Physical education represents a dynamic social space where students experience and interpret physicality in a context that accentuates peer relationships and privileges particular forms of embodiment. This article focuses on girls' understandings of physicality with respect to the organisation of physical education and more informal social…

Against the wider background of increasing interest in pupil voice, this article gives examples of the student involvement activity in the largest of the National College of School Leadership (NCSL) development and enquiry initiatives: the Networked Learning Communities project. In programme-level research, student voice and participation were…

Using a snowball technique, in-depth interviews were conducted with 108 girls emanating from seven demographically dissimilar social networks. Girls were asked to classify 58 items as either a risk or protective factor for smoking initiation and then to assign an importance weighting to each. All items except one (worries about her weight) were…

This paper describes a case study of 2 departments in a school, where teachers were inquired about their school's needs for improvement and how the institution and their department impacted upon their own professional development. The results show that the teachers' experiences of professional development, their interpersonal relationships within…

This paper explores the trend towards a decentred social organization of learning that has become evident over the last 30-40 years. This is illustrated by the shifting imagery of education, from the red brick school to dispersed learning networks, or "learning bubbles", that constitute new learning spaces. In the context of our large…

This paper examines the patterns of language choice and the construction of L2 learning opportunities in foreign language learners' social networks by focusing on how these patterns and opportunities are socially structured in a Japanese language learner's natural interactions. It is based on a range of data, including a script of on-line chat…

Life-long learning is a key issue for our knowledge society. With social software systems new heterogeneous kinds of technology enhanced informal learning are now available to the life-long learner. Learners outside of learning institutions now have access to powerful social communities of experts and peers who are together forging a new web 2.0.…

This paper discusses the results of a study of faculty and university staff at two major universities in the Netherlands: the University of Amsterdam and the Free University of Amsterdam. I sought to understand how faculty viewed the role of the university in relationship to national and European goals promoting social cohesion and the integration…

This article utilizes a social capital perspective to explore the benefits and harmful effects of strong ties between parents and schools in enhancing college access for students. While focusing on social capital in the form of parental participation, the article goes beyond a functionalist approach of the social capital theory as adopted by…

Although there is a considerable body of knowledge about domestic violence, a limited proportion focuses on domestic violence in rural settings. Using a nonprobability purposive sampling technique, 93 providers of domestic violence services from rural and urban localities in North Carolina and Virginia were located and asked to complete a…

Twenty-six scholarly papers and ten abstracts comprise the content of the thirteenth annual Brick and Click Libraries Symposium, held annually at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Missouri. The proceedings, authored by academic librarians and presented at the symposium, portray the contemporary and future face of librarianship. The…

In this research, we examine the design, construction, and implementation of a dynamic, easy to use, feedback mechanism for social software. The tool was integrated into an existing university's online learning community (OLC). In line with constructivist learning models and practical information systems (IS) design, the feedback system provides…

"Social Network Theory and Educational Change" offers a provocative and fascinating exploration of how social networks in schools can impede or facilitate the work of education reform. Drawing on the work of leading scholars, the book comprises a series of studies examining networks among teachers and school leaders, contrasting formal…

As instructors move further into the incorporation of 21st century technologies in adult education, a new paradigm of digitally-enriched mediated learning has emerged. This book provides a comprehensive framework of trends and issues related to adult learning for the facilitation of authentic learning in the age of digital technology. This…

The Masters Level Opportunities and Technological Innovation in Vocational Teacher Education project (http://motivate.tmpk.bmf.hu/) aims to develop the use and management of virtual learning environments [VLEs] in the area of vocational teacher training, drawing on a well established international partnership of institutions providing both…