There has been a convergence of economic, epistemological, social, and communicative trends over recent decades that shape the ways scholars communicate within their fields, across fields with other academics, and with non-academic entities in industry, government, and the lay public. Consequently, scholars must not only convince those controlling…

University faculty have the talent, creativity, and training to tackle the serious challenges confronting our education system today, but the incentive structure in universities is often at odds with real-world contributions. What tensions are experienced by faculty who may be interested in partnership-oriented, engaged scholarship? How can these…

Darin Stockdill was a secondary school English and social studies teacher in Detroit. His early research with classroom instruction and professional development motivated him to begin doctoral study to explore how schools serving as research sites can become sites for professional development and collaboration. He finds an epistemic perspective on…

Though C. Wright Mills made a pivotal contribution to the discipline by raising sociologists' awareness of the ideological and bureaucratic content of sociological practicality, he may have placed unyielding limits on "the promise" he profoundly proclaimed in the "sociological imagination." By defining types of practicality in such rigidly…

In this paper, we examine the current state of educational research through the framework of "use-inspired" knowledge. Previous discussions regarding the nature of educational research have disproportionately focused on the soft/applied nature of knowledge in the discipline or a need for methodological priority. After acknowledging these…

This article raises some questions about the current policy context of debates on the link between research and teaching in academic work, specifically within university education departments. It draws selectively from a research project which investigated education academics' perceptions and experiences in Scotland and England but focuses…

In higher education, there is distinction between what is valued as scholarship and the pragmatic needs of the larger world. In the dominant view of scholarship, research and theory are superior to practice. An alternative view is that, in many fields, knowledge emerges from the complexity and rigors of practice. (Author/MSE)

Meta-analysis of 18 studies on the effectiveness of computer-assisted instruction (CAI) at the college level found an overall mean effect size of 0.127, i.e., students receiving traditional instruction supplemented with CAI performed slightly better than those receiving only traditional instruction. CAI was most effective in aviation and English…