Massive open online courses (MOOCs) represent a potentially exciting opportunity to use technology to realise many of the long-promised benefits of universal higher education. While there are many positive aspects to the MOOCs on offer and in development, there are also significant ethical concerns arising from various initiatives. These include…

With today's rapid developments in digital technologies, technical obsolescence can occur much faster than in the past. Who would have predicted five years ago that Adobe's Flash would have seen the rapid decline it has experienced as a development environment? Using open, internationally accepted standards for materials development is…

The main aim of learning English as an international language is to effectively communicate with people from other cultures. In Taiwan, learners have few opportunities to experience cross-cultural communication in English. To create an authentic EFL classroom, this one-year action research study carried out three collaborative intercultural…

The six articles in this edition are fascinating, both in terms of their content, but even more so in their diversity. In most of the literature and discussion about MOOCs, there is a tendency to talk about instructionist MOOCs (i.e., xMOOCs) or connectivist MOOCs (i.e., cMOOCs; see Daniel, 2012). Although this is still a useful distinction,…

Research has shown that many deaf students do not develop age-appropriate reading and writing abilities. This study evaluates the literacy skills of deaf students, hard of hearing students, and students with cochlear implants in bilingual/bicultural schools in Denmark. The results show that 45 per cent of the students did not have any reading and…

This study, which is part of a larger longitudinal ethnographic study of young deaf children, reports on deaf children's use of fingerspelling. The children observed were early signers using Swedish Sign Language (SSL) in communication with teachers and peers. This study centres on the functions of fingerspelling in the children's…

Practical work is viewed by many as essential to the school science curriculum. It continues to be specified in many curriculum statements, with a wide range of claims being used to justify its inclusion. Currently, practical work is facing a number of challenges, including that it is not effective in promoting learning. An analysis of a specific…

Collaborative writing (CW) research has gained prevalence in recent years. However, the ways in which students interact socially to produce written texts through synchronous collaborative writing (SCW) is rarely studied. This study aims to investigate the effects of SCW on students' writing products and how collaborative dialogues facilitate…

This article explores the rationale for the 2011-2013 review of the National Curriculum in England, a rationale informed by the work of an Expert Panel chaired by the author. The focus is on the fundamental principles that determine the nature and content of the curriculum. The approach adopted by the review is contrasted with that adopted when…

There is widespread agreement that more needs to be done to increase and diversify post-16 participation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Here we discuss recent research evidence on what influences participation in science. We introduce a proposal for integrating awareness of STEM careers into the science curriculum for…

Year after year, the interest in early learning of the state language by non-Estonian children has increased. In Estonia, the course has been directed that non-Estonian learners have to reach functional bilingualism by the time they leave basic school and thus to become competitive in labour and education markets in Estonia. The objective of the…

Practical work has a long history in science education in the UK. This article explores how the influences of curriculum and assessment policy have shaped practical work over recent years. We argue that, together with changes in teacher training programmes, these influences have weakened science teachers' capacity to meet the challenge of…

The physics curriculum is usually defined by content but this does not provide students with an authentic experience of the subject. An alternative is that physics is defined more as a way of thinking and this idea is explored in terms of the purposes of physics education, assessment and the relationship of the subject with other disciplines. A…

The Curriculum for Excellence and new National Qualifications offer innovative reform, based on widely supported ideas and aims, for Scottish preschool, primary and secondary education levels. "Objectives and syllabuses" for science are replaced by "experiences and outcomes". Most strikingly, central prescription makes way for…

Despite its constitutional obligation of ensuring universal primary education, the Indian Government has not been able to find a way to educate its 18 million street children. It is widely accepted that the government lacks the capacity--financial, managerial and human resource--to provide meaningful education to those who are left out of the…