Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to reflect on and inform about learning points from ECUANET, a two-year duration best practice action research and transnational networking project as it approaches its final stage. Design/methodology/approach: The paper explicates the key positive and obfuscating dynamics that the project team have had to,…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present the key project learning points and outcomes as a guideline for the future quality management of demand-led learning and development. Design/methodology/approach: The research methodology was based upon a corporate university blueprint architecture and browser toolkit developed by a member of the…

This paper reports on a recent action research project: "Enhancing environmental awareness through the arts". This project involved working with two early childhood professionals and 28 children in a long day care centre in the Sydney CBD at the end of 2006. Its aim was to assess the outcomes for the early childhood professionals, and…

This paper explores the ethical issues involved when researchers attempt to study participants who are personally close to them. It describes a case in which two researchers decided to study the experiences respectively of their son and grandson, both with ADD. They had barely initiated the study when ethical concerns led them to abandon the…

Two university researchers who have considerable practitioner and research experience in urban schools conducted an interventionist action research project in collaboration with the professional staff of a diverse urban elementary school. The goal was to collaborate with the administration, faculty and staff in an average urban elementary school…

This article examines the relationship between action research and policy and the kind of confidence teachers, policy makers and other potential users may have in such research. Many published teacher action research accounts are criticised on the grounds that they do not fully meet the conventional standards for reporting social scientific…

Since their inception in 1993 at an Australian university, the workshop tutorials in physics have evolved and grown beyond the initiating department. In this paper, we adopt an interpretive perspective to: (i) reflect on why the tutorials continue to be successful; (ii) use models from literature to understand that success; and (iii) abstract key…

Excited about the possibilities of action research, these authors decided to develop a project that would test the effectiveness of action research as a professional development model for adult basic education teachers in the District of Columbia. The objectives of this action research were to: (1) Provide opportunities for teachers to be engaged…

This paper discusses research into the facilitation of academic writing for first year dance students using images, emails and the forum of a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). Taking place over several weeks in the early part of the academic year and within a core module entitled Personal and Professional Development in the single honours Dance…

There is a delicate balance between the assessment of learning and assessment for learning. The recommendations included in this Assessment department may be useful for teachers working to achieve this balance and find a more accurate and complete understandings of students' literacy strengths and needs.

Cyberbullying is a global problem with a wide range of incidents reported in many countries. This form of bullying may be defined as harassment using technology such as social websites (MySpace/Facebook), email, chat rooms, mobile phone texting and cameras, picture messages (including sexting), IM (instant messages), or blogs. Cyberbullying…

Despite the growing number of collaborations between volunteers and professional scientists, research efforts investigating the impacts of such collaborations, which we have termed Public Participation in Scientific Research (PPSR), have been very limited. Examples of PPSR projects include citizen science, volunteer monitoring, and participatory…

Zero-tolerance discipline policies, harsh sentencing laws, and the gentrification of communities of color have devastating effects for the lives of young people. Coupled with the fact that urban schools can devalue their views, values, and understandings of the world, this article examines an effort to challenge deficit theories that permeate…

The purpose of this case study was to understand engagement in action research as a form of professional development for practicing principals and the subsequent knowledge constructed as a result. The research team followed five principals through 1 year of professional development, which focused on supporting each principal in the design and…

The use of blogging (online diaries), to support student learning and reflection has increasingly been adopted for assessment purposes in higher education. The relative ease of use and accessibility of the tools indicate that these social networking applications are, potentially, a convenient means of documenting and sharing individual student…