This study describes the process of creating an Invitational Learning environment to improve the writing competence of middle school students in two special education classes. Teacher-student interactions were coded according to Purkey and Novak's (1996) Intentionality/Invitation Quadrant with levels corresponding to intentionally disinviting,…

A couple of decades ago, a visiting anthropologist agreed with some U.S. authors that the American intellectual on university campuses is basically dead and his/her demise is reflected in the superficial, boring, and uninspiring content to which students are exposed. More recent evidence indicates that things have not changed very much. In this…

Critics of Invitational Education and other self-concept approaches to learning have long argued that there is a lack of empirical data to support the claims that approaches to student instruction based on self-concept theory are central to effective learning. Ellis (2001) examines a number of these analyses where self-concept, self-esteem, and…

From an Invitational Education perspective, e-learning will only succeed as an educative environment if educators are able to provide an e-learning environment that preserves dignity and encourages communication. The converse: using an online environment to "throw information" at students has the opposite effect; it is experienced as deeply…

Examines intentional invitations that challenge, confront, exhort, and persuade people to change their behaviors. Assumes that the sender controls the "intention" and that the receiver determines the degree of "inviting." Suggests that elements of the invitational model serve as a framework to create acceptable inducements in the helping process.…

Argues that, since the presence of invitational practices in the physical arena can be measured, such strategies should be introduced into middle school athletics. Examines coaches' potential to extend inviting concepts to student participants, the legacy of traditional athletics, and the agents of influence in middle school athletics. (RJM)

Reports findings, based on a two-year study, of a collaborative effort to develop a learning-centered curriculum which would result in an inviting learning-centered classroom community. Supports the tenet that effective programs feature knowledgeable teachers who have the expertise and inclination to encourage all children to succeed. (RJM)

Reviews several approaches that have proven to be useful heuristics in college teaching, introduces a model for describing faculty development in teaching that incorporates many of the tenets of invitational education, and shows connections between this model and the earlier approaches described. Central message is that the act of teaching itself…