A rich body of empirically grounded results and a solid theory base have often been viewed as signs of a mature discipline. Many disciplines have frequently debated what they should accept as legitimate kinds of theories, the proper roles of theory, and appropriate reference disciplines. Computing education research (CER) in particular has seen a…

Most educational literature on conceptual change concerns the process by which introductory students acquire scientific knowledge. However, with modern developments in science and technology, the social significance of learning successive theories is steadily increasing, thus opening new areas of interest to discipline-based education research,…

For several decades, Western universities have been subject to wide-ranging structural, financial and ideological changes. These changes have problematised afresh the meaning of academic identity as evidenced by the emergence of a substantial, international, anglophone research literature. This article examines how the idea of academic identity…

Research that employs theory provides a framework and structure in which complex phenomenon, can be understood. While many theories have been developed to study people's technology usage, the plurality of perspectives offered are complex to navigate due to the diverse range of problems and topics addressed and the varied theoretical foundations…

This systematic review sought to expand our knowledge of the increasing research studies focusing on the empirical link between school leadership and student achievement. Using five different data sources (Scopus, WoS, ERIC, Google Scholar, and Retrospective Reference Harvesting Procedure), we created a data set of 144 journal articles.…

While all learning and knowledge can be attributed to experiences, not all experiences are educative. Experiential learning is a highly utilized theory and pedagogical practice in agricultural education and has been since its inception as a discipline. The purpose of this research is to examine the theory of experiential learning as it applies to…

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the implications of applying critical realism to the study of organizational learning. It considers critical realism as an alternate theoretical science foundation to the domains of empirical realism and social constructivism that characterize most of the field of organizational learning.…

A conceptual confusion of "theory" exists in South African Open Distance and e-Learning (ODeL) research in which the concept is used with borderline, related, contrary, invented, or illegitimate concepts such as a model, approach, construct, hypothesis, theoretical framework, or conceptual framework. As a result, some researchers choose…

We note two possibilities for how our science might capitalize on advances in computing that harness and weave "big data" into the rich tapestry of how human development unfolds. First, we propose that the classic theoretical models that have guided developmental research since the 1970s and the hierarchical analytical models used to…

Aim/Purpose: This study aims to develop a theoretical framework for enhancing students' higher-order thinking skills (HOTS) by integrating massive open online courses (MOOCs) with gamification elements. Background: There is a growing demand to develop students' innovative thinking abilities through MOOCs, focusing on higher-order thinking skills…

This literature-based study traces the emergence and application of theoretical frameworks and conceptual models applied to the study of higher education transfer students and practices. From the application of early theories in economics and anthropology dating back to the 18th century, to the development of transfer-specific frameworks as…

In this article, I provide the first publication thoroughly detailing how the theoretical foundation for the self-regulated strategy development (SRSD) instructional model was developed. I explain the development of the theoretical base for the SRSD model of instruction and the initial focus on writing instruction. I detail the reasoning and…

Use of theory within a field of research provides the foundation for designing effective research programs and establishing a deeper understanding of the results obtained. This, together with the emergence of domain-specific theory, is often taken as an indicator of the maturity of any research area. This article explores the development and…

Integration is crucial to interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary work and it therefore deserves perennial attention by scholars and practitioners of such work. Few have thought so carefully, deeply, and tenaciously about integration as Julie Thompson Klein. In this article, we recount the development of Klein's thinking on integration, from her…

Latent class models with covariates are widely used for psychological, social, and educational research. Yet the fundamental identifiability issue of these models has not been fully addressed. Among the previous research on the identifiability of latent class models with covariates, Huang and Bandeen-Roche (Psychometrika 69:5-32, 2004) studied the…