Improving the quality of educational programs and the demand for accountability have put the professional development of Extension educators high on Cooperative Extension's agenda. Effective professional development facilitates improved program design and implementation, which, in turn, translates into higher clientele satisfaction. The purpose of…

This report of practice describes a five-year process to establish and implement quality standards for a substantial portfolio of distance delivered courses at the Centre for Continuing and Distance Education, University of Saskatchewan. The report describes an analysis of the issues and the solutions found that led to our current curriculum…

Education for adults ought to consider a both-and mindset when it comes to selecting approaches, values, and program models in today's multi-sector, multi-diverse, and cross-cultural environments of teaching and learning. Experiences from educational professionals can lead to recommendations for these instruction and mentoring approaches of adults…

Health care is constantly evolving. Health care professionals and the educators responsible for training those professionals need efficient ways to a) assure new information is getting across to the students and/or professionals, b) relay all new and previous information in a timely manner, and c) correctly utilize the information gathered and…

Literacy is important to career and technical education (CTE) teachers, who strive to integrate core academic and cognitive skills and knowledge into their classrooms. There is little question that educators need to continually address literacy within CTE. Rather, the issue for many CTE teachers and administrators becomes how to effectively…

Objective: The aim of the present study was to explore how user participation is practised in two courses at a local Learning and Mastery Centre with regard to the process of planning, implementation and evaluation of the courses and from these two cases to further discuss how user participation might be facilitated or hindered. Design: A…

This paper suggests that, in contrast to the great reports such as Crowther, Newsom Robbins and Plowden, recent government papers relating to education in England pay little attention to values that should shape the standards to be achieved, the knowledge to be transmitted and the virtues to be nourished. Whilst legislation over the past 60 years…

In response to requirements in the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), state policymakers have made concerted efforts to align state standards with state accountability assessments. When strongly aligned and articulated, state standards and assessments can provide a clear and coherent set of expectations for students and educators. How do districts…

To his article reports on two case studies of teachers' managing the challenges associated with gaining acceptance for child-centeredness curriculum practices in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. These teachers intended to respond to the newly published "Guide to the Preprimary Curriculum" (Education and Manpower Branch, 2006)…

Quality arts education can produce positive learning outcomes, such as creating positive attitudes to learning, developing a greater sense of personal and cultural identity, and fostering more creative and imaginative ways of thinking in young children (Bamford, 2006; Eisner, 2002; Robinson, 2001). Arts-based processes allow children the…

Research Findings: There is growing evidence that specific, teacher-led instruction and innovative instructional activities can lead to higher levels of achievement in literacy and in mathematics for young children at risk. There is limited research evidence, however, identifying professional development interventions that are effective in…

The current small schools reform movement has increased the number of organizations seeking to change education with designs that require educators to rethink their understandings of curriculum, teaching, and learning. The key to the success of these schools is how well the teachers can learn and implement the design, laying a heavy burden on the…

Using geographic information system (GIS) in teaching and learning geography is an important direction in the secondary geography curriculum in Hong Kong. In the present study, interviews were conducted individually with 28 geography teachers from different secondary schools in Hong Kong, with a view to finding their views on the inclusion of GIS…

Team-based learning (TBL) may rely on small group interaction more heavily than any other commonly used instructional strategy in postsecondary education. This conclusion is based on three facts: (1) Group work with TBL is central to exposing students to and improving their ability to apply course content; (2) Majority of class time with TBL is…

If preservice teachers are to be capably prepared to meet the challenges of classroom and community diversity, teacher educators have a responsibility to address the full range of diversity issues in teacher preparation coursework, despite controversial or political overtones that may exist. Among these issues is that of considering and responding…