This paper reports on a self-study undertaken by the author to better understand the educational practices of scaffolding in pre-service teachers' collaborative group work. The method included student interviews, conversations with a critical friend, and the researcher's diary. The self-study allowed for fine-tuning theoretical understanding and…

The purpose of this study was to explore the social and academic experiences of non-traditional students pursuing a bachelor's degree at a traditionally-oriented residential university and how these experiences promote or impede their persistence to graduation. The study explored components of Donaldson and Graham's Model of College Outcomes for…

Discussions about the adult L2 learning capacity often take as their starting point stages where considerable L2 knowledge has already been accumulated. This paper probes the absolute earliest stages of learning and investigates what lexical knowledge adult learners can extract from complex, continuous speech in an unknown language after minimal…

One third of undergraduate students enrolled in U.S. colleges and universities are considered nontraditional as defined by the single criterion of being aged 25 years and older. Nontraditional students have significantly lower graduation rates than traditional students. Using a role theory perspective this mixed-methods study examines the factors…

In January 2010, the General Assembly passed the Complete College Tennessee Act (CCTA), a comprehensive reform agenda that seeks to transform public higher education through changes in academic, fiscal and administrative policies at the state and institutional levels. While the higher education landscape has been shaped by the CCTA, higher…

The Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC) was charged by state statute with developing a statewide Master Plan for the future development of public universities, community colleges, and colleges of applied technology, with input from the Board of Regents and the University of Tennessee Board of Trustees. The overriding function of the Plan…

The objective of this study is to add to the extant literature on graduate attributes by examining the mediating role of global/moral citizenship and lifelong learning attributes in the relation between students' scholarship attributes and their academic self-directedness in a higher-education open distance learning (ODL) environment. The Graduate…

Language and culture are informally integrated in many English as an Additional Language (EAL) programs, but cultural discussions are often regarded from the perspective of a particular dominant culture. Although this integration is crucial for the development of communicative competence, practical applications are still challenging as language…

The careers profession in England is facing unprecedented challenges. Initiatives to improve service delivery while keeping costs low are attractive and online training holds the promise of high impact at low cost. The present study employs a qualitative methodology to evaluate a series of online "webinars" conducted with 15 careers…

In independent learning contexts, the effectiveness of the feedback dialogue between student and tutor or, in the absence of a tutor, the quality of the learning materials, is essential to successful learning. Using the voices of participants as the prime source of data through a combination of data-driven and concept-driven approaches, this…

Student parents (i.e. students who have their own dependent children) are a specific subpopulation of adult learners. This study investigated the impact of self-efficacy beliefs on student parents' perceived capacity to manage multiple roles and their satisfaction with family, school and life. Survey data collected from 398 student parents enroled…

Distance learning programs in higher education are evolving into the preferred model for how we educate learners in the 21st century. The traditional role of an instructor was focused on creating an effective learning environment based in a physical classroom setting. In this decade, institutions are educating and training online instructors to a…

This comparative, classroom-based study investigated the effect and effectiveness of introducing a focus on form approach to a content-based, occupation-specific language program for adults. Thirty-six adults in two classes participated in a 10-week study. One group of 16 adults received content-based instruction that included a focus on form…

While much is known about the characteristics of adult learners and even adult learners in online and distance education settings, very little CALL research is focused on online self-instructed learners, and even fewer studies focus on learners of less commonly taught languages (LCTLs), such as Macedonian, for whom traditional or even distance…

This study was carried out at Hanyang Cyber University (HYCU) in the Republic of Korea. The main purpose of this study was to explore Hanyang Cyber University's experience in the use of ICT in Distance Education (DE) so as to learn best practices that can be adapted by the Institute of Adult Education (IAE) in Tanzania. Specifically, the study…