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The Developing E‐learning for Teachers (DEfT) project, a collaborative venture between UK and Chinese universities, has produced e‐learning modules for master's level programmes for in‐service high school teachers in China. E‐learning offers Chinese teachers new and innovative forms of professional development and provides for transformative learning. The paper investigates teachers' online learning experiences and how e‐learning facilitates teacher transformation from three perspectives: the ‘learner‐centred perspective’, the ‘knowledge‐centred perspective’ and the ‘community‐centred perspective’. The paper concludes that e‐learning, while not without some caveats, is a feasible solution for the training needs of serving Chinese teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Acta Ortopédica Mexicana is the property of Sociedad Mexicana de Ortopedia, AC and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Educators are faced with developing performance indicators for reporting to state and national agencies on pre-service teacher candidates' ability to teach using innovative pedagogy as well as content-specific standards. Portfolio assessment has gained momentum as a standard in assessing student-learning outcomes. This paper is a discussion of digital portfolio development as a stimulus to the intellectual involvement of the learner (a Type II application). Digital portfolio development is an activity that naturally involves intellectual involvement as the learner identifies the problem (developing the digital portfolio) and then problem solves as he or she creates the digital portfolio. Each student is in control of portfolio development and manipulates the Web-based software to create the professional portfolio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides insight into how school-based research teams and external researchers conceptualize and act in their roles as coresearchers. The observations and experiences of school-based and external research team members and lead researchers provided the data for this paper. All were Queensland-based educators involved in researching the effect of a three-year school revitalization process on improved school practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1 : 1 educational computing refers to a scenario where every student in a group or class uses a computing device equipped with wireless communication capability to conduct a learning task. This paper, drawing from design experiences with our digital classroom environment series and other studies, attempts to describe a few valuable 1 : 1 design perspectives for educational computing inside the classroom. We try to describe the major components of the 1 : 1 digital classroom environment and classify the most important component, student devices, according to a set of features. Furthermore, based on the notion of computing affordance, a set of communication affordances are described. This set underpins three basic educational activities, namely: teacher-directed instruction, small group learning and individual learning. Finally, scenarios are exemplified for a few typical educational computing devices. This study concludes with a discussion of short- and long-term research possibilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that the discrepancies between policy talk, enactment, and implementation emerged for specific reasons and need to be understood as processes of local reinterpretation and adaptation. This study deals with the first 6 years of the voucher-based teacher education reform and investigates how an imported reform idea has altered at each subsequent policy level. Clearly, lumping all developments of the past decade together and labeling them simply as transitional is of limited value. This analysis therefore transcends interpretive frameworks of transitology, illuminating the case study of vouchers in Mongolia against the socioeconomic backdrop in Mongolia and other postsocialist countries. By examining the features of the Mongolization process, this paper proposes a larger comparative framework. The second major section of this article identifies several political, economic, and social developments of the past decade that had a bearing on educational reform, particularly on in-service teacher education reform.

An analysis is presented of the problems that have existed for over 20 years in the moral education curriculum in primary schools of China. These include the separation of moral education from children's lives, the moralizing and memorization used as the basic methods of teaching and learning, and the overlaps between courses on society and ideological moral character. The paper then introduces the main innovations in the contemporary reform of the primary moral education curriculum, including lifelong moral education as its theoretical foundation and making the development of children's morality relate to life, with 'real' everyday life events as source materials for textbooks. Embodied in the textbooks are some new ideas behind the revised educational objectives, such as putting oneself in another's position, ecological interdependence, 'win-win', dialogue, sharing and diversity. As the curriculum is child centred so the textbooks use a dialogical pedagogy. In conclusion the paper considers ongoing and new challenges for moral education in primary schools to be faced by the curriculum reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper critically examines recent education reform in Singapore launched under the rhetoric of "Thinking Schools, Learning Nation" (TSLN). I will make explicit the context and the premises underlying the new state-initiated TSLN education reform. I argue that the re-alignment of education change is a response to the trajectories of (global) economic conditions, concomitantly framed by (local) sociopolitical and cultural-ideological needs. Next, I tease out and critique the pedagogical problems and contradictions embedded in the TSLN education reform. The paper concludes by asking what critical perspectives can be drawn from the Singapore case vis-à-vis globalisation and education reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The innovation of education seems to be self-evident. Boosted by a wide range of new technologies, educational institutes all over the world are innovating their educational systems, in order to extend their services, to improve their performances or to reduce costs. The apparent self-evidence of educational innovation hardly prompts the educational staff to reflect on the very idea of innovation and its consequences. This paper treats the basic principles that support the phenomenon of technology-induced educational innovation. It aims to contribute to a better insight and understanding of its implications to anyone engaged in education. It also aims to effect a growing awareness of the premises on technology and to support the right attitude to realise improvements in practice. The paper goes into strategies of change, while discussing both substitutional and transformational strategies. It explains its supposed differences by referring to the philosophical frameworks of Jaspers, Heidegger and Borgmann. Starting from Borgmann's ``devices paradigm'', four principles for educational innovations are formulated, referring to the transparency and interactivity of educational technologies, the socio-cultural significance of products, the importance of values beyond efficiency and the political bias involved with technological innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper describes a project that emphasized the use of case-writing by teachers engaged in an educational innovation. The aims of the paper are threefold: to provide a somewhat detailed description of the case-writing process, to explicate the varied functions of cases and case-writing by teachers, and to discuss an important feature of cases and case-writing that might explain their power. The main argument is that cases could be used to achieve three purposes: to promote, to describe, and to explain teacher and educational change. The description of the case-writing process and an analysis of the cases themselves reveal their great potential in achieving these three aims. Additionally, it is argued that cases and case-writing facilitate border-crossing, or the integration of theory/practice, research/narration, and cognition/emotion, an integration necessary for authentic professional activities. This seminal feature of cases and case-writing also accounts for their potential in achieving the previously mentioned functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines some of the many problems and issues associated with integrating new and developing technologies into the education of future designers. As technology in general races ahead challenges arise for both commercial designers and educators on how best to keep track and utilise the advances. The challenge is particularly acute within tertiary education where the introduction of new cutting edge technology is often encouraged. Although this is generally achieved through the feedback of research activity, integrating new concepts at an appropriate level is a major task. Of particular concern is how focussed areas of applied technology can be made part of the multidisciplinary scope of design education. The paper describes the model used to introduce areas of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to undergraduate industrial design students. The successful interaction of research and education within a UK higher education establishment are discussed and project examples given. It is shown that, through selective tuition of research topics and appropriate technical support, innovative design solutions can result. In addition, it shows that by introducing leading edge and, in some cases, underdeveloped technology, specific key skills of independent learning, communication and research methods can be encouraged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Pixel-Bit, Revista de Medios y Educacion is the property of Pixel-Bit, Revista de Medios y Educacion and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Universities have discovered that learning need not dwell inside the confines of the four traditional classroom walls. The internet provides a vital link to information like never before. As the number of internet users has increased, universities have begun to rely more heavily on technology in the delivery of course content and instruction. The use of technology has been purported to have the potential to lead the way in developing more competent technology and educational leaders in schools as well as reforming leadership preparation and reaching a more inclusive population of administrator aspirants. Online education seems set on its course to overtake traditional colleges within the next few decades, especially as society becomes ever more dependent on the internet to get work done. This research paper examines areas in which educational programs can meet today's global standards, allow for the greatest flexibility in meeting student needs, and yet continue to increase leadership and educational opportunities for all student groups. The purpose of the study is to outline: whether distance technology is indeed used; what types of distance technology are employed; what goals drive the implementation of distance technology; and what factors inhibit the successful use of distance technology in higher education engagement graduate employability. The paper aims to focus on the issues involve the role of higher education in improving employability in developing the students' potential and flexibility to adapt their knowledge, skills, and attitudes to the labor market. In view of this, distance universities may have an important role in designing and implementing accreditation standards for employability. The attention should be paid to the development of transferable skills such as critical thinking, oral expression and team work to promote employability while raising the quality standards of the Higher Education Degree. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Propósitos y Representaciones is the property of Universidad San Ignacio de Loyola and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of International Review of Education / Internationale Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The concept of ecosystem has been largely used to indicate the network of complementary actors, resources and relationships required to succeed in knowledge-intensive entrepreneurial initiatives. The development of ecosystems has been mostly considered as a region and industry-independent issue. This paper discusses the relevance of fostering the creation of more entrepreneur-centric ecosystems ('EGO-Systems') to support an effective idea-to-venture process. A model is presented which includes five components (entrepreneurial actor, stakeholders, project, roadmap, flows) and it is addressed to support technology entrepreneurship initiatives through an innovative approach which is glocal, project-specific and dynamic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Estudios Sobre Educacion is the property of Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Navarra, S.A. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Educationist Willis Hawley's paper identifies some of the chief sources of tension and confusion in American educational policy. The article presents comments of the author on Hawley's paper. The first is that the concern for innovation pervades the whole educational system, and that correctives which stop at the school level are unlikely to succeed. The second is that there are some identifiable prerequisites to an adaptive education, which research can help bring about.

Discusses the themes of the papers featured in the June 2005 issue of the journal "ALT-J, Research in Learning Technology." Influence of rhetoric on creativity and innovation; Review of learning technology-related policy; Examination of the pedagogy of transnational online learning.

The Cognitive-Affective Theory of Learning with Media framework posits that the multimedia learning process is mediated by the learner's mood. Recent studies have shown that positive mood has a facilitating effect on multimedia learning. Though literature has shown that negative mood encourages an individual to engage in a more systematic, elaborate, and analytical cognitive processing, this effect has not been empirically tested in the context of multimedia learning. The work is supported by two experiments. Experiment 1 was conducted to determine if the facilitating effects of positive mood found in previous works can be replicated with a multimedia learning system that teaches basic programming algorithm to learners at an Asian university. Experiment 2 investigated the effects of induced negative mood on learners' cognition and motivation in a multimedia learning environment. Results revealed that negative mood enhanced intrinsic motivation and germane load, while reducing learning transfer. Learning transfer was enhanced by the presence of positive moods among males. Moreover, positive mood had a favorable effect on germane load, extraneous load, and intrinsic motivation. Theoretical and practical implications related to affective learning are discussed in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on American educational philosopher Maxine Greene and her works in the field of education. Topics discussed include her work as masters student in the University of Rochester was addressing predicaments of women, she urged people to work tirelessly for the better of education, and she reminded teacher's responsibility towards its students at every occasion.

"Virtual realities" and "smart books" will enrich and expand the teaching of reading and writing More and more these days I find myself giving talks that leave me speechless. I […]

The article presents gratitude expressed by author on Larry Hedges for founding Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness (SREE) and also serving as founding editor of the Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness (JREE). His contribution to the field of research in Education and the methodology and building usable knowledge in education and views on Big Data are discussed.

In this paper, we investigate the potential changes that education innovation can bring to education and training in aquaculture. When introducing Information and Communication Technology methods into new educational contexts, situations and/or practices, in the process teacher/practitioners will almost always make use of innovatory technology which in itself can lead to a measure of change within the relevant educational system. Nevertheless, it should not be forgotten that the use of technology is not an end in itself, its use is only justified as a tool to achieve the educational goals that have been set. It is in this spirit that two case studies are presented from current aquaculture curricula, which make use of innovative teaching methodology in the form of e-Learning: one case study is from the Open University (Universidade Aberta) in Portugal [distance teaching in a Master's programme (Second Cycle)]; the second is from the NAFC Marine Centre, Scottish Qualifications Authority accredited courses in Scotland, UK. We report the pedagogical models on which these courses were built, the tools required to achieve the intended educational objectives and the teaching and learning resources used. We also report the creative stimulus inherent in the innovation processes that allowed the two teachers/instructors to achieve the same, or better, results than traditional teacher-led classroom methods, by using a technology-enhanced teaching process without the need for face-to-face interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Massive open online courses ( MOOCs) attract learners with a variety of backgrounds. Engaging them using game development was trialled in a beginner's programming course, 'Begin programming: build your first mobile game,' on Future Learn platform. The course has completed two iterations: first in autumn 2013 and second in spring 2014 with thousands of participants. This paper explores the characteristics of learner groups attracted by these two consecutive runs of the course and their perceptions of the course using pre- and post-course surveys. Recommendations for practitioners are offered, including when the audience is different to the one expected. A MOOC is unlikely to please everyone, especially with such large cohorts. Nevertheless, this course, using game development as a vehicle to teach programming, seems to have offered a balanced learning experience to a diverse group of learners. However, MOOC creators and facilitators should accept that a course cannot be made to please everyone and try to communicate clearly who the intended audience for the course are. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Sociologia del Lavoro is the property of FrancoAngeli srl and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Since 2004, the Ministry of Education and Culture in Cyprus has launched an educational reform. The Ministry highlighted Cyprus’ participation in the European context and, by extension, the turning-into-multicultural character of the Cypriot society as the most important reasons, which necessitated such a reform. This paper seeks to examine the perceived curriculum of intercultural education in Cyprus. To this end, we explore how the conceptual and theoretical framework of the ‘new’ national curriculum influences key stakeholders’ understandings of intercultural education. Do they share similar understandings? Do they use the same terminologies? How consistent is their knowledge with the contemporary literature on Intercultural Education? All these questions will help us establish an understanding about the next level of curriculum development – the implementation level – and illuminate their possible tacit assumptions concerning the role of the teachers in carrying out of the declared policy on Intercultural Education. Most importantly, we will discuss the tacit assumptions that come to light through their expressed perceptions, addressing not only to the practises but also the essence of the term intercultural education and its originating interest in terms of human agency. Within this context we will deliberate how a broadly accepted policy, namely intercultural educational policy, becomes a vehicle that can be used to control, interact with or empower people and in particular those delegated with its implementation-in our case the teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

to facilitate improvement of education and teaching modernization level in China, and promote maturity and development of multimedia teaching technology, this paper established continuous animation multimedia teaching system based on continuous animation production technology. Meanwhile, this paper took gymnastics teaching of 2015 gymnastics class in Hubei University of Arts and Science in Hubei province of China as the objects of experiment and explored teaching effect of this multimedia teaching system combined with continuous animation production technology. The results show that this multimedia teaching system combined with continuous animation production technology can significantly improve students' theoretical and practical examination scores. Based on case study of application of continuous animation and multimedia technology in gymnastics teaching, this paper aims to make certain contributions to promotion and development of multimedia teaching technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the ever-pressing twenty-first century demands, such as the need for new knowledge generation and application, schools today are aware of the necessity to change their structures, processes and practices to be relevant. In Singapore's centralized education system, the Ministry has introduced several decentralization initiatives in the hope of promoting flexibility and innovation within schools. One such initiative is the Integrated Programme (IP). IP schools are expected to redefine existing educational structures, redesign teaching and learning processes and reshape classroom practices to generate diverse learning experiences. This paper describes the case of one school that has embarked on the IP to shed light on the processes involved in curriculum innovation. Our findings reveal three significant processes: negotiating the programme with the school's vision, finding common ground for buy-in and investing in preparation time. These are instrumental in the development and enactment of IP by teachers and school leaders. These findings and their implications are deliberated on, providing ways that schools can shape and sustain curricular innovations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to assess the national implementation of disaster preparedness education in New Zealand primary schools through the dissemination of What's the Plan, Stan?, a voluntary, curriculum-based teaching resource. Design/methodology/approach – Results and findings from a focus group study with school teachers and local civil defence staff in 2011 and a nationally representative survey of schools in 2012 were analyzed to identify intervening, facilitating and deterrent factors of uptake and use of the resource. Findings – The main intervening factors between resource promotion and school teachers’ awareness of the resource are word of mouth among school teachers and teachers’ proactive lesson plan research. The strongest facilitating factor was school-wide use of the resource. Lack of awareness of the resource and the perceived need for teacher training are the greatest deterrents to use of the resource. Practical implications – Based on the findings, several recommendations are provided for increasing use of the resource including use of web-based technology for teacher training, integration of disaster preparedness messaging into other children's programs, ongoing evaluation and curriculum requirements. Originality/value – An evaluation of the implementation of What's the Plan, Stan? adds to the limited body of knowledge on the benefits and challenges to distributing a voluntary teaching resource as a national strategy for curriculum integration of disaster education. The findings and lessons are relevant for nations meeting the Core Indicators of progress toward the 2005-2015 Hyogo Framework For Action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The biotechnology industry in Australia is continuing to grow rapidly, providing many opportunities for those with the relevant skills and qualifications to enter the field. Biotechnologists play a vital role in the financial development of biotech firms due to their innovative capacity, which is why they need to receive interactive and entrepreneurial education to ensure their productivity. This study aimed to determine the impact of these educational methods on the innovative capacity of biotechnologists in Australia. Two hundred seventy-six biotechnologists from different research sectors and biotech companies in Australia were surveyed for this study. Data was collected and analyzed using various statistical tools. The results from the path analysis suggested the presence of a significant and positive impact of interactive learning and entrepreneurial education on the innovation capacity of biotechnologists. The findings from the study are useful from policy, managerial, and theoretical perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Pixel-Bit, Revista de Medios y Educacion is the property of Pixel-Bit, Revista de Medios y Educacion and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper describes a global professional development program called 21st Century Learning Design (21CLD), which helps teachers design academic lessons that integrate opportunities for students to develop 21st Century competencies in a variety of dimensions such as collaboration, knowledge construction, and the powerful use of ICT for learning. The framework and tools of 21CLD are grounded in learning science research, promoting aspects of these dimensions that have been shown to tie to deeper learning. The paper highlights the example of Crescent Girls' School in Singapore, which is implementing this program school-wide as a next step on its longstanding journey to leverage ICT for instructional innovation. Critical aspects of the school's supportive ecosystem include a clear and consistent vision for teaching and learning, strong teacher ownership and a common language of discourse, distributed leadership, and the use of ICT to support teacher professional development and lesson design. The paper describes results for teaching and learning through a Communicative Arts lesson that leverages place-based ICT tools for student knowledge construction. Although Crescent Girls' School is unusually well resourced and has a strong history of ICT use for learning, this case offers lessons that apply equally well for earlier-stage explorations into ICT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Pixel-Bit, Revista de Medios y Educacion is the property of Pixel-Bit, Revista de Medios y Educacion and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this paper it is presented the evolution of schooling and education process in Europe from Antiquity to modern times. Education is one of the most important elements of social life, and it has a great impact on it. The article presents the main sociological theories of education which are the functionalist theory (Emile Durkheim) and the social conflict theory (Max Weber). The following chapter presents the historical evolution of educational systems in Europe from Antiquity till the modern times emphasizing on the most important stages and reforms. In this article there are presented the strong links between the process of education and the other aspects of social life and the way they influence each other. The emergence of public schooling systems and its evolution is presented along with the main reforms and public policies. The steps taken for the massification of education and the reforms that led to the increased access to schooling is presented in a strong relation with the social classes that had existed in different historical periods. The foundation and the evolution of higher education institutions - namely the Universities, are presented along with their impact on the social life in Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to offer an exploratory investigation of students' use of informal learning spaces for their studies at the University of Sheffield. Previous research has mainly focused on formal learning spaces such as libraries and lecture theatres, but there is an increasing recognition of the value of informal learning spaces such as coffee bars. Design/methodology/approach – Questionnaires, observations and interviews were the sources of data for the study. The research approach particularly looked at how students used informal learning spaces and what their perceptions of the spaces were. Findings – Analysis showed that students found that the background atmosphere greatly influenced their choice of study location and that technological devices were only used sparingly. Students adapted their study habits to fit the learning spaces that they liked. Originality/value – Although, attention is often paid to the furniture and colour schemes in libraries, this article makes librarians consider the importance of all sensual stimuli in making libraries warm, friendly and homely spaces. The "Model of Zengagement" was developed to show how stimuli from the background atmosphere influences' students' study experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of ESPIRAL: Revista de Docencia e Investigación is the property of Universidad Santo Tomas, Bucaramanga and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

A year after the primary study that tested the impact of introducing blended learning and guided discovery to help teach computer application to business students, this paper looks into the continued success of using guided discovery and blended learning with learning management system in and out of classrooms to enhance student learning. Particularly, it looks at the successful adaptation and implementation of learning management system as an aid to learning and delivery of a computer application subject to a class that is majorly populated by business students with little or no IT background. This paper tests the continued success to establish whether the success recorded after the first implementation was sustainable or merely influenced by the Hawthorn effect of trialing an innovation. It concludes with final grade measure over a one-year period of implementation of the system, and student responses that strongly support the original approach used by the author. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to study the adoption of national curricula by vocational teachers. In the paper, we review the process of vocational education and training curriculum reform in Estonia over the last 20 years, and, in particular, the introduction of national curricula. As teachers should be considered the key agents of curricular change, we look at how teachers have perceived the changes and make sense of them. The analysis of qualitative interviews with 24 vocational teachers in Estonia revealed very different perceptions towards the process of reforming vocational education and training curricula. Resulting from the analysis, five categories of teachers were identified: enthusiastic innovators, constructive-critical innovators, normative adopters, norm ignorers and bitterly disappointed. The Everett Rogers theory of innovation diffusion as well as the concept of ‘sense-making’ has been made use of when explaining the uneven adoption of curriculum change among teachers, and different reactions to potential changes in their work practices. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of Media4u Magazine is the property of Ing. Jan Chromy, Ph.D. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Research results and university performance measures have been frequently discussed topic in the Czech higher education system. Performance can be improved by establishing innovations in education in many areas. At higher education sector the performance within research activities is of the same importance. Various authorities have been making an effort to establish a set of measures to assess research performance at institutional level. This paper focuses on the assessment of research activity within an institution -- Czech University of Life Sciences (CULS) Prague -- with the use of Data Envelopment Analysis model (DEA). The measured units (DMUs) are 29 doctoral study specializations. Based on the findings revealed by the DEA model application various measures adopted by the faculty in order to improve research and education performance are introduced. Following the widespread trend in many countries the focus of the effort is in training of university teachers and students. This aim is being partially accomplished by the Project Operational Program Prague -- Adaptability (OPPA), which is focused on the innovation of the PhD studies at the Faculty of Economics and Management. The main project aims are i) to improve students' research experiences, ii) to provide appropriate conditions for PhD students at the departments/faculty and iii) to launch tools for better communication among PhD students and their supervisors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper was to analyze the content of the published articles of Quarterly Journal of Educational Innovations during the last 13 years (between 2003 -2015), to know about their current state of subject trends. It was a qualitative content analysis research. Here, the texts and abstracts of the papers were reviewed and analyzed in light of the 14 themes of educational innovation in the ERIC Thesaurus which were used for the basic categorization of the topic of papers. The research population and sample consisted of the published papers from number 5 up to 55 including 365 papers. Data was analyzed using Excel Statistical Analysis tool. Review of the subject trends of the authors showed that among the 14 mentioned research topics, announced by the journal, the 2nd one (theoretical framework, scientific principles and findings of educational psychology) with 32.32% was the most considered topic, and after that, there were the 5th (new theories and approaches in the curriculum design) and the 8th (management and class and school planning) topic. Also, the 9th topic (future studies in education) has not been considered at all. 7 special issues have been published in this period. The topic of »education improvement« with 35.34% and the topic on »education« with 30% were the topics of the most published papers. 778 authors participated in developing the papers and 30.46% of the authors mentioned their major and this shows the interdisciplinary subject orientation.