In this article I try to bring into relief the background significance of learning in Alasdair MacIntyre's writings. After briefly adverting to his own manner of learning from other thinkers, I begin by outlining what he sees as essential to learning in early childhood (§I). Next, I spell out what I take to be important implications for learning,…

Ernesto Macaro is Emeritus Professor of Applied Linguistics in the Department of Education at the University of Oxford, UK. He was the founding director of the EMI Oxford Research Group (formerly the Centre for Research and Development in English Medium Instruction) in the Department of Education. His research focuses on second language learning…

As technology advances, learning analytics is expanding to include students' collaboration settings. Despite their increasing application in practice, some types of analytics might not fully capture the comprehensive educational contexts in which students' collaboration takes place (e.g., when data is collected and processed without predefined…

This chapter is a reflective account of the author's experience as a teacher of English at the University of Pavia during the first wave of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. It considers the design and delivery of an English for architecture and construction engineering course as well as the assessment stage of a text analysis course. It proceeds by…

In "Excellent Sheep," William Deresiewicz describes 'elite' higher education as one in which students perform excellently, but only in a spirit of compliance with assigned tasks. The depth of this problem -- which has a long pedigree in philosophy -- is such that an advantage might be found in non-'elite' and even manifestly lame…

We are writing in response to the Aditomo and Klieme article titled "Forms of inquiry based science instruction and their relations with learning outcomes: evidence from high and low-performing education systems," recently published in the "International Journal of Science Education." In this essay, we follow these authors and…

It is important that professionals, especially at the university level, use their expertise and experience to become mentors to their colleagues and students. The literature on mentors focuses mainly on professional mentor-mentee relationships but there is much to be gained from fostering more informal mentoring relationships especially at the…

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the digital divide and inequalities among learners and compelled the need to reimagine how teachers and educators teach and support student learning no matter where they live or to what tools they have access. This essay addresses the disruption in online education caused by the global health crisis, exploring…

Due to COVID-19, almost all educational institutions were temporarily closed across the globe. As a result, many educators have focused on delivering courses through emergency remote teaching. Preparation for remote teaching was itself a great challenge. In this reflective paper, I have presented my own experience of preparation for emergency…

This article is a reflective piece. It asks questions to support discussions in staffrooms and team meetings about what a 'new normal' could look like in schools. The author advocates a better partnership between teachers, students and parents in which they adopt a more equitable relationship built on mutual respect and trust - a partnership where…