The purpose of the "Learn Better by Doing" study is to determine the extent to which U.S. public school students are doing hands-on activities in their classrooms. The study asks elementary and secondary (middle and high school) science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) teachers to respond to 13 statements concerning…

This emerging technology report describes the Experience API (xAPI), a new e-learning specification designed to support the learning community in standardizing and collecting both formal and informal distributed learning activities. Informed by Activity Theory, a framework aligned with constructivism, data is collected in the form of activity…

Research shows most teachers teach as they were taught. However, distance educators lack a model or benchmark for online teaching because many of them have not taken online courses as students. Indeed, many studies on teaching online point to the importance of training for online instructors. Few studies go into specifics about exactly what that…

This research explores the various ways in which performative inquiry was implemented in a graduate organizational theories course within an educational leadership cohort at a medium-sized urban Canadian research university. Drawing on Fink's framework for significant learning experiences, the researchers used performative inquiry to enact the…

This paper discusses the fundamental issue of why small group activities are utilized in the language learning classroom. Although these activities have gained popularity in the field of Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL), supported by a sound theoretical base, few studies have so far examined the reasons why language teachers are…

Teachers often worry about how to optimise learning for students of Pacific heritage. To address the concern, this study sought views of junior secondary school students of Pacific heritage about what enhanced their learning. An innovative approach was trialled in focus group interviews which involved four Samoan teenagers as research assistants…

The aim of this research was to analyze the opinions of teachers working in High Schools on informal learning regarding if they had any informal learning in school environment, which informal learning activities took place, and if this learning had a contribution to their professional development. The research was a qualitative study with a…

This paper describes an innovative model of teacher professional learning that has evolved over a decade. Working in a range of different school contexts, in conjunction with an ongoing engagement with the research literature, has enabled the development over three phases of a robust, yet, flexible framework that meets teachers' expressed needs.…

The Toolkit of Resources for Engaging Families and the Community as Partners in Education is a four-part resource that brings together research, promising practices, and useful tools and resources to guide educators in strengthening partnerships with families and community members to support student learning. The toolkit defines family and…

The Toolkit of Resources for Engaging Families and the Community as Partners in Education is a four-part resource that brings together research, promising practices, and useful tools and resources to guide educators in strengthening partnerships with families and community members to support student learning. The toolkit defines family and…

The Toolkit of Resources for Engaging Families and the Community as Partners in Education is a four-part resource that brings together research, promising practices, and useful tools and resources to guide educators in strengthening partnerships with families and community members to support student learning. This toolkit defines family and…

Disciplinary literacy is a newer framework for teaching and learning within the last decade. This qualitative study explored how seven teachers in one Midwestern rural school district defined and enacted disciplinary literacy in grades six through twelve. The content areas represented in this study include teachers from agriculture, art, family…

In this research, I investigated teachers' interpretations of the goals of professional development and factors that contributed to enacted instructional practices. A multiple-case study design was used to examine the interpretations of four high school teachers participating in a year-long professional development program with a standards-based…

Background: The University of Maine Stormwater Management and Research Team (SMART) program began in 2014 with the goal of creating a diverse science-technology-engineering-math (STEM) pathway with community water research. The program engages female and underrepresented minority high school students in locally relevant STEM research. It focuses…

The purpose of this article is to provide the instructor and learner perspectives of an online learning technologies course that used Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles to support the teaching of UDL. Course design was based on current standards and literature related to online course design including ADDIE, Quality Matters Standards,…