Imagine a computerized learning management system that enables teachers to deliver pertinent learning materials to students. Lectures are prerecorded and made available to download from the learning management system. If all their lectures were prerecorded, what would teachers do in the classroom? Classroom time could be used to coordinate…

The field of instructional design and technology has always evolved and grown, translating new knowledge in the learning and cognitive sciences into instructional principles, increasingly incorporating technological innovations into the design of educational solutions, and adapting to social changes (Reiser, 2007; Tennyson, 2005). The "learning…

Problem-based learning (PBL) has proved to be a highly successful pedagogical model in many fields, although it is not that common in computer engineering. PBL goes beyond the typical teaching methodology by promoting student interaction. This paper presents a PBL trial applied to a course in a computer engineering degree at the University of…

Biodiversity has economic value to humans and many suggest that of all groups who should be most interested in the preservation of biodiversity, it should be industries leading the way, as biodiversity has provided, and will continue to provide, many raw materials used by industries around the world. This is especially the case for the…

Noting the community college mandate for promoting civic engagement, the author addresses the issue of developing civically engaged community college classrooms in the midst of a decline in civic engagement nationwide. The paper proposes service learning pedagogy as a method for synthesizing classroom based academic knowledge and community based…

Learning should occur in social environments in which students are engaged in meaningful activities that require them to think critically and solve problems (Dewey, 1933; Phillips & Soltis, 1998). This article describes how an urban middle school interdisciplinary teaching team partnered with the authors to create a hands-on, highly engaging…

Every experienced teacher knows that, somewhere between the ages of 11 and 16, significant numbers of students pass from a state of enthusiasm and engagement with the study of science to a state of indifference or disdain for the subject. Today a flood of new research is revealing the sheer dimensions of the engagement problem. It shows that…

Inciting a deep approach to learning in students is difficult. The present research poses two questions: can a constructivist learning-assessment environment change students' approaches towards a more deep approach? What effect does additional feedback have on the changes in learning approaches? Two cohorts of students completed questionnaires…

The authors discuss the challenges that might be faced if gifted education moves toward an RtI (Response to Intervention) approach. The challenges they share can be used as discussion points for planning and reflection. In spite of the remaining challenges, the authors conclude that RtI is certainly changing the face of education and that gifted…

This is a report of one case of a design and development research study that aimed to validate an overlay instructional design model incorporating the theory of multiple intelligences into instructional systems design. After design and expert review model validation, The Multiple Intelligence (MI) Design Model, used with an Instructional Systems…

Just as the popular television show "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" targets the demolition and reconstruction of a home so that it better meets the needs of its owners, Fink's approach to integrated course design (ICD; 2003) provides higher education faculty with the tools to deconstruct and do a major remodel of their college courses. Teaching…

Second Life (SL) (http://www.secondlife.com), a 3D multi-user virtual environment (MUVE), is developed and maintained by its users. Over six million users from over 100 countries have become residents in SL. Non-profit and profit organizations and academic institutions have built islands, established a presence there, and explored the related…

Over the past several decades film and video have been steadily infiltrating the philosophy curriculum at colleges and universities. Traditionally, teachers of philosophy have not made much use of "audiovisual aids" in the classroom beyond the chalk board or overhead projector, with only the more adventurous playing audiotapes, for example, or…

This study aims at exploring the effectiveness of using an online-based course on the learning of sentence types inductively and deductively. To achieve this purpose, a computer-mediated course was designed. The sample of the study consists of four groups taught under four treatments of grammar: (1) with computer-based learning inductively, (2)…

With teachers and students in Government and Catholic schools in three geographical clusters in Victoria, the Task Type and Mathematics Learning (TTML) project is investigating the best ways to use different types of mathematics tasks, particularly in Grades 5 to 8. This article describes Type 1 tasks and discusses how they contribute to…