has been used in institutional research contexts. Extending previous scholarship on monoracism in higher education, we define "quantitative monoracism" as the…

VET researchers and policy-makers have historically displayed a keen interest in the future. Two assumptions link VET to the future. The first is that there is a singular object called VET and, secondly, that it can influence a forthcoming state of reality. This relationship is investigated through a rarely utilised post-structuralist discourse…

There has been a policy push in K-12 educational settings towards personalized learning in the last decade. Commercial platforms and learning designers have responded, offering learning tools to support teaching and learning through data-driven insights and recommendations. Trending towards the augmentation or replacing human teachers with…

The Impact Agenda, introduced with Research Excellence Framework 2014 (REF), constituted a revolution in research evaluation in the UK. 'Research impact' (impact of scholarly work outside of academia) became one of three profiles under which research quality is evaluated. This shift in the British evaluation system was followed, and often…

Empirical evidence is insufficient on the specific roles GIS learning plays in developing students' understanding various spatial concepts. The present study aims to draw attention to common struggles of learning some spatial concepts in geography and offer directions for future research on GIS learning and the development of student spatial…

This study investigates the role of emotional linguistic input in learning novel words with abstract and concrete denotations. It is widely accepted that concrete words are processed more easily than abstract ones. Several theories of vocabulary acquisition additionally propose a critical role of sensorimotor and emotional information during novel…