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This paper argues that many pedagogical reform efforts falter because they fail to consider the cultural context of teacher and student behavior. Little guidance exists on how to adapt teaching practices to be compatible with culturally influenced behaviors and beliefs. We present evidence from three studies conducted as part of a large basic education program in Tanzania showing that some teaching activities are less effective or not well implemented because of culturally influenced behaviors in the classroom, namely children's lack of confidence to speak up in class; a commitment to togetherness, fairness, and cooperation; avoidance of embarrassment; and age-graded authority. We propose ways teaching activities can be adapted to take these behaviors into account while still adhering to fundamental principles of effective learning, including student participation in their own learning, teaching at the right level, and monitoring students as a basis for adjusting instruction. Such adaptations may be made most effective by engaging teachers in co-creation of teaching activities.

The digital transition in educational testing has introduced many new opportunities for technology to enhance large-scale assessments. These include the potential to collect and use log data on test-taker response processes routinely, and on a large scale. Process data has long been recognised as a valuable source of validation evidence in assessments. However, it is now being used for multiple purposes across the assessment cycle. Process data is being deliberately captured and used in large-scale, standardized assessments -- moving from viewing it as a "by-product" of digital assessment, to its use "by design" to extend understanding of test-taker performance and engagement. While these techniques offer significant benefits, they also require appropriate validation practices to ensure that their use supports reliable inferences and do not introduce unintended negative consequences.

This occasional paper is the fourth in a series on the National Quality Framework (NQF). This paper offers detailed insights into education and care service quality ratings for Quality Area 3 (physical environment) of the National Quality Standard (NQS). The focus is on ensuring the physical environment of a service is safe, suitable and provides a rich and diverse range of experiences that promote children's learning and development. This paper begins with an overview of the physical environment standards and what these aim to achieve, highlighting contemporary research and theory behind sustainable environments promoting children's learning. It then outlines the operational requirements of the National Law and National Regulations for the physical environment, with a particular focus on the requirements specific to different service types. The paper also describes how service approval requirements in the National Law apply to the physical environment, and how providers may seek waivers for certain legislated requirements. The paper is intended to be of interest to people who deliver education and care services, families, people who provide training and professional development services to the sector, and to officers in the state and territory regulatory authorities that regulate education and care services.

Students need to develop a variety of critical thinking and interpersonal skills in order to contribute successfully to today's increasingly globalized world. The Office of the Provost at the University of Michigan has implemented a plan known as Transforming Learning for a Third Century (TLTC) as part of its broader Third Century Initiative. This plan aims to foster development of such skills, with special emphasis on five distinct learning goals: (1) Creativity; (2) Intercultural engagement; (3) Social/civic responsibility and ethical reasoning; (4) Communication, collaboration, and teamwork; and (5) Self-agency, and the ability to innovate and take risks. The intercultural engagement goal is focused on fostering students' understanding of the role of values and culture in driving decisions, and supporting students as they develop the flexibility to work with others who have different values. More so than any previous generation, it is important for the University of Michigan to offer students opportunities to practice communicating and working with others from many different cultures and background experiences in intelligent, productive, and respectful ways. Aligned with previous TLTC Occasional Papers, this paper begins with a discussion of what intercultural engagement means and how it is conceptualized in the literature, followed by a discussion of the importance of this goal for student development. A summary of different approaches to promote intercultural engagement will then be offered. This paper concludes with an examination of how to assess these skills with an emphasis on choosing appropriate measures.

Students need to develop a variety of critical thinking and interpersonal skills in order to contribute successfully to today's increasingly globalized world. The Office of the Provost at the University of Michigan has implemented a plan known as Transforming Learning for a Third Century (TLTC) as part of its broader Third Century Initiative. This plan aims to foster development of such skills, with special emphasis on five distinct learning goals: (1) creativity; (2) intercultural engagement; (3) social/civic responsibility and ethical reasoning; (4) communication, collaboration and teamwork; and (5) self-agency, and the ability to innovate and take risks. The TLTC learning goal, Creativity, focuses on developing educational opportunities to foster students' creative processes and capacities to create new works and ideas. This goal also seeks to promote an understanding that creativity is not a rare gift to the few, but a fundamental human trait that can be developed and expanded. This paper begins with a review of the various ways in which creativity has been conceptualized and a discussion of the importance of creativity. It then goes on to briefly summarize different approaches to fostering creativity among students and ends with a discussion on how to assess creativity, with an emphasis on choosing appropriate measures.

University of Michigan (U-M) students visit community-based organizations in Detroit on a weekly basis to work on projects aimed at improving the well being of children and their families, such as tutoring youth in after school programs. Their site visits are supplemented by relevant readings, class discussions and written reflections on topics such as developmental psychology, poverty, and education, which connect what they are learning in class to what they experience in the field. U-M students with social identities that have historically experienced conflict and differential status come together to engage in critical self-reflection and purposeful dialogue to better understand each other's point of view and solve problems regarding race relations. Using case studies, U-M students learn about the multiple and often competing viewpoints of stakeholders in land management. They attend a local planning commission meeting and reflect on the economic, scientific, and moral implications of various land use proposals.

The digital transformation of our societies is moving ahead, changing the way that we work and interact. It is also changing learning environments and the need for digital skills. This paper argues for a differentiated approach by universities to digital skills, identifying three groups of learners: (1) ICT [Information and Communication Technologies] specialists who need training in ethics (including privacy and bias) and where universities need to ensure diversity, (2) learners who will enter fields where the professional practice is already disrupted by digital technologies, for example medicine and law, and (3) learners who face unpredictability in how digital technologies will impact their careers, but who still require knowledge about them. These groups will have different needs, as will individuals within the groups. This paper offers suggestions on adapting learning environments to meet these needs. These include the use of problem-based learning that will enable universities to provide exposure to digital technology, as well as using interdisciplinary teams and learning analytics as a way to predict and adapt to individual learning needs.

What might count as a world class, national public education system in 2020? That empty cup took the floor at the 2010 Future of Learning (FoL) Summer Institute at Harvard University. It traveled from Longfellow Hall's lecture room on Appian Way to several learning groups scattered around campus. Though not deliberately created to think about world class schools tomorrow, interaction amongst speakers, facilitators, and educators from across the United States and 26 other countries as well as ongoing reflection built into the institute all assured that deep thinking about education tomorrow would take place. The institute aimed at putting ideas into action once back home. Thus, as an emergent property of FoL, the power teaching prototype suggested three factors that might frame education at Edward Waters College (EWC) in Jacksonville, Florida. Vision became action. Put simply in a mathematical metaphor, P=fm/c {where P = power teaching; f = future of learning with four levels (teaching for understanding, information literacy, Howard Gardner's five minds for the future, David Perkins's learning by wholes), m = Ellen Langer's mindfulness theory, and c = context (mind brain education and consciousness based education)}. These factors allow educators to design, deliver and assess instruction in K-16 settings. Finally, the model case featured in this occasional paper is a Tests and Measurements course at Edward Waters College, Jacksonville, Florida. Thus, the paper offers chances to "think locally" and "wonder globally." A working bibliography is included.

This paper focuses on the tension between the idea that "mathematics is everywhere" and the idea that it is so difficult to craft meaningful, place-based, mathematics lessons. The approach is through an exploration of the nature of place and mathematics, what they are, how they relate, and ways of engaging the two through a pedagogical turn guided by ethics of eco-justice and critical approaches to decolonialization and reinhabitation. This approach, known as "critical place-based pedagogy" ("CPBP"), is articulated primarily through examples though some effort is made to offer more general strategies for practice. Two ideas motivate this argument. First, that mathematics and the technology used in mathematics classrooms seem stuck in mathematics classrooms but oddly divorced from the place wherein the mathematics classrooms lie. Second, that there is value in opening the ears of our schools and listening to the mathematics of place. (Contains 31 notes.) [This document was also published in "Philosophical Studies in Education," 38, p119-130.]

Although universities often teach ethics courses, they do not always teach students how to apply ethical course content to ethical dilemmas they encounter on a day-to-day basis. The Awareness-Investigation-Responding (AIR) model of ethical inquiry bridges this gap by scaffolding the reflective process and empowering students to make more caring, compassionate, ethical choices in their disciplines and in life. AIR can be adapted to any discipline and any learning environment.

In this paper Peter Moss, a Professor of Early Childhood Provision at the University of London, challenges the hegemony of the market model in early childhood education and care. He shows how the market model embodies the values of neoliberalism and, drawing on the work of the Brazilian social theorist Roberto Unger, discusses "democratic experimentalism" as an alternative. The paper's aim is not to prove that one is superior or that these are the only two models available; rather, it is to show that alternatives to the market model exist, and that the questions raised by ECEC (early childhood education and care) are therefore ethical and political rather than merely technical. A bibliography is included. (Contains 17 footnotes.)

This paper aims to provide an overview of evidence of schools' engagement in Fairtrade in the UK through the Fairtrade Foundation's Fairtrade School Awards programme. The paper provides a summary of the comments from schools' engagement with the programme based on data from teachers and pupils' learning with evidence from the different levels of the award. The paper also aims to locate the evidence from the award programme within the broader landscape of global learning in the UK. [This report was produced in partnership with the Fairtrade Foundation.]

The release of the "Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research 2007" by the Australian Government in 2007 was welcomed by Go8 (Group of Eight) institutions, particularly in relation to the improvements and broader scope of the matters covered by Part A of that Code. However, as foreshadowed by the Go8 during the consultation phase of the preparation of the Code, significant risks to researchers and institutions arise from Part B of the Code, especially as a result of the unavoidable confluence of considerations relating to allegations of research misconduct and the terms of employment of university staff. The Go8 has engaged in a very constructive dialogue with the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) about these issues. This consultation paper has been prepared in response to the NHMRC's written confirmation of January 2008 that Part B of the Code is intended as: (1) "a guide to good practice" only; and (2) "a principles-based approach, rather than being prescriptive." The purpose of this consultation paper is to set out the principles upon which Go8 responses to the Code will be based. Once these principles have been agreed by Go8 institutions this paper will be provided to the NHMRC. It is hoped that the NHMRC's endorsement of the proposed approach will be forthcoming--allowing institutions to move to implementation of the Code and participation in enterprise bargaining processes with certainty. Through adoption of such guiding principles, the expectation is that Go8 universities will eventually have in place arrangements for handling allegations of research misconduct, which while responsive to particular requirements of each institution and State, will be broadly consistent and readily understood by university staff, students, government agencies and the wider community. Appended are: (1) Background discussion about issues arising from Part B of the Code; (2) Go8 & NHMRC correspondence over the Code. (Contains 1 footnote.)

It is important to understand how students' changing belief structures influence their values and behaviors, including their ethical beliefs and decision-making patterns. As such, this study will address the following research questions: 1) what are students' ethical beliefs and their perceptions of students' ethical behaviors; and 2) how do students' personal values and perceptions of behaviors differ? Using data from the 2006 University of California Undergraduate Experience Survey, survey items about ethical decisions are grouped according to their association with the following themes: academic integrity and honesty, social activities, and behaviors influenced by perceptions of convenience. When analyzing student responses to the UCLA wildcard module within UCUES [University of California Undergraduate Experience Survey] with these thematic constructs, it is possible to identify patterns of personal ethical belief, perceptions of ethics among peers, and differences between these two classes of variables. Our research indicates that students' perceptions of their peers' beliefs and behaviors are the best predictors of the respondents' own ethical behavior. Within academia, particularly in subject areas that engender greater competition such as science and engineering, it is important that institutions promote an explicit code of conduct. If students are taking cues from their peers as to the what beliefs and behaviors are appropriate, a strong message from the institution, the faculty, and staff can intervene in this process in order to promote ethical decision making skills and practices. (Contains 3 figures and 3 tables.)

Since, its early development in our nation's capital, the Power Teaching Prototype (PTP) has evolved to connect three factors likely to characterize 21st Century teaching and learning. Teaching for understanding requires a clear method of designing instruction and a simple, yet powerful, way of delivering. For the design of instruction, Harvard University Project Zero Research Center's teaching for understanding (TfU) framework stands out for its collaboration between top teachers and selected researchers. Howard Gardner's MI approached (based on his multiple intelligences theory) provides a way of delivering student centered instruction. Thus, the first factor of PTP combines design and delivery. In turn, the second factor is information literacy. The core definition of information literacy draws on a 1989 Presidential report which said that information literate people can locate, evaluate, and create information. Information literacy extends teaching for understanding with the use of appropriate technology. Lastly, the third factor is Howard Gardner's five minds for the future. Gardner asserts that five minds are likely to need full development in schools and workplaces: his quintet of minds are the disciplined mind, synthesizing mind, creating mind, respectful mind, and ethical mind. Developing this set of capacities provides ample opportunities for assessing performances of understanding over time. The interaction of the three factors equals leverage for learning in a "flat world." From a systems perspective, Asa Hilliard's "Sba" (deep thought) may be one emergent property. On the one hand, power teaching becomes a way of creating scenarios about the future of Edward Waters College. On the other hand, PTP becomes a way of designing "Theories of Learning," a psychology seminar, one allowing students to experience new paradigm practices even as they study multiple views of human learning.

It is important to understand how students' changing belief structures influence their values and behaviors, including their ethical beliefs and decision-making patterns. As such, this study will address the following research questions: (1) what are students' ethical beliefs and their perceptions of students' ethical behaviors; and (2) how do students' personal values and perceptions of behaviors differ? Using data from the 2006 University of California Undergraduate Experience Survey (UCUES), survey items about ethical decisions are grouped according to their association with the following themes: academic integrity and honesty, social activities, and behaviors influenced by perceptions of convenience. When analyzing student responses to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) wildcard module within UCUES with these thematic constructs, it is possible to identify patterns of personal ethical belief, perceptions of ethics among peers, and differences between these two classes of variables. Our research indicates that students' perceptions of their peers' beliefs and behaviors are the best predictors of the respondents' own ethical behavior. Within academia, particularly in subject areas that engender greater competition such as science and engineering, it is important that institutions promote an explicit code of conduct. If students are taking cues from their peers as to what beliefs and behaviors are appropriate, a strong message from the institution, the faculty, and staff can intervene in this process in order to promote ethical decision-making skills and practices. (Contains 3 tables and 3 figures.)

Educators must work together to ensure that every American young person has access to the skills and experiences needed to become a full participant, can articulate their understanding of how media shapes perceptions, and has been socialized into the emerging ethical standards that should shape their practices as media makers and participants in online communities. A central goal of this report is to shift the focus of the conversation about the digital divide from questions of technological access to those of opportunities to participate and to develop the cultural competencies and social skills needed for full involvement. Schools as institutions have been slow to react to the emergence of this new participatory culture; the greatest opportunity for change is currently found in afterschool programs and informal learning communities. Schools and afterschool programs must devote more attention to fostering what we call the new media literacies: a set of cultural competencies and social skills that young people need in the new media landscape. Participatory culture shifts the focus of literacy from one of individual expression to community involvement. The new literacies almost all involve social skills developed through collaboration and networking. These skills build on the foundation of traditional literacy, research skills, technical skills, and critical analysis skills taught in the classroom. The new skills include: (1) Play; (2) Performance; (3) Simulation; (4) Appropriation; (5) Multitasking; (6) Distributed Cognition; (7) Collective Intelligence; (8) Judgment; (9) Transmedia Navigation; (10) Networking; and (11) Negotiation. (Contains 81 sources.) [This paper was written with Katie Clinton, Ravi Purushotma, Alice J. Robison, and Margaret Weigel.]

Issues of ethics and leadership are important, growing and intense in universities. Five examples are discussed, drawn from the personal experience of the author. These involve the selection of research, the collection and use of ethically sensitive materials, major relationships with industry and donors, access and admissions, and the content of education itself. Analyses of these cases are couched in terms of some of the major trends affecting public research universities, with one conclusion being that the most challenging situations are those where multiple ethical standards are pertinent, and conflict with one another. (Contains 1 table and 9 notes.)

Graduating more students and increasing the quality of their learning are national priorities. Every college and university can improve in these areas by focusing on the educational conditions that matter to student success. Decades of research studies show that a key factor is student engagement--the time and effort students devote to their studies and related activities and how institutions organize learning opportunities and provide services to induce students to take part in and benefit from such activities. This paper offers nine guiding principles based on an in-depth examination of 20 diverse four-year colleges and universities that have higher-than-predicted graduation rates and demonstrated through the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) that they have effective policies and practices for working with students of differing abilities and aspirations. (Lists two sources.)