The popularity and rise in online courses have somewhat taken the author by surprise. Starting as a college instructor three years ago, the author has witnessed the tremendous interest in online programming. In fact, it is the fastest growing enrollment at the kindergarten-12th grade and higher educational levels. At the university level,…

The role of reflection in the learning process has taken on new significance in a digital environment. The potential of using innovative teaching methods to prompt first-year writing students to self-regulate learning behaviors and write more critical reflection statements when using electronic portfolios was studied over eight fall semesters.…

Today it is necessary to approach environmental topics with students in an interdisciplinary manner to mitigate the environmental damages that the Earth is suffering. In this paper we report an action-research and innovation study aimed at sensitizing students with respect to the care and preservation of the environment through the writing of…

Drawing on portraiture methods, this case study is an exploration of the experiences of pre-service teachers who participated in a music-integrated literacy methods course during their first semester in an elementary teacher preparation program. The study is a response to previous researchers' findings that arts-integrated university courses hold…

This in-depth case study explores a modern approach to education: the benefits of using film, technology and other creative, non-conventional pedagogical methods in the classroom to enhance students' understanding of literature. The study explores the positive effects of introducing a variety of visual-based (and auditory-based) teaching methods…

In the May 2009 issue of "English Journal", we reported on our analysis of data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress to provide a first look at changes in the teaching of writing over the past 30 years. In this article, we provide a more detailed look, drawing on data collected from visits to 260 English, math, social…

Today, many students not only access the Internet through desktop and laptop computers at home or at school but also have copious amounts of information at their fingertips via portable devices (e.g., iPods, iPads, netbooks, smartphones). While some teachers welcome the proliferation of portable technologies and easy wireless Internet access, and…

Children with disabilities live in every country of the world. Training personnel to provide education and rehabilitative services to these children, no matter where they live, is a continuing challenge for the profession. This paper describes a human development course in a program designed for an international religious organization based in…

Competition can either increase motivation by providing an added incentive or decrease motivation by threatening participants' sense of competence. The authors used two rounds of competition to examine whether competitions can be structured in ways that motivate high performance and do not discourage losers. Results indicated that a focus on…

In this design-based study, an eleven-week curricular module in recent American history was developed that departed from both the epistemology and ideology of traditional textbooks. The curriculum instantiated a constructivist epistemology by having students assess multiple historical narratives and sources of evidence. It instantiated a…

In this article, the authors propose a comprehensive integration model (CIM) based on learning transfer principles that promote integration by systematically and multidimensionally linking coursework with field education. This model improves the integration of classroom and field instruction by specifying how content in each course and in the…

This article describes the use of poetry as a pedagogical tool intended to intensify the reflective process of a service-learning project. In addition to keeping electronic journal entries, and summarizing and reflecting on service activities, preservice teachers wrote (or selected) poems to reconstruct their experiences and recreate some of the…

Studying fundamental Computer Architecture and Organization topics requires a significant amount of practical work if students are to acquire a good grasp of the theoretical concepts presented in classroom lectures or textbooks. The use of simulators is commonly adopted in order to reach this objective. However, as most of the available…

Recreation professionals use outdoor programs in rustic settings to promote the intellectual, physical, emotional, and professional development of their students. One important aspect of personal growth is to develop the ability to think critically about one's own learning, and journaling is one approach for achieving this goal. Outdoor programs…

In his seminal work connecting composition studies and sustainability, Derek Owens (2001: 8,6) notes that "learning how to live sustainably ought to be our primary cultural concern and, as such, must play a central role in our curricula". Within composition studies, Owens suggests that sustainability might begin with the study of the environment,…