Purpose: This article aims to show how in times of austerity when formal HRD activity is curtailed and yet the need for learning is greatest, non-formal learning methods such as workplace involvement and participation initiated by line managers can compensate by enabling the required learning and change. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative…

This research is about participants who use open-source software (OSS) discussion forums for learning. Learning in online communities of education as well as non-education-related online communities has been studied under the lens of social learning theory and situated learning for a long time. In this research, we draw parallels among these two…

Bullying has become a nationwide concern at the K-12 level. Despite the target middle school's antibullying program, the incidence of bullying increased during the 1st and 3rd year of the program implementation. By identifying the perceptions of school personnel about this problem, district school leaders will be better equipped to select and…

This dissertation addresses questions about the impact and consequences of current school reforms by examining how mandated packaged reading programs contribute to a commodification of knowledge that is changing conceptualizations of literacy, teaching, and learning. Grounded in cultural-historical theories of literacy and learning, this work…

Literacy coaches provide teachers from all content areas with the support and professional development they need to deliver high-quality literacy instruction to all students. This issue of "SEDL Insights" examines how education leaders can help literacy coaches have the greatest impact at their schools.

We propose Social Learning Theory as a theoretical foundation for understanding the ethical standards of future business leaders. Using data drawn from students from 115 four-year undergraduate institutions in 36 different countries, the relationships among role models, capitalism, and laws were examined. The data suggest that future business…

Vygotsky's concept of ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development) has been recently applied to the context of language teacher education by a number of researchers (e.g. Ohta, 2005; Singh & Richards, 2006; Nassaji & Cumming, 2000). Besides Vygotsky's notion of ZPD, this paper relies on two associated theories from outside the TESOL discipline…

Acquisition in general and first language acquisition in particular is a very complex and a multifaceted phenomenon. The way that children acquire a language in a very limited period is astonishing. Various approaches have been proposed so far to account for this extraordinary phenomenon. These approaches are indeed based on various philosophical…

This paper discusses lessons learnt from a bigger study which investigates teaching approaches that could be employed to address the problem of classrooms that are dominated by teacher-centered approaches with minimal students' talk. The purpose of this paper is to establish the feasibility of success when argumentation is introduced as a part of…

Learning styles have been an area of interest in educational psychology for many decades. However, community college students have been overlooked in learning styles research. To enhance teacher efficacy and student success, it is important to continue to evaluate the relationship between learning styles and academic achievement. The purpose of…

The transition from an academic atmosphere to the professional world is an important step in a college student's life. The use of traditional teaching methods has been the subject of ongoing research into how well they prepare students for this transition. The evolution of technology and the state of the nation's economy continually…

Theories of learning typically downplay the interplay between social structure and student agency. In this article, we adapt a causal hypothesis from realist social theory and draw on wider perspectives from critical realism to account for the development of capacity to engage in reflection on professional practice in academic roles. We thereby…

The purpose of this paper is to examine some mathemagenic activities that would transform the internal representations of learners' cognitive structure. The paper pointed out that understanding scientific concept involves the learner's role in translating instructive information into internal representation through the use of some mathemagenic…

Background and purpose: The article reviews studies that focus on the professional development of teachers after they have completed their basic teacher training. Teacher professional development is defined as teachers' learning: how they learn to learn and how they apply their knowledge in practice to support pupils' learning. The research…

Beginning in the late 1980s and early 1990s, higher education was swept up in the theoretical phenomena of mastery learning, cooperative learning, and small-group learning. Professors, instructors, and teachers at the K-12 level became facilitators, guides, supervisors, counselors, and advocates for all things team and group. The thought of a…