Arguments regarding the distinction between child and adult learning have existed for decades. Pedagogy has a long tradition of providing educational guidance in which there is little differentiation between child and adult education. The two groups of learners are assumed to learn under the same philosophy. Conversely, andragogy, advanced by…

Over the past several years and to the delight of many child care center directors, the early childhood field has received funding to educate individuals working in child care classrooms to support professional development systems. However, not everyone receiving these educational opportunities to support their professional development embraces…

This study focuses on facilitating independent learning amongst Chinese international students completing a Bachelor's Degree. A rationale for cultivating independence is provided and a model of independent learning developed, based on Grow's Staged Self-Directed Learning model and the 1996 Situational Leadership model of Hersey and Blanchard.…

Learning about computers continues to be regarded as a rather informal and complex landscape dominated by individual exploratory and opportunistic approaches, even for students and instructors in Computer Science Departments. During the last two decades, software animated demonstrations (SADs), also known as screencasts, have attracted particular…

This description of a teaching self-study focuses on a graduate research course for classroom teachers in which two issues central to improving teaching practice were addressed. First, it details the process of examining course design and curriculum in search of the most effective strategies for training classroom teachers to do research. Second,…

Many language training software packages are intended for self-study and marketed as complete language learning solutions; however, little is known about how well they work or under what conditions they should be used. This article reports on a research study conducted at the University of Maryland Center for Advanced Study of Language that…

This paper describes a study of ICT-related teacher development in the context of a national reform of College English teaching in China. The reform, in which emphasis was placed on use of information and communications technology (ICT) in classroom teaching and self-access learning, had challenged teachers of English as a foreign language to…

Purpose: As educational technologies are more widely adopted in higher education teaching and learning, publishers often include online resources to accompany their textbook offerings. The purpose of this paper is to report the results of a study forming part of a larger ongoing evaluation of the third party software product WileyPLUS.…

Homework has been a controversial teaching strategy throughout the twentieth century and continuing into the twenty-first. This brief presents a history of homework, in which media-fueled outcries for more or less homework occur cyclically, about fifteen to twenty years apart. It describes homework practices today and the beneficial and negative…

Increasingly, there is a shared understanding that the educational approach driving the development of Personal Learning Environments (PLEs) is one of learner empowerment and facilitation of the efforts of self-directed learners. This approach fits well with concepts of social constructivism, constructionism, and the development and execution of…

This study compared traditional and distance education delivery platforms (onsite, hybrid, and online) at the college level in an urban setting in terms of student success, measured by final course grades and identified predictors of student success. The study examined the role of variables (prior knowledge of mathematics, language, gender,…

The purpose of this participatory action research study was to develop a plan to improve a professional development program to change faculty members' andragogical instructional practices when teaching students enrolled in online courses at a community college. A quantitative and qualitative mixed method approach to data analysis was used in…

Problem-based learning (PBL) spread from the medical school to other university and K-12 contexts due, in part, to the stated promise that PBL produces the target outcomes of deep content learning, increased problem-solving ability, and increased self-directed learning (Hmelo-Silver, 2004). However, research results have been unclear. This paper…

GED testing candidates have many options available to them to prepare for the GED Test, including adult education classes, practice tests, and self-study. This study focused on candidates who voluntarily took the GED Test and could choose freely among preparation activities. We examined GED Test preparation activities and created eight mutually…

"Bridges in Mathematics," published by the Math Learning Center (MLC), is an elementary school math curriculum covering kindergarten through fifth grade that focuses on problem solving and skill building, and applies a combination of whole-group, small-group, and independent activities. Lessons incorporate visual models, including…