The author believes that happiness equals success. Which is why, at age 50, the author fears retirement. The author believes that he may have found the fountain of youth for his spirit: the joy of teaching children, living in his community, and getting to witness learning. The author loves what he does. By asking he got to this point, he hopes the…

This paper addresses the challenge of developing a conceptual framing for the meaning of value with respect to higher education. The author argues that criteria derived from analyses of the life histories of longstanding graduates, which often take the form of counternarratives and proceed from that which matters to them, can inform an evaluative…

My poetic inquiry contemplates possible exchanges between educator and learner in a writing intensive university course designed to invite collaborative co-authoring of embodied, emotive, and informed reflective responses to ongoing life narratives and histories expressed/performed. I intend to open up my inclusive learning environment to feelings…

Biographical learning as a conceptual tool for investigating learning in life transitions has gained some recognition over recent years. In this article, we elaborate on this concept against the background of previous research and suggest a number of different modes of biographical learning. We further exemplify and discuss our suggestions in…

This article describes the Digital Life History Project, a 10-week "lab" linked to a course on aging, in which students and community-dwelling elders work together to create a short digital story honoring the elder's life. After two interview sessions, the pair works together to produce a 3- to 5-minute digital life story narrated by the elder.…

In this article the life history of a young Finnish woman, Salla, is explored along with reflections of her best friend and other peers. The analysis is conducted from the perspective of Finland as a country of "genderless gender", where mute or hidden gendering and sexualisation converge with the gender-neutral rhetoric about the…

The following study, conducted in Italy, based on an analysis of the school biographies of three women of Roma, Sinti and Ashkali origin, highlights paths and educational contexts that lead young Roma not only to school success but also to professional achievement. What emerges from the accounts of the family lives and school histories of these…

In this article, I use the process of self-reflection to examine how my biography influenced my teaching experiences in a particular school context. Drawing on these experiences and the work of scholars in this area, I contend that such self-knowledge is critical for teachers' successful socialization and retention in diverse schooling…

Based on the reflections and insights of a sociologist teaching in a school of management, this article invites management educators to rekindle the "sociological imagination," which, albeit more than five decades old, is a concept that has not lost its relevance to make sense of organizational phenomena. It is my contention that C. Wright Mills's…

Debates typically invoke an image of individuals arguing over the merits of opposing viewpoints. However, the term has a softer, more deliberative sense that connotes reflection, discussion, and consideration. The 2009 WebWise conference, titled "Digital Debates," was conducted in this spirit, with panelists and attendees engaged in…

Phenomenological research investigates the meaning of lived experiences for participants, as well as the implications of those experiences. This chapter presents brief biographical sketches of 12 youth workers who participated in a phenomenological investigation of the experience of self in moments of not-knowing what to do. Each participant's…

Individual recommendation plans (IRP) for student teaching practice were co-constructed with two methods students based on the select application of National Science Teachers Association's National Standards for Science Teacher Preparation. Methods students completed a resume, an interview on pedagogical preferences, and a learning styles survey…

This highly readable text demystifies the qualitative research process--and helps readers conceptualize their own studies--by organizing the different research paradigms and traditions into coherent clusters. Real-world examples and firsthand perspectives illustrate the research process; instructive exercises and activities build on each other so…

As new technologies promise to be an enduring feature of the landscape of teachers' work, we consider how teachers implicitly bring stories forward into their classroom explorations with new media as a part of their "informal learning". By "stories" is meant specific classroom texts as well as preferred teacher practices with those texts. The…

Even elementary school children can build positive character traits like caring, citizenship, cooperation, courage, fairness, honesty, respect, and responsibility. The true stories, inspiring quotations, thought-provoking dilemmas, and activities in this book help kids grow into capable, moral teens and adults. This guide includes: (1)…