The aim of this article is to clarify the university teacher roles and competencies in online learning environments, with a view to assisting in the design of professional development activities. This referential framework results from an extensive review of the literature and from analysing professional development designed in different European…

This article builds on a previous 2004 "Journal of Vocational Education and Training" (JVET) contribution by Biemans et al., in which several possible pitfalls in designing and implementing competence-based education (CBE) were discussed. The present article reports on the results of an extensive research programme on competence…

At schools special learning and programming environments are often used in the field of algorithms. Particularly with regard to computer science lessons in secondary education, they are supposed to help novices to learn the basics of programming. In several parts of Germany (e.g., Bavaria) these fundamentals are taught as early as in the seventh…

This paper considers a sequence of failures in the design of information. It focuses on the Safe and Sustainable Indoor Cleaning study (SASI Clean), a 2007 government-funded study into cleaning practices in Australian childcare centers. Empowerment through participation was integral to the study, childcare workers being seen as collaborators in…

This paper introduces the "IJCML" Special Issue dedicated to digital technologies and mathematics education and, in particular, to the work performed by the European Research Team TELMA (Technology Enhanced Learning in Mathematics). TELMA was one of the initiatives of the Kaleidoscope Network of Excellence established by the European…

This paper discusses an instructional approach designed to help preservice teachers understand how assessments can be influenced by personal biases. In order to achieve this objective, we developed an analogy-based activity called "The Dog Show Analogy." After participating in the activity, we have observed that the participating preservice…

Using teaching cases in professional education programs has gained increased attention in the past several decades. While the use of teaching cases has been an important part of social work education, the majority of current casebooks focus on micro or direct practice issues and settings. Over the past forty years only four major casebooks have…

Design-based research, and particularly its theoretical status, is a subject of debate in the science education community. In the first part of this paper, a theoretical framework drawn up to develop design-based research will be presented. This framework is mainly based on epistemological analysis of physics modelling, learning and teaching…

With the growing importance of interactive multimedia in our society, it is increasingly essential to equip students with knowledge of and skills in multimedia production. However, as the traditional lecture based instruction on this emerging subject area is not effective for students in achieving the expected learning outcomes, a seven stage game…

Cognitive apprenticeship is a teaching approach proponed by social constructivist educators that scaffolds upon students' "zones of proximal development" in authentic situations. It is an effective approach used by teachers of instructional technology when teaching student practitioners. Nevertheless, implementation of instructional design…

A report on the results of a year-long cooperative inquiry study in which 11 faculty members at a southeastern university examined their various uses of podcasting for instruction. Through participation in the study, members developed insights into what technologies are most commonly applied to the task of podcast production and dissemination as…

This study examined the tensions surrounding the implementation of a technology-rich educational innovation called Quest Atlantis (QA) in a local public elementary school. Three qualitative case studies of three classrooms implementing the innovation and a subsequent cross-case analysis were undertaken to illuminate: 1) the reasons why teachers…

The use of the Web to deliver open, distance, and flexible learning has opened up the potential for social interaction and adaptive learning, but the usability, expressivity, and interoperability of the available tools leave much to be desired. This article explores these issues as they relate to teachers and learning designers through the case of…

This article reports the findings from a study that examined how adolescent students with reading difficulties utilized cognitive tools that were embedded in a technology-based middle school science curriculum. The curriculum contained salient features of the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) theoretical framework. Sixteen general education…

Educational hypertexts usually include graphical overviews, conveying the structure of the text schematically with the aim of fostering comprehension. Despite the claims about their relevance, there is currently no consensus on the impact that hypertext overviews have on the reader's comprehension. In the present paper we have explored how…