The purpose of this study was to examine academic department chair perceptions about the future influence of web-based distance education on departmental operations and their changing role as academic leader. Using a rating, modified-policy Delphi method, the researcher worked with 22 department chairs employed at public, urban universities in the…

The issues discussed by the contributors to this installment of RRQ's New Directions in Research clearly establish that special education and reading is a particularly timely topic. The field of special education is confronting fundamental changes in how it defines and identifies its constituency; how those changes relate to theory, practice, and…

Research has shown that knowledge instruction alone is a poor agent for influencing changes in behavior (Bruvold, 1990; Morrison et al., 1994; Valente et al., 1998). Successful outcomes of interventions in education and performance improvement involve more than knowledge gains. Furthermore, a growing body of researchers from different areas have…

This paper is about Ph.Ds, practitioner-centred research and action learning. The aim of this paper is to help develop a framework for those completing doctorates based on action learning. The paper explores relationships between the personal learning of action learning participants and the public knowledge associated with conventional research.…

This paper describes a self-study of two collaborations. The first collaboration focused on an attempt to study the teaching of social justice issues to pre-service student teachers. The second collaboration was an attempt to understand why the first collaboration was only partially successful. The study charts the process of collaboration over…

This preliminary classroom study aims to examine the impact of trained responders' feedback on EFL college students' revisions, both in terms of revision types and quality. After a 4-hour in-class demonstration and a 1-hour after-class reviewer-teacher conference with each student (n = 18), the instructor/researcher collected students' first…

At the location of alter-native researcher in US higher education, the author interweaves two Korean women's transnational narratives that intersect with her autobiographical route. Through this re-narrativization, the paper discusses the material and ideological specificities that place each individual differently in engagements with various…

One could focus on many different aspects of improving the quality of mathematics teaching. For a better understanding of children's mathematical learning processes or teaching and learning in general, reflection on and analysis of concrete classroom situations are of major importance. On the basis of experiences gained in a collaborative research…

The conversation between myself and Professor Lederman took place in Malmö, Sweden on August 25, 2007. The purpose of the conversation was to elaborate on the past, present and future of nature of science research and also to provide insights for beginning researchers. In this text I am providing the questions about which we talked and my…

This paper first clarifies the role of "jugyou kenkyuu" for creating an effective environment in schools for teachers to learn from each other and for developing more learning-centered education that focuses on the real needs of students. Secondly, it examines various practical strategies used by both professors and teachers through…

How can a community ensure that its public schools reflect local values and beliefs about education? The complexities involved in the reform of existing public schools, or the creation of a new system of schooling, have caused some researchers to explore new methodological avenues to change (Banathy, 1991; Duffy, Rogerson, & Blick, 2000;…

Drawing on Gregory Cajete's (1994, p. 55) explanation of "Pathway" (Path denoting structure, Way implying a process), a research framework was developed exploring Aboriginal women's perceptions and experiences of health and health services. Developing the research methodology was like laying out the Path, as a well thought out structure or the…

Utilising Nakata's (2007) description of the "cultural interface", two Indigenous researchers and one non-Indigenous researcher examine their development of Indigenous research in and with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities conducted from within an institution of higher education. The authors reflect on their experiences in…

Practice-as-inquiry refers to the blending of instructional practice with systematic curricular inquiry. College and university teachers, while experts in their disciplines, typically are not specialists in instructional practice. Practice-as-inquiry (also referred to as teacher-as-researcher) may function as a mechanism of continuous teaching…

Technical and allocative efficiencies of 26 academic departments in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University are computed using Data Envelopment Analysis over 2004/05. Allocations of faculty time between teaching, research, and extension vary by department and are used as unique prices in calculating allocative…