Purpose: The UK Government policy for the training and development of its workforce reflects a desire to move towards a more flexible, "demand-led" system. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the outcomes and impact of two, publicly funded initiatives, designed to stimulate and enhance "demand-led" training within the UK's…

The intellectual tension between the virtues of basic versus applied research that characterized an earlier era of psychology is being replaced by an appreciation of creative applications of all research essential to improving the quality of human life. Psychologists are positioned to "give psychology away" to all those who can benefit from our…

In their specialized schooling, blind children are now frequently presented with raised line figures and maps. However, there is still much to do in evaluating the cognitive effects of training using these displays. The purpose of this research is to determine if the level of expertise in the haptic exploration, and the perception of the raised…

This article describes two studies conducted to compare assembly performance and learning rate between computer based training and traditional training of skilled assembly operators. The studies were performed with pre-series production parts from a car cockpit and they were integrated as part of the overall training activities during a new…

The growth of technology has influenced human resource development (HRD) practitioners to embrace technology for both training and non-training interventions. This study examined technology-related articles in Academy of Human Resource Development (AHRD) publications in order to understand what these articles address and the future needs of…

Based on the decomposed theory of planned behavior, this study used path analysis to examine the relative strength of the factors that influence teachers' use of instructional technology. The study focused on teachers' use of word processors, spreadsheets, presentation software, e-mail, and Web browsers. A path analysis was performed on…

For a generation or more, environmental education discourses have been constructed around persistent Cartesian dualisms of modernist thought that divide an "othered" category of being from that of a constituted homogeneous human identity. During the same period, both feminist and poststructuralist theorizing has acted to destabilize the…

This book explores the wide range of contexts in which research into creating connections in learning and teaching may take place. Creating connections can encompass making links, crossing divides, forming relationships, building frameworks, and generating new knowledge. The cognitive, cultural, social, emotional and/or physical aspects of…

A variety of studies on empowerment has been conducted, but there has been no overarching framework available for practitioners and researchers hoping to grasp the process and components of empowerment in a comprehensive manner. This study was designed to provide the overarching framework across theories and disciplines for both academics and…

Based on ethnographic, participatory research in two Salvadoran villages, this article analyzes how features of the sociocultural setting bred discord and mistrust among the participants in an adult literacy program and other community residents, thereby undermining the program's goal of equipping "campesinos" to work together to improve…

This paper presents an analysis of results from an evaluation of The Centers for Quality Teaching and Learning, a professional development program placing technology in the context of student-centered instructional practices. This analysis focuses on the relationship between the professional development and teachers' use of technology in their…

Our discussion of social justice begins by embracing both "distribution" and "recognition" aspects of social relations (Vincent, 2003). The first aspect considers the way that goods, knowledge, skills, rights, etc. are distributed among social groups; the second aspect focuses on aspects of society structuring social encounters…

The conceptualization and measurement of key job characteristics has not changed greatly for most social scientists since the Dictionary of Occupational Titles and Quality of Employment surveys were created, despite their recognized limitations. However, debates over the roles of job skill requirements, technology, and new management practices in…

In the late 1990s, the Department for Education and Employment in England set out to motivate and engage teenage students who were said to be 'disaffected' with the traditional school curriculum. Jerry Wellington, Professor of Education at the University of Sheffield, and Pam Cole, research fellow in the University of Sheffield School of…

"Inventing Adulthoods: A Biographical Approach to Youth Transitions" is a ground-breaking book that offers a new approach to understanding young people's lives and their transitions to adulthood. Contrary to policy and research approaches that often see young people's lives in a fragmented way, the book argues that a biographical approach to youth…