A detailed characteristic of teaching and learning approaches used within the new concept of Learning by Being (LBB) is given. The evolution of educational paradigms from Learning by Doing (LBD) and Learning by Understanding (LBU) toward LBB is analyzed. The basic idea of LBB is students' ownership on cognitive goals, or the assumption of learning…

As the Baby Boomer generation reaches old age, there has been a significant increase in the number of older adults needing healthcare over the past decade. The physiology of aging is therefore a highly relevant topic for the preclinical medical curriculum. I describe a new capstone unit on the physiology of aging, placed at the end a medical…

This article is prepared as part of a "Practice Teaching in Science" course of a teacher education program aiming for developing prospective science teachers' teaching through inquiry-based instruction involving practices of science and active learning strategies. During the semester, student teachers are required to prepare four…

Social demand for higher education has more than doubled in the past 20 years. However, only one-third of all countries' higher education systems are enrolling more than 50% of the traditional age cohort. Despite major advancements in achieving higher levels of access and participation, inequalities and inequities in higher education persist and…

Many students -- as well as potential students -- have acquired a great deal of learning through their day-to-day lives outside of academia: knowledge acquired from work experience, on-the-job training, formal corporate training, military training, volunteer work, self-study, and a myriad of other extra-institutional learning opportunities…

Social demand for higher education has more than doubled in the past 20 years. However, only one-third of all countries' higher education systems are enrolling more than 50% of the traditional age cohort. Despite major advancements in achieving higher levels of access and participation, inequalities and inequities in higher education persist and…

"Moving beyond the threshold" set out to interrogate what it means to think historically in the digital age (Tredinnick, 2013). How do university students and teachers use digital media to transform learning experiences? Do digital approaches present novel ways to engage with key historical concepts? Answers to these questions continue…

Knowing an individual's geographic affiliation may be useful in evaluating a student's previous knowledge. To test this hypothesis, students in an online master's program were given presurveys to evaluate their previous knowledge in meteorology and geology, as well as geological and meteorological sense-of-place surveys.

This article provides a brief history of massive open online courses (MOOCs), a snapshot of the rapidly evolving issue of credit recognition, and the integration of MOOCs into traditional degree programs, like the Gates Foundation-funded MOOCs-For-Credit Research Project. The article notes that MOOCs have accelerated innovation, especially in…

In Italy, accreditation of prior learning is a sensitive issue. Despite the lack of laws or qualification frameworks regulating the recognition of non-formal and informal learning, most Italian universities proceed with caution, allowing only a restricted number of credits in the university curriculum related to practical activities or to external…

Providing college credit for prior learning is nothing new. The American Council on Education's Credit Recommendation Service (CREDIT), the largest national program making credit recommendations for workplace and other training, dates to 1974. Several colleges that specialize in the practice--Excelsior and Empire State in New York, Thomas Edison…

Ryerson University's Prior Learning and Competency Evaluation and Documentation (PLACED) program is funded by the Government of Ontario to engage internationally educated professionals (IEPs), employers, and regulatory/occupational bodies in the use of competency-based practices. In 2008, the authors created a self-assessment tool for IEPs that…

Over the past 30+ years, many colleges have made themselves more accessible for adult students. These innovations include flexible scheduling, online learning, professionally-oriented degrees, and credit for what students already know. However, there is more work to be done, particularly in the areas of financial aid for the very large number of…

Distance education as a stand-alone approach has grown tremendously in the past 10 years. The other form of distance education, often called hybrid, supplements traditional classroom instruction with online resources. The instructors deliver classroom lectures, but homework, assignments, and supplemental material may be retrieved online.…

Describes how the core principles of learning science lead to associated best practices in instructional design and how to translate those into practical applications in Web-based online courses. Topics include knowledge construction; student motivation; higher order learning; learning styles; experiential learning; cooperative and collaborative…