An Investigation of Factors That Contribute to Student Satisfaction From Online Courses＂ An Example of an Online Accounting Course

Although most courses are offered in the traditional synchronous way where teaching and learning mainly take place in the classroom, the Internet has proven to be an effective tool in learning. The demand of online courses is constantly growing, however, there is a paucity of research of online delivery success factors, especially of accounting courses. The aim of this paper was to investigate＇the factors that contribute to student satisfaction from online teaching and learning of an accounting course. This study was conducted at a university in the United States （U.S.） amongst 80 students enrolled in an online accounting course over a period of two semesters. The quantitative data are based on the students＇ course evaluation forms of the instructor＇s teaching and overall satisfaction with the course. The findings suggest that the students found the asynchronous online teaching and learning interesting and challenging. The factors that mainly contribute to student satisfaction include the instructor＇s preparation for the course and her availability to students, the clear grading criteria, the assignment which they found useful, and the other resources that were available online. They value the least the development of writing skills. Additionally, this study proposes that there is a positive significant correlation between the instructor＇s overall performance and the overall student satisfaction from the course. The instructor＇s performance, availability, and easy to use technology enhance the learning and teaching from online pedagogies.     

The Influences of the Teaching Beliefs of a Specific Teacher When Teaching an Elementary School Ecology Curriculum

The objectives of the present study were： （a） to identify the teaching beliefs of an ecology teacher when teaching an ecology course; and （b） to determine the influences of these beliefs on students＇ learning performance. The present study employed a case study research method to conduct a year-long observation, focusing on the teacher＇s teaching beliefs, research representations, and the students＇ attitudes and changes in their ecological knowledge. The present study employed both qualitative and quantitative analyses through classroom observations, teacher and student interview questionnaires, a self-administered course comprehension questionnaire, and an ecology course attitude scale among other tools. Findings indicated that the research teacher maintained teaching beliefs that were improvement-oriented and preferred to use an integrated teaching method that was diversified and provided interdisciplinary knowledge. Through the ecology course, the students were able to rectify their misconceptions, learn to view nature from a macro-perspective, and respect life. The results obtained in the present study can be provided to other teachers as a reference and learning direction when teaching ecology courses.     

Teacher learning： Reflective practice as a site of engagement for professional identity construction

This paper reports a qualitative study in response to the growing research interest in teacher learning. Informed by a sociocultural perspective, teacher learning is considered as a process of identity construction in the paper. This paper taps into the development of teacher identity embedded in teacher learning and views reflection as a social practice for enhancing teacher learning. Through a close analysis of a selected discussion thread, this paper aims to demonstrate that teacher-learners＇ reflective practice in the online learning community provided a site of engagement for developing their professional identity and shaping the practice of teaching in their process of learning to teach.     

Why not Intercultural Education?

Now more than ever teachers and those in teacher training positions are being confronted with the prevalence of multicultural and multilingual classroom environments. Along with this presence, they also face international and national policies which call for effective and successful strategy building for coping with diverse settings. This appeal often manifests with an inability on the teacher＇s part to effectively facilitate these multicultural classrooms, as well as an inability on the students＇ part to interact and finally contribute to a larger national and global goal of intercultural cooperation. A growing body of research suggests that as those in the field of teaching and teacher education seek to improve classroom techniques, curricula, and teaching practice in the area of diversity they continue to face disparaging and almost disillusioning results. What were traditionally seen as venues in dealing with issues in multiculturalism and diversity through multicultural education have been left unanswered？ The purpose of this article thus seeks to explore the pedagogical concept of intercultural education as a way to suggest discourse of dealing with the challenges to diversity in the classroom.     

Pedagogical Content Knowledge of Inquiry： An Instrument to Assess It and Its Application to High School In-Service Science Teachers

It is argued that the lack of consensus on what constitutes an inquiry-based approach makes the generalization about it difficult, because the concept is relatively unspecific and vague. This problem can partially be solved by constructing a set of activities promoted by inquiry, thus defining the inquiry objectives for classroom and laboratory teaching. Five high school and college Mexican teachers＇ PICK （pedagogical inquiry/content knowledge） was documented and assessed by means of Loughran, Mulhall and Berry＇s （2004） l-CoRe （inquiry content representation） developed by the authors through a proposal of a set of seven inquiry activities. They were also interviewed to construct the professional and pedagogical experience repertoires, a second tool by Loughran et al. （2004） to document PICK. It was observed that all teachers interviewed have used inquiry to modify their students＇ way of thinking, mainly through question posing. Some of them employed research as their main tool to promote scientific inquiry but others mentioned the lack of time to do it. It is interesting to notice that in spite of the fact that inquiry is out of the curriculum in M6xico, the teachers make use of it to improve their teaching practice. According to their answers, their actions in the classroom or the lab were classified within the three general approaches expressed by Lederman （2004）： implicit, historical and explicit. It is concluded that a given teacher cannot be classified exclusively in one of them, because in his/her activities one general approach overlaps the others. The authors conclude that Lederman＇s classification has to be taken into account as an orientation to characterize a given activity of one teacher, even though the same teacher may use another activity characterized by other general approach. That is, Lederman＇s classification applies to characterize activities, not persons     

A Case Study of Improving a Reading Class via Peer Observation

The significance of peer observations has been emphasized in English language teaching as a powerful tool to support understanding and development of one’s teaching beliefs and actual practice.This thesis first presents the position and necessity of employing peer observation in teacher’s professional development with reference to the literature,and then it outlines the process of the author’s implementation of peer observation in classroom in terms of pre-,during-and post-observation.Data interpretation provides more insights into the strengths and problems of the author’s classroom teaching and arrangement,and the possible solutions accordingly.     

An Investigation of Non-Thesis Master＇s Program Geography Teacher Candidates＇ Attitudes Towards Teaching Profession Regarding Several Socio-Cultural Features

The purpose of this study is to examine the attitudes of non-thesis master＇s degree program： geography teacher candidates towards teaching profession regarding several socio-cultural features. The study was conducted in different universities with 218 geography teacher candidates enrolled in the geography education non-thesis master＇s degree program. The study was made by survey model. Data were collected by the ＂Attitude Scales Towards Teaching Profession＂ developed by ~etin （2006） and ＂Personal Information Form＂ developed by the authors. Data were analyzed by t-test, ANOVA （the one-way analysis of variance） （F） and LSD （least significant difference） techniques. The results are given as follows： （1） The average of candidates＇ attitude grades are in favor of female candidates; （2） There is no difference between whether candidates work at a job; （3） According to variables of the types of high school graduated, educational level of the parents, occupations, income level and living place, there is no difference in candidates＇ attitudes scores; and （4） Candidates＇ enrolled in the geography education non-thesis master＇s degree program reason of preference influence on attitudes to teaching profession.     

Teachers' Roles in the Teaching of the Course of English Linguistics

Linguistics is a necessary course for English-majors because it plays an important role in second language learning, teaching and research. It is significant, yet difficult to make this course comprehensible and interesting and get the students involved in and attracted by it. This paper intends to analyze and explore teachers’ roles in the course of linguistics from the following aspects: as an explainer, as an activator, as a co-learner, as a question-finder and as an enabler. Some examples are taken to show how to make use of comparison, contrast, instance, discussion, and practice for classroom management. What’s important for a teacher of linguistics is not only to understand linguistic theories and carry on linguistic research by him- or herself, but also to make his or her students get to know the nature of language and learn to do scientific studies of language by themselves.     

Formative Use of Language Assessment： Supporting Learning Through the Medium of a Second Language

Over the last decade, there has been an increased interest in investigation of assessment for learning. However, to date, there are still very few studies that investigated assessment for language learning or formative language assessment, focusing particularly on： （a） effects of formative assessment on learners＇ linguistic development and on teachers＇ teaching and lesson planning; （b） variables influencing the frequency and extent of effectiveness of formative assessment; （c） teachers＇ and learners＇ views on teacher feedback and learner peer- and self- assessment; and （d） fulfilment of the requirements set in the official United Kingdom （UK） policy documents on effective teaching and assessment of learners with English as an additional language （EAL）, also known as English as an second language （ESL） in the United States （U.S.）, in real classrooms. This article addressed these issues, and thus, extended the limited knowledge base on formative language assessment research to date. Moreover, through examining classroom-embedded language assessment processes from various perspectives, this research paper made a link between two research areas： （a） language testing and assessment; and （b） second language acquisition, also a relatively neglected field of research. This paper investigated two intact primary immersion classrooms, with learners as young as 8-10 years old and teachers whose teaching roles in the classrooms differed; two teachers were mainstream classroom teachers （CTs） and one was a mainstream teacher with specific responsibilities for language development in the school. The data were derived from literacy, numeracy, and science lessons through classroom observations and from the research participants through interviews. The data were firstly transcribed and coded qualitatively and then analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The findings revealed that various language assessment strategies were used regardless of the subject area of the les     

Critical Discourse Analysis： A Theoretical Framework for Analyzing Mathematics Teaching in Multilingual Classrooms？

The purpose of this article is to develop a framework that can be used to describe and explain how mathematics teachers construct a multilingual classroom and the discourse practices being produced in a mathematics classroom. It conceptualizes the discourse practices used by mathematics teacher educators as they prepare student teachers to teach mathematics. The framework developed here is shaped by Critical Discourse Analysis （CDA） drawn from Fairclough. This provides the theoretical and conceptual tools to examine the discourse practices of mathematics teacher educators and how the）＇ make available these discourse practices for student teachers to draw on. In broad terms, this article examines the discourse practices of the mathematics teacher educators and how they support the student teachers develop discourse practices relevant for teaching and learning school mathematics in multilingual classrooms. This article is broken down into several sections. The first section discusses what it means for student teachers to develop discourse practices for mathematics teaching. The second section provides an introduction to CDA, followed by its origins, key terms, and elements of Fairclough＇s CDA. Thereafter, the author outlines the strategies involved in doing CDA. The last section discusses why CDA is relevant to the mathematics classroom.     

The teaching of socioscientific issues in interdisciplinarity biology-philosophy, an ethical stake and citizenship issue

This research starts from a relatively optimistic thinking based on the fact that the teaching of the socioscientific issues through the practice of argued debates can contribute positively towards education in scientific citizenship. The teaching of techno-sciences raises topical questions which interfere in the classroom and at the same time carry scientific and social controversies within which it is possible to anchor the construction of new knowledge and citizen＇s behaviours. These controversial issues raise more questions and motivate the pupils more. Setting these topics for debate in the classroom could ＂restore, if only a little, what＂ Astolfi likes to call ＂the taste of knowledge （savoirs） ＇since the two words （saveur and savoir） come from the same Greek root＇ sapere＂, as Astolfi, 2006, marvellously put it in the foreword to the recent book How to teach socially acute questions （Legardez ＆ Simonneaux, 2006）. The present contribution is research in progress. It questions a protocol of training of future teachers. The principal objective is to train the pre-service teachers to teach socioscientific issues （SSI）. Like Funtowicz and Ravetz （1992, 1993）, we think that the SSI belong to ＂Post-Normal-Science＇. Accordingly, we will study the contribution of the training in epistemic, social and ethical values in the analysis of socioscientific issues by biology and philosophy future teachers. We will analyze the evolution of teacher trainees＇ decision-making after training on 3 socioscientific issues （the oncomice, the baby drug, the therapeutic cloning） and the impact of this socioepistemologic and ethical training on their teaching practices.     

The exploration of student-centred approaches for the improvement of learning programming in higher education

The author has undergone a major shift in the way of teaching his undergraduate computer programming courses. In the classroom, the teacher＇s computer is connected to a splitter and a video projector that display the computer＇s screen to the entire class. Using this technology, the programming language itself is used live in class to help the students learn how to program. The students are learning in a context by far livelier than those of previous methods. Teaching computer programming is not achieved by lecturing and writing the program instructions on board or by displaying program instructions to the class on transparencies or slides of electronic presentations. With the implementation of student-centered approaches, the students migrated from the state of passive receivers to constructors of computer programming concepts. Students are coached to develop a sense of exploration, individuality and autonomous thinking. The enthusiasm for technology has been facilitating and supporting the learner-centered approach. Everyone in this approach is a learner, including the teacher.     

Oral Presentation——Opportunity or Suffering

This paper is about a reflective practice happened in the author’ s College English teaching.Since 2005,a 5-minute oral-presentation was required for all the students in turn,in order to raise opportunities for them to practice oral English.But the students’ responses were always disappointing since they only took the task as a burden.After the teacher lift the limits on presentation time,form,sequence,partner,etc.,better learning outcomes were achieved.When reflecting on this change,Biggs’3P Models of "constructive alignment" is taken into account.Any teaching and learning activity (TLA) cannot put the students’ and the teacher’ s presage aside since the students’ ability,interests,motivation as well as the teacher’ s objective,assessment approach and so on are co-determinants of a successful TLA.Further suggestions are given based on this reflection at the end of the paper.     

Sexuality education： Analysis of Moroccan teachers＇ and future teachers＇ conceptions

Conceptions are analyzed as being the emergences from interactions between three poles： scientific knowledge （K）, values （V） and social practices （P）. The teachers＇ beliefs and values have a direct influence on the way of understanding and teaching a topic. These beliefs must be taken into account in the content and strategies of the teacher＇s formation. In this paper, the authors discuss the importance of studying and analyzing these conceptions and present the results of the research on teachers＇ and future teachers＇ conceptions about sexual health education. In this topic, the conceptions could be deeply rooted not only in scientific knowledge but also in value systems and social practices, because teachers often refuse to teach the ethical, psychological, economic and social issues not strictly reducible to biology, such as sexuality health. The authors used a questionnaire prepared jointly within the European project Biohead-Citizen.     

Significance of Educational Research

The intent of this article is to examine educational research not only plays a vital role in, but also makes a positive contribution to educational practice. By means of research of secondary source collection, relevant evidence is selected, evaluated and organized into three key areas:guidance and methodology to educators, improved quality of teaching and learning and the evolution of education. In order to explain those three benefits obtained from the educational research, examples based on ESL researches and experts’ opinions are used. The research results strongly show that educational research is valuable in providing guidance and methodology to educators, improving quality of teaching and learning and promoting the evolution of education. Based on these findings, educational research is definitely beneficial and significant for educational practice In the future, more extensive researches should be constantly be conducted. Besides, educators should evaluate researches in order to realize a desirable teaching effect.     

Research on ESL/EFL Teachers＇ Beliefs in China and Abroad： An Overview

Teachers＇ beliefs greatly influence the way that the teachers function in the classroom. Teacher as an important medium for student＇ language learning, the study of teachers and their beliefs in Western countries and in China is a worthwhile topic. This paper offers a selective review and rethinking about what has been done and being done in relation to the understanding of teacher＇s belief, and their belief about language teaching and learning, students learning, themselves as both teachers and individuals; identify some sources of teachers＇ belief and address the needs for change. Understanding teachers＇ conceptualizations of teaching, their beliefs, thinking, and decision making can help us better understand the nature of language teacher education and hence better prepare us for our roles as teacher and teacher educators.     

A Model of Teaching and Learning Online in Asian Context

Online teaching and learning practices in Asian universities are different from that in western universities. Western universities give emphasis on student-student interaction for learning. Online courses offered by most Asian universities are a kind of mixed mode that comprised simultaneous face-to-face tutorials and online interaction facility. In this situation most students use the online facility to collect resources and to contact their teachers. The quantity of student-student interaction was sporadic in many courses. So research is needed to improve the situation and create an environment for students where they can learn what peer group interaction is and practice it. This paper has presented for Asian universities. Possible barriers in teaching and learning have been considered to develop the model. a model of teaching and learning online situations in Asia and students＇abilities     

An Excursion into the Time Tunnel of Curriculum Development in Macau： A Story of Discourses and Practices

The first wave of educational reforms in Macau took place in late 80s and early 90s. In 1991, the first Education Law was approved in Legislative Council. It signified a path leading to more ＂disciplined＂ education system. It was then by legislative means through standardization, regulations, implementation of the universal free education, establishment of the ＂public school net＂, construction of a ＂localized＂ curriculum framework, and the definition of various kinds of teacher education enabled the government to participate in overall educational matters. Among all, curriculum development is a significant component in the arena of educational reform. The localized curriculum was first implementation in 1995 in all government schools with Chinese as a medium of instruction, and was not compulsory in private schools. Macau is now starting a second wave of educational reform, with special attention to the re-construction of the present curriculum. Thus, it is the objective of this study to examine and disclose the discourses and practices of the curriculum development in the territory in order to re-vision the future development. The time travelling tunnel gives two scientists the ability to travel in time and space in the television series in the UK in 1960＇s. In this paper, ＇excursion into the time tunnel＇ is used metaphorically, to describe the research process for it is to be adventure and an exploration. Furthermore, the metaphor ＇time tunnel＇ also bridges the present to the past and the future. This is how the author attempts to reveal the story of discourses and practices of the curriculum development in Macau through the ＇time tunnel＇ interweaving with the past, the present and the future. This study stems from a particular stance of educational policy analysis. The study is informed by aspects of critical and post-structuralist perspective, with particular reference to Michel Foucault. In this paper, official document, namely Gazette （known as Boletin Oficial in Portuguese） is the focal point of interest.