The purpose of this paper is to present an analytical review of the educational innovation field in the USA. It outlines classification of innovations, discusses the hurdles to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present an analytical review of the educational innovation field in the USA. It outlines classification of innovations, discusses the hurdles to innovation, and offers ways to increase the scale and rate of innovation-based transformations in the education system.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on a literature survey and author research.
Findings
US education badly needs effective innovations of scale that can help produce the needed high-quality learning outcomes across the system. The primary focus of educational innovations should be on teaching and learning theory and practice, as well as on the learner, parents, community, society, and its culture. Technology applications need a solid theoretical foundation based on purposeful, systemic research, and a sound pedagogy. One of the critical areas of research and innovation can be cost and time efficiency of the learning.
Practical implications
Several practical recommendations stem out of this paper: how to create a base for large-scale innovations and their implementation; how to increase effectiveness of technology innovations in education, particularly online learning; how to raise time and cost efficiency of education.
Social implications
Innovations in education are regarded, along with the education system, within the context of a societal supersystem demonstrating their interrelations and interdependencies at all levels. Raising the quality and scale of innovations in education will positively affect education itself and benefit the whole society.
Originality/value
Originality is in the systemic approach to education and educational innovations, in offering a comprehensive classification of innovations; in exposing the hurdles to innovations, in new arguments about effectiveness of technology applications, and in time efficiency of education.
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Abstract
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The aim of this paper is to explain how errors in policymaking contribute to the minimal impact that structural, curricular and cultural changes have made on teaching practice in…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to explain how errors in policymaking contribute to the minimal impact that structural, curricular and cultural changes have made on teaching practice in American schools.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on the author's research legacy, the paper extends an historical analysis to explore and explain current dilemmas of change in schools and schooling.
Findings
Over the last century, educational reforms have most often led to first order classroom change, represented by the development of hybrids of old and new teaching practices. Second order change at the classroom level has proven elusive. Factors at the policymaking level that explain the minimal impact on classroom practice include a misplaced trust in structural reform, an understanding of schools as complicated rather than complex systems, and the tendency not to distinguish teacher quality from the quality of teaching.
Originality/value
The paper proposes that the lack of impact of reform on classroom practice is explained in large part by errors in assumptions and thinking that policymakers commit, a focus seldom explored in research.
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Robert W. Maloy and Irene LaRoche
Using student-centered teaching methods presents a great challenge to many new middle and high school history teachers. Having experienced mostly teacher-centered instructional…
Abstract
Using student-centered teaching methods presents a great challenge to many new middle and high school history teachers. Having experienced mostly teacher-centered instructional approaches (such as lectures and teacher-led discussions) in secondary school and college classes, they begin student teaching with few models for how to teach using less traditional forms of instruction. This paper discusses “Ideas, Issues, and Insights,” a strategy for prospective history teachers, as they explore the use of student-centered teaching methods with middle and high school students. It analyzes written reflection papers where history teacher candidates identify their ideas for three student-centered instructional methods — small group work, primary source analysis, and historical role-plays and simulations — as well as issues that arise when these student-centered methods are implemented in the classroom. As history teacher candidates respond to their ideas and issues, they generate insights about how they can best use student-centered teaching methods in their future classrooms. The first-person perspectives of history teacher candidates are highlighted to show how college students in one university-based teacher preparation program think about their student teaching experiences and their choice of instructional methods to use with students.
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– The purpose of this paper is to present a rationale for organizational histories of schools and school districts and discuss the findings of selected examples of the genre.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present a rationale for organizational histories of schools and school districts and discuss the findings of selected examples of the genre.
Design/methodology/approach
The author presents a vignette of an organizational history, discusses key elements of the methodology, and offers seven ways in which organizational histories address important issues in educational research.
Findings
A case is made, using actual examples of research, that organizational histories of schools and school districts can contribute to testing existing theory, developing new theory, describing how educational change occurs, accounting for the sustainability of educational change, explaining organizational continuity over time, understanding school and district responses to persistent social issues, and balancing an over-emphasis on the impact of school and district leaders.
Originality/value
The paper draws on the author’s original contributions to organizational history as well as the contributions of his doctoral students and others.
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Over the past five years, the e‐rate program has been instrumental in reducing the digital divide in America's schools. However, right from its inception, a number of…
Abstract
Over the past five years, the e‐rate program has been instrumental in reducing the digital divide in America's schools. However, right from its inception, a number of controversies have surrounded the program including the right of the FCC to impose a “tax” on the telecommunications industry, the status of the Universal Service Administration Company, allegations of fraud in the allocation of funds to schools and libraries, and questions whether Internet access to schools was furthering the cause of educational equity. A number of these questions have been settled through court cases and administrative reform, but doubts about the future of the program still persist so much so that the US Congress is currently considering proposals to terminate or reform the e‐rate program. Keeping in mind these controversies and the achievements to date of the program, this paper compares a number of policy proposals that have been put forward recently. It recommends among other things that the future effectiveness of the e‐rate program may be best served by enabling a shift of funding from telecommunications access to software and content development.
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This article, one of the keynote addresses at the joint ANZHES conference in December 2008, explores a concept that I call the Great Divide, by which I mean the cultural division…
Abstract
This article, one of the keynote addresses at the joint ANZHES conference in December 2008, explores a concept that I call the Great Divide, by which I mean the cultural division between principals and teachers, and between principals and students. Drawing on visual imagery, historical reports, and cultural studies of American schools, I argue that the Great Divide is a historical construction of both administrative practices and representational culture that has led to misunderstandings of the complexity of the school principal’s middle managerial work in the school organisation.
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John K. Lee and Peter E. Doolittle
A gap in the literature on digital history was explored through the use of a survey of 104 high school social studies teachers, administered in a large urban/suburban school…
Abstract
A gap in the literature on digital history was explored through the use of a survey of 104 high school social studies teachers, administered in a large urban/suburban school district in the southeastern United States. The survey examined the extent to which social studies teachers were using non-digital and digital historical resources and the ways in which they were using them. Results indicated that social studies and history teachers were using primary historical sources, but important questions remained regarding the nature of this use. Specifically, it was found that while the teachers in this survey reported using digital and non-digital primary historical sources in their classrooms, they did not report using these resources in a manner consistent with literature-based best practices for social studies and history education.
– The purpose of this paper is to explore the professional dilemmas of historians of education in the USA.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the professional dilemmas of historians of education in the USA.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses historiographical analysis.
Findings
While some aspects of both “prophet” and “fool” cultural archetypes fit some historians of education, neither archetype is a useful model for discussing the possible professional positions and roles of new scholars. Instead, “border-crossing” is an appropriate metaphor for new scholars in the history of education.
Originality/value
This manuscript addresses a topic of concern to many historians of education in multiple countries. It moves beyond material concerns of intellectuals to discuss the cultural archetypes that may be at play.
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Frederick J. Brigham, Christopher Claude, John William McKenna and Larissa Lemp
In this chapter, we examine the current research on how technology is applied to benefit students with emotional and/or behavioral disorders (EBD). First, we describe the…
Abstract
In this chapter, we examine the current research on how technology is applied to benefit students with emotional and/or behavioral disorders (EBD). First, we describe the iterative yet unpredictable nature of technological innovation to suggest that incremental successes are qualified by the creation of often unforeseen consequences. We then identify commonly used nonelectronic technologies in education to emphasize that the hoped-for advances in electronic technology have failed to deliver on their decades-old promise of educational revolution. We continue with our review of the literature on empirical studies examining how technology is used to support students with EBD. These findings indicate that the research design primarily employed in this field is single-subject. Examples of specific findings include web-based graphic organizers for student writing, virtual self-modeling for targeting student behaviors, and virtual coaching for teachers of students with EBD. We conclude by reviewing how leaders in the field of special education predict the field will change in the future. Overall, with an increased emphasis on research accessibility and practitioner-validated knowledge, and advances in neuroscience and artificial technologies, practitioners may hold a more central role to the creation and dissemination of knowledge.