Many schools are initiating projects that place laptop computers into the hands of each student and teacher in the school. These projects entail a great deal of planning and investment by all involved. The teachers in these schools are faced with significant challenges as they prepare for teaching in classrooms where every student has a computer.…

This article examines from an economic perspective the ways in which Open Educational Resources (OER) can be linked to economic growth, equality of access to knowledge, and the improvement of teaching and learning. In leading economies, technology and knowledge are the critical factors of economic growth, which is a significant shift from the…

We welcome you to the International Conference on Education and New Developments 2014, taking place in Madrid, Spain, from 28 to 30 of June, 2014. Education, as an important right in our contemporary world, began since we exist. Knowledge and skills were passed by adults to the young, and cultures began to extend their experiences through various…

As the nation struggles to get back on its feet economically, the colleges and universities are working harder than ever to fulfill their mission: to educate the next generation of workers and citizens. In the West that task is arguably more challenging than elsewhere. The region is highly diverse in terms of both demographics and geography, with…

The paper starts with a description of higher education in the United Kingdom and of reforms over the last 50 years. By reference to specified output measures, the performance of UK universities is judged to be good. The factors affecting this performance are postulated by comparing policies and approaches in the United Kingdom with those…

This paper takes a large-scale social perspective in describing a national project in Australia that was premised on local school communities working together and contributing ideas for the benefit of their students, and potentially, the whole country. The project was intended to improve schools' capacity for educating boys, and in the long-term,…

Given the abundance of open education initiatives that aim to make educational assets freely available online, the time seems ripe to explore the potential of open education to transform the economics and ecology of education. Despite the diversity of tools and resources already available--from well-packaged course materials to simple games, for…

Teacher preparation to deliver inclusive services to students with disabilities is increasingly important because of changes in law and policy emphasizing student access to, and achievement in, the general education curriculum. Inclusion of students with disabilities in general education environments has a long history in special education law;…

In Europe a very intensive discussion is in full swing as to whether vocational schools should in future be guided and monitored by the state or whether they should be freed from state dependency. Within the framework of a number of pilot projects in German-speaking countries, vocational school centers are currently testing their autonomy. This…

By the early nineties a Chilean network on computers and education for public schools had emerged. There were both high expectancies that technology could revolutionize education as well as divergent voices that doubted the real impact of technology on learning. This paper presents an evaluation of the Enlaces network, a national Information and…

The three papers contained within this volume examine planning for technology use in the classroom. The first paper, "PERSPECTIVES: School Level Educational Technology Planning" (Tracey Bailey, Geri Martin, Cathy Hutchins, Charles Terrett, and Ken Russell) discusses the process of educational technology planning from several different…

Charter schools have been proposed as a compromise between public-school choice and voucher programs and as a way to promote innovation without privatizing education. The schools are largely free of bureaucratic supervision; in return, the schools agree to be held accountable for student performance levels. Two states, California and Minnesota,…

Most large and mid-size cities suffer from alarming numbers of high school drop-outs. One man decided to do something about his city's high drop-out rate: He started the Urban Collaborative Accelerated Program (UCAP), an independent, public, middle school for teenagers at risk of dropping out. The details of that program are outlined here. The…

This paper is a review of the literature concerning the history and current state of blended science instruction. The goals of blended science instruction are to provide learners with a liberal science education and to develop scientifically literate citizens. The term "blended science instruction" refers to various means of reconnecting…

As a consequence of the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990, which brought outcomes-based education to P-12 students, the Kentucky Professional Standards Board mandated a process by which teachers will receive state certification after successfully completing performance assessments. This article lists the eight teacher expectations and the…