Many have heard calls from national policy experts, the Obama administration, and influential foundations such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Lumina Foundation for Education to increase the number of Americans with postsecondary credentials earned at community colleges by 5 million within 10 years. If community colleges choose to…

The data are clear: Unless the nation can find a better way to accelerate improvement in the quality of education and implement it in the next 10 years, this nation will lose its competitive edge against other nations and another generation of children will be lost. Eighty percent of Illinois high school graduates are not capable of doing the…

A strategy of continuous team assessment over three years, comprising of a series of tests and a major project, was introduced into scheduled tutorial classes in an attempt to improve flagging attendance and low student motivation. The assessment tasks were designed to be undertaken in teams of two students, with ongoing feedback as an integral…

Difficulties in teaching a multi-disciplinary subject such as the mechatronics system design module in Departments of Mechatronics Engineering at Temasek Polytechnic arise from the gap in experience and skill among staff and students who have different backgrounds in mechanical, computer and electrical engineering within the Mechatronics…

A field-based environmental geochemistry course was developed at Western Michigan University for undergraduate geosciences and environmental studies students to (1) improve student understanding of complex environmental systems, specifically targeting lake systems; (2) facilitate student development of professional-level, field- and…

This paper presents reports on an experimental study which intended to look into and compare the possible effects of this researcher's instructional innovation, Competitive Team-Based Learning (CTBL), with Structured Academic Controversy (SAC) -- the most popular method of Cooperative Learning (CL) -- on language proficiency of Iranian EFL college…

Self and peer assessment offers benefits for enhancing student learning. Peer moderation provides a convenient solution for awarding individual marks in group assignments. This paper provides a significant review of peer-mark moderation, and describes an award winning, web-based tool that was developed in the UK and is now spreading across the…

Legal mandates, educational reform, and professional policy changes, have emphasized the need to promote the integration of services for students with communication impairments within the general education curriculum. However, speech-language pathologists (SLPs) continue to report the provision of primarily pull-out services with intervention…

LouAnne Johnson's newest book is a collection of fun and simple educational icebreaker activities that get students excited and engaged from the very first minute of class. These activities are great to use with students at all levels, and many of the activities include variations and modifications for different groups. Research has shown that the…

The purpose of this study was to conduct a formative evaluation of the efficacy of the Team Advisory program, an in-school intervention in an urban public high school using fitness to teach study skills and social responsibility, based on the perspective of its faculty (n = 9). The first research question asks what do Boston English Advisors…

Graduate capabilities are an essential aspect of undergraduate development in higher education. Accordingly, La Trobe University's "Design for learning" has identified particular university-wide graduate capabilities and required all faculties to explicitly embed these in their curricula. The Faculty of Law and Management developed an approach to…

In this study, we have investigated developmental patterns of virtual groups in the e-learning environment. Our findings suggest that for virtual groups formed for the purpose of e-learning, dependency and inclusion characterize the initial stage of group development, as such characteristics reinforce cooperative relationships and help to build a…

Hard skills are the technical expertise and knowledge needed for a job. Soft skills are interpersonal qualities, also known as people skills, and personal attributes that one possesses. Business executives consider soft skills a very important attribute in job applicants. Employers want new employees to have strong soft skills, as well as hard…

Purpose: The purpose of this cross-cultural study of schools in Sweden and Texas is to examine the cultural contexts of schools in both settings, and the leadership role of principals in creating and sustaining inclusive schools for diverse populations. Design/methodology/approach: The data were drawn from two studies; the first involving school…

Introduction: Despite an explosion of interest in improving safety and reducing error in health care, one important aspect of patient safety that has received little attention is a systematic approach to education and training for the whole health care workforce. This article describes an evaluation of an innovative multiprofessional, team-based…