From the vantage point of knowledge transformations entailed in curriculum making, this article seeks to contribute to a rethinking of the concept of powerful knowledge. It makes a case for linking the teaching of content knowledge to the development of human powers (understanding, ways of thinking, capabilities and dispositions) by way of…

In this theoretical review article I discuss the relationship of dialectic materialism, Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) and analyses of work, learning and political economic consciousness. The purpose is to help researchers reflect on how they might be more effective in their analytic work. Specifically, its goal is to help expand the…

"How Learning Happens" introduces 28 giants of educational research and their findings on how we learn and what we need to learn effectively, efficiently, and enjoyably. Many of these works have inspired researchers and teachers all around the world and have left a mark on how we teach today. Exploring 28 key works on learning and…

While there is evidence to indicate that social media use (SMU) has various effects on student learning and academic performance, relevant studies are still scarce while the findings are notably inconsistent. This study seeks to answer one key question: what are the mechanisms through which SMU affects student learning and academic performance?…

This article is an expanded version of my presentation to Division 15 (Educational Psychology) of the American Psychological Association for the Career Achievement Award for Distinguished Psychological Contributions to Education in 2019. It provides an overview of research conducted by colleagues and I that examined the following four topics: (a)…

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of widely adopted but under-studied synthetic humanlike spokespersons (SHS) compared to organic human spokespersons in workplace training videos. The primary aim is to evaluate whether employees will rate training videos more negatively when they perceive their trainer to be synthetic such…

Background: Both eye movement modelling examples (EMMEs) and cues guide attention and improve learning in multimedia learning environments. EMME can act as a special form of cue. However, no studies have directly examined whether EMME would be superior to visual cues. Objective: The study was to investigate whether there were advantages of EMME…

Background: Holocaust memory and learning processes have become increasingly mediatised as a result of rapid technological advances. There is, however, little information available regarding how people learn about this topic informally through social media. Objectives: This paper explores how adult learners develop their learning ecologies by…

Personality results from the complex interactions among multiple learning and memory systems. There is a need to examine the personality-learning association using a personality model that captures this complexity: Cloninger's psychobiological model. The study addresses this need using a person-centered approach. In total, 686 adolescents…

This report reflects on progress from over eight years of research projects in the cyberlearning community. The community involved computer scientists and learning scientists who received NSF awards to investigate the design of more equitable learning experiences with emerging technology--focusing on developing the learning theories and…

For far too many students, schools are "not" places of belonging. This is due, in part, to the cultural mismatch between schools and students that, despite even the best of intentions, too often leads to student harm and negative student outcomes. Gloria McDaniel-Hall and Nina F. Weisling provide insights for understanding…

We argue that assessment and feedback practices in higher education need to be transformed to better address three purposes: "promoting" learning, "assuring" assessment rigour, and "communicating" students' employability. To address shortcomings in the current assessment and feedback culture, we propose programmatic…

Adults with developmental disabilities and educational researchers have identified many holes in the practices currently used to educate non-speaking youth with developmental disabilities, especially those with extensive support needs (Kapp, 2020; Taub, et al., 2017). While technology cannot provide a magical, sweeping fix to barriers to…

Purpose: This study re-examines the relationship between "jiao" (lit. teaching) and "xue" (lit. learning)-- the foundational education concepts in the traditional Chinese cultural context--to enlighten our contemporary understandings of education and educational research. Design/Approach/Methods: This study first lays its…

Drawing inspiration from the sociocultural turn in language teacher cognition research, this conceptual article argues for the utilisation of cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) as a theoretical framework for researching and understanding teacher cognition as a social phenomenon. In this article, three CHAT-related concepts, namely…