This article explores the impact of an award scheme provided by one of the Centres for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETLs). The award scheme provides financial and other support for lecturers teaching higher education in colleges of further education. Award schemes are common to most of the CETLs and have also been provided in some…

The current study examined students' perceptions of the effects of different forms of instructional feedback on their performance, motivation, and emotion. Forty-nine students attending an eastern US university participated in focus group discussions. The groups explored students' reactions to grades, praise, and computer versus instructor…

Business students should understand the relevance of professional attire as an indication of conformity. Of equal importance is the recognition that some companies have loosened their dress codes to a more flexible policy to recruit young talent. "Ugly Betty" could serve as a teaching tool to initiate the dialogue on conformity in a light-hearted,…

In this article, the author explores how a group of ten fourth-grade students who were avid readers became a community of inquiry. The primary goal of this study was to document the children's reading engagement: how they created, entered, and sustained the world of the story. This article also reflects the impact of three elements--data…

There is not yet a great deal of research in formal online learning environments focusing on the seemingly "off-topic" conversations that small groups engage in as they complete learning tasks together. This study uses the theory of common ground as a framework to explore what participants are talking about when not discussing the concepts to be…

With the increasing diversity of pedagogic models of delivery in higher education, universities are continually exploring practises of learning and teaching designed to enhance student experience and retention. The number of courses provided online continues to grow through, among other reasons, an escalation of higher education (HE) students…

This study reports the implementation of a parental involvement intervention coupled with small group discussions aimed at facilitating transformative experiences (TEs) in science courses (biology and chemistry) in an all-girls middle and high school. Specifically, the goal was to generate parental involvement, TE, and interest. Analyses showed…

The benefits of international education experiences for students are well documented. The effect on the individual of international experiences has been researched and theorised by authors for at least the last 20 years. In this paper the experiences of three academics who accompanied pre-service teachers on a 3 week international practicum are…

This study originates from ongoing action research that aims to develop institutional opportunities to reflect on and take decisions about inclusion in the School of Accounts and Administration of Rio de Janeiro's State Accounts Office. The research was organized in three phases. The first phase was an inservice course to sensitize professionals…

In Maldives, educational policy makers are beginning to explore the value of ICT and web tools as a medium of continuous professional development for school leaders and teachers. This paper reports on insights and responses of a group of five school leaders who participated in a web based distance education course. For most of them, this was their…

In the last five decades or so, in many parts of the globe, TESOL teacher supervision and professional development have evolved from summative to more formative perspectives and practices. In Niger, past research has done little to examine the state of the current TESOL teacher supervision and professional development. This qualitative study…

This study was carried out in the context of formative assessment where assessment and learning were integrated to enhance both teaching and learning. The purpose of the study was to: (a) identify pupils' ideas about biological inheritance through the use of a concept cartoon, pupils' drawings and talk, and (b) devise scaffolding structures that…

This article examines the potential for creating an alternative learning context using digital tools in English classrooms to better support the identities and language practices of diverse learners. We explore the role language plays in the relationships between preservice teachers in central Illinois and their 10th-grade partners in Los Angeles.…

This case study examined an authentic online learning phenomenon where social conflict, including harsh critique and negative tone, weaved throughout peer-moderated online discussions in an online class. Opening coding and content analysis were performed on 1306 message units and course artifacts. The results revealed that a model of social…

This paper reports on research that examines the use of acknowledging moves in the single-sex group discussions of 12-13-year-old girls and boys in their Key Stage 3 Design and Technology lessons. Within structural-functional models of discourse analysis, acknowledging moves are a discourse feature that perform the function of providing feedback…