Describes a study of 107 sixth graders that investigated the effects of learning strategy training intervention and the incorporation of learner control on achievement, learning efficiency, and instructional choice while subjects learned from a computer-based science tutorial. Principles for instructional design incorporating learner control are…

Public education focuses on the lowest common denominator; cannot meet individual student needs; teaches competition; teaches children to learn for praise, not for the sake of learning; and has a 40 percent failure rate. These factors lead many to choose home schooling, but approaches to home schooling are so varied that a common definition of…

A rural British Columbia K-12 school facing closure due to declining population implemented intentional learning, student-directed learning, and learning groups as core units for developing communities of learners. A computer-managed learning system and online scheduling enables delivery of a full range of courses despite decreases in teaching…

Examines ongoing shifts in education/learning related to technological change and students' growing technological literacy. Discusses shifts toward hypermedia learning, constructivism and discovery, learner-centered education, navigation of information sources and information synthesis, lifelong learning, customized learning, learning as fun, and…

Outlines the Information Literacy Program at Southern Oregon University (SOU), designed to develop information literacy among freshman enrolled in SOU's new university colloquium. Discusses accomplishments and unresolved problems and issues of this model of a learner-centered, supportive, collaborative program. (AEF)

Focuses on instructional and learning systems in distance education. Highlights include: learner-centeredness of distance education; instructor's role; relevant content to individual needs; balancing roles of instructors and learners; personalizing instruction; ramifications for instructional and learning system design; and architecture of dynamic…

Common elements among unschooled families include an environment conducive to exploration and experimentation, adult models and facilitators of learning, and underlying trust that children will learn. Public education limits its expectations of children to narrow standards of behavior and academic achievement, whereas unschooling allows children…

Discussion of students' computer attitudes focuses on the development of an Internet attitude scale for Taiwanese high school students that considered gender differences and Internet experience. Includes four subscales: perceived usefulness; affection, including feelings and anxiety; perceived control; and behavior, including actual practice and…

Problem based learning (PBL) is offered as an example of a problem-focused and student-centered pedagogical approach that foregrounds the curricular imperatives outlined in the KALPIER Report and provides an innovative educational experience for students. A successful implementation of PBL in a graduate level course in e-commerce illustrates…

Summer of Service, a national summer service learning program for early adolescents is described. The three tenets of this program--intentional design, youth empowerment, and the opportunity to be of use--combine to make a powerful learning experience. Student input is involved at every stage of the program, and learning is incorporated through a…

Web-based technology has a dramatic impact on learning and teaching. A framework that delineates the relationships between learner control and learning effectiveness is absent. This study aims to fill this void. Our work focuses on the effectiveness of a technology-mediated virtual learning environment (TVLE) in the context of basic information…

Quality is a value-laden and context-bound concept. Drawing on cultural psychology, this study examines the nature of cultural values underlying definitions of quality in American early childhood programs. From semi-structured interviews with 15 teachers and 15 administrators in center-based early childhood programs, three themes emerged: (a)…

The purpose of this comparative case study was to explore English language teachers' beliefs, assumptions and knowledge about learner-centeredness and to see how they implement learner-centeredness in their classrooms. The study was conducted at one public and one private primary school in Istanbul. Focus group interviews were held in each school…

Computer assisted language learning (CALL) packages offer the majority of students who are learning English as a foreign language the opportunity for individual instruction. To meet the needs of an individual student, an adaptive CALL environment must have a dynamic model of student performance, a means of varying the difficulty of the learning…

Young children are active learners who touch, feel, experiment, and create. Learning centers are designed to relate to their world of active learning and to encourage their involvement, thereby enhancing development of choice making, oral language, creativity, social skills, responsibility, and understanding of symbols. This book includes…