In this chapter we provide an overview of campus ecology and ecological systems theory as applied to the study of higher education, most often to research on college students. We describe Bronfenbrenner's developmental ecological model and its application of it to the study of college students. We then discuss affordances and limitations of this…

This 30th-year anniversary edition of the "Australian Journal of Career Development" (AJCD) represents a milestone for the Systems Theory Framework (STF) of career development, the genesis of which was published in the 1992 first edition. Beginning as a contextual model of adolescent career decision-making, subsequent research and…

Systems coaches provide support to teams responsible for improving the implementation of schoolwide service delivery framework such as multitiered system of supports (MTSS). This article first summarizes key findings about what systems coaching is, the goal systems coaches work toward, who these coaches support, and what systems coaches do. The…

This article is about utilizing the process of building and exploiting models as a framework for inquiry in mathematics education research. We introduce and discuss a model of such a process and compare this model with key methodological features of design research in mathematics education. We argue that despite several communalities, educational…

This article is premised on the observation that in educational research there is an increasing use of terminology and concepts related to the field of complexity and the study of complex physical, biological, and social systems. As we are at an early stage in this cross-fertilization of complex systems ideas and methods in educational research,…

Humanizing complexity research is already strongly advocated by much of the literature on complexity (Kramsch, 2011; Larsen-Freeman, 2011; Sampson, 2016) and yet there is a recent trend towards a potentially alienating approach, which could confound readers, utilising a dense vocabulary and overly technical methods. We advocate a more practical…

The complex dynamical systems (CDS) approach consists of a family of theories emanating largely from the exact sciences. These theories share a common focus on the behavior of systems and their interrelated parts and are concerned with the processes of stability, change, and unpredictability in those systems. This article takes stock of the…

The article presents two key concepts of sociological systems theory -- externalisation and structural coupling -- and applies them to explain (a) the exponential growth of international large-scale student assessments and (b) the rise of 'policy-relevant' educational research. The author concludes with a comparison between key concepts used in…

This paper is grounded on a recent conceptualization of human motivation that encompasses strivings for value, control, and truth effectiveness. The article elucidates the key aspects that form the basis for a multidimensional self-system perspective comprising motivational orientations mapping these three types of effectiveness strivings. In…

Institutional theory, an important research tradition in analysis of schooling, has examined the development of mass schooling in the United States and worldwide. But research in this tradition has given little attention to the internal working of mass school systems, to problems of inequality and the quality of instruction, or to relating those…

As complex systems approaches to research gain a foothold in educational research, educational researchers may be faced with unique study design challenges. Studies that do not target appropriate levels of analysis or do not capture variable change over time at a fine enough granularity run the risk of missing complex, dynamic, and emergent…

In this paper, problems with the philosophy and research relating to various interpretations of 'closing the gap' are used to open up a discussion of, and illustrate, the process whereby a narrow interpretation of 'science' and neglect of systems thinking result in the generation of huge amounts of dangerous and misleading misinformation and…

The role of research in transition education has been prominent and influential. Yet too many young people with disabilities are still not experiencing outcomes aligned with their personal aspirations and priorities. Moreover, individuals with disabilities continue to experience barriers to employment, educational, economic, and other challenges…

A prominent goal of colleges and universities today is to enact data-driven teaching and learning. Faculty clearly play a key role, and yet they tend to have limited time, a lack of training in assessment or education research, and few incentives for engaging in this work. We describe a framework designed to address the practical and cultural…

There are increasing pressures within the higher education sector to incorporate digital pedagogies into teaching and learning, a trend amplified by recent extensive recourse to online delivery within the sector. This trend carries with it both opportunities and challenges in effectively fostering those graduate competences that a converging…