In the quest to improve measured educational outcomes national governments across the The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and beyond have instituted large-scale assessment (LSA) policies in their public schools. Controversy almost universally follows the implementation of such testing, related to such topics as: a)…

Purpose: There is little research into small higher education institutions and international students' choice in selecting these institutions. The purpose of this paper is to understand the factors that influence international student choices in selecting a small institution. In particular, this study compares the differences between Chinese…

The phenomenon of "brokering"--or connecting youth to present or future opportunities--is now well known in the field of learning and youth development as an integral part of how and why youth pursue and remain in particular interest-related learning opportunities. More recently, the related term sponsorship refers to the multiple ways…

This mixed methods study explores instructor motivations for offering massive open online courses (MOOCs) as well as the instructional innovations used to enhance the MOOC design. The researchers surveyed 143 MOOC instructors worldwide and then interviewed 12 of these instructors via Zoom. They also extensively reviewed the MOOCs of the…

While many researchers have examined teacher participation and professional development in online networks and communities, few have looked at the factors and contexts that shape how teachers learn in these online spaces. Examining teachers' learning processes within these online spaces can yield important insights for scholars, school leaders,…

This environmental scan aimed to discover research interests and educational needs of faculty, graduate, and undergraduate students to inspire research, education, and practice in the development of a center on aging and well-being for older adults. The scan consisted of a search of university faculty and researchers regarding research on aging; a…

Associate (mentor) teachers are essential partners in guiding teacher candidates into the profession; however, little training is offered for this critical role. This study explored, through the lens of self-determination theory, types of support and delivery most useful for successful mentorship during practicum. Online surveys and invited…

Over the years that I have taken secondary school students to the theatre, the the digital revolution has moved through schools, classrooms, and even theatres, calling into question my goal of contributing positively to students' identity formation through exposure to live plays. Responding to calls to examine the ways in which young people's…

Over the past five years, the interactive whiteboard (IWB) has been massively introduced into schools across the province of Quebec, Canada. This study explores how the IWB is being used, and the associated benefits and challenges. Data on 11,683 students (from 4th year elementary to grade 12) and 1,131 teachers were collected with five…

Kindergarten education is changing. Current reforms have increased accountability structures requiring teachers to integrate assessments throughout their instruction to support academic learning while retaining developmentally appropriate pedagogies such as play-based learning. Despite these reforms, comparatively little research has been…

During the last few years, many academic libraries have accepted the challenge of helping their users locate and acquire the numeric data they need. To meet their users' ever-increasing need for data, librarians are purchasing data sets one at a time ("small data"). This service, though important to our users, raises many issues in the…

This paper explores the alignment of student and instructor experiences when employing ePortfolio activities in a Canadian higher education context. Successful ePortfolio activities are operationalized as exhibiting alignment of expectations between students and instructors, whereas misalignment of expectations is characteristic of a poorer…

Despite shrinking newsrooms, we have more journalism choices, in part because of freelance journalists. Freelancing creates workers who are particularly adaptive and creative; skills educators want to instill in students. I interviewed and surveyed more than 50 freelance journalists in several countries, including Turkey, Egypt, Colombia, Israel,…

Parents and non-parental adults who interact with children influence child development. This study evaluates the knowledge of child development in two large and diverse samples of adults from Alberta in 2007 and 2013. Telephone interviews were completed by two random samples (1,443 in 2007; 1,451 in 2013). Participants were asked when specific…

The purpose of this study was to qualitatively explore the experiences of families who participated in an adventure running program (ARP) in Canada. Adventure running is a unique sport that combines navigation and running in a forested setting. Six parents (four males, two females) and five children (two females, three males) were interviewed.…