Research and practice have recognized the importance of informal learning--a specific type of active learning--for higher education contexts. University students learn not only in formally organized courses, but also in a self-directed and intentional way from fellow students, through trial and error, and by reflection. However, there has been a…

What are students' perceptions of havruta learning after osmotic socialization? This osmosis is achieved solely by observing and emulating behaviors from other havruta learners. Perceived benefits include improvement of thinking and social skills and correcting misunderstandings, whereas challenges include the limitation of one's freedom and a…

This interpretive case study explores how adults within an intentional learning community make meaning of vocational calling (Dewey, 1966), collective learning (Kilgore, 1999), and a sense of place (Low & Altman, 1992) and the interactive and interrelated connections between these constructs. The context for this study was set at a retreat…

Using the evidence from teacher professional learning communities, we explore the ways in which students can collaborate and build their collective efficacy.

This research explored two important constructs in 21st century e-education--students' MOOC-efficacy and meaningful learning among undergraduate students in selected public universities in Malaysia. Its main objective was to examine the causal relationship of students' MOOC-efficacy on meaningful learning. The study conceptualized students'…

The first-year seminar Why Are We Here? Student Culture and the Problem of College (WAWH) helps high-achieving students become motivated agents in their education by changing attitudes toward themselves, college, and their roles as students. The author presents the intentional design, execution, analysis, and results of the WAWH seminar, a…

The purpose of the article is to examine how the paradigm shift in education and the availability of digital technologies have created new opportunities to move learning beyond the microcosm of the traditional face-to-face classroom and into the online global classroom. Students and educators are better positioned to work with other students and…

What specific learning behaviors are important to students and faculty members? Does the campus provide spaces that foster these behaviors? Where are those spaces? Asking these three questions at six colleges and universities reveals notable differences in the ways students and faculty members answer them. Student and faculty member answers also…

This research was conducted as part of Project CIRCLE, a collaborative project between the University of Texas at Austin College of Education, the Austin Independent School District, and the Eanes Independent School District. The intent of the project was to establish collaborative knowledge-building communities in high school classrooms among…

Several instructional features facilitate the development of metacognitive and self-directed learning skills, and disposition to lifelong learning: student autonomy, responsibility, and intentionality; intrinsically motivating activities; enculturation; discourse and collaboration among learners; and reflection. Describes and presents examples of…

This paper describes how a fourth grade class at a Canadian laboratory school used an approach to knowledge building that had students participating as intentional learners as they specialized in interest groups for their study of light. It examines how, later in the year, the goal of building collective knowledge became the focus for this group…

Blended learning basically refers to using several methods for teaching. It can be thought to be a learning program where more than one delivery mode is being used with the ultimate goal of optimizing the learning result and cost of program delivery. Examples of blended learning could be the combination of technology-based resources and…

Describes the design of the Computer-Supported Intentional Learning Environment (CSILE), a database that allows the storage and retrieval of information in several media, e.g., text and drawings. Research on cognitive abilities and learning strategies is reviewed, learner control is discussed, and the implementation of CSILE in grades five and six…

The problem addressed in the study was whether 10- and 11-year-old children, collaborating within a computer-supported classroom, could engage in progressive inquiry that exhibits an essential principal feature of mature scientific inquiry: namely, engagement in increasingly deep levels of explanation. Technical infrastructure for the study was…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of implementing cooperative learning and objectives with computer-based instruction (CBI). Subjects were 125 fifth and sixth grade students. Cooperative dyads and individuals worked through a CBI earth science program that contained either instructional objectives, advance organizers, or no…