Institutions of higher learning have been facing budget constrictions throughout the country, leading to consolidations and cutbacks. Administrators often have to make hard choices about what programs to eliminate or cut back, but one program that is not on the table at the University of North Georgia is the honors program. The university is…

Distance students are time poor and some drop out of their studies because they fall behind with coursework. This raises the issue of how course teams decide upon how many study hours should be included in a course. This article presents a number of Open University projects that have addressed student workload management and relates how learning…

This paper describes an environmental education initiative called Starting out Wild (SoW) designed for toddlers and their caretakers. The program, developed by staff and volunteers of a city parks department, engages children ages 1-3 and their parents and caretakers through outdoor learning experiences. We suggest that environmental education…

Librarians at four different academic institutions concurrently completed curriculum mapping projects using varying methods to analyze their information literacy instruction. Curriculum mapping is a process for systematically evaluating components of an instructional program for cohesiveness, proper sequencing, and goal achievement. There is a…

This qualitative study describes the development of hybrid teacher preparation programs that emerged as a result of a "forced" partnership between university-based and alternative teacher preparation programs in New York City. This hybrid experiment was a short-lived, yet innovative by-product of a somewhat pragmatic arrangement between…

Metropolitan universities are well poised in communities to be intermediaries among various actors involved in social innovation. Pace University established one of the first institutes on social entrepreneurship. Its unique position at the university level allows programming to transcend certain institutional challenges. The emerging field of…

In this plenary speech I examine multilingual interaction in a number of European regions in which minority languages are being revitalized. Education is a crucial variable, but the wider society is equally significant. The context of revitalization is no longer bilingual but increasingly multilingual. I draw on the results of a long-running…

Teachers of English language learners (ELLs), expected to address grade-level standards and prepare ELLs for standardized assessments, have the difficult task of designing instruction that meets the range of needs in their classrooms. When these learners have experienced limited or interrupted education, the challenges intensify. Whereas…

Background: Mindfulness-based interventions have been shown to be effective in the treatment of a range of health and psychological disorders in adults and young people without intellectual disabilities (ID). Clinical studies are emerging reporting on the efficacy of mindfulness-based interventions as a stand-alone treatment for common clinical…

Engaging educators in learning communities to apply a cycle of continuous improvement is not easy. Schedules, levels of expertise, and district initiatives can easily derail a campus professional learning plan, but Alyssa Toomes was concerned that professional learning experiences would become just another chore to check off teachers' to-do lists.…

This article reports the results from a study on reasons for choosing social education for a profession when you are a man. The study concluded that multiple job opportunities and caring for others is a strong motive for men along with possible further studies. The study also disclosed that many men still encounter incomprehension when stating…

This program profile demonstrates how the first-year writing program at Oakland University has engaged contingent faculty in research, assessment, and program development over the years, employing evidence-based practices to improve individual classroom instruction and to redesign the entire first-year curriculum. The authors describe their…

This article describes a museum-based urban teacher-residency (UTR) program's approach to building subject-specific content knowledge and research experience in Earth Science teacher candidates. In the museum-based program, graduate-level science courses and research experiences are designed and implemented specifically for the UTR by active Earth…

Here we present the development of a 13 week project-oriented biochemistry laboratory designed to introduce students to foundational biochemical techniques and then enable students to perform original research projects once they have mastered these techniques. In particular, we describe a semester-long laboratory that focuses on a biomedically…

"Mathematics is one of the greatest cultural and intellectual achievements of humankind, and citizens should develop an appreciation and understanding of that achievement, including its aesthetic and even recreational aspects" (NCTM 2000, p. 4). In addition to NCTM, many professional organizations such as the National Research Council…