Today, forums constitute an integral part of almost all online courses in teacher education colleges. In many of these courses the forum serves for sharing opinions, attitudes, and feelings by the learners rather than for scaffolding cognitive processes. The forum in the "Human Biology and Health" course for prospective elementary-school science…

Purpose: This paper seeks to provide an empirical insight into the facilitation dilemmas for conversational learning in a project team environment. Design/methodology/approach: This paper is an outcome of a participative action research process into the dynamics of situated learning activity in a case study project team. As part of their…

Online instruction is gaining an increasing presence due to the benefits associated with it, including the ability to consolidate education and training across geographical and time constraints, and the claim by many that online education and training is cost efficient. This paper provides a relatively concise and useful history of online…

For five years, Advanced Learning Technologies (ALT), a unit within the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia (USG), has worked with faculty and staff to develop the eCore, an electronically delivered core curriculum for the University System of Georgia. The eCore contains courses leading to the completion of the first two years of…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a motivationally designed instructional text on motivation and learning. The foundation for motivational design was provided by the combination of a model of motivation in self-regulated learning and the ARCS-approach. The model of motivation is based on concepts like expectancies,…

Action Research is used in many teacher education programs to promote reflection, inquiry, and a sense of efficacy in pre-service teachers. As teacher educators working with a cohort of thirty-two teachers in a nine-month program, we decided to incorporate action research into the Teacher Education Seminar, a foundational course addressing general…

What needs to be done to ensure that instruction reflects world historiography and that educators move beyond old curricula? As a world history educator at the undergraduate and graduate level and a methods instructor for history/social science teacher candidates at a university with a long tradition of teacher training in California, this author…

Problem-based learning has great potential for management education. Placing students in a problem-centered environment may help bridge the gap between theory and practice. One important but underdeveloped issue for problem-based learning is the context design of the problem-solving situation. This article's purpose is to develop a framework for…

Although teaching is a primary function of social work educators, most instructors receive little training in teaching methods and, once engaged in teaching, have few opportunities to hone their craft and engage in dialogue about their classroom experiences. Teaching Circles are an example of ongoing curricula designed to improve classroom…

Present engineering has to deal with increasingly complex systems. In particular, this is the case in electrical engineering. Though this is obvious in microelectronics, also in the field of power systems engineers have to design, operate and maintain highly complex systems such as power grids, energy converters and electrical drives. This is…

In this paper, the current profile of the environmental engineer and the programming of the subject "Environmental Engineering and Technology" corresponding to the studies of Mining Engineering at the University of Oviedo in Spain, is discussed. Professional profile, student knowledge prior to and following instruction as well as…

Because figurative expressions have become conventional components of everyday language, we are typically unaware of the true extent of the metaphorical nature of language. Some popular idioms, proverbs, and metaphoric expressions are so deeply embedded into language that they are comprehended immediately when used in oral conversations, without…

This paper offers a review on effective instructional methods from educational and psychological research. Thirteen instructional principles are presented which should help teacher and educators to improve the quality of their instruction. Principles 1 to 4 concern general conditions of successful instruction. Principles 5 to 8 consist of…

The evidence on learning communities suggests that student intellectual and psychosocial development is improved by participation. Faculty members become rejuvenated as learners once again through rediscovering the boundaries and intersection of their discipline with others. Active learning, collaborative learning, strategies to improve critical…

Developing reflective practice in pre-service student teachers is a goal of many teacher education programs. This article describes three activities used in a graduate teacher education program that were designed to use an arts focus to provoke deeper reflection about teaching and learning. Clay tiles were used for illustrating personal metaphors…