Education Commons^™

Critical Issues Influencing Teacher Quality, Shaifali Rachna Puri, Manmeet Kaur

Shaifali rachna Puri

No abstract provided.

Enhancing Higher Education Through Leadership Capacity Development: Progressing The Faculty Scholars' Model., Geraldine E. Lefoe, Heather Smigiel, Dominique Parrish

Geraldine Lefoe

This showcase provides an overview of a leadership capacity building initiative for the scholarship of teaching through a faculty-based scholars network, which supports strategic change through leadership, activities embedded in authentic learning tasks. The new leaders developed through this initiative will provide a critical mass for extending the network by adopting a cascade model for distributive leadership through mentoring of future implementations within and across institutions. This showcase will provide a review of the literature, and an overview of the work in progress. It will conclude with a presentation of some guiding principles for discussion and a call for expressions …

Implementing Generic Learning Designs Based Upon Quality Ict Exemplars, J. Hedberg, R. Oliver, Barry Harper, Sandra Wills, S. Agostinho

Sandra Wills

Within the context of an AUTC funded Project: Information and Communication Technologies and Their Role in Flexible Learning, this paper presents an analysis of learning designs using ICTs and how this grounded approach might be a more useful structure to design effective learning environments. The project has developed generic or reusable frameworks for technology-enhanced high quality learning experiences in higher education and this paper will present several examples, of the original design and how the key elements were selected and developed for use by others. As this project is currently developing these generic exemplars of learning designs, the final presentation …

The Online Theology Classroom: Strategies For Engaging A Community Of Distance Learners In A Hybrid Model Of Online Education, Brent A. R. Hege

Brent A. R. Hege

The key to success in online education is the creation and sustenance of a safe and vibrant virtual community. In order to create such a community instructors must pay special attention to the relationship between technology and pedagogy, specifically in terms of issues such as course design, social presence, facilitation of sustained engagement with course material, specially tailored assignments, and learner expectations and objectives. Several strategies for accomplishing this goal are presented here based on the author’s experiences teaching second career students in hybrid introductory theology courses at a mainline denominational seminary.

A New Approach To Community Flood Education, Neil Dufty

Neil Dufty

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Curriculum And Aims, James Magrini

James M Magrini

No abstract provided.

Private Interests Or Public Goods?: Dewey, Rugg, And Their Contemporary Allies On Corporate Involvement In Educational Reform Initiatives, Deron Boyles, Kathleen Abowitz

Deron R. Boyles

In some ways, John Dewey lived through a time similar to what we now experience: the rise of corporate power in a historical moment of unsurpassed national wealth and consumer materialism, and the accompanying substantial influence of business interests in the structure, politics, and agendas of public school systems. Dewey’s writings in the first three decades of this century mark a kind of “wisdom of the elders,” offered by a public intellectual who experienced, at least in some form, the kind of tumultuous relationships we are currently witnessing between the economy and education.

Dewey's Epistemology: An Argument For Warranted Assertions, Knowing, And Meaningful Classroom Practice, Deron Boyles

Deron R. Boyles

In an effort to navigate the treacherous path between professionalism and social relevancy, this essay takes up an area of professional philosophy - epistemology - with the intention of reclaiming the integrative role John Dewey held for philosophy and classroom practice. Deron Boyles asserts that epistemology can and should represent an area of inquiry that is relevant and useful for philosophy of education, especially as it develops classroom practices that foster inquiry. He specifically seeks to revive Dewey’s conception of warranted assertibility in an effort to show the value of fallibilist epistemology in practical and social teaching and learning contexts. …

A Lesson Of Human Connection: 9/11, Film, Brotherhood, And Interpretation, Deron R. Boyles

Deron R. Boyles

Brothers Gedeon and Jules Naudet were within two blocks of the World Trade Center (WTC) on the morning of September 11, 2001 when terrorists flew hijacked planes into the WTC towers. Both brothers had cameras with them, as they were engaged in shooting a documentary film about firefighters at the time. As a result, they captured unique footage from the area, including the only images from inside Tower 1, where firefighters were trying to get a handle on the situation. The footage includes sounds of falling bodies and scenes of firefighters trying to escape from Tower 1 after Tower 2 …

Institutes, Foundations, And Think Tanks: Conservative Influences On U.S. Public Schools, Deron Boyles

Deron R. Boyles

While a complete analysis of the effects of conservative think tanks is beyond the scope of this article, we include the above passage as evidence of what, on a broad scale, the “idea brokers” have been working towards. While education is only one area where neoconservative think tanks seek to influence public policy, it has become the issue for many neoconservatives. In this article, we focus on four think tanks—The Manhattan Institute, The American Enterprise Institute, The Heritage Foundation, and The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation—and what they are doing to reshape public schools in ways more suitable to neoconservative and …

Taking Care Of Business: Advertising, Commercialism, And Implications For Discourse About Schools, Deron R. Boyles

Deron R. Boyles

This essay challenges the long-standing notion that the overriding purpose of U.S.A. public schools should be to produce future workers for corporate America. It questions the current discourse-the language we use when we talk about schooling, teaching, and learning. In effect, this essay takes exception to the undergirding assumption that public schools are primarily in existence as avenues for private gain. The claim is that a new language of inquiry and critique is needed in order for teachers and students to realize a significant, if untapped potential for U.S.A. schooling: namely, critical analysis of the taken-for-granted.

The Gig Is Up: Combating The Meanings Of Education Proffered By Science, Technology, And Global Capitalism, Deron Boyles

Deron R. Boyles

Colleagues in the academy seem to have a fascination with conceptual analysis and the term “education.” Debates are held, papers are written, and symposia take place within which definitions are articulated and modulated. Whether the point is to provide narrative, stipulative, or programmatic definitions matters little to the larger point: the quest for the meaning of “education” continues. In their turns, schooling and training are contrasted with education in order to help clarify the differences in scope, purpose, and meaning of the various terms. The concepts are often qualified in discussions of literacy, socialization, and democracy, but why? Why are …

Would You Like Values With That?: The Role Of Chik-Fil-A In Character Education, Deron Boyles

Deron R. Boyles

I explore three main lines of inquiry: (1) the specifics of “Core Essentials” as a strategy for teaching character; (2) the role (and ironies) of private businesses influencing public school curricula; and (3) the assumptions inherent in the kind of teaching of character outlined by “Core Essentials.” Girding this inquiry is a concern about the problematic enterprise of teaching character, itself, as if it were an unquestionable domain. Further, the oddly-but-related contexts of childhood obesity findings and Christian influences (both general symbolism and fundamentalist indoctrination) on and in public spheres will be considered via Theodore Brameld’s Ends and Means in …

Empowerment And Protection: Complementary Strategies For Digital And Media Literacy In The United States, Renee Hobbs

Renee Hobbs

Billions of dollars are being spent in the United States to make sure that children and young people have computers, data projectors and access to the Internet in elementary and secondary schools. There is robust experimentation now ongoing as teachers explore how to use technology primarily as a means to accomplish traditional content learning outcomes. Digital and media literacy education offers an alternative model that emphasizes a set of practical competencies or life skills that are necessary for full participation in a highly-mediated society. Digital and media literacy competencies are not only needed to strengthen people’s capacity to use information …

Which Secondary Education Systems Work Best? The United States Or Northern Europe, John H. Bishop

John H Bishop

Northern European teenagers are 10+ percent more likely to graduate from secondary school than their American counterparts and learn considerably more as well. This paper explains why Northern Europe’s upper-secondary schools have achieved school cultures that accomplish so much more than typical American secondary schools. The keys to N. Europe's success are: 1. Parents/students decide which program of study to enter. 2. Programs have well signaled reputations that influence access to occupations/professions and higher education programs. 3. Undertaking a challenging program confers prestige. 4. If the program turns out to be too difficult or poorly taught, transfers to a more …

Assessing Higher-Level Thinking Skills, Federation Schools Of Accountancy Accounting Pedagogical Resource Series, C. Johnson, C. Baril, Sakthi Mahenthiran, M. Sarhan, G. Weinstein

Sakthi Mahenthiran

This resource catalog is one of a series prepared for the Pedagogical Resources Committee of the Federation of Schools of Accountancy. The aim of the resource catalog series is to provide background information for instructors interested in enhancing classroom pedagogy. Each resource catalog focuses on a single pedagogical issue or approach. The catalogs are authored by educators who are familiar with the issue or approach in both their classroom efforts and research writings.

From Names We Know To Those We Might Not: A Review Of Our Top Ten Educational Theorists' Contributions To The Literature And The Practical Implications Of Their Work, George Hrivnak, Amy Kenworthy

George Hrivnak

This interactive session reviews the work of our "Top Ten" seminal educational theorists and contextualizes their most significant contributions in terms of their potential to enhance the teaching effectiveness of session participants. A variety of well-known and not-so-well-known theorists were deliberately chosen in a effort to make the session attractive to both experts and relative neophytes of the learning/education literature. The selected scholars vary from those well known in the management education literature (e.g. John Dewey, Jean Piaget) to those who are perhaps less well-known or appreciated (e.g. Lev Vygotsky, Robert Gagne, Paulo Freire, Malcolm Knowles, and Jack Mezirow).

Broadening Our Horizons: Exploring The Work Of Ten Educational Theorists And Their Potential Contributions To The Scholarship And Practice Of Management Education, George Hrivnak, Amy Kenworthy

George Hrivnak

No abstract provided.

An Analysis Of Student Self-Assessment Of Online, Blended, And Face-To-Face Learning Environments: Implications For Sustainable Education Delivery, Chad J. Mcguire, Sidney R. Castle

Chad J McGuire

Retesting In Selection: A Meta-Analysis Of Practice Effects For Tests Of Cognitive Ability, John P. Hausknecht, Jane A. Halpert, Nicole T. Di Paolo, Meghan O. Moriarty Gerrard

John Hausknecht

Previous studies indicate that as many as 25-50% of applicants in organizational and educational settings are retested with measures of cognitive ability. Researchers have shown that practice effects are found across measurement occasions such that scores improve when these applicants retest. This study uses meta-analysis to summarize the results of 50 studies of practice effects for tests of cognitive ability. Results from 107 samples and 134,436 participants revealed an adjusted overall effect size of .26. Moderator analyses indicated that effects were larger when practice was accompanied by test coaching, and when identical forms were used. Additional research is needed to …

Just Thinking: A Compilation Of Bio-Cultural Experiences, Mary Ferguson

Mary J. Ferguson, Ed. D.

Just Thinking journeys the cultural education of the author in poetry form. The content relates the spiritual, educational, family, and rural life of the author to a visual character of substance and self-existence.

Globalization, Changing Demographics, And Educational Challenges In East Asia, Emily Hannum, Hyunjoon Park, Yuko Goto Butler

Emily C. Hannum

In recent decades, globalization and regional integration have brought significant economic and demographic changes in East Asia, including rising economic inequality, growing population movements within and across borders, and the emergence or renewed geopolitical significance of cultural and linguistic minority populations. These trends have coincided with significant changes in family formation, dissolution, and structures. How have these changes played out in the diverse educational systems of East Asia? In what innovative ways are East Asian governments addressing the new demographic realities of their student populations? This volume offers a snapshot of key educational stratification issues in East Asian nations, and …

Editors’ Introduction: Emerging Issues For Educational Research In East Asia, Emily C. Hannum, Hyunjoon Park, Yuko Goto Butler

Emily C. Hannum

In recent decades, globalization and regional integration have brought significant economic and demographic changes in East Asia, including rising economic inequality, growing population movements within and across borders, and the emergence or renewed geopolitical significance of cultural and linguistic minority populations. These trends have coincided with significant changes in family formation, dissolution, and structures. How have these changes played out in the diverse educational systems of East Asia? In what innovative ways are East Asian governments addressing the new demographic realities of their student populations? This volume offers a snapshot of key educational stratification issues in East Asian nations, and …

Proceedings Of The 2009 Nrc Federal Facilities Council/James Madison University Symposium On Protecting Large Facility Complexes;, George H. Baker, Cheryl E. Wilkins

George H Baker

Large, complex facilities pose unique protection challenges involving multidisciplinary expertise and collaboration among government, academia, and the private sector. The symposium served as a forum for sharing experiences in dealing with large facility catastrophic events and risk management. The symposium was organized based on the value of interaction among different people representing diverse disciplines. In many instances, such interactions lead to solutions that would not have been developed within disciplinary stovepipes. The venue was divided into three panels addressing physical security, cyber security, and real facility case studies. We were also privileged to have three keynote speakers including Dr. Charles …

We Must Begin To View The World Differently: Only Then Perhaps We Can Change It!, Nicos Trimikliniotis

Nicos Trimikliniotis

This is an interview with Ana Esther Ceceña, researcher/professor in geopolitics, National Autonomous University of México, Director of the Geopolitics Latinamerican Observatory, in Lisbon, Portugal. She presented her paper for the Project on Polarisation in the last 500 years led by Immanuel Wallerstein, where she examines ecology, indigenous peoples and movements in March 2010.

Worlds Apart In The Curriculum: Heidegger, Technology, And The Poietic Attunement Of Art, James Magrini

James M Magrini

Margonis (1986) criticizes Heidegger’s philosophy and those who would attempt to adopt his views for the purpose of thinking education because of the "abstract nature of his discussions," which suggest "proposals regarding our political, economic and educational lives from the place of metaphysical argumentation" (p. 125). To the contrary, Dwyer, et al (1988) claim the Heidegger’s philosophy, "clearly suggests an educational theory" (p. 100). This, is perhaps an overly optimistic claim, for it glosses over the difficulty associated with plumbing the depths of Heidegger’s vast corpus in order to speculate on the legitimate potential his philosophy has for contemporary educational …

Causal Effects Of Single-Sex Schools On College Entrance Exams And College Attendance: Random Assignment In Seoul High Schools, Hyunjoon Park, Jere R. Behrman, Jaesung Choi

Hyunjoon Park

Despite the voluminous literature on the potentials of single-sex schools, there is no consensus on the effects of single-sex schools because of student selection of school types. We exploit a unique feature of schooling in Seoul, the random assignment of students into single-sex versus coeducational high schools, to assess causal effects of single-sex schools on college entrance exam scores and college attendance. Our validation of the random assignment shows comparable socioeconomic backgrounds and prior academic achievement of students attending single-sex schools and coeducational schools, which increases the credibility of our causal estimates of single-sex school effects. Attending all-boys schools or …

The History Of Higher Education: Methods For Uncovering The Past, Marybeth Gasman

Marybeth Gasman

No abstract provided.

Successful Professional Learning, Marion Meiers, Sarah Buckley

Dr Sarah Buckley

This edition is focused on research into teacher learning and professional development. Teacher learning includes not only activities such as conferences and workshops, but also includes participation in many formal and informal learning activities. Recent research has focused, amongst other things, on characteristics of successful professional learning, and on the connections between teachers' professional learning and improvements in student learning. This research has the potential to assist teachers and schools in selecting and planning for professional learning, so that it will maximise the benefits for participants. The first section of this digest presents some research findings on effective professional learning. …

“Knowledge In The Service Of The Cause”:Education And The Sahrawi Struggle For Self-Determination, Randa Farah

Randa R Farah Dr.

This article examines the education strategy of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), the state-in-exile with partial sovereignty on “borrowed territory” in Algeria. The article, which opens with a historical glance at the conflict, argues that SADR’s education program not only succeeded in fostering self-reliance by developing skilled human resources, but was forward looking, using education as a vehicle to instill “new traditions of citizenship” and a new imagined national community, in preparation for future repatriation. In managing refugee camps as provinces of a state, the boundaries between the “refugee” as status and the “citizen” as a political identity were …