The majority of an engineer's time in the software industry is spent working with other programmers. Agile methods of software development like eXtreme Programming strongly rely upon practices like daily meetings and pair programming. Hence, the need to learn the skill of working collaboratively is of primary importance for software developers.…

This study seeks to understand how university supervisors and cooperating teachers approach giving feedback during the practice teaching experience to pre-service English language teachers and the nature of feedback they give through post-lesson conferences and written evaluations. The data for the study come from field notes of classroom…

The STEM fields, otherwise known as the Sciences, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics areas, have become the focus of multiple studies and funding initiatives in recent years. Despite these efforts, lingering concerns exist about who enters, who is retained, and who completes the doctorate in STEM fields. This study utilizes discrete-time…

This article describes the 100 People Project and how the author integrates the project in her class. The 100 People Project is a nonprofit organization based in New York City. The organization poses the question: If there were only 100 people in the world, what would the world look like? Through the project, students were taught about ethics in…

Teacher evaluations are often designed to serve two purposes: to measure teacher competence and to foster professional development and growth. A teacher evaluation system should give teachers useful feedback on classroom needs, the opportunity to learn new teaching techniques, and counsel from principals and other teachers on how to make changes…

This research draws on the experiences of a group of tertiary teachers who compiled a multi-purpose portfolio as an assessment component of a postgraduate certificate in tertiary teaching at a New Zealand University. The research was initially undertaken in response to feedback from some of the participants that the experience of compiling a…

This paper reports on one part of the first year of a three-year study into the feasibility of using digital technologies to represent the output from practical assessment tasks in senior secondary courses. The aim was to improve the alignment of assessment with pedagogy and curriculum. Students in seven classes studying the "Applied…

Many universities around the world are using service learning in courses to enhance their students' mastery of course content and commitment to social justice. Teacher education faculties have additionally experimented with service learning as a way of providing authentic field experiences at inner city schools for their teacher candidates. This…

In this essay, the authors chronicle the overhauling of their English department's rubric design, curriculum, and portfolio in order to emphasize a wider range of "real-world" writing. The authors share that in the process of their overhaul, they redefined their identity--how they thought of themselves and how they wanted to approach…

This study contextualized the use of the engineering design process by providing descriptions of how each element in a design process was integrated in an eleventh grade industry and engineering systems course. The guiding research question for this inquiry was: How do students engage in the engineering design process in a course where technology…

The term Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) refers not to a single kind of assessment but rather an entire family of assessment methods that can be used by institutions. Some of these methods are exam-based. In addition, there are other methods of PLA. One of the more innovative methods of offering PLA, however, is through the development of student…

The usage of portfolio methods to document professional development in teaching is increasing in Germany, but despite its proliferation, the issue of how the effects of portfolio methods can be determined has received little attention. This paper investigates the acceptance of portfolio by the pre-service teachers (N = 144, 112 female) and the…

This research is focused on dimensions of mathematical thinking among preservice teachers learning through the use of e-Portfolios. The data came from portfolios created and reconstructed by future mathematics teachers. Their process of reviewing and republishing pages through the Internet was constantly saved and reviewed in turn by the…

Project-based learning (PBL), a learning environment in which projects drive learning, has been successfully used in various courses in the educational programs of different disciplines. However, concerns have been raised as to the breadth of the content covered and, in particular, whether PBL can be applied to specialized subjects without…

This investigation focused on a group of 17 faculty drawn from disciplines in the humanities social sciences and natural sciences. Using in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and qualitative coding strategies, this study examined how faculty conceptualized the term critical thinking (CT), and how they assessed for it in general education…