There are many funding schemes in existence for small projects in educational development, but fewer equivalent research schemes. Data from an evaluation of two schemes at one institution are used as the catalyst for considering such schemes in wider contextual and theoretical perspectives. The evaluation analysed success rate data, project…

This paper explores how academic staff are supported in attempts to develop their use of educational technologies. It identifies the work undertaken by academic staff in the development of an Information and Communications Technology (ICT) application and relates this to the direct support (helping staff to teach using ICT) and professional…

In education, mentoring is typically understood as a one-on-one relationship between a novice teacher and a more experienced, competent colleague. Through the mentoring relationship, the veteran teacher guides the new teacher into the profession. In this article, the author supports an alternative conception of mentoring by describing how a group…

A fundamental challenge within business organizations (whether manufacturing or service, large or small) is posed by the difficulties associated with managing knowledge to integrate the long-term vision and strategic goals with daily working processes and with people. The traditional Western approach of "Management by Objectives" (MbO)…

Processes are a series of actions, changes, or functions that bring about a desired result. Processes are the way educators work. However, few of them think in these terms. Instead, educators tend to describe their work in terms of functions, like maintaining the online teacher application system, or outcomes, like positive test results. Still…

As the context of special education has changed in the last quarter century, the role and work of the IEP team also has evolved. Today, the general education curriculum is central to the educational programs of all students. The expectation that is clearly communicated in federal policies and regulations, such as the No Child Left Behind Act and…

Practicing physicians generally are not engaged in either the methods of performance improvement for health care or the measurement and reporting of clinical outcomes. The principal reasons are lack of compensation for such work, the perception that the work of performance improvement adds no value and is a waste of time, the lack of knowledge and…

This study investigates education students' perceptions of computers and the factors affecting their perceptions among education students in the United States and Taiwan. Sample subjects were 360 students from six colleges of education in the two places. The results reveal that there were significant differences. Education students in the United…

Under current government directives, parents, along with professionals, are ascribed a central role in contributing to the processes associated with meeting their children's special needs. Yet many obstacles continue to hinder the achievement of good working relationships between parents and professionals. For parents located within minority…

Webster Middle School, situated in a large Midwestern city, serves primarily an African-American, lower-to middle-class population. As with many other schools in similar geographic and demographic situations, the academic performance of its students was very poor, the physical facilities were in decay, and enrollments were dropping, with only 250…

According to Farrell and Kotrlik (2003), educators can become more effective teachers by assessing their students' preferred learning styles. This assessment can help in planning the curriculum and in selecting appropriate instructional methods. Thus, research is needed to determine if there is a link between students' learning styles and their…

The pedagogical potential of classroom assessment to support student learning has increasingly been evidenced in research over the past decade. Constructive classroom assessment has been championed by assessment specialists, and endorsed by professional organizations. In practice, however, the process of changing classroom assessment from its…

This study examined the effects of pre-structuring discussion threads on group performance in computer-supported collaborative argumentation where students labeled their messages as arguments, challenges, supporting evidence, and explanations on a threaded discussion board. In the pre-structured group students were required to post supporting and…

This article synthesizes published literature comparing the cognitive functioning of children who have math disabilities (MD) with that of (a) average-achieving children; (b) children who have reading disabilities (RD); and (c) children who have co-morbid disabilities (MD+RD). Average achievers outperformed children with MD on measures of verbal…

We used two multiple baseline designs to investigate effects of a self-monitoring strategy on following-direction skills of six middle school students with moderate to severe disabilities in general education. Students were instructed to acknowledge a given direction, complete the task, and monitor their performance. Results suggest that all…