In the 1960s, the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) developed a programming language called LOGO. Underpinning this invention was a profound new philosophy of how learners learn. This paper reviews research in the area and asks how one notion in particular, that of a microworld, may be used by secondary school educators to build powerful…

This analyses of the paper show to develop innovative educational projects through teacher training. The starting point is "learning communities", which is a project to change educational practice. It has a long history in Spain. This project is generated according to the assessment process in order to change practices required by Miguel…

Dissemination of learning and teaching innovation in higher education requires approaches to change that are socially contextualised, dynamic and self-reflexive. This article, therefore, presents a methodology for dissemination employing an embedding heuristic and engaging in participatory action research. The embedding approach emphasises three…

Few instructional design (ID) models exist which are specific for developing educational games. Moreover, those extant ID models have not been rigorously evaluated. No ID models were found which focus on educational games with complex learning objectives. "Ten Steps to Complex Learning" (TSCL) is based on the four component instructional…

Required introductory courses are as important as they are unloved. They are a key part of the general-education curriculum, which makes up as much as one-third of the typical baccalaureate student's education, and they are the subject of seemingly never-ending revitalization efforts. Many senior faculty members avoid teaching such courses because…

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has invented or improved many world-changing things--radar, information theory, and synthetic self-replicating molecules, to name a few. Last month the university announced, to mild fanfare, an invention that could be similarly transformative, this time for higher education itself. It is called MITx.…

Often the traditional creative arts curriculum does not sufficiently respond to, nor reflect, contemporary work practice. Multidisciplinary teams are now increasingly the norm in creative arts practice especially when driven by technological innovation. Drawing on contemporary research that centres on the benefits of multidisciplinary…

Purpose: In the stream of works studying complexity from an organizational viewpoint, literature is focused mainly on describing new organizational forms (holonic organization, circular organization, virtual corporation, ...) and on conceptual works identifying new managerial principles to manage emergence (job enrichment, de-regulation, ...). But…

In this article we summarise research that discusses "teacher teams?. The central questions guiding this study are "How is the term teacher team" used and defined in previous research? And "What types of teacher teams has previous research identified or explored?" We attempted to answer these questions by searching…

In the search to improve the quality of education at the university level, the use of concept mapping is becoming an important instructional technique for enhancing the teaching-learning process. This educational tool is based on cognitive theories by making a distinction between learning by rote (memorizing) and learning by meaning, where…

This paper returns to the theme of the academic turn to cosmopolitanism as a response to the challenges of globalisation, conflict, inequality and diversity discussed here previously. The discussion of cosmopolitanism here refers to the context of current policy relating to research and what it means to be a researcher in the European Union today…

The aim of this study was to explore whether teachers' positioning towards an innovation is related to their implementation of it. Positioning was reflected in terms of teachers' ownership, sensemaking, and agency. The innovation that was of central focus in this study pertained to the changing role of teachers towards a more coaching…

Internationally, society is increasingly demanding that the relevance and practical applicability of research be made transparent. Despite intentions to the contrary, insights on pedagogically appropriate uses of educational technology for representative teachers in everyday school settings are severely limited. In part, this is because (design)…

This paper is a snapshot of an evolving vision of what the future may hold for learning technology. It offers three personal visions of the future and raises many questions that need to be explored if learning technology is to realise its full potential.

An argument is made in this article for a link between leadership and innovation, when innovation is an outcome of the work approaches and practices that underpin an educational technologist's academic course designs. The practice of instructional design (ID) is continually being challenged to rethink its conceptualization of academic course…