The importance of the "learner voice" is again a concern throughout the learning and skills sector, and turning the rhetoric into some kind of meaningful reality has become a renewed challenge. The concern to be responsive to "learner and learning experience" can be seen across developments in information, advice and guidance…

Teaching social studies concepts and skills through an introduction to world languages is a powerful vehicle for student learning. Simultaneously, teachers can increase student awareness of language diversity by teaching students about the world and its many countries and supporting English language learners. Fortunately, for linguistically…

In this paper we present a new theoretical framework for effective teaching and learning in the twenty-first century. We focus on learning activities that exemplify pedagogy as knowing in action and consider the ways in which this enables a transformation of learning in schools. We provide examples of the ways in which this can be designed and…

This is a collective interpretive record of a graduate course in Social Work on participatory action research (PAR) offered during the winter of 2007. It is written by 14 individuals including the instructor. It was inspired by the image of a chickadee bird borrowed from Jonathan Lear's (2006) book "Radical Hope." The chickadee is a…

This chapter begins with the statement that all talk happens somewhere, somehow, at some time and is produced by somebody for some purpose, and the approach that practice theorists have taken is that talk and its context are inseparable. The challenges that face an analyst of practice are then to describe the context, describe the talk, and…

Distance education is a formal learning activity, which occurs when students and instructors are separated by geographic distance or by time. Learning is supported by communications technology such as television, videotape, computers, e-mail, and mail. Online learning is any learning experience or environment that relies upon the Internet/World…

This study investigated three of the issues recently raised in connection with the traditional concept of foreign language aptitude: the relationship between foreign language aptitude and working memory and phonological short-term memory capacity, the role of foreign language aptitude in predicting success in the framework of focus-on-form foreign…

Water resources have become an increasingly important topic of discussion in natural resources and environmental management courses. To address the need for more critical thinking in the classroom and to provide an active learning experience for undergraduate students, we present a case study based on water competition and management in the…

Most instructional technologists understand that instruction aims to be effective, efficient, and appealing. These three quality indicators have proven useful in establishing desired outcomes. In this article the authors suggest an expanded set of indicators, with more attention to social impact, engagement, and the learner's experience. By…

This is the second of two papers based on a study of how digital and paper diaries contribute to students' understanding of the processes of their learning within their academic disciplines. The purpose of the study was to use diary writing as a vehicle by which we would try and comprehend how students both make sense of assessment feedback and…

This article explores the learning experiences of East Asian master's students in dealing with Western academic norms of critical thinking in classroom debate and assignment writing. The research takes a cultural approach and employs grounded theory and case study methodology. The aim is for students to explain their own perceptions of their…

The best way to learn is by having a good teacher and the best language learning takes place when the learner is immersed in an environment where the language is natively spoken. 3D multi-user virtual worlds have been claimed to be useful for learning, and the field of exploiting them for education is becoming more and more active thanks to the…

The Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2005 created an innovative competitive grant program aimed at stimulating faculty to submit more and better NIH research proposals, thereby increasing the probability of success. In this internal competition, three experienced external reviewers critique each proposal and assign a priority…

While the phenomenon of learning communities within the online environment has been examined in some depth, there is limited research-based information regarding the impact of videoconferenced programs on the learning experiences of adults, and little has been written about how the collaborative learning experiences of adults can be facilitated…

College tests need to be better thought out, constructed, administered, evaluated, and explained to students in order to render exams fair, learning experience, and relevant to classes and students. Ways to accomplish these goals are offered in this essay. (Contains 20 endnotes.)