Although the idea of using a workshop to educate potential users about a set of materials or techniques is not new, the workshops described here go beyond simple dissemination and create ongoing communities of practice that support widespread and sustained improvement in the biochemistry classroom. The degree to which pedagogical innovations…

This article describes Open University Malaysia's efforts at enhancing the blended learning approach for undergraduate distance learners with the successful implementation of the Mobile Learning via SMS initiative. The pilot project was implemented in the May 2009 semester, and this coming January 2011 semester will be in its sixth consecutive…

Being environmentally responsible is a hot topic and critical issue. Many in the scientific community estimate we are slowly destroying the Earth's climate and landscape as we know it today. However, not all scientists agree with this theory, as a significant number of people have been environmentally responsible for a long time, recognizing…

E-learning has become an increasingly important teaching and learning mode in educational institutions and corporate training. The evaluation of e-learning, however, is essential for the quality assurance of e-learning courses. This paper constructs a four-phase evaluation model for e-learning courses, which includes planning, development,…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the degree of importance that DuFour's nine characteristics of highly effective schools have on closing the academic achievement gap on the California High School Exit Exam, as perceived by high school principals. The study also examined the strategies believed to be most important in developing…

"The First-Year Seminar: Designing, Implementing, and Assessing Courses to Support Student Learning and Success," a five-volume series, is designed to assist educators who are interested in launching a firstyear seminar or revamping an existing program. Each volume examines a different aspect of first-year seminar design or…

The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) recognizes the current challenges faced by states and schools relative to the provision of high-quality intervener services for children who are deaf-blind. To respond to these challenges, OSEP asked the National Consortium on Deaf-Blindness (NCDB) to conduct an…

The survey on hot topics was added in 2007 to the annual survey of state directors of community colleges conducted by the University of Alabama Education Policy Center. The survey data provided an opportunity for examining the personal attitudes toward the hot topics and the associations between these attitudes and state contexts. This study finds…

Success in open educational resources (OER) has been reported by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the USA and the Open University in the UK, among others. It is unclear, however, how valuable OER are in learning and teaching. Approaches to OER policy and sustainability are just two other key aspects that remain unresolved across the…

Pressures in terms of the availability of quality, real-life clinical experiences for students have resulted in increased interest in the use of simulation in a variety of healthcare disciplines. "Te wahi whanau: The birth place" is a Virtual Birth Centre (VBC) that was created in "Second Life" in 2009 as part of the Second…

Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) is more than a school system, it is a community. It's a community of people working together to provide Montgomery County students with an education that prepares them for success today, tomorrow, and in the years to come. That is MCPS' core purpose: to prepare students to thrive in their future. The Annual…

In the past two decades, the financial education movement has rapidly grown into a set of policies and programs that aims to empower individuals and families with financial literacy--the attitudes, knowledge, and skills necessary to make and act on informed financial decisions. For low- and moderate-income families in the U.S., this development…

Many schools in South Africa are dysfunctional, or at least do not function optimally. This statement could be substantiated by just citing statistics about failure rates, school drop-out rates, school violence, matric pass rates, learner absenteeism, educator absenteeism or the incidence of discipline problems and the effect thereof on educators.…

The final stage of a longitudinal research project that focused on identifying the impact of a new university presence in a South Australian regional city is presented in this paper, which continues the account given at the 2009 SPERA Conference. The early stages comprised focus groups of stakeholders, staff involved, and students, and surveys of…

Taking the perspective of consumer socialization theory, this study examined the influences of different socialization agents on consumers' purchases of green products. A total of 224 surveys were distributed to students enrolled in a business-related course at a major university in the northeastern United States. The objectives were twofold. The…