The natural rhythm and inflection of language offer multiple and authentic ways for music teachers to connect their curriculum with learning in English Language Arts (ELA). While still addressing the National Core Arts Standards, music teachers can connect with ELA skills such as reading, writing, and speaking-listening. In this article, we…

This paper provides an overview of UK Arabic language teaching in supplementary and mainstream schools from available research papers and provides a synopsis of recent developments in supporting Arabic teaching at school level and pathways to Higher Education. The largest study cited is the 2016 research collaboration between the British Council,…

Here, I address the call for teacher education programs to feature international elements to help pre-service teachers craft powerful classroom instruction and successfully work with students from culturally diverse backgrounds. I share a qualitative investigation of participants' experiences during a short-term study abroad program in Japan that…

Universal design for learning (UDL)--an instructional design framework that promotes expert learning by promoting accessibility and reducing of barriers to learning-is gaining momentum on the global stage. However, UDL implementations with deaf or deafdisabled learners remain limited. This study examined how UDL enabled educators of deafdisabled…

This quasi-experimental research aimed to describe the syllabus design process using the "backward design model" and its features to determine the teacher candidates' perceptions of its application in the English Skills Development course. To achieve these objectives, the syllabus based on the BDM was designed before starting the course;…

Blended learning sets solid foundations for the utilization of educational technology in authentic student learning experiences within traditional educational contexts as well as in distance education. The author introduces an integrated and distributed model of blended learning, utilizing educational technology for authentic student learning…

Critical thinking (CT) is widely recognized as an important component for effective instruction and learning. Numerous researchers have studied critical thinking and its impact on students and educational institutions at all levels (Pithers & Soden, 2000). Puig et al. (2019) acknowledged that very little research had been done to capture…

This article discusses the use of the Quality Matters Rubric for Higher Education, 6[superscript th] ed. to self-review an asynchronous information literacy course. In this instance, the authors acted as reviewers and subject matter experts (SME). The Rubric proved to be a useful tool that encompasses several instructional design best practices.…

Higher education has seen a significant shift in the last two decades, with contemporary students representing more diverse cohorts who are increasingly balancing study alongside competing life-roles and responsibilities. Given the rise in student attrition and concerns regarding engagement, we saw a visible need to consider how our students could…

This qualitative study explores how five Jesuit universities in the United States maintain their mission and identity when partnering with online program managers (OPMs) to develop and support online degree programs. Focusing on the history of online learning and Ignatian spirituality and pedagogy, and using cultural reproduction theory as a lens,…

Online education programs are on the rise and institutions of higher learning are utilizing Learning Management Systems (LMS) to facilitate online learning. The Community of Inquiry (CoI; Garrison et al., 1999) framework identifies three categories of cognitive presence, social presence, and teaching presence to guide the development of online…

This conceptual paper presents the concept of second order teaching as developed by the authors. The concept was developed through system theoretical concepts as second order observation and context learning, and it relates to theories on metacognition -- thinking about thinking. Implications for teaching and learning are described, and the paper…

Since the first descriptions of design research (DR), there have been calls to better define it to increase its rigour. Yet five uncertainties remain: (1) the processes for conducting DR, (2) how DR differs from other forms of research, (3) how DR differs from design, (4) the products of DR, and (5) why DR can answer certain research questions…

Authoring tools have been broadly used to design Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS). However, ITS community still lacks a current understanding of how authoring tools are used by non-programmer authors to design ITS. Hence, the objective of this work is to review how authoring tools have been supporting ITS design for non-programmer authors. In…

Each semester faculty spend time creating and revising their courses. Course revision is a fact of life in education. Revisions are more commonly just general updates, like cosmetic changes, moving dates, and updating broken links. A true course revision looks at the pedagogy and structure of a course and is a process that requires time and…