Instructors of physics courses face the demanding challenge of creating a safe, nurturing community in their classroom while maintaining sufficient rigor. First-day activities are especially important, because they need to both motivate their students and prepare them for the course. Experienced instructors happily share their successful first-day…

This study explores what motivates 19 international students to pursue a Ph.D. at a public research university in the U.S. and, more importantly, what motivates them to persist despite unsatisfying socialization. Based on value-expectancy achievement motivation theory, four motivations emerged: intrinsic interest in research, intrinsic interest in…

The integration of young adults into the labor market is a challenge for every society. Because Germany survived the current crisis quite well and youth unemployment rate is more or less stable, the German apprenticeship-system, Duale Ausbildung, became a kind of new role model in Europe. In this article Marcus Eckelt and Guido Schmidt analyze the…

Boys' (under) achievement is frequently on the agenda in the Nordic countries, like in other parts of the Western world. Theoretical explanations for their lower achievement than girls typically emphasise the dissociation between hegemonic young masculinities and school work. In this paper, we focus on boys' strategies for managing schools…

The purpose of this study was to explore university students' expectations of confidentiality when they make disclosures to their university professors. A secondary purpose was to consider if students have a higher expectation of confidentiality when talking with Psychology professors versus professors in other disciplines. Students were asked to…

This study examined the effectiveness of using a Facebook group to increase preservice teachers' knowledge when one was used as a forum to share, answer, and discuss content-related questions in a technology course required for all students seeking teacher licensure. Further, it examined the students' prior use of Facebook groups, how…

The Cooperative Extension System was created in 1914 with the passage of the Smith-Lever Act. The act provided resources to improve access to education by creating this nationwide organization to bring land-grant university research and resources to people where they lived and worked. Cooperative Extension was the first formal nationwide structure…

Maintaining effective undergraduate academic advising programs that meet the needs of students is an ongoing challenge for universities across the country. Using expectancy violations theory as a lens, this study argues that student satisfaction with advising is linked to alignment between student expectations of the advising process and perceived…

Empirical research on three commercial environmental vocational education and training programmes revealed distinct personal, teaching and work-based presage factors, which influenced individual learning and learning transfer to the workplace. The extent to which behaviour change and learning transfer occurred depended on a diverse range of…

The aim of the study is to reveal the students' views who are studying in different departments of distant education programs provided by Anadolu University in Turkey. Qualitative research method was used in the study and purposeful sampling was followed. The research was conducted with 10 students who were working in different jobs and taking…

While it is widely believed that relevant research is needed for educational policy and practice, an important issue is whether policy-makers and implementers are really receptive to such research. This study sets out a conceptual framework relating to the issue in low-income countries, encompassing the cast of characters involved, contemporary…

Author and husband, Roger Williams, is hearing and signs fluently, and author and wife, Sherry Williams, is deaf and uses both speech and signs, although she is most comfortable signing. As parents of six children--deaf and hearing--they are determined to encourage their children to do their best, and they always set their expectations high. They…

Universities in Australia are becoming increasingly concerned with their reputation as "engaged" institutions. Yet there is significant confusion about what this idea of "engagement" means and no clear way of measuring or reporting it. In part, this is because of the nature of engagement itself which is dependent on local…

This article describes the power of the word "CAN". The author, Laurene E. Simms reports that as a poor, black, deaf youngster her teacher's facial expressions conveyed their feelings that she was of low IQ and mentally retarded, however two persons had a positive impact on her, her father and 7th grade math teacher. They challenged…

This study analyzes the writing performance levels of 352 students to determine the extent to which business students are achieving written communication competency and whether differences exist among the business majors. Although most students met or exceeded expectations in format and content on a common writing task, students were weakest in…