As choral directors across the country work to prepare their choirs for concerts, festivals, and contests, it is a common practice for them to invite a guest clinician to attend rehearsals for guidance and assistance. The rationale for this idea is logical and simple--two heads are better than one. However, the actual visit can be anything from a…

In 1995, in "Shifting Paradigms in Student Affairs," this author and her colleagues called for all educators, including those in student affairs, to see their central task as enhancement of student learning. At about the same time, scientists and practitioners began to understand that learning is a contextual process of knowledge acquisition,…

This paper critically examines the outcomes of quality assurance programme reviews on the three campuses of the University of the West Indies (UWI) with an emphasis on the factors that impact upon the quality of students' learning experiences. In establishing the context of the discussion, the authors describe the quality assurance system of the…

This article describes the learning experiences of three pre-service teachers within a university-level course entitled "Aesthetics and Art Criticism for the Classroom." Discussion is focused on the nature of the meaning-making that emerges from aesthetic encounters and its educational value. Specifically, what can pre-service generalist teachers…

This article tells the story of the author's invitation to teach at the Barnes Foundation, and her transformative experience as a teacher in this extraordinary place. The author comes to realize that the Barnes is the physical realization of a philosophical dream, and progresses to an understanding of how Albert C. Barnes collected and assembled…

This article examines the effectiveness of incorporating an applied learning experience in an upper level undergraduate motivation theory class. In this 3-part course requirement, students (a) participated in a 2-hr field experience, (b) completed a homework assignment based on their participation, and (c) worked in groups to develop a deeper…

This study describes a set of institutional indicators that suggest minimum standards for the quality assurance of learning supported by learning management systems in blended contexts. The indicators are evaluated by comparing seven universities that use a common learning management system to support student learning experiences. The responses to…

Pattern language is the lexicon used to express the schema of a field of professional practice (Smethurst, 1997). This lexicon is frequently presumed to exist in communities of practice in educational settings, although the findings derived from the longitudinal study of schools (Elmore, 1996; Goodlad, 1984; Lortie, 1975; McLaughlin & Talbert,…

The publicly available free computer program, "SimChemistry," was used as an active learning tool in the chemical engineering curriculum at the University College of Boras, Sweden. The activity involved students writing their own simulation programs on topics in the area of molecular structure and interactions. Evaluation of the learning…

During the last two decades of colonial rule, a wide gulf existed between policy and practice in Hong Kong's English-medium secondary schools: while English was the medium of textbooks, assignments and examinations, Cantonese and Cantonese-English mixed code were the dominant media of classroom communication. Although mixed-mode instruction was…

This article offers a critical analysis of discourses and power structures and the ways they operate in two instructors' adult education and ESOL classrooms. The instructors defined learner experience in specific ways and subsequently used those definitions and drew on their learners' experiences to define their curricula and pedagogy. They…

In spite of repeated reform efforts, there is research and data that suggest that teachers lack the needed knowledge to successfully teach elementary mathematics. Some argue that teachers lack the needed content knowledge while other argue that a lack of confidence and practice are impacting teachers' ability to successful teach mathematics. As a…

This article extends recent work on the consequences of literacy-learning reforms by complicating the notion of "policy." Through a qualitative study in one high school, I explored how policy in its many forms, including the ways it was perceived and misperceived, shaped the literacy learning experiences of marginalized adolescent readers.…

The purpose of this study was to describe and understand the range of outcomes of class visits to natural history museums. The theoretical framework is based on the multifaceted process of learning in free choice learning environments, and emphasizes the unique and individual learning experience in museum settings. The study's significance is in…

A graduate level education course utilized ee-learning (the combination of experiential and electronic learning) to break down barriers between theory and practice, and knowledge and experience. Students shared and reflected on experiences at volunteer sites, their personal lives, their individual school settings and coursework, to create a…