This article examines many of the issues that the Graduate School of Education and Professional Development at Marshall University has experienced in its move to online delivery of coursework. Institutional, faculty, and student matters are addressed in the context of the transition. Examples of the challenges as well as successes are offered as a…

Delivering a discussion-intensive curriculum via online instruction can pose a variety of challenges. This article presents an overview of a contemporary issues online graduate course, and analyzes the degree to which the course encouraged feelings of community, a tone of thoughtful and willing reflection, and an overall understanding of…

Online education is not for everyone. Although it is becoming increasingly popular, online education has both benefits and limitations. It is certainly convenient, and it allows some people access to education who otherwise might be prevented from involvement. But its impersonal nature and the many resources needed to deliver quality online…

In an increasingly technological society, delivery systems for professional development and higher education have greatly expanded. Video conferencing and web-based alternatives provide opportunities to extend the college campus far beyond the boundaries traditionally considered feasible. Adult learners have found the convenience of web-based…

Compares Dewey and Vygotsky on three conceptual issues that relate directly to educational processes and goals: the roles of social history, experience/culture, and human inquiry in the educational process. The differences in their approaches are illustrated by examining the educational models of the zone of proximal development and long-term…

Reviews the book, "Contradictions of School Reform: Educational Costs of Standardized Testing," (Linda M. McNeil, 2000) which explores the effects of state- and school district-imposed accountability measures, including standardized testing, on teachers and students (most of whom are children of color) in an urban setting. The book illustrates how…

Reviews "Presence of Mind: Education and the Politics of Deception," (Pepi Leistyna, 1999) which discusses the American politics of identity and difference, analyzing how deceptive political ideologies operate through educational policy, schooling, and popular culture to reproduce the current racialized social order. The book offers tools for…

The National Research Council proposes to improve student learning through its Strategic Education Research Program. With its focus on effective translation of research into practice, the proposal fails to acknowledge the public and professional value of research as a source of understanding, reflection, and action. Presents educational,…

The whole language movement evolved partly from a larger political context. Anti-whole language arguments were responses to increased student and teacher empowerment threatening traditional hierarchies and certain characterizations of whole language. By calling whole language a point on the pendular cycle, critics mounted an aggressive campaign in…

Reviews the present treatment of nonexperimental methods of educational research, proposing a new, two-dimensional classification of nonexperimental quantitative research. The first dimension is based on the primary research objective (i.e., description, prediction, and explanation). The second dimension is called the time dimension (i.e.,…

Examines the philosophical foundations of Freire's view of liberation education, outlining a more consistent historicist interpretation that retains the liberating power of modernism and its critique of dehumanization. Recognizes the malleability and contradictions of identity, embraces epistemic uncertainties and varieties of reason in knowledge,…

Describes a graduate course in professional writing, examining the benefits of explicitly emphasizing writing instruction in graduate education programs. Discusses: the interpretation of grammar, style, logic, and voice; listening to and crafting writing; writing as method; audience awareness; becoming better readers of other people's writing; the…

Explores the implications of various posts perspectives on anti-oppressive education, especially poststructuralist perspectives, for social studies, English, mathematics, and science education. Focuses on two main theoretical constructs: (1) unknowability, multiplicity, and looking beyond the known and (2) resistance, crisis, and resignifying the…

Situates the origins of self-study in four developments within education, highlighting autobiography and correspondence (email, letters, and recorded conversations) because of the demands they present for producers and consumers. Provides a framework for determining what makes a piece of self-study writing research, using the work of C. Wright…

Argues for scholarship that investigates leadership practice; specifically, the practice of leading classroom instruction. Articulates a distributed perspective, grounded in activity theory and distributed cognition, to frame such investigations. Suggests that school leadership is best understood as a distributed practice stretched over the…