How are we preparing teachers to design and foster learning through making where disciplinary knowledge and skills are applied and developed? One approach that addresses this question can be found from the International Maker Educational Network (IMEN); an online professional learning community built upon shared interests in educational making.…

This study explores students' experiences of a non-formal living-learning community in a UK higher education institution. The participants were students from different countries and academic disciplines who came together with a shared interest in international development and human rights. The experiences of students were investigated using the…

Mobile technology has significant potential to support learning and teaching in English. However, few studies attempt to explore current use by students and faculty members of mobile technologies to facilitate English language learning and teaching in Saudi Arabia. Even fewer studies capture descriptions of current use in the words of these users.…

This article explores the perceived disconnect between informal and formal musical knowledge, through a focused case study which aligned students' informal knowledge with aspects of the formal curriculum. The upper high school or senior secondary student participants had a background in the creation and performance of popular and contemporary…

Conversation clubs provide spaces for participants to practise their English language speaking skills in a friendly, supportive and informal environment. Informal volunteer-led provision takes a number of forms and there is no standard approach or model of training, resources or materials to which volunteers adhere. There is huge value in…

Informal learning allows learners to be in charge of their own learning process instead of being a content consumer. Harnessing mobile technology in informal learning field could help learners in taking a learning opportunity whenever they need either individually or in a group. This paper presents a small-scale study to investigate how people may…

The STEM Education Act of 2015 (Public Law 114-59) was put in place to define Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education to include computer science, and to support existing STEM education programs at the National Science Foundation. The act is organized into the following sections: (1) Short Title; (2) Definition of STEM…

The objectives of this study are to investigate a group of 14 Thai English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students' views on their learning context outside the classroom and the extent to which it has an influence on their English learning in their tertiary education. From the language classroom comes further the wider social context of university in…

The purposes of this qualitative case study were to describe the design and the development of a maker-centered learning environment and curriculum by an interdisciplinary team, and to explore how an after-school program that incorporated Maker education and scientific argumentation influenced middle school youths' attitudes toward science in the…

In Ethiopia, there has been increasing recognition of the differing educational needs and experiences of pastoralists as compared to 'settled' agricultural communities. Although the starting point has usually been how to integrate such marginalised groups into mainstream schooling, research has revealed important insights into learning outside…

This study examines science interests, efficacy, attitudes, and identity--referred to as affinities, in the context of an informal science outreach program for girls. A mixed methods design was used to explore girls' science affinities before, during, and after participation in a cohort-based summer science camp. Multivariate analysis of survey…

With growing emphasis on the development and use of competencies (knowledge, dispositions, skills) for training and evaluating the early childhood workforce, this study aimed to identify sources of variation in undergraduate students' beliefs and knowledge related to competencies identified by the Collaborative for Understanding Pedagogy for…

This research project investigates mobile literacy of Syrian refugee women teachers settled in Lebanon and Sweden. Our research provides input into Syrian refugee women teachers' professional aspirations and their connection to informal mobile learning. In both countries, training programs are used for these newly arrived teachers, enabling them…

This study was a narrative inquiry that investigated middle school students' experiences with an informal writing group. The six primary participants were members of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMO). During the month of November, each of the primary participants set a word count goal and composed a novel. Participants met together at group…

Guided by the Boundary Activity based Learning (BABL) principle, mobile technology-supported inquiry learning activities were implemented in a primary four science class in Hong Kong. An exploratory study was conducted to examine the effects of the BABL guided inquiry activities on students' learning performance and to explore how the key element,…