The study circle is described as a democratic and emancipatory method for learning that can be summarized in three words: learning by sharing. This method offers opportunities and possibilities for all participants to contribute their previous knowledge and experiences through open and democratic dialogue. As a method for "liberal adult…

The purpose of this review is to give a comparative overview of current listservs for applied linguistics researchers, with particular focus on their relevance to research on second language acquisition and use. Six listservs, based in different locations and targeted at different general audiences were selected and monitored for a six-month…

Life Orientation teachers play a critical role in the teaching and learning of sexuality education in South African schools. Using an experiential participatory approach with 125 teachers in the Motheo district, Free State, I explored three questions: What messages did the teachers learn about sex and sexuality? How do these messages inform the…

This study investigated 28 graduate students' knowledge construction and attitudes toward online synchronous videoconferencing collaborative learning environments. These students took an online course, self-selected 3 or 4 group members to form groups, and worked on projects across 16 weeks. Each group utilized Elluminate "Live!" for the…

In the spring of 2013, the "Harvard Educational Review" ("HER") published a special issue entitled "Expanding Our Vision for the Arts in Education" (Vol. 83, No. 1). Following a variety of forward-looking essays and arts learner reflections concerning the potential of the arts in education, the issue concluded with a…

A comparison study between two different methods of conducting online discussions in an introductory astronomy course was performed to determine if the use of Facebook as an online discussion tool has an impact on student participation as well as student response time. This study shows that students using Facebook for their online discussions…

Statistics is an integral part of the K-12 mathematics curriculum (age 5-18). Naturally, students construct misconceptions of what they learn. This article discusses The Bop It[C]Challenge, a review activity assesses student understanding and reveals their misunderstandings of statistical concepts. (Contains 3 figures and 1 table.)

Focused conversation is an approach used to lead group inquiry into topics of concern or interest. Four levels of questions guide participants through objective, reflective, interpretive and decisional levels of conversation. Over the past several years focused conversation was adopted in Australia to facilitate National Quality Framework related…

To determine the effectiveness of 20- to 30-min workshops on recognition of errors in American Psychological Association-style writing, 58 introductory psychology students attended one of the three workshops (on grammar, mechanics, or references) and completed error recognition tests (pretest, initial posttest, and three follow-up tests). As a…

While research has examined the comparative time commitment required for online versus face-to-face teaching, little is known about the distribution of faculty time investment into the various aspects of online course facilitation. The purpose of this study is to examine the proportion of time faculty devote to each of the pedagogical components…

Online course tools such as WebCT or Manaba+R are popularly used in university classes and enhance learners' understanding of their course contents. In addition, teachers try to utilize these online course tools for their students such as giving their students online discussions, providing students with additional materials and so forth. However,…

This article tells the story of a self-study partnership between the authors, Tom and Deb, two teacher educators from different institutions. This partnership began with discussions about shared interests and shared dilemmas in teaching multicultural education content at their respective universities. Over a 2-year period of time, the authors…

This article argues that the instructional scaffolding metaphor may be reconceived as distributed scaffolding when multiple means of influence are provided in a service-learning setting. In the service-learning course described here, the professor's role is largely as designer of activity settings for preservice teacher candidates, through…

The teaching of native-like accents has been the aim of many EFL educationists long ago; however, this concept is heading towards a major change. Hence, the idea of this paper is based on Jenkins' (2000 & 2002) theory of English as an International Language (EIL). Jenkins' theory analyses the use of English by non-natives speakers (NNS) where…

This standards-based science lesson introduces young learners to scientific inquiry and critical thinking by using activities to demonstrate three phases of matter (solid, liquid, and gas). By learning about the states of matter through a 5E instructional approach, students are encouraged to observe changes in the states of matter and to discuss…