An Examination of Coursera as an Information Environment: Does Coursera Fulfill its Mission to Provide Open Education to All?

In terms of international education, the concept of online education seems to be a growing trend. Edxonline.org, Minervaproject.com, and Udacity.com are all new massive online open courses (MOOCs)—education websites similar to Coursera offering students the ability to receive the best education from elite universities entirely online. The most tantalizing promise of a company like Coursera is the role it might play in improving education for the world's have-nots: high school dropouts, the global poor, and those less able to self-teach.     

Organizational Dissent as a Function of Organizational Justice

This study examined the relationships between perceptions of organizational justice and enacting organizational dissent. Participants were 107 full-time employees working in various organizations. Results indicated that employee perceptions of distributive and interpersonal justice negatively predicted latent dissent, while perceptions of informational justice positively predicted latent dissent. Perceptions of interpersonal justice were the strongest predictor of latent dissent. Perceptions of justice were not related to articulated or displaced dissent. Future research should continue to explore triggering agents of dissent in organizations.     

Integrating reading and science education: On developing and evaluating WEE Science

Two studies of a new science programme called WEE Science were conducted in two fifth-grade classrooms. The studies lasted for seven days in one of the classrooms and nine days in the other. At the beginning of the programme the students chose a science trade book from among the many that were selected and brought to the classroom. The students then formed groups based on the topics of the books and asked questions (Wondering) about the content. After choosing one of the 'wonderments' to pursue further, the students formed and implemented a plan for investigating (Exploring). In each classroom, each student explored, working in cooperating groups of two or more. The students then explained (Explaining) to a group of their peers what they had wondered and what and how they had explored. The students' wonderments, activities, plans, and explanations were recorded in a science notebook that had been designed for that purpose. In addition, the classrooms were videotaped while WEE Science was in progress. While the studies were successful in that most students eagerly participated in all phases of the project, some problems were encountered which created another round of wondering for the researchers. Some of these were: evaluating students' work, responding to science misconceptions of students, teaching some students to record observations in their notebooks, deciding where WEE Science would fit best in the curriculum, and anticipating its reception in the science education community.     

Unpacking Our Academic Suitcases: The Inner Workings of Our Feminist Research Group

In this paper we focus on the lived experiences of multidisciplinary scholars as we navigated and coalesced into a productive, interdisciplinary collaboration. We pull from our foundations in feminist methodology and provide excerpts from personal journals and reflexive group interviews to provide a behind-the-scenes account of the inner workings of a feminist research group. While sharing a common research goal, each member negotiated her personal, conceptual, and epistemological stances as we produced an effective, interdisciplinary pastiche. Throughout this process, we worked to create a non-hierarchical atmosphere, continuously and ethically questioned our methods, and incorporated reflexivity in the research processes. In addition to sharing our past experiences, we note challenges we encountered and offer practical suggestions based on the lessons we learned through this collaboration.     

The effect of tuition fees on student mobility: the UK and Ireland as a natural experiment

We exploit changes in student funding policies across the four UK nations and the Republic of Ireland to conduct a natural experiment investigating the marginal effect of differing tuition fee levels on students' enrolment behaviour. Whilst previous international research suggests increases in fees suppress demand and disincentivise cross‐border educational migration, some studies in North America and Germany find an element of inelasticity of demand. In the UK, various commentators have predicted marked shifts in student mobility in response to variation in tuition fee prices by country, trends expected to sharpen following substantial planned rises in tuition fees from 2012. After outlining tuition fee policies in the UK and Ireland, we analyse data on student enrolment destinations across the five countries for the period 2000–2010. We find little evidence to support the notion that student mobility is driven by economic ‘rationality’. Enrolment rates have risen despite increases in tuition fees and there is a long‐term trend for students to stay at home. Students seem not to be ‘pushed’ out‐of‐country by higher fees, but may be discouraged from moving if fees are lower in‐country. Student mobility within the UK and Ireland follows well‐worn paths from and to specific countries and institutions. Finally, we consider the implications of our findings for student mobility in general and forthcoming changes to UK student funding policies in particular.     

A study of sustainable assessment theory in higher education tutorials

A study of sustainable assessment theory in nine tutorial courses at four colleges demonstrated that three long-term learning outcomes improved: Independence, Intellectual Maturity and Creativity. Eight of 10 traits associated with these outcomes were validated through internal reliability, faculty and student rubrics, and faculty case studies reporting pedagogic innovations and improvements of student abilities in self-assessment. The findings suggest that sustainable assessment theory should be applied using methods encompassing a strong commitment to equity, including shared criteria for long-term learning outcomes and faculty and student monitoring of student progress towards outcomes through periodic rubrics and reflective sessions.     

An Exploratory Study of Teachers' Beliefs Regarding the Implementation of Constructivism in Their Classrooms

Journal of Science Teacher Education -