There has been an increase in the number of online universities, degrees, and coursework over the last decade. Institutions of higher learning are beginning to embrace online instruction more than ever before. However, the motives behind enrollment and the benefits of online instruction have not always been clearly understood. The purpose of this…

Recent government policy has focused on creating a culture of lifetime learning and increasing participation in higher education, thus encouraging higher education institutions to expand the range of courses they offer. Widening access initiatives support this and encourage non-traditional students to enrol on higher education courses. One of the…

The article discusses a dialogical peer inquiry process as a practice of co-constructing knowledge in graduate coursework. The process, formerly structured as an exam, was developed by Dr. Vera John-Steiner more than 30 years ago and has been implemented in adapted forms by her students in their teaching. The dialogical peer inquiry process…

"I really don't like mathematics, but I can teach it to elementary students without any problem." These words are frequently voiced by elementary teacher candidates. "It's just elementary school math it's not like I'm teaching anything really difficult. Otherwise, no way would I do it." These words are powerful in terms of…

A random sample of primary grade teachers from across the United States was surveyed about their instructional practices in handwriting. Nine out of every ten teachers indicated that they taught handwriting, averaging 70 minutes of instruction per week. Only 12% of teachers, however, indicated that the education courses taken in college adequately…

A component of the "No Child Left Behind" Act (NCLB) (PL 107-110) is its emphasis on the importance of systematic and explicit instruction in early reading using practices that are grounded in scientific research. The Reading First legislation (Title I, Part B, Subpart 1) within NCLB is designed to support state and local education…

Written interaction between pre-service teachers engaged in progressive inquiry using Knowledge Forum in two intense summer courses were analyzed to detect and rank those students in terms knowledge sharing, pressing on for further inquiry and the number of partners they communicated with. Social network analysis techniques were employed to…

This large mixed methods study investigated the effects of the introductory second language acquisition (SLA) course on the beliefs of pre-service teachers (n = 381) enrolled over a three-year period at a state university in California. Pre- to post-course paired sample t-tests that were run on 23 beliefs statements from a widely used survey…

Instructional practices in schools have been constantly changing over the years, and educators' knowledge about these practices is an important factor that influences their effective use. This paper presents an examination of teachers' knowledge and perception of 24 instructional practices commonly used in the field of education, especially in the…

This paper presents a theoretical and practical exploration of a metacognitive approach to computer education, developed through a three-year action research project. It is argued that the approach contrasts significantly with often-employed directive and competency-based approaches to computer education and is more appropriate in addressing the…

Critics assert that courses in the foundations of education are too general and vague and have no place in the preparation of teachers or anywhere in a university setting. (CK)

Discusses the aims and the content of a film course for education students. (AA)

The authors surveyed instructors of graduate-level government documents courses in the United States regarding their coverage of IGO, foreign, and state government information. Though instructors value this information, most allot too few class hours to it. The creation of specialized distance education courses by an alliance of LIS programs would…

There has been a proliferation of college courses and programs offered via distance education and particularly via the Internet (online). Although there is evidence that distance education using video conferencing or off-campus classes is effective, there is insufficient research addressing the online classes. Much of the existing research has…