Although Terminal C at Logan airport does not look like a classroom, for about fifty minutes on this author's way back from Boston it was for him. Like many public spaces, Logan now has a very robust Wi-Fi wireless network and this enabled him to take advantage of a departure delay to "teach" his class. In 1970 when the author started…

This paper considers the role of quality assurance in e-learning; reflecting on the conditions necessary for successful e-learning. It reviews some of the current international work on quality assurance in this area and goes on to consider the ways in which the quality of a process or activity can be assessed--focusing on the use of benchmarking…

The tools to help teachers reflect on their professional knowledge are few in number, and often difficult to utilise. This paper reports on a study conducted with both primary and secondary technology initial teacher education students in a number of different countries who were given the same teacher-knowledge graphical framework as a tool to…

This paper describes the results of a national study to investigate teachers' experiences in the implementation of the technology curriculum in New Zealand schools from years 1-13. This investigation of the implementation of the technology curriculum is part of a larger study being undertaken nationally in all curriculum areas (National Schools…

This paper reports on the results of a survey and qualitative analysis on the teaching of "Basic Design" in schools of design and architecture located in 22 countries. In the context of this research work, Basic Design means the teaching and learning of design fundamentals that may also be commonly referred to as the Principles of Two- and…

This paper explores a new pedagogical approach to teaching teachers to assume a learning or inquiry stance in their practice. It is based on an assumption that professional learning is a core capability of good teaching that is responsive to the changing needs of children, schools, and communities. One source of teacher learning is practice--one's…

This is an interpretative research study and presents findings of five case studies where the evolution of teachers' knowledge throughout the design and implementation of teaching material using a simple authoring tool is analysed and explained within its context of occurrence. Data were collected via interviews, field notes, artefacts and…

School practices for contacting parents should be modernized because they lack reliability and are often ineffective. A field-test was conducted with support from Motorola to assess the potential of new communication methods. One method allows teachers, using a common set of codes, to record notable student conduct onto personal digital assistants…

The use of numeric data has historical significance in the research of many academic disciplines, but today it is burgeoning. Responses from academic business librarians to a 33-item questionnaire are the basis for this study that investigates the interactions between academic business libraries and other local units supplying numeric data…

Statistical literacy is defined as "the ability to read and interpret data: the ability to use statistics as evidence in arguments. Statistical literacy is a competency: the ability to think critically about statistics" (Schield, p. 2). When a definition of statistical literacy is considered it can be seen that all students can manage a…

Miami-Dade is just one of the 72 percent of Florida school districts labeled "failing" under the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, which requires schools to prove students displayed Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in math and reading for two years running. Nationwide, the figure is a startling 27 percent. As states bump up against the…

This sixth article in the Performance Technologist's Toolbox series focuses on the critical incident method of data collection. Critical incidents are narrative descriptions of important events that occur on the job and how employees behave in those situations. Critical incidents document the work context, the specific situation that arose, the…

Teaching in an online environment can present new challenges and opportunities for instructors. Instructors must shift from the role of content provider to content facilitator, gain comfort and proficiency in using the Web as the primary teacher-student link, and learn to teach effectively without the visual control provided by direct eye contact.…

This article reports a study in which student performance and approaches to study in a CD-ROM version of a chemical engineering course were examined. The study consists of three phases. The purpose of phase 1 was to evaluate of the efficacy of CD-ROM for this content and student population. Therefore, we compared the performance of students who…

Digital video and accompanying editing software are increasingly becoming more accessible for researchers in terms of ease of use and cost. The rich, visually appealing and seductive nature of video-based data can convey a strong sense of direct experience with the phenomena studied (Pea, 1999). However, the ease of selection and editing of…