Learning English as a foreign language (EFL), a highly valued skill in the Chilean marketplace, is an arduous and complex personal endeavor requiring high student motivation. Reflecting this challenge is the heightened anxiety among EFL students, whose work has been associated with historically meager results. Blended learning, the fusion of…

As Walker, Golde, Jones, Bueschel, and Hutchings (2008) state, research is "the sine qua non of the doctorate" (p. 4). Therefore, equipping students with the knowledge and skills to conduct research is a key priority in doctoral education. Blended instruction is a promising, yet so far seldom used model for supporting doctoral students' learning…

The goal of the current study was to explore the relations between shyness, academic engagement, and academic achievement in childhood. Participants were (n = 125) children (aged 9-13 years) attending public school boards in Canada. Children completed self reports of shyness and were administered a test of nonverbal IQ. Academic achievement was…

The authors report the results of a study that provides bases for comparison between the time necessary to participate in courses delivered asynchronously online and courses delivered in a traditional classroom setting. Weekly discussion threads from 21 sections of six courses offered as part of online, degree-granting, accredited, graduate…

Established theories and constructs long associated with student success, including involvement, engagement, and integration, provide common language and a body of knowledge to inform understanding of the challenges currently facing higher education. This paper examines how the theories and terms have evolved, explores how the terms are currently…

The academic credit hour, developed over 100 years ago, does not accommodate online and other instructional innovations. The academic credit hour is an Industrial Age metric based on seat-time, or contact time that faculty and students spend together in a classroom. Online education does not require that students and faculty be in the same place…

An online discussion involving text-based computer-mediated communication has great potential for promoting equal participation among non-native speakers of English. Several studies claimed that online discussions could enhance the academic participation of non-native speakers of English. However, there is little research around participation…

This embedded case study collects and analyzes the perspectives of both youth and adults at one public alternative high school for youth at risk of school failure and aims to investigate the program practices and structures that promote school engagement and connectedness. Informed by bodies of literature from the fields of school engagement,…

This report uses the AISD High School Exit Survey as a vehicle to explore explanations for the consistent postsecondary enrollment gap between Hispanic seniors and students of other races/ethnicities. Two separate research briefs also were published. [For the research brief, "2011 High School Exit Survey and Postsecondary Enrollment,"…

This research brief highlights findings from the full report (published separately). Researchers used the AISD High School Exit Survey as a vehicle to explore explanations for the consistent postsecondary enrollment gap between Hispanic seniors and students of other races/ethnicities. A separate research brief with recommendations also was…

This research brief provides recommendations for increasing postsecondary enrollment of Hispanic seniors in AISD. A separate full report and research brief also were published. The full report describes how researchers used the AISD High School Exit Survey as a vehicle to explore explanations for the consistent postsecondary enrollment gap between…

Adolescence is a period of rapid developmental changes. Only in the early years of childhood do individuals experience such a brisk pace of change. However, all too often, out-of-school time (OST) programs do not recognize how quickly the needs and interests of adolescents shift along with their developmental changes. Program staff know--and…

The purpose of this study was to analyze the impact of organizational features and student experiences on spiritual development among first-year students attending four-year institutions in the United States. The sample included over 7,000 first-year students from nearly 450 postsecondary institutions who participated in the spring 2004 National…

Service-learning continues to gain in popularity across the higher education landscape and can be found in most educational institutions. Although more often found in student affairs programming, it is also viewed as a viable pedagogy. Most studies show that service-learning impacts students in various ways: academically, socially and…

In this article I critically evaluate whether or not learning skills acquired in the university access programme enhance participation in academic practice. University access programmes have been developed with a view to preparing and empowering under-prepared students who did not meet the university criteria. The article claims that even though…