Education Commons^™

Can They Teach Each Other? : The Restructuring Of Higher Education And The Rise Of Undergraduate Student “Teachers” In Ontario, Jennifer Massey

Jennifer Massey

Changes to public funding regimes, coupled with transformations in how universities are managed and measured have altered the methods for educating undergraduate students. The growing reliance on teaching fellows, teaching assistants, and increasingly undergraduate peer educators (administering Supplemental Instruction [SI] programs) is promoted as a means to achieve a greater “return on investment” in the delivery of postsecondary education. Neoliberal discourses legitimating this downloading of teaching labour suggest it offers a “win-win” solution to the “problem” of educating growing numbers of undergraduate students. It proposes universities can deliver the same curricula, and achieve the same “outcomes” (primarily measured through grades …

Re-Thinking Information Literacy Training With Desire2learn Learning Environment And Scorm, Eric A. Kowalik

Eric A. Kowalik

Digital Fluency : Skills Necessary For Learning In The Digital Age, Gerald White

Dr Gerald K. White

This article examines the skills that will be required for the 21st century that will need to be embedded in educational curricula in order achieve them. It begins by considering how communicating between people has changed and current educational responses. A view of 21st century skills follows with an argument for some core subjects that will be necessary. Learning and teaching are then discussed leading to a view about what is needed in order to develop digital fluency in education, for now and the future.

Ethically Conducting The Scholarship Of Teaching And Learning Research, Elizabeth Swenson, Maureen Mccarthy

Elizabeth V. Swenson

Boyer (1990) first articulated that a scholarship of teaching would be one way to “define the work of faculty in ways that reflect more realistically the full range of academic and civic mandates” (p. 16). Bowden (2007) noted that the “inability to refine the scholarship of teaching across disciplines and institutions suggests the waters have become more turbulent” (p. 2). In response to external pressures, both Boyer and Bowden suggested that conducting scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) research has become (a) increasingly important for assessing effectiveness of teaching and learning and (b) potentially difficult to measure. What do psychology …

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. …

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 …

The Spectre Of Class: Educating And Advising For Self-Efficacy, Mikaila Arthur

Mikaila Mariel Lemonik Arthur

In her essay “The Spectre of Class: Educating and Advising for Self-Efficacy” Mikaila Mariel Lemonik Arthur discusses the importance of building student self-efficacy. However, as Arthur points out, creating an environment where students believe in their capabilities to learn and perform at a particular level is deeply influenced by one’s class background. As Arthur states, “These students have grown up in a culture that values individualism and places responsibility for success and blame for failure squarely on the shoulders of each person.” Arthur speaks more generally about creating self-efficacy and offers insight in how to maneuver around and transcend the …

Exploring The Teaching Mind: Extending Participation In Lifelong Learning Through Engagement With A Supportive Community, Jeremy Szteiter

Jeremy Szteiter

This paper extends the notion of lifelong learning beyond gaining knowledge over a lifetime to preparing oneself to teach what has been learned to others. The "Teaching Mind," as I define the idea, involves thinking about what has been learned and what one knows by reconsidering that knowledge through the eyes of self as a teacher. The Teaching Mind assumes a broad notion of teaching that relates to informal and community learning across all areas of life and culture, beyond professional teaching in formal schools. The pursuit of the Teaching Mind is highly accessible to all those who wish to …