Higher education has been actively encouraged to find more effective and flexible delivery models to provide all students with access to quality learning experiences yet also meet institutional imperatives for efficiency and accountability. Blended learning, commonly defined as an integration of traditional face-to-face and online approaches to…

Problem-based learning, or PBL, is a student-centered instructional approach that is derived from constructivist epistemology. It is based upon ill-structured real-world problems with the goal of strengthening and developing critical thinking and problem-solving skills in learners. Initially utilized in medical schools to strengthen diagnostic…

The transition from university to professional working life is important to individual students, employers, universities and more generally to national economies. A better understanding of the match between skills required by industry and skills learnt at university is therefore paramount. This study examines the transition from the perspectives…

Since 2001, there has been a dramatic decline in Information Technology and Computer Science student enrolments worldwide. As a consequence, many institutions have evaluated their offerings and revamped their programs to include units designed to capture students' interests and increase subsequent enrolment. Likewise, at Victoria University the…

The paper presents a curriculum design for, and subsequent evaluation of, a communications systems course using problem-based learning (PBL) as the instructional methodology. It details the rationale for implementing PBL as well as reporting intended learning outcomes and assessing the students' achievements. (Contains 2 figures and 4 tables.)

Employability has become a global buzz-word: instructors in higher education are increasingly being called upon to produce highly employable students who will in turn contribute to the financial capital of the country's economy. For vocational subjects and degrees for which clear links to industry may be envisaged (such as IT, Business, Technology…

This small-scale, qualitative study explores the nature of sex and relationship education (SRE) in two primary schools in England. It investigates the similarities and differences in relation to the pedagogical approach and curriculum content of the SRE programmes from the perspectives of teachers and pupils. An illuminative evaluation methodology…

This document is a revised version of the National Consumer and Financial Literacy Framework (the Framework) originally developed in 2005. It articulates a rationale for consumer and financial education in Australian schools; describes essential consumer and financial capabilities that will support lifelong learning; and provides guidance on how…

The Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) publication, "External quality arrangements for Scotland's colleges," September 2008, specifies that HM Inspectors (HMIs) will produce a number of subject aspect reports over the four years 2008-12. These reports complement in a subject-specific context the generic evaluations of…

Engineering education for the pre-college years is a developing academic discipline that emanates from the need to understand and improve the ways that engineers are formally educated. To date, there are no curricula available that incorporate engineering at a preschool level. The focus of this study is on the development of an early engineering…

This study examined the instances of a representational toolkit (RT) in one reform-oriented algebra textbook developed in the United States. The majority of RT uses were active (66%) as opposed to passive and connected (63%) in that the technology results were used in some other manner by either the textbook authors or students as they solved…

This study examined the effects of an adventure orientation program on the student development behaviors of incoming first-year students at Hartwick College in Oneonta, New York. Student development was measured by a condensed version of the Student Development Task Inventory-2 (CSDTI-2; Gass, 1986; Winston, Miller, & Prince, 1979). Data…

Reviews of research on rural education suggest that identifying ways to help rural schools improve teachers' pedagogical skills should be a high priority. This article addresses this issue by examining changes in reading skills through the primary grades of students in three rural, Midwestern districts that occurred after the implementation of a…

Purpose: Problem/project-based-learning (PBL) approaches have traditionally been shown to be effective for learning within many professional programs that are directly related to the students' future career. The PBL approach has been adopted for over four decades in such fields as medicine and engineering and studies have demonstrated that…

Throughout the past two decades, Boston Public Schools has seen strong, steady improvement, recently demonstrated through student gains on NAEP's Trial Urban District Assessment in math and recognized through the award of the 2006 Broad Prize for Urban Education. Teacher leaders have played an important role in Boston's improvement. As team…