Scholars and educators have described participation in target language (TL) communities as one of the primary aims of language learning, holding a fundamental position in ACTFL's (2011) "Standards." Limited work has been conducted to describe how students participate in and gain access to these TL communities through various forms of…

This article examines the discursive construction of social presence and identity in a bilingual collaboration between tertiary distance learners of German in New Zealand and Academic English students in Germany. Drawing on positioning theory, this small-scale study investigated the collaborative practices of a group of students, whose synchronous…

Within the background where education is increasingly driven by the economies of scale and research funding, we propose an alternative online open and connected framework (OOC) for building global learning communities using mobile social media. We critique a three year action research case study involving building collaborative global learning…

Raising standards through inquiry-based science education (IBSE)--what are the challenges for pre-service teacher education? What do ongoing teachers and active teachers learn from each other when planning, conducting and evaluating minds-on and hands-on IBSE activities in the classroom? What do they learn "beyond" IBSE? The Bremen…

In 2000, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) launched the programme "Learning Regions--Providing Support for Networks'" in cooperation with the Lander. It was co-financed by the European Social Fund (ESF). Some 90 regions were selected and financially supported. After one year, 71 regions continued to build-up…

In recent years, some endeavours have been made to overcome the gap between theoretical and practical knowledge. In many countries projects have been conducted that aim to disseminate research-based knowledge in the practical field of education. This article presents an approach to the implementation of research results. This approach is referred…

This paper describes an ambitious educational program uniting the efforts of Swiss, German, and French business associations, corporations, government agencies, and regional school boards in the Upper Rhine Valley, where economy and culture transcend national borders. The objectives of the program are to promote bilingualism, to teach the young…

Designed to provide Quebec's community colleges with more precise information and a better understanding of their educational options, this report presents a description and analysis of the educational systems for the 12th through 14th years of schooling in England, France, Germany, Norway, the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Ontario,…