Current issues in the use of peer assessment techniques and sociometric methods are discussed. Attention is paid to the contributions of the four articles in this volume. Together these contributions point to the continual level of change and progress in these techniques. They also show that the paradigm underlying these methods has been unchanged…

Technologies used in new business models have disrupted almost every sector of the economy. Many are now beginning to discuss when disruption will come to independent schools. The answer, of course, is that it has already happened; in areas such as admissions, college guidance, and learning content, there are disruptive innovations that are…

It has been defined that knowledge society emerges at the end of the twentieth century as the socio-economic structure characteristic for developed societies in which unlike in industrial societies, the dominant sector of economy is services and the largest social group is the "men of knowledge". It has been indicated that the…

In this article, the author explores how technological change is affecting most aspects of our society. In this vein, it is noted that even though education has historically been more resistant to technological change than other societal sectors, recent advances in distance education, specifically online learning, promise to radically disrupt…

People in society have managed to survive and, often, thrive in a world characterized by ever-increasing technological change. Yet technological transience causes or at least exacerbates challenges faced by teachers and teacher education programs when using technology for educational purposes. This article presents frameworks used to assist in the…

This paper is initiated from a position that, until recently, the nature of schooling globally has remained largely unchanged since its design in the last century, and there has been a hegemony that supported its form to be enduring and largely unchanged. However, in a digital, networked world, there is a need to rethink and redefine schooling.…

With schools and students now able to secure high-quality online courses from beyond the ivy-covered walls, faculty--and institutions themselves--are weighing whether their stock is rising or falling. Increasingly, online courses and their content--previously the jealously guarded domain of professors--are being offered as out-of-the-box solutions…

As we continue to revise our formal definitions of "information literacy" and to hone our delivery of information literacy across higher education, have we failed to see that information literacy as a programmatic aim, for all of its successes to date, is no longer relevant? The essay charts how the institutionalization of information…

"Higher education is at a crossroads," Kelly Baxley declared as he introduced the plenary session at the APPA 2013 conference in Minneapolis last August. "The sector urgently needs to innovate because becoming a savvy user of technology is now a requirement, regardless of industry or career path. The vast proliferation of mobile…

Community and technical colleges have a long-established tradition of instructing students in library use with the goal of increasing information literacy and life-long learning (Branch & Gilchrist, 1996). This article will briefly summarize that history and discuss the impact the information age has had in altering the ways in which that…

Today, a third of American children regularly use computer tablets, while over 40% use smartphones and 53% regularly use laptops in their home. While this is encouraging there is still considerable debate about the shape and direction technology should take in school, particularly online education making it necessary for educators to change in…

David Ward, Interim Chancellor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison from 2011 to 2013, and Chancellor from 1993 to 2000, describes the changes coming to higher education. He reports that the second half of the twentieth century was a time of great creativity in the kinds of public policies that were put into place for higher education in the…

As the world is invaded by technological inventions and wonders, life becoming more fast and crazy, yet there can be no doubt that the critical factor for the development of a nation or a state is its human resource. The productivity of a nation is influenced by the number of its skilled population. When we look into the problem of…

Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) in teacher education have a short history which is little longer than that of this journal. Twenty years ago they were the province of early adopters only and limited to email and, more unusually, asynchronous conferencing. Today, VLEs are widespread and mainstream, sophisticated and officially sanctioned…

Merchandising and consumer economics traditionally have been part of family and consumer sciences (FCS) within the ecosystems framework. The purpose of this article is to examine progress of this sub-system within FCS. Specifically, the authors explore the relevance of the systems approach for merchandising programs and conclude that this model is…