"Education in a Pandemic: Learning from Illinois Students & Caregivers to Plan for the Road Ahead" highlights the testimonies of more than 120 students, parents and caregivers from across Illinois as they share their experiences of remote, hybrid, and in-person learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings, coupled with…

Exploring online learning through the lens of synchronous and asynchronous instructional methods can be beneficial to the online instructor and to the course designer. Understanding the underlying theoretical foundation is essential to justify both types of instructional pedagogies. Learning theory as it applies to online environments encompasses…

As students and teachers shift to working from home, many district policies need to shift as well. Our new publication, "Recommended District Policies for At-Home Teaching and Learning," provides recommendations with a focus on: What policies are both feasible and most likely to produce strong learning outcomes for all students,…

This article looks closely at decisions about technology choices and suggests that many are driven by markets and perceptions, and not the problems that the technology might solve. The example of market manipulation related to the commercial light bulb in the early 20th century is used to demonstrate the powerful influence of global markets to…

In this article we examine the use and misuse of the term "Freirean" with respect to student-centered classrooms, flipped classrooms and problem-based learning. In doing so, we unpack teaching methods which are contrary to dialogism and yet subsumed and reported as Freirean.

Even though there are significant developments in recent years in medical education, physicians are still needed reform and innovation in order to prepare the information society. The spots in the forefront of medical education in recent years; holistic approach in all processes, including health education, evidence-based medicine and…

This article presents a case study that highlights the benefits and limitations of Web-based video in lab sections of The Geographer's Craft, an upper-level undergraduate course in which students apply digital geographic methods. Over three years (2010-2013), the authors experimented with different teaching strategies utilizing Web-based video for…

This second issue of "Connect" highlights innovative teaching as practiced by teachers and administrators in Michigan schools as they seek to provide greater personalization for every student's learning. Nicholas Provenzano and Ben Gilpin give field reports from their schools, which have implemented a version of 20-Time--a concept…

In this paper, action research is explored as a process for professional learning and collaboration among post secondary teachers. Qualitative data from reflective journals maintained by instructors who taught multiple sections of a masters research course over a two-year period informed the exploration of responsive pedagogy. Action research is…

This study sought to probe the effect of two non-conventional instructions namely Flipped Classroom Model (FCM) vs. Unplugged Classroom Model (UCM) on Iranian EFL learners' oral proficiency. Therefore, 90 upper-intermediates were randomly assigned to two experimental groups and one control group (30 each). The FCM and UCM participants were…

This study aims at investigating the influence of using flipped classroom model on Iranian EFL eleven graders' English achievements and their willingness to communicate. A pre-experimental design was used in this study. The participants were students in four classes of two high schools in Sanadaj, Iran. Two classes functioned as experimental and…

This article examines the effect of two Open Educational Resources (OER)--Khan Academy Collection and a teacher-authored open textbook--on mathematical course performance and attendance amongst first-year higher education Chilean students. It also aims to find out about teachers' and students' views on the use of OER in order to understand how…

Using non-experimental, cross-sectional predictive design, this study sought to examine the relationship between the type of training faculty receive and the pedagogical practices employed when teaching academic coursework in post-secondary music conservatories. The study also sought to identify the types of training and development activities in…

Using cost-benefit analysis, the purpose of this study is to analyse the monetary value students place on having access, via the internet, to recorded lectures in a blended learning context. The principal results are that the average price students are willing to pay to download iLectures is approximately $30 per equivalent full time student.…

In 2010 Michigan State University launched the first hybrid doctoral program in Educational Technology. This 5-year program blends face-to-face and online components to engage experienced, working education professionals in doctoral study. In this paper, we describe the design and evolution of the program as well as the response from students. We…