We describe and analyse the action research process carried out by us as teachers in a general didactics course in the University of Malaga (Spain). The course methodology combined lectures to the whole class and small-group work. We were in charge of guiding small-group work. In the small groups, students researched on an educational innovation…

Although knowledge has been linked to productivity within and between organizations, little is known about how knowledge flows into schools and then diffuses from teacher to teacher within schools. Here, the authors hypothesize that the value of different sources of knowledge depends on a teacher's current level of implementation. The authors test…

If research and development in the field of learning design is to have a serious and sustained impact on education, then technological innovation needs to be accompanied--and probably guided--by good empirical studies of the design practices and design thinking of those who develop these innovations. This article synthesises two related lines of…

There is growing evidence that efficacious interventions for autism are rarely adopted or successfully implemented in public mental health and education systems. We propose applying diffusion of innovation theory to further our understanding of why this is the case. We pose a practical set of questions that administrators face as they decide about…

The research addressed the interplay of student engagement and quality enhancement mechanisms in the Scottish higher education system. The paper demonstrates increasing focus on student learning, learning experience and high-quality learning in the current quality enhancement approaches. The student-university coproduction model is used to…

Schools of social work are mandated to train students for policy practice. A new instructional approach is needed so that social workers skillfully engage in policy change to address the growing economic, social, and cultural problems that affect our clients. This article presents the Practicing Policy, Pursuing Change, and Promoting Social…

This article explores the learning arising from a pilot inter-school visits programme in Stevenage, Hertfordshire. Teachers from two schools undertook a series of visits with the aim of developing learning and teaching in their schools. The pilot sought to understand ways in which such a collaborative visits programme could be used to build…

In the future, teachers will become "teacherpreneurs," that is, teachers who develop their pedagogical talent, "sell" their expertise, and find innovative solutions to challenges facing their students. Unions will become professional guilds, and teachers will use new technologies to meet all their students' needs.

Curricular reform in any educational system should be to balance national, European or international elements and should integrate diversity. European education calls for a democratic citizenship education that includes a political, cultural, social and economic education--an overall European dimension, which implies an awareness of the drive and…

The goal of this article is to explore positive management education, a practice-based teaching and learning model centered on positive organizational scholarship. Six signs of transformation in organizations are presented: complexity, community, creativity, spirituality, flexibility, and positivity. A model for positive management education is…

This paper outlines a study that explored educational applications of blogs with a class of postgraduate students in a Hong Kong university over a period of one semester in 2006, and considers its outcomes. Rather than using the usual learning management system to support learning in the class, the facilitator-researcher organised a blog-based…

Purpose: Many educators have advocated constructivist-based pedagogies as a way to develop the skills needed in knowledge societies. However, many countries have a tradition of instructivist-based practices, which rely on didactic lectures, rote memorization and high-stakes exams. The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize the reactions to…

The virtual Department of English at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, also known as the Tree of Knowledge, is a project premised upon using ecology and organic forms to promote language learning in Second Life (SL). Inspired by Salmon's (2010) Tree of Learning concept this study examines how an interactive ecological environment--in this…

To identify the most important competencies for college graduates to succeed in the 21st century workforce, we conducted an analysis of the Occupational Information Network (O*NET) database. O*NET is a large job analysis operated and maintained by the U.S. Department of Labor. We specifically analyzed ratings of the importance of abilities (52…

Multimedia technologies such as Slowmation can be used to enhance curriculum resources and support innovative teaching methods. This case study research of a rural multi-aged class of primary science students included analyses of classroom captured video and interview data from a term long module on Astronomy. The study explored how students'…