The CercleS version of the European Language Portfolio (ELP) has been used with language degree students at the University of Padova since the academic year 2002-2003. The courses into which it is embedded are generally blended: lessons take place in traditional classrooms and in the multimedia language laboratory, and students work online in…

This paper reviews the effectiveness of web logs ("blogs"), or online journals, within the context of a compulsory final-year placement unit for public relations students. The key goal behind the use of Web2.0 technology was to encourage ongoing, reflective practice via an exchange between students thereby limiting feelings of isolation…

Dispositions have become an important part of the conversation about effective teaching. The purpose of this article is to analyze the disposition domains teacher candidates draw from as they think about their early teaching experiences. A framework of three disposition domains--intellectual, cultural, and moral--was used as a heuristic to analyze…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the use of popular theatre (PT) as a pedagogical tool around which a community service learning (CSL) senior undergraduate course was oriented, specifically assessing the university student learning experience from this work relative to PT processes and CSL objectives. Design/methodology/approach:…

This collaborative action research aimed to explore some classroom-based assessment strategies to assess the reading skills of young children. This article presents the findings of the pre-intervention stage as part of an action research study where a teacher's perception and practice of assessing the reading skills of young learners were…

The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyze the process of construction of meaning about the shape of the Earth and the alternation of day and night, which is inherent to the practice of experimental science teaching. This teaching practice was gradually done by the researcher in a 1st grade class of a Portuguese primary school. The class…

This article explores the contributions of students' voices in order to highlight some issues that have been central to disability studies--issues of identities, and their correlations to power, temporality, inclusivity, and place among the most salient to contemporary theories in the sociology of disability and education. Building on previous…

This research analyzes motivations expressed by young, healthy, sedentary women before and after an exercise intervention. Young women (aged 18-30, n = 39) participated in focus groups or interviews during a 4-month exercise intervention. Afterward, 22 of these women and 20 controls completed physical activity diaries for 6 months and were…

This paper looks back on the use of reflective diaries as an assessment tool in a feminist geography module over several years. It considers the ways in which reflection on practice and the valuing of the everyday could be seen as a specifically feminist pedagogic practice. It considers the alignment of module content with assessment format. The…

Progression from a foundation degree to an honours degree has become an increasingly popular pathway through higher education. The route creates dual institution scenarios in which students can progress from a further education institution to a higher education institution. This paper reports on research into the academic and social integration of…

This case study is part of a larger project which aims to determine the usefulness and validity of a model of a pre-service content and language integrated learning (CLIL) teacher education programme inserted in a Master's degree, whose main pedagogical option is to achieve teacher empowerment through cycles of collaborative teaching and shared…

Purpose: This paper seeks to introduce a pedagogical method used in a design studio as part of a curriculum-greening process to encourage reflection on the complexity of sustainability and sustainable design. Online reflective journals were used in two semesters of a sustainable design studio to develop students' awareness and understanding of…

Between March 2007 and February 2009, the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) funded a Learners Journeys project at the University of Hertfordshire. This was part of their second phase of investment in research into the Learners' Experiences through their E-Learning Programme and was known as LXP2. STROLL (STudent Reflections On Lifelong…

The purpose of this study was to explore and interpret students' perspectives of their experiences in four urban middle school physical education programs. Focus group interviews with 76 students were supported by field notes and researchers' reflective journals. Researchers used constant comparison methods (Lincoln & Guba, 1985) to identify seven…

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of reflective thinking effects in the process of designing software on students' learning performances. The study contends that reflective thinking is a useful teaching strategy to improve learning performance among lower achieving students. Participants were students from two groups: Higher…