This paper was presented in Sydney in September 2008 at a seminar conducted by Skills Australia and the Academy of Social Sciences. It examines the demand for training. It concentrates on the factors that affect individual and employer demand, and points out that accredited vocational education and training (VET) need to be considered in the…

Presented at the national conference for AERA (American Educational Research Association) in April 2009. The large variability of SAT taker population across states makes state-by-state comparisons of the SAT scores challenging. Using a mixture modeling approach, therefore, the current study presents a method of identifying subpopulations in terms…

We report on the results of a study to examine the global state of engineering education research on problem-and project-based learning (PBL). This paper has two major aims. First, we analyze a large collection of conference papers and journal articles to report on research trends in PBL, including in specific, leading countries. Second, based…

This policy forum proceedings document contains a short introduction section that describes the current status of virtual public school programs in general and special education programs in particular. Next, this document provides a state-of-the-nation report that describes the exponential growth these programs and the evolving policy issues for…

Can one glimpse the development of emerging scholars in the work of engineering graduate students? To answer this question, the author studied the citation patterns in 96 Master's theses and 24 Ph.D. dissertations completed at Western Michigan University's College of Engineering and Applied Sciences between 2002 and 2006. The hypothesis of this…

Important home and community-based issues in the lives of older adults and caregivers relate to end of life. It is well documented that education on end of life, including curricula and textbook content for health and human service professionals, is lacking. This study analyzed another aspect of education: continuing education sessions offered at…

We aimed to study the characteristics and usage patterns of 3D virtual worlds in the context of teaching and learning. To achieve this, we organised a full-day workshop to explore, discuss and investigate the educational use of 3D virtual worlds. Thirty participants took part in the workshop. All conversations were recorded and transcribed for…

This paper provides an introduction to this symposium issue on participatory action research in geographic teaching, learning and research. It introduces the themes of the symposium and contributions from the participating authors, and also offers additional discussion of the attendant benefits and challenges of using participatory action research…

None of the respondents to NIACE's Big Conversation offered a non-instrumental defence of education. In this article, the author contends that it seems "education for its own sake" is no longer valued--even by those who should care most. The author has just been invited to speak at a conference where a keynote speech is entitled "What is education…

Schools are now re-designing their curricula to include knowledge and understanding of globalisation. For many schools this is a an extension of the curriculum innovation work focussed on providing more personalised learning pathways for their students. This publication is aimed to support school leaders and teachers in their journey to…

For the thirty-second year, the Research and Theory Division of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) is sponsoring the publication of these Proceedings. Papers published in this volume were presented at the national AECT Convention in Louisville, Kentucky. The Proceedings of AECT's Convention are published in two…

As part of its ongoing programs in digital scholarship and the cyberinfrastructure to support teaching, learning and research, the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) in cooperation with the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) held a symposium on September 15, 2008 in which a group of some 30 leading scholars was invited to…

This paper considers three aspects of vocational education and training's (VET) contribution to the labour market: the relationship between their training and the occupations VET graduates work in; the extent to which the qualified proportion of the workforce has increased; and the link between VET and skills acquisition. Finally, some thoughts…

East Carolina University recently hosted the first Virtual Worlds in Education Conference, a meeting held entirely in Second Life. The conference provided 135 faculty and administrators from around the world the ability to communicate and share their experiences on teaching, learning, and technology support in an online, multi-user virtual…

Academic conferences are places of situated learning dedicated to the exchange of knowledge. Knowledge is exchanged between colleagues who are looking to enhance their future research by taking part in several formal and informal settings (lectures, discussions and social events). We studied the processes of knowledge sharing and the influence of…