Various research studies have established that nearly half of all students who decide to pursuit a math, science, or engineering field change their mind and seek a different major. The National Center for Education Statistics shows a decrease in the number of degrees in engineering and related fields from 36,900 degrees in the 2003-2004 academic…

Using assignments drawn from a first-year composition course that centers the Southern Life Histories Collection, part of the New Deal's Federal Writers' Project, this paper argues for a pedagogical approach that teaches students digital literacy through archival rhetorics by converting archival texts into data.

We suggest that literacy narratives can be an important part of a curriculum designed to encourage students to understand themselves as developing learners and students. We know that there is great potential for literacy narratives--for narrativizing--when invited within a scaffolded curriculum of collaborative narrative inquiry. We place literacy…

When students are working together, some off-task conversations actually smooth the way to working together more effectively. While many assume that off-task talk is unproductive, our study revealed that students used off-task talk predominantly for productive purposes. We found that off-task talk supported student access to collaboration, and…

This article explores how transformative higher education approaches can be fostered through an integration of the concepts of third space, Students as Partners (SaP), and transdisciplinarity in practical contexts. We describe a collaborative enquiry that engaged staff and students in a reflexive dialogue centred on the concepts of mutual…

There is an increased interest within the history education community in introducing students to the multi-perspective and interpretative nature of history. When these educational goals are pursued within collaborative contexts, what are the relationships of individuals from conflicting groups with historical accounts that they produced as a…

This paper presents a contribution to the development of a theory of CSCL scripts, i.e., an understanding of what happens when learners engage in such scripts. It builds on the Script Theory of Guidance (SToG) recently proposed by (Fischer et al. in "Educational Psychologist," 48(1), 56-66, 2013). We argue that, when engaged in a…

Cooperative learning involves students in working together with peers to learn, to develop learning skills and to enjoy the learning process. This paper examines ten areas in which the author believes he and other teachers do cooperative learning well. These areas are: (1) keeping group size small, usually four or fewer; (2) encouraging students…

Challenges to the Arctic region abound and intersect. Warming, ice and permafrost melting, and pollution jeopardize health and food security of Indigenous and other Northern communities. Problems related to natural resource extraction and shipping are developing. Because these issues cross sovereign boundaries, they must be addressed…

Project-based learning (PjBL) has demonstrated its ability to improve a range of skills in students. However, some studies have reported that English teachers have difficulty activating interaction among all the participants, teachers and students, in a PjBL practice. No studies have empirically investigated how teachers can collaborate in PjBL…

This interdisciplinary study aimed to explore the relationship between university students' participation in community development activities and their collaboration in the classroom. The students concerned form part of an ethnic diversity program in the Ecuadorian capital city, Quito. Findings demonstrate the potential for collaborative…

COVID-19 has forced many universities across the globe to implement emergency remote teaching as a preventative measure. Many faculty staff members were not adequately equipped with knowledge and skills of facilitating remote teaching. This made the establishment of social, cognitive and teacher presences difficult for them. The purpose of this…

Learners have to engage in academically purposeful instructional endeavors to be successful in school. Latest research indicates that the learners of today are not as interested in educational deeds as they need to be. Educational stakeholders should look for means to address this tendency to have a positive influence on educational results. This…

Within higher education, the use of blended learning (BL) is exponentially increased in the 21st century, which poses a number of challenges in designing the process of BL for educators. The aim of this design-based research (DBR) study was to assist an inexperienced educator in teaching and designing a BL course in higher education to convert a…

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is increasingly embedded in higher education (HE) due to the current emphasis on tackling the environmental crisis. Similarly, Civic Society Organisations are expanding their mobilization and practical action in communities. These approaches can reach almost all people on the planet and open avenues for…