Given a blank slate, what should the 21st century college classroom look like, and how should it be operated? Answering those questions is the idea behind setting up "incubator classrooms," spaces dedicated to trying out new technologies and new ways of teaching and learning. By incubating new ideas, faculty members and IT staff discover which…

Recruiting, preparing, and retaining high quality secondary mathematics and science teachers are three of the most critical problems in the nation's urban schools that serve a vast majority of children from socially and economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Although the factors contributing to these problems are complex, one area that has caught…

In this paper we present a history of the idea of Open Educational Resources, overview the current state of the Open Educational Resources movement, report on critical issues facing the field in the immediate future, and present two new projects to watch in 2009.

Over the period 2006-2008, the Dutch Open Universiteit Nederland conducted an experiment in which Open Educational Resources (OER) were offered in an effort to bridge the gap between informal and formal learning and to establish a new style of entry portal to higher education with no barriers at all. OpenER received considerable attention both in…

This experimental study assessed the effectiveness of fundraising messages. Based on recent findings regarding the effects of message framing and evidence, effective fundraising messages should combine abstract, statistical information with a negative message frame and anecdotal evidence with a positive message frame. In addition, building on…

In 1995, author Earl Shorris established a small educational program designed to help young adults escape from poverty. The curriculum chosen by Shorris for this experimental program focused solely on a classically based, college-level study in the humanities. While I do not find that Shorris provided proof that a classically inspired course in…

Present Educational Modelling Languages are used to formally specify abstract learning scenarios in a machine-interpretable format. Current tooling does not provide teachers/designers with some graphical facilities to help them in reusing existent scenarios. They need human-readable representations. This paper discusses the UML4LD experimental…

Increasingly, educational reform is linked to the concept of professional learning communities (PLCs). Definitions of PLCs vary, but generally the concept refers to a group of educators who "continuously seek and share learning, and act on their learning" (Hord 1997, 6). Stoll and her colleagues, concluding their review of the current state of…

In this article, the authors describe an interdisciplinary doctoral course via a seminar (one semester, one-and-a-half hours weekly), that students found to be a major awakening and an important part of their professional development. Addressed were separate disciplines, via an experimental "How to be a Professor" course, and…

The physiological responses of high (HF) and low fit (LF) individuals at given perceived exercise intensities were compared to ranges provided by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM). Participants were 7 LF and 8 HF men between the ages of 22 and 26 years. All participants performed a maximum oxygen uptake and lactate threshold test and…

A mixed-mode university course, combining online learning and face-to-face meetings, can encourage students to formulate and express their own ideas more than would be the case in traditional classrooms. This article describes an experimental project at the University of British Columbia and explores connections between online learning and aspects…

This article focuses on facilitating learners' collaborative knowledge construction in case-based learning scenarios. The article first describes how case-based learning can promote knowledge acquisition and then discusses the characteristics of videoconferencing in such scenarios. Then we focus our attention on the process and outcomes of the…

This article outlines the experiences of educators in three teacher education institutes in the USA, Australia and the UK as they experiment with carrying out programmes based on ideas of action research. The emphasis is on experiences with programmes of initial education for secondary school teachers. A descriptive case study aimed to find out…

Feelings of ownership for learning are an important part of the learning process and should be encouraged in e-Learning environments. This paper presents two experimental studies investigating the effects of navigation aids on ownership for learning with electronic texts. Experimental findings revealed that designers should not assume that…

This paper describes the pedagogical impact of real-world experimental projects undertaken as part of an advanced undergraduate fluid mechanics subject at an Australian university. The projects have been organized to complement traditional lectures and introduce students to the challenges of professional design, physical modelling, data collection…