In large continental landmasses such as Australia, forms of education, including correspondence schooling, emerged in the early twentieth century that allowed children in remote regions to access education. To make such schooling possible, other "technologies" of state provision were mobilised such as the postal system, rail network, and…

"Alternate location schooling" ("yidi banxue"), a special measure adopted in China to advance ethnic minority education and especially basic education, adheres to the principle of providing focused educational support in Tibet and Xinjiang and giving consideration to education in ethnic minority regions nationwide. Since the…

The western United States offers a case study on the importance of access to large population centers and their markets, via road and air travel, for economic development. The vast distances between towns and cities in the American West can be a detriment to business, yet they also serve to attract technology and knowledge-based workers seeking to…

This article reports on mainstream teachers who took part in a federally funded master's in teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) program and through a series of collaborative efforts have become experts in their own school systems and leaders in English as a second language (ESL) teacher preparation throughout their region.…

Using the notion that research should "enlighten" policy responses, this paper considers the complex locational factors that affect and underlie patterns of Indigenous student mobility in Queensland, Australia. The paper presents data, captured through an action research project, to explore mobility "in and through" two…

This report examines two sets of issues, the first being whether Indigenous Australians obtain a lower return on investment in education and training than other Australians. If they do, then this would partly explain why, in general, Indigenous participation in education and training is relatively low. The second issue is whether Indigenous…

This article highlights a narrative inquiry study that considered the experience of and the effects on 8 northern helping practitioners (5 women, 3 men, ages 30-60) who have 7 to 40 years of experience in providing trauma support in isolated communities in northern BC and the Yukon. Using a three-phase narrative analysis, 10 categories provided a…

How can students in an online classroom of one, often sitting in solitude in front of a computer, experience community? The authors suggest that in part, the answer lies in creating invitational online educational spaces through the use of Artistic Pedagogical Technologies (ATPs), particularly Photovoice (PV) a teaching strategy. A Zen paradox (or…

Research about rural education, and education policy directions for rural schools, are set against formal measures of "disadvantage". These measures about rural "disadvantage" have been defined, evaluated and compared to more "advantaged" provincial and urban schools. Rarely has educational research or policy been…

Distance learning, open source courseware, e-books, wikis, and many other innovative technologies have impacted the education fields by connecting any topic in any discipline to any learner in any place. Drexel University's School of Education capitalized on these possibilities earlier this year by hosting its second annual live and online Virtual…

This article explores the findings of a study that compared 2 groups of 5th-grade first-language Kam-Dong minority students as they learned English as a third language (L3) in the remote mountain village of Zaidang, in Rongjiang county, Guizhou Province, P.R. China. One group had previously been taught using Mandarin only (MO), whereas the other…

This article concerns educational and livelihood trajectories of the Kazakh minority in western Mongolia. It outlines the trajectories of individuals over four generations of a Kazakh family and contextualizes these within social, political, and economic context. It describes the importance of family networks and considers the concept of social…

This study focuses on a professional development program for science teachers near or on American Indian reservations in Montana. This program was framed by culturally relevant pedagogy premises and was characterized by instructional strategies and content foci resulting from the intersection between three cultures: tribal, science teaching, and…

Approximately four months ago the author was sitting at his desk at the Air Force Academy preparing a course in leadership that he would be teaching during the fall semester. Then, something happened that would have a drastic impact on his professional life as an educator and a military officer. He was informed that he would be deploying to Kabul,…

The author wants to know more about the appreciation of and respect for pluralities, in places where differences in race and ethnic background are rare. Given the lack of regular and even intimate contact with a variety of peoples, what can teachers expect? Further, with the de facto separation of races in many rural area of the United States,…