A summer course was specifically designed for principals and aspiring principals to help them become more expert in principles of early childhood education. During the pilot, 10 volunteer participants completed a survey of beliefs on early childhood education before and after the course and submitted a piece of reflective writing each day. Gains…

The value of teacher education is being questioned at the same time as schools are facing the challenges of budget shortfalls and unfunded mandates. Efforts to professionalize teaching are being undermined by overly authoritarian control of the curriculum and test-driven reforms. But schools of education do know how to stay the course. This…

This three-part article begins with a brief presentation of a framework that describes different approaches to conduct and report research on expert knowledge. The framework contrasts "direct vs. indirect" approaches and provides examples of each. Second, the article gives a detailed description of the methods and results of three…

This paper examines the concept of constructive alignment in respect of science education. The concept is placed in the context of its two contributory components--constructivism and instructional alignment. The former has a well-established body of critical literature that highlights the challenges of constructivism for both science and science…

Gaining expertise in leadership requires time, commitment, an adequate knowledge base, and a working plan for learning and growth. Without a plan for learning, only tacit or "how-to" expertise is developed. Leaders often know how to solve the problems facing them, but fail to analyze and act on the underlying causes. This results in administrators…

This study compared novice, "intermediate" (graduate student), and expert orchestral conductors. Two novice conductors, one graduate student in orchestral conducting, and one expert conductor led a university symphony orchestra in part of the first movement of Brahms's Symphony No. 2. Wired for sound, conductors attempted to verbalize their…

The purpose of this paper is to study the process used for selecting research areas and methodological approaches in distance education in India. Experts from the field of distance education in India were interviewed at length, with the aim of collecting qualitative data on opinions on process-issues for selecting areas for research, research…

Edward Said is deservedly well known for his literary insights on Orientalism. Yet, his work on the nature of the intellectual is equally important and particularly critical for navigating this moment of political, cultural, and economic retrenchment. In this essay I will explore the contours of Said's work on the intellectual. I argue that Said…

Typically, most research and academic institutions own and archive a great amount of objects and research related resources that have been produced, used and maintained over long periods of time by different types of "domain experts" (e.g. lecturers and researchers). Although the potential educational value of these resources is very…

A basic framework is proposed to distinguish between the many ways in which Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) can be evaluated. This includes the purpose of the evaluation, the type of methods that might be used and the measures employed. The framework is not intended to cover all applications but offers one means of structuring a review of…

It is generally accepted that to live and work in the remote regions of Australia requires specific skills and expertise to accommodate the shifting demands of outback life. For professionals assigned to such areas by employing bodies, this is particularly the case, and teachers are no exception. In addition to such personal attributes,…

Under the leadership of Frederick Paul Keppel (1875-1943) Carnegie Corporation's Dominions and Colonies Fund supported a vast array of philanthropic projects in the dominions and colonies of the Britain's interwar empire. The career of F. P. Keppel is important to historians of education because many of the interwar Carnegie initiatives…

This research investigated expertise development among instructional designers by tracking novice designers' unfolding perceptions of instructional design (ID), design-related self-perceptions, and other individual differences. It examined development toward ID expertise from multiple aspects: processes, product, and cognition, through a case…

On October 21, 2006, more than 200 Washington National Board Certified Teachers[R] (NBCTs) assembled in Seattle to address the vexing problem of recruiting and retaining accomplished teachers for high-needs schools. Before the Summit, NBCT participants read a number of background papers and research summaries. At the Summit, they listened to the…

Although over 15 years have passed since Witt (1990) noted that no empirical evidence exists to support the contention that a collaborative approach to consultation leads to more positive outcomes than a hierarchical or expert driven approach, this issue generally remains unaddressed (Schulte & Osborne, 2003). While the literature documenting…