Universities have been at the center of educational debates since their inception. Their functions, aims and products have been questioned in the context of social, cultural, economic and technological changes. In this context, the aim of this study is to critically examine university education from the perspectives of undergraduate students. The…

This study focuses on the current situation regarding children working creatively in schools. With two colleagues, I used a form of action research called Appreciative Inquiry, working in collaboration with teachers. Though it took courage for the teachers to plan and implement activities in which children worked creatively, they valued this work…

This study explores the student perception of traditional discussion boards in online courses and their effectiveness in building connections and enhancing learning. The results indicate that, while online students recognize the importance of connecting with others, traditional discussion boards are ineffective in helping students connect.…

For over a decade, the United Arab Emirates has used English as the medium of instruction in government schools. Previous research has concluded that the lack of English proficiency can make learning Science and Math difficult for students; however, research on students' experiences and the challenges they face in this area is limited. Therefore,…

Expectancy-value theory of motivation (EVT) suggests that student values influence their likelihood of putting in the effort required to learn, and these values can be shaped by student characteristics, such as their experiences, sociodemographics, and disciplinary norms. To understand the extent to which these characteristics relate to students'…

Many predominantly English-speaking countries have problems understanding the notion of "didactics" as it is used in many European and other countries. The term appears almost exclusively in the UK as a description of a form of teaching which in recent decades has been seen pejoratively. Didactic teaching is taken to mean teaching with…

Online learners are increasingly diverse (NCES, 2022), which underlines the need for instructors to be inclusive and equitable in online teaching. Inclusion refers to providing opportunities for all learners in the online course, so they can actively participate and feel welcomed and belong in the course, and equity ensures that all learners have…

During the past few decades, creating autonomy in language learners has been considered as a milestone in the success of language learning programs. Most of EFL/ESL teachers apparently do not belittle the significance of autonomous learning because adding to one's knowledge is the learners' duty. However, knowing how many teachers value this…

Multi-level classes, classrooms that incorporate multiple levels of learners simultaneously, have existed for decades, yet have received little scholarly attention with respect to world language programs. This article presents a review of relevant literature on the topic and reports an analysis of the data from a national survey of U.S. K-16 world…

Block-based programming languages (BBLs) have been proposed as a way to prepare students for learning to program in more sophisticated, text-based languages, such as Java. Hybrid BBLs add the ability to view and edit the block commands in auto-generated, text-based code. We compared the use of a non-hybrid BBL (Scratch), a hybrid BBL (Pencil…

The purpose of this case study was to explore the music-making and learning practices of a male elementary student from Cyprus in different settings, inside and outside school. It considers that individuals take many different pathways to become musicians. Their journeys might include contexts in a broad educational spectrum from highly structured…

Merrill's (Education Tech Research Dev 50(3):43-59, 2002, First principles of instruction. In: Reigeluth CM, Carr-Chellman A (eds) Instructional-design theories and models: building a common knowledge base, vol III. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, NJ, pp 41-56, 2009) first principles have become ubiquitous in the instructional design…

In recent years, philosophical work directly concerned with the practice of mathematics has intensified, giving rise to a movement known as the "philosophy of mathematical practice." In this paper we offer a survey of this movement aimed at mathematics educators. We first describe the core questions philosophers of mathematical practice…

Digital educational games (DEGs) constitute an effective teaching approach, particularly when they are used in combination with collaborative learning scenarios. However, when changes are made in the teaching and learning process, teachers are responsible to apply and realize them in practice. Therefore, it is vital to understand their views and…

This qualitative cross-case study explores gifted adolescents' perspectives on motivation in learning as a means to better understand their complex motivational and academic needs. Participants consisted of 6 students, ranging in age from 11 to 16, identified as gifted through holistic measures including cognition scores, interviews, and other…