Graduate attributes are a framework of skills, attitudes, values and knowledge that graduates should develop by the end of their degree programmes. Adopting a largely qualitative approach and using semi-structured interviews, this paper outlines students' experiences at a national undergraduate research conference over three years and evidences…

Although children's literature has long alluded to cultural connections between Africans and African Americans, very few texts establish clear lines of influence between particular African ethnic groups and African American characters and communities. Joyce Hansen's "The Captive" (1994) and Sharon Draper's "Copper Sun" (2006)…

This study reports findings from an exploratory research project that contributed to an OMEP World Project on the importance of equality in being able to achieve a sustainable world and a healthy society. The teachers and researchers came together because of their interest in social justice to explore how they could support young children's sense…

Until fairly recently, when U.S. students left home for college, their contact with family decreased abruptly. They typically learned to make an increasing number of important decisions without parental consultation, and developed in predictable ways toward becoming autonomous, self-regulating adults. Moreover, if they chose to study abroad during…

This article examines the sociocultural learning of popular and jazz music in communities of practice as part of secondary vocational music education in a Finnish conservatory. The research is based on performance workshops which were implemented as a joint effort between professional musicians and music students. These workshops are suggested as…

In this article, we address the question of why computing students choose to learn computing topics on their own. A better understanding of why some students choose to learn on their own may help us to motivate other students to develop this important skill. In addition, it may help in curriculum design; if we need to leave some topics out of our…

This study investigated the interrelationships among EFL learners' self-efficacy, autonomy and listening comprehension ability. Ninety female learners of intermediate level participated in the study. They were between 16 and 24 years old. In order to obtain the required data on the three variables (i.e., self-efficacy, autonomy, and listening…

Despite the rapid growth of online learning in higher education, the dropout rates for online courses has reached 50 percent. Lack of student engagement rank as a critical reason for frequent online course dropout. This article discusses autonomy support as a strategy to enhance online students' intrinsic motivation and engagement. Drawing from…

Studies of disciplinary work have converged with studies of classrooms to highlight the social and cultural nature of disciplinary knowledge and practices, and of classroom learning and assessment. For students to become discerning and autonomous/authoring learners, classroom assessment needs to ensure students experience what it means to exercise…

This article describes and analyzes a classroom assignment to promote intrinsic motivation for learning in college students. Here, grades and instructor expectations for content are viewed as students' primary motivations for learning, and correspondingly present obstacles for improved critical thinking skills, student autonomy, and engagement.…

This article aims at helping teachers make effective use of language portfolios in an EFL/ESL context. This is through proposing and making clear the steps of integrating them into their teaching and the way learners' training into their use needs to be conducted to promote their reflective and autonomous learning. These range from identifying the…

In this article, Jennifer Jones describes how at Pine Street School in New York City, they have dispensed with the traditional industrial model of schooling and are looking ahead to the future. The entire school was designed with optional learning environments. Jones describes innovative elements from varied seating (floor cushions, modular…

In this volume, language learning and professionalization are explored by addressing the existing gap between pressing needs for enhanced soft skills in work environments wherein technology-mediated, multilingual communication is increasingly the norm, and current foreign language teaching and learning offerings in higher education. Considering…

Learning implies change. Inside and outside schools, we aim for students to change into people with more skills and knowledge as well as with a growing sense of agency and responsibility. Furthermore, education itself is subject to constant change. In this article, we examine change in 3 case studies in the context of individual music lessons from…

The purpose of this study was to conduct a national survey, aiming to (a)explore how self-determination instruction is implemented by elementary and junior high school teachers; (b)examine the frequency with which the components of self-determination are taught; and (c)investigate whether teachers' gender, class setting, and teaching experience…