There is a widely held belief in e-learning circles that pedagogy must come before technology. In this paper it is argued that, not only is that not true, but that it is a weak distinction as pedagogies, insofar as they represent a set of techniques and tools for learning, are as much technologies as the computers, forums, virtual classrooms and…

Humanistic principles emphasize the importance of the individual and specific human needs. Humanism in education has been in concern during the last few decades. However, there are controversies as whether to use its principles in foreign language classrooms or not. The present paper provides an overview of the major assumptions underlying…

A decade has passed since author, game designer, and educational thought leader Marc Prensky heralded the arrival of a new generation of students whose immersion in information technology distinguished them in fundamental ways from previous generations. Because they had spent their entire lives "surrounded by and using computers, videogames,…

This paper deals with the problematic nature of the transition between education and the workplace. A smooth transition between education and the workplace requires learners to develop an integrated knowledge base, but this is problematic as most educational programmes offer knowledge and experiences in a fragmented manner, scattered over a…

While there is a substantial conceptual literature on equality in education, there has been little clarificatory discussion on the term equity, despite its frequent use in policy and planning documents. The article draws out some different ways in which equity can be understood in education. It distinguishes three forms of equity, looking at the…

This article reflects on six key themes that emerged from a teacher development conference whose theme was "Developing Teachers for Rural Education". The six themes are the concept "rural" in the South African context; the notion of "rural education"; beyond access, towards success; the practitioner-academic…

In this review essay, Jan Nespor uses three recent contributions to place-based education, Paul Theobald's "Teaching the Commons," C.A. Bowers's "Revitalizing the Commons," and David Gruenewald and Gregory Smith's edited volume "Place-Based Education in the Global Age," to examine some fundamental conceptual and practical issues in the area. One…

This collection of articles offers some practical responses to what is broadly termed internationalisation in higher education. They relate to work done at a research-intensive university in southeastern Australia, with a specific focus on the student learning experience. Various local interpretations of internationalisation are exemplified and…

The internationalisation of education has become a major focus of international, national and institutional attention, reflected in a substantial and expanding literature on how internationalisation is manifested, how it might be promoted, its implications for areas such as government policy, strategic planning and management, educational quality,…

Defining equity within the context of a diverse, multiracial, multiethnic, multilingual, and multicultural society, and one where social class strongly influences one's life chances is problematic. This chapter reexamines equity in an attempt to advance the discourse beyond the debate about strategies to close the achievement gap between White…

The idea that validity should be considered a property of inferences, rather than of assessments, has developed slowly over the past century. In early writings about the validity of educational assessments, validity was defined as a property of an assessment. The most common definition was that an assessment was valid to the extent that it…

Our understanding of workplace learning is shaped by four dominant discourses that may be labeled the discourses of design, demand, development and desire. Within these different discourses, understanding of workplace learning is shaped and bounded by particular assumptions about the "self in context," which includes the organizational…

Although lifelong learning is being increasingly cited as one of the key principles in the fields of education and development, shared understanding of the term's usage at the global level is lacking. Lifelong learning is closely tied to the challenge of openness and the changes with which modern individuals must cope in their lifetimes. Lifelong…

A somatic approach to education implies education that trusts individuals to learn from and listen to the information they are receiving from the interaction of self with the environment. Somatic or embodied knowing is experiential knowledge that involves senses, perceptions, and mind-body action and reaction. Western culture has been dominated by…

Computer-mediated instruction is particularly well-suited to typical community college students because it offers an alternative to the time and place constraints of traditional classrooms. Key characteristics of computer-mediated learning are as follows: instructors and students are separated by distance; instruction is delivered via computer…