In interactive e-learning environments such as Intelligent Tutoring Systems, there are pedagogical decisions to make at two main levels of granularity: whole problems and single steps. Here, we focus on making the problem-level decisions of worked example (WE) vs. problem solving (PS) and the step-level decisions of elicit vs. tell. More…

Purpose: This study explores the implementation of two Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) standards by business schools across Canada and the US. First, this study examines how teaching effectiveness is defined and measured in light of Standard 7 (Teaching Effectiveness and Impact). Second, this study explores the value…

"Rethinking Schools and Renewing Energy for Learning" presents a comprehensive view on the major challenges educators face in the 21st century, and the ways in which schools can make a difference. It describes key principles that can serve as guidelines for tackling those challenges in an effective and manageable way, looking both at…

This article examines the 'Teaching Excellence Framework' (TEF) for UK universities through the lens of Jean Baudrillard's concept of hyperreality. I argue that the TEF is a hyperreal simulacrum, a sign which has no traceable genealogy to the practice of learning and teaching.

The meaning of a certain policy is not given. It is shaped by the interaction among written policy, people, and contexts in which people do the policy (Honig, 2006). From this perspective, pedagogical reform is a complex social practice in which various actors construct and reconstruct the meaning of teaching and learning. In the case of…

In this article, we share with readers our hopes, fears, and predictions for reading assessment in American schools at a critical policy juncture--the production of new assessments to measure achievement of the Common Core State Standards. It isn't just Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers and Smarter Balanced…

Standards and accountability policies are central elements of school reform agendas aimed at equalizing students' access to quality education and closing the achievement gap. Yet, such policies have failed to yield the expected, large scale results. One explanation may be found in the embedded zones of wishful thinking. Two particular zones of…

The concept of learning progressions offers one promising approach to developing the knowledge needed to define the "track" that students may be on, or should be on Learning progressions can inform teachers about what to expect from their students. They provide an empirical basis for choices about when to teach what to whom Learning…

Young people are often referred to as digital natives, who are familiar with digital technologies such as computers, the Internet and mobile phones for communication, entertainment and accessing information. As a result scholars have called for an educational approach that bypasses the traditional unidirectional lecture teaching style, and applies…

Over the last decade, Papua New Guinea (PNG) has pursued educational reform in elementary teacher education. Because elementary teachers and teacher education are central to the reform agenda, there is a need to gain empirical evidence about how PNG teacher trainers' understandings about learning and teaching impact on their practice. The study…

The Spanish educational system will require certain changes in order to achieve the Bologna objectives for the European Higher Education Area, including a more professional profile, with new activities and roles for both students and teachers, who must assume new skills that will affect concepts and attitudes related to the teaching and learning…

This essay describes benefits of the Learning Paradigm and discusses policy governance as an example of this paradigm. In education, the current dominant paradigm is known as the "Instruction Paradigm." According to this paradigm, instructors should serve to transfer information and offer some practice using this information in such a…

This paper reports a comprehensive "meta-review" and synthesis of research on variables related to learning, including both cognitive and affective schooling outcomes. A conceptual framework was developed, encompassing 228 items related to school learning, organized "a priori" into 30 scales within 6 categories ordered roughly from more distal to…

This paper provides a list of variables identified as important to learning that emerged from a "meta-review" of the professional literature, as well as a summary of consensus ratings of these variables by professionals in the field. The variables are organized into six major categories: (1) state and district variables; (2) out of school…

This bulletin is the third in a series of annual publications issued by the Cooperative Research Program of the Office of Education. Its purpose is to provide practitioners, researchers, and others interested in education with information concerning research projects that are being supported under the Cooperative Research Program. A brief…