This article investigates the usability of a navigation support tool, which guides learners by generating advice on the next best step to take in a self-study e-learning course. The article draws on log data and responses from online questionnaires to provide insights into learners' evaluation of the tool, their adherence to the advice and their…

The benefits and advantages of classroom practices incorporating unity-in-diversity and diversity-in-unity are what "Multilevel and Diverse Classrooms" is all about. Multilevel classrooms--also known as mixed-ability or heterogeneous classrooms--are a fact of life in ESOL programs around the world. These classrooms are often not only…

This study reports on the development of ESP (English for Specific Purposes) multimedia courseware on oral presentations, and its integration into self-study learning and elective courses for students with different English proficiencies, as one solution to problems in ESP courses in Taiwan. The courseware design is based on Mayer's multimedia…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine how Malaysian managers acquire job competencies through self-directed learning activities at their workplace. Specifically it aims to investigate what types of job competencies are required for the managers, how they learn to acquire those competencies, and whether the managers have the…

The authors designed a computer-based approach to enhance motivation and self-regulated learning. Participants of the quasi-experimental study were 6th-grade students (N = 151) who worked with a mathematics-learning software program during regular classroom instruction. In the 1st condition, students received attributional software-generated…

The online educational environment is increasingly being used by adults and should be designed based on the needs of adult learners. This article discusses andragogy, an important adult learning theory, and reviews three other adult learning theories: self-directed learning, experiential learning, and transformational learning. During this…

This paper connects an online learning model to the rights to education that the online educational environments can provide. The model emerges from a study of ninety-two online learners and is composed of three kinds of inquiries, namely, independent inquiry, collaborative inquiry, and formative inquiry towards expert knowledge. Online learners…

Background: The predominant dissertation model used in teacher education courses in Flanders is the "literature study with practical processing". Despite the practical supplement, this traditional model does not fit sufficiently well with autonomous learning as the objective of modern teacher education dissertations. This study reports on the…

This article addresses two important questions about the transition to independent research: (1) What facilitates or impedes graduate students' ability to make the transition, where "impede" is defined as leaving the program without completing the dissertation, making slow progress toward the degree, or completing an undistinguished dissertation…

This introduction to prosody--the art and science of metrical composition in poetry--teaches the reader how good poems work. The guide discusses the basic building blocks of poetry, such as rhyme, rhythm, meter, and form. Each of the 10 chapters is a progressive, step-by-step presentation with illustrative examples. The guide does not deal with…

This handbook contains a collections of nine articles on the subject of direct-response advertising. The handbook gives advice on how to create effective advertisements for home study courses. The nine articles are the following: "Overview of Home Study Advertising in the 1990s" (Michael P. Lambert); "Ad Features that Sell"…

Not aimed at beginning or elementary spellers, this book contains more than 100 tests interspersed with various informative items, pertinent quotations, amusing anecdotes, and lightly historical discourses relating to the orthography of English. The tests in the book represent a rather extensive vocabulary (a person who takes all of the tests is…

Author provided a brief discussion of some of the most important elements that need attention in developing an independent study program. (Author/RK)

Independent study is encouraged at Metropolitan State University, a nontraditional upper-divisional university for adult students. At Metropolitan, independent study refers to a range of learning experiences varying in independence from faculty-designed and -selected programmed learning to completely student-designed projects reviewed and…