The International Year of Astronomy 2009 (IYA2009) was conceived to honor the 400th anniversary of the first use of an astronomical telescope by Galileo Galilei in 1609, and has evolved into an engaging series of worldwide programs. IYA2009 is sponsored by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) and endorsed by the U.S. House of…

The Bologna Process is fostering a change in higher education systems in order to attain the objectives of educational convergence, comparability and mobility of students and academics. As a consequence, the structure of degrees, syllabuses, pedagogy and evaluation and assessment systems (for students, teaching staff and programmes) must be…

As a high school English teacher of 26 years, the author has become increasingly disheartened by the steady decline in the number of students who read for enjoyment. To reverse this trend, she has instituted a program entitled the Reading Round Table. Repeated monthly, the benefits of the Reading Round Table are many. Students enjoy sharing with…

This article discusses the authors' dialogue and collaborative writing regarding their professional views on the subject of parenting. The use of metaphor and analogy for parenting as a collaborative, cocreative relationship is woven throughout with references to the authors' own collaboration, research, and clinical applications in the fields of…

This paper brings the concept of "acting in concert" to the aid of those wanting to understand the nature of verbal communication. Verbal communication is introduced as a form of concerted activity which has a management function vis-a-vis other concerted (and cooperative) activity. In the body of the paper, verbal communication is likened to…

This paper addresses additional language learning as rooted in participation in the social activity of collaborative game-play. Building on a social-interactional view of learning, it analyses some of the detailed practices through which players attend to a video game as the material and semiotic structure that shapes play and creates affordances…

Advocacy on public policy issues such as copyright is a common concern of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL). Duane Webster has been instrumental in facilitating a collaborative approach to such advocacy. Part of this involves concerted efforts to ensure that fair use (United…

Devised work provides an opportunity for marginalized voices to be heard. Devised collaborative work has the flexibility to be successful with a small or large cast, actors of any age group, either with a traditional or a nontraditional student population. A devised ensemble play is typically based around a single theme or central concept. As with…

To form and orchestrate intelligent groups is a real challenge for 21st-century education and research. In this paper the authors show how a regional state university was able to facilitate interdisciplinary research and education through forming an interdisciplinary institute. (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.)

This paper addresses the question of whether proximity is always necessary for interactive learning, as proposed by recent European innovation theory. Recent research has provided a refined conceptualization of proximity, but there is little empirically-based knowledge about the actual role that proximity plays in relationships intended to foster…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine whether universities can find ways to make more practical contributions through collaboration, collective reflection and joint learning. Design/methodology/approach: The approach takes the form of action research and cooperation in three different development networks in Sweden. Data are analyzed by…

What standardized tests can not do--indeed, what almost no test can do--is capture a child's essence. Tests don't speak to the internal factors that play a major role in life success: curiosity, effort, resilience, and compassion. Howard Gardner and Daniel Goleman have each noted that success stems largely from interpersonal skills. Educators know…

Since the summer of 2006, faculty from the Florida State University (FSU) College of Education and Learning Systems Institute and the Open University of Indonesia (Universitas Terbuka, or UT) have worked together to strengthen UT's distance teacher education program, which prepares a large percentage of Indonesia's basic education teachers. While…

This paper reports the results of a study of the extent to which processes and procedures from the discipline of project management can scaffold online project-based learning in a graduate-level instructional technology course, by facilitating intra-team interaction, enhancing project outcomes and promoting a positive project team experience. With…

There is a wealth of evidence that collaboration between learners can enhance the outcomes for all concerned. This supports the theorization of learning as a socio-cultural practice, framed by Vygotsky and developed by other researchers such as Rogoff, Lave and Wenger. However, there is also evidence that working collaboratively may not be a…