Many electronic portfolios become shining but superficial collections instead of environments for nurturing insight. Instructors must balance instructional time between perfecting the technical expertise of the student and fully developing the critical expertise needed for the student to become a thoughtful scholar. In a deliberate move, I have…

This chapter explores issues surrounding the demise of the Interdisciplinary Master's in Education (IMED) program, which was delivered on the neighbor islands in the state of Hawai'i. The innovative program brought educational opportunities to remote areas of the state and was a partnership between the main campus in Honolulu and several community…

The author relates experiences from teaching abroad, highlighting the challenges and rewards of adapting to other cultures and new environments. In Poland, the writer cites a dichotomy among his fellow instructors in dealing with cases of plagiarism, from those who would fail students outright and for the entire course, to those who treated his…

At both state and federal levels, partnerships of schools, parents, and communities have become an educational priority. Are teacher education programs adequately preparing preservice teachers for these partnerships? Focus groups of College of Education (COE) faculty from five Illinois Professional Learner's Partnership universities were conducted…

In this article, the author recounts her experiences with the scripted teaching of reading and describes how her observations of scripted reading lessons changed her decision on preparing teachers to make informed instructional decisions based on their knowledge of reading as an orchestration of interrelated cognitive processes. Given the number…

This article discusses the author's experience of teaching Edgar Allan Poe as part of the American literature survey at Elmira College in Elmira, New York. While his specialty is Mark Twain, his students would be much happier if they could skip the colonial and national period, and move directly to studying Poe. In this article, the author…

The major objectives of the study "Influence of Institutional Climate Perception on the Professional Aspirations of Teacher Educators" are: (1) To estimate the relationship between professional aspirations and institutional climate perception for the total sample and relevant sub samples; and (2) To test whether the comparable…

This essay presents a discussion of how the tools and resources of open source education may demonstrably improve education quality. The main tenet of open education is to make educational assets freely available to the public. This is becoming easier and less expensive as network and multimedia technology evolves. Obstacles may stand in the way…

Changed demographics of those now entering the field of school counseling argue for changes in preparatory curriculum, including the curriculum for supervision. The authors present a 5-component model for supervising graduate students without previous school experience that is based on 2 pertinent studies. This model focuses on information for…

The field of American Studies explores the cultures and practices of individuals and communities in the United States, as well as their transnational exchanges and impacts. It is an interdisciplinary field that is based on making "connections." Environmental justice, as a social movement, also makes important connections. It integrates…

It has long been posited in the field of adult education and elsewhere that reflection is an integral part of one's teaching practice and as well as a beneficial learning tool for students. It was with this orientation to practice that Dr. Carrie J. Boden started her first year of teaching in the Adult Education Masters Degree Program at the…

This article reflects on findings from research involving case studies of four novice lecturers enrolled on a one-year university teaching development programme. The study sought to contribute to an understanding of the "process" of pedagogic change and the influences which affect it. Findings suggest that key aspects of the lecturers'…

The Diagnostic Learning Log (Angelo and Cross 1993) is a focused journal entry where students indicate what they have learned from a particular unit, pose questions, indicate aspects of classroom practice they found helpful, and provide suggestions for facilitating their own understanding of the subject matter. The log provides an instructor with…

The success of any educational reform depends upon the quality of teachers and in turn the quality of teachers depends to a large extent on the quality of teacher education and quality of teacher education mainly depends upon the teacher training institutions. Education is a nation building activity and teachers are the pillars of the educational…

This article builds on research related to the perceptions, perspectives, and experiences of educators in relation to democracy in education (Carr, 2006a), which, it is argued, can be viewed as having a significant impact on what students in elementary and secondary schools learn about democracy (McLaren, 2007; Regenspan, 2002), and, importantly,…