The amount and quality of practice predicts expertise, yet optimal conditions of practice have primarily been explored with novice learners. Ten expert musicians and ten novices practiced disc-throwing skills under self-regulated conditions. A third novice group practiced with the same schedule as the music experts (yoked). The groups did not…

Rachel Wilson is a novice principal and new school leader of a large English junior-senior high school located in a rural township of a maritime province in Canada. Upon her appointment, she was challenged with having to establish herself as a credible leadership choice for the venue in addition to having to engage in new role learning as a…

The "Next Generation Science Standards" (NGSS) (Achieve Inc. 2013) asks teachers to give engineering design equal standing with scientific inquiry in their science lessons. This article asks the following questions: What do engineering design practices look like, and how do you assess them? How similar and different is engineering design…

Many have suggested that tinkering plays a critical role in novices learning to program, and recent work in learning analytics (Baker & Yacef, 2009 Blikstein, 2011) allows us to describe new relationships in the process. Using learning analytics, we explore how students progress from exploration, through tinkering, to refinement, a pathway…

This article addresses the benefits and challenges involved with assigning small-scale research projects in one research methods class as means of introducing new(er) researchers to the work and rewards of empirical writing research. The following discussion does not claim to offer examples of cutting-edge methodological work. That is not our goal…

New professionals in student affairs enter the field motivated and ready to start their new careers (Olyha, 2004), though 50-60% of new professionals end up leaving the field before they complete their fifth year of employment (Renn & Hodges, 2007). Mentoring is a suggested strategy to help with retaining professionals in the workplace…

Part-time faculty in nursing programs are increasingly being hired as a supplement to the deteriorating pool of full-time nursing faculty. There is a growing need to fill the many vacant slots in nursing academe at the same time that there is substantial growth in prospective students inspiring to become nurses. While these "expert"…

Alternative teacher licensing programs have become very popular; however, very little research has been conducted on the efficacy of the programs. Alternative licensing programs (ALPs) have evolved and multiplied rapidly over the last few decades. The Tennessee Independent Colleges and Universities Association (TICUA) is attempting to determine…

We report the development and initial evaluation of a serious game that, in conjunction with appropriately designed matching laboratory exercises, can be used to teach secure coding and Information Assurance (IA) concepts across a range of introductory computing courses. The IA Game is a role-playing serious game (RPG) in which the student travels…

This study examines novice learners' self-generated input noticing approaches and strategies. It is motivated by previous research on input enhancement which yielded insights that learners are naturally prone to notice certain aspects of L2 input on their own without any external means to channel their attention. Two L1 groups (Japanese and…

"Building information technology" and "cost estimating" are two core skills of construction education. However, in traditional education, students learn these two important subjects in separate courses. This study proposes a blended learning environment which can provide students with support for their face-to-face learning…

With four generations in today's workforce, roles are being redefined to include a growing number of younger supervisor/older subordinate relationships, referred to as the intergenerational dyad. What current and limited literature exists about the intergenerational dyad exclusively addresses the issues of generational workplace differences…

I begin by introducing Virtual Design Apprenticeship (VDA), a learning model--built on a solid foundation of education principles and theories--that promotes learning of design skills via overlay design tools. In VDA, when an individual needs to learn a new design skill or paradigm she is provided accessible, concrete examples that have been…

School districts across the United States have been plagued with teacher attrition for nearly a decade. While this fact has been well documented, a sustainable solution has yet to be discovered. Many studies have been conducted to determine the causes for teacher attrition yet few address possibilities to aid in teacher retention. In an attempt to…

Once hired, beginning teachers face the daunting and demanding task of setting up a classroom and becoming a teacher that influences student achievement in positive ways. This article addresses some of these challenges and provides meaningful suggestions for principals and administrators hoping to support, sustain, and retain their novice teachers.