Personal learning environments (PLEs) and critical information literacies (CILs) are two concepts that have been presented as responses to the challenges of the rich and complex information landscape. While both approaches support learners' critical engagement with new information environments, each was developed within a different field. This…

This paper shows how to address technological, cultural and social transformations with empirically grounded innovation. Areas in transition such as higher education and learning techniques today bring about new needs and opportunities for innovative tools and services. But how do we find these tools? The paper argues for using a strategy of…

Teaching in the 21st century requires a modern teaching practice coherent with the evolutions of the Information Age. Interestingly, teaching practices have stretched beyond an art form and into the realm of science. Following these scientific trails, one can argue that one of the greatest challenges educators currently face is to maintain student…

The author reviews various elements of what may be considered as evidence that the long-awaited shift in the education paradigm is actually happening. Concepts like student-centered learning, attainment-based evaluation, knowledge-based constructivism, and effort-based intelligence are growing, are being more widely recognized as important, and…

Malcolm Knowles' theory of andragogy is best known in the world of adult education as a conceptualization of how and why adults learn. The following practice-based article that has applied Knowles' theories and precepts to an undergraduate program reflects on how those concepts work with people whom Knowles might well have not considered "adults."…

Reforms in the functioning and purpose of higher education during the past 2 decades have created profound changes in the expectations and values of university students worldwide. Indeed, the values of entrepreneurship, vocational relevance, and commercial success have considerably displaced the traditional expectations of knowledge acquisition…

Efforts by community colleges to become more learning-centered reflect the reforms taking place in traditional higher education. In addition to making learning the highest priority, American education must continue to overhaul its outdated, traditional framework restricted by time, place, bureaucracy, and limited teacher roles. The ideal model of…

In today's progressive teaching environment where conceptual learning is key, portfolio assessment helps provide the motivation necessary to involve students in the learning process. The increased responsibility and empowerment of the student, the inclusion of a wider variety of assessment forms such as research papers, interviews, video…