Given the visibility and popularity of rankings that encompass the measurement of quality of post-graduate courses, for instance, the MBA (Master of Business Administration) or graduate studies program (MSc and PhD) as do global academic rankings--Academic Ranking of World Universities-ARWU, Times Higher/Thomson Reuters World University Ranking…

This work concerns the professional development of UK teachers in their first year of teaching. It is interested in how the online discussions (ODs) these teachers undertook as part of the Master of Teaching contributed to this development process. The teachers worked in online tutor groups made up of teachers from different schools, phases…

Many social work students feel anxious when taking a statistics course. Their attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors after learning statistics are less known. However, such information could help instructors support students' ongoing development of statistical knowledge. With a sample of MSW students (N = 101) in one program, this study examined…

The idea of peer and group learning is not new in higher education. It has been applied and studied extensively in courses, programmes, and other formal classroom contexts. However, there is not, as yet, a correspondingly large body of research into peer learning in supervision contexts. In this article we address the challenges experienced by…

Evidence suggests that Second Life (SL) is well received by those studying at a distance; however, little has been done to evaluate how a structured orientation session may affect students' use and perception of SL. Consequently, this study explored orientation timing and its effect on a group of students registered in a part-time distance…

This study aims to show the effectiveness of a business communication course offered in a business school in India. All students who enrolled for the Master of Business Administration program in the school were considered for the study. The study adapted a pretest and posttest approach to find the effectiveness of the course. It also describes the…

Background: In recent years, social work has become increasingly concerned with efforts to produce professionals capable of effectively supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) clients. Research examining LGBT-competence in social work remains limited, however, because it often neglects to address the role social work education…

In recent years, states have sought to increase accountability for public school teachers by implementing a package of reforms centered on high-stakes evaluation systems. We examine the effect of these reforms on the supply and quality of new teachers. Leveraging variation across states and time, we find that accountability reforms reduced the…

This study investigates differences in the language and discourse characteristics of course blogs and traditional academic submissions produced in English by native (L1) and advanced second language (L2) writers. One hundred and fifty-two texts generated by 38 graduate students within the context of the same Master's level course were analysed…

Researchers interested in psychological factors affecting writers in higher-education institutions, or academic writers, are concerned with internal variables affecting writing productivity; however few empirical studies explore these factors with samples of students who are in the process of earning master's or doctoral degrees (i.e., graduate…

Social work has moved firmly into a need for partnership training models, as our newest Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards explicitly call for interprofessional education (IPE). Although IPE is not a new model, we have not been consistently involved in training partnerships. Three professional schools formed partnerships to provide IPE…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the perceived quality of the service environment, regarding the use of the flipped classroom, through a survey of MBA students. Design/methodology/approach: Four hypotheses were developed from the literature in marketing and quality services in higher education. The hypotheses were tested using…

As in other Anglophone nations, a large percentage of Australia's postgraduate international students come from English as an additional language (EAL) backgrounds, and many require development of their academic language and learning (ALL) capabilities to successfully navigate a higher degree. This paper investigates those capabilities through the…

Eighteen Colombian English teachers participated in a course with an emphasis on gender and foreign language teaching in a Master's program in Bogotá. This text describes the design, implementation, and the learning in this educational experience. The analysis of the course was based on a view of learning as a process of participation rooted in…

Aim/Purpose: To identify and rectify the learning difficulties of online learners. Background: The major cause of learners' failure and non-acquisition of knowledge relates to their weaknesses in certain areas necessary for optimal learning. We focus on e-learning because, within this environment, the learner is mostly affected by these…