Internationally, the railway industry is facing a severe shortage of engineers with high-level, relevant, professional and technical knowledge and abilities, in particular amongst engineers involved in the design, construction and maintenance of railway infrastructure. A unique graduate level programme has been created to meet that global need via…

In this chapter, the author rethinks literacy education and identity in the 21st century by engaging with the concept of multimodal selves. This conceptualization resonates with an understanding of identity as performed (Blackburn, 2005) wherein the ways of enacting oneself with and within a space encompass the intentional and unintentional…

Universities have both social and cultural contexts, and new students need to participate effectively in both in order to succeed in this environment. With ever increasing numbers of students and the diversity of the contemporary university population, institutions have to consider innovative ways to effectively engage individuals. In terms of…

The journey from playful musical exploration in childhood to an adult identity as a skilled musician is likely to be problematic for people with hearing impairments. Although a number of subjective accounts have been published, there is a lack of empirical research in the area. In this study, twelve musicians with hearing impairments were…

In education business, proper interaction is a crucial factor for learning effectiveness. However, it is difficult to successfully guide the participants to achieve the appropriate interaction in an online learning environment. That is, the interaction as well as internal dialogue should be systemically performed under a valid control. In this…

2011 is the 25th anniversary of the American Evaluation Association. Such occasions are often recognized both by looking back to assess and celebrate accomplishments of the past and by looking ahead to anticipate the problems and potential of the future. In the past 25 years, the profession of evaluation has experienced rapid, ubiquitous growth,…

This case study describes how the University of Chicago's Center for Elementary Mathematics and Science Education and its Urban Education Institute partnered with each other and with two charter schools and seven Chicago Public Schools. "Tools" were developed to disseminate knowledge and expertise through "models" that allowed…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to report on a study that investigates the relationship between organisational factors, Teachers' Professional Development (TPD) and occupational expertise. Design/methodology/approach: A survey was administered among 152 Dutch teachers in secondary education. Findings: Analysis of the data revealed that of…

This paper describes a new social networking site, Cloudworks, which has been developed to enable discussion and sharing of learning and teaching ideas/designs and to promote reflective academic practice. The site aims to foster new forms of social and participatory practices (peer critiquing, sharing, user-generated content, aggregation, and…

At most colleges and universities, there are a number of small, nonlibrary collections across campus, such as those found in student centers or academic departments. Historically, at American University, partnership with these collections was done through absorbing them into the main library collection. Recently, however, the Library has seen…

Web 2.0 technologies such as Facebook, a popular social networking site, provide educators with new possibilities for reaching their students. As these technologies are new, there is not a total understanding of how these technologies could best be used in education. This study helps to develop this understanding by investigating how appropriate…

This article explores the role of senior managers in consolidating and interpreting new managerialism in higher education in Australia, South Africa and Portugal, and perceptions of potential effects on gender. The impact of managerialism on decision-making in Australia was increased centralisation with the Vice Chancellor operating as a Chief…

This article comments on some trends in the evolution of science teaching at a distance using the Open University UK (OU UK) experience as a benchmark. Even from the first years of the university there was an understanding of the potential role for media in developing methods for teaching science at a distance, in particular the potential for…

With the rapid development of world and technology, English learning has become more important. Teachers frequently use teacher-centered pedagogy that leads to lack of interaction with students. This paper aims to investigate the advantages and disadvantages of integrating social networking tools into ESL writing classroom and discuss the ways to…

Research has shown that honors programs often provide active networks of students that contribute to the development of the students' talents (De Boer & van Eijl; van Eijl, Pilot & Wolfensberger). These contact networks are also described as "learning communities" (Wilson et al.) and "honors communities" (van Eijl,…