As more and more higher education programs are offered using Web-based learning environments, instructors need to better understand the implications of using BlackBoard or similar tools to maximize student participation and facilitate learning through rich, thoughtful discussions. This study explores student participation in electronic discourse…

This article provides an introduction to the TLRP Learning How to Learn Project and a context for the articles that follow in this special issue. The origins of the research, in a concern to investigate the organizational and network conditions that support innovation in teaching and learning, and in a perceived need to align research on pedagogy…

Computer mediated communication--including web pages, email and web-based bulletin boards--was used to support the development of a cooperative learning community among students in a web-based distance education unit for practicing science and mathematics educators. The students lived in several Australian states and a number of Pacific Rim…

This article shares one educational leadership program's experiences with the use of student portfolios to assist in assessment of the program's effectiveness in preparing aspiring school principals. The authors begin with a discussion of market pressures for program reforms, which include the use of student portfolios for student assessment.…

In light of a new state-mandated performance-based funding mechanism for community colleges in California, this article discusses how one district sought to implement new internal evaluation procedures to improve student outcomes in line with systemwide goals outlined in the performance-based funding. These efforts introduced an evaluative …

There are various views among academics and researchers about the best type of educational provision for children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder. In the present study parents and professionals were interviewed to get a better insight into their perceptions regarding the various educational provisions on the specialist to mainstream continuum.…

Background: Many of the agent-based products available to education today have been largely confined to games and instructional media that are often produced commercially by non-instructional professionals. Most of them lack customizability and are difficult to integrate into individual subject curriculum. With more agent authoring tools available…

Designer support is critical for facilitating collaboration and knowledge construction in an online learning environment. Designer support in this paper refers to the mechanisms that a designer builds in a technology-mediated environment to facilitate online learning. This paper focuses on two aspects of designer support: 1) creating a shared…

This article examines social presence in virtual asynchronous learning communities among foreign language teachers. We present the findings of two studies investigating cross-institutional asynchronous forums created to engage participants in online dialogues regarding their foreign language teacher preparation experiences in and out of the…

School violence has many faces and many casualties. In varying degrees it touches students, parents, educators and communities of every school world wide. At the local level, communities are seen as playing a significant role in violence prevention. Generally, community-based violence prevention approaches involve the assessment of local problems,…

The aim of the article is to critically consider the implications of the African Renaissance project for skills formation policies and priorities with a focus on the education and training systems of sub-Saharan Africa. The article commences with an account of the origins of the African Renaissance idea and its latest incarnation in the New…

We queried Florida elementary teachers about how they perceived their principals' professional and personal inviting leadership behaviors during a time when many teachers and principals felt a lot of pressure due to test-based accountability. Despite the pressure, teachers reported that their principals demonstrated fairly high levels of inviting…

Cohorts are increasingly popular management tools for recruiting students into professional education programs, for organizing their learning experiences, for promoting performance-based outcomes, and for developing and using innovative teaching-learning practices. This article examines issues about the effects of learning in cohorts by focusing…

The paper describes a qualitative study concerning the experiences of nine Thai transnational distance learners enrolled in doctoral programs in Australian universities while working in higher educational contexts in their own country. Data were collected from participant journals, an open questionnaire and dialogic email communications. The study…

Certain conventions governing administrative, faculty, and student conduct have come through tradition and common sense to be accepted generally in academe. Obviously, they do things differently at different institutions. But when Professor Barbier carefully details the standards of pedagogy, privacy, and ethics she encountered at a Canadian…