Developments in online learning and its design are areas that continue to grow in order to enhance students' learning environments and experiences. However, in the implementation of new technologies, the importance of properly and fairly overseeing these courses is often undervalued. "Project Management Approaches for Online Learning Design"…

In 2006, The Wyoming state legislature allocated monies to fund Instructional Facilitators (IFs) in schools around the state. This interview study, developed through situational analysis, explores the roles and responsibilities of IFs in Wyoming secondary schools, and the contextual factors of those schools that impact the work of IFs,…

The purpose of this study was to investigate faculty development from the perspectives of program administrators in different colleges of a Division I research institution. The participants were administrators of faculty development programs from eight different colleges at the institution. The research questions were (a) How do the administrators…

Taking a sociocultural perspective, this study addresses the interface between language learners and novel communities of practice. The study combines the social learning theory of communities of practice with social constructivist treatments of nation-states as imagined communities in order to consider "imagined national communities of…

Each edition of the IDRA Newsletter strives to provide many different perspectives on the issues in education topics discussed and to define its significance in the state and national dialogue. This issue focuses on Student Leadership and Engagement and includes: (1) Project Based Learning for Student Success--Teaching Across Content Areas for…

The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) and its companion projects serve bachelor's degree-granting colleges and universities committed to assessing and improving the quality of the undergraduate experience. While each participating institution receives a detailed, customized "Institutional Report," the "Annual…

As the number of online degree programs continues to grow, one of the greatest challenges is developing a sense of community among learners who do not convene at the same time and place. This study examined the sense of community among medical professionals in an online graduate program for healthcare professionals. We took the sample from a fully…

The purpose of this paper is to qualitatively examine the relationship between problem based learning, authentic assessment and the role of community in fostering learning in digital contexts. The authors used "Digital Moments" to create a meaningful learning environment and build the online class community. They then collaboratively…

This article is focused on identifying the current issues in elementary education in the United States. In each of these issues, elementary educators are at the crossroads looking for solutions and directions. Based on the review of literature, the authors pinpoint the upcoming challenges elementary school educators will be facing in the future.…

This virtual conference was the eleventh in a series of moderator-driven discussions introduced by UNESCO-UNEVOC in 2011. Conducted on the UNEVOC e-Forum--a global online community of over 4,000 members--and guided by an expert, these discussions provide a platform for sharing of experiences, expertise and feedback and wish to inspire people to…

Creating an engaged campus is a process that takes support, resources, and programs from all levels of a college or university campus. While some may argue that sustainable change is only possible when directed by university administration, others counter that nothing is sustainable if faculty and staff are not empowered to implement the programs.…

This article describes a partnership involving a college and its surrounding public high schools in order to offer a model for transforming professional development initiatives into collaborative, reciprocal community engagement opportunities. This ongoing partnership addresses the shared goal of improving the mathematical college readiness of…

This article describes a focus group research study that examined the experiences of community college students who initiated study groups for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) courses based on self-identified needs for learning support. Results indicated that students identified early in the semester that they needed…

Online distance education can take many forms, from a correspondence course with materials online to fully synchronous, live instruction. This paper describes a fully synchronous, live format using web-conferencing. Some useful features of web-conferencing and the way they are employed in this course are described. Instructor observations and…

Content appraisal is a simple, qualitative system to identify modifications to make website material more useful to clientele. This system provides a comprehensive evaluation of content, focuses on content strategy, identifies weaknesses, and provides recommendations for improvement. The criteria examined included knowledge level,…