Democracy in education, best practices in literacy and a framework for blended learning
Core conceptual features of successful blended learning in higher education: Policy implications
By: Teklu Abate Bekele, The American University in Cairo; Ibrahim M. Karkouti, The American University in Cairo; Samuel Amponsah, University of Ghana
Published in: Education Policy Analysis Archives, October 25, 2022
Universities — worldwide — have learned that using technology to support online or blended learning is a survival strategy. That said, the authors note that a sound theoretical framework to adequately explain success indicators and success factors in blended learning is lacking. Existing frameworks provide particulars about the effects of blended learning within certain contexts, but none provide a comprehensive analysis of the significant factors that transcend specific application contexts. To better inform successful blended learning adoption, this study problematizes success indicators and success factors based on a configurative review of existing frameworks and emerging theoretical perspectives in higher education. The researchers propose a holistic conceptual framework that transcends context specificity to better inform policy making, instructional design, and teaching and learning.
Review of Public education: Defending a cornerstone of American democracy
By: Jed Woods Hayes and Joel R. Malin, Miami University
Published in: Education Review, November 2, 2022
David Berliner, MLFTC Regents Professor Emeritus and Research Professor and Carl Hermanns, MLFTC clinical associate professor bring together many of the nation’s most respected educators and scholars — with a particular focus on the contributions of Horace Mann as a visionary of an education system that could serve and sustain American democracy — to reflect on how and why to “uphold, defend and perfect the critical and transformative role of public education that Mann envisioned, and for which he advocated,” in this collection of edited essays. Hayes and Malin state that while reading this “ambitious six-part edited volume,” the significant takeaway was, “How can we reflect on our practice as educators in a way that sees our own responsibility in going off track, while also acknowledging that only hope and concerted action will see us through?”
By: Jennifer Manak, Rollins College; Chelsey Bahlmann Bollinger, James Madison University; Courtney Shimek, West Virginia University; Jennifer Barrett-Tatum, Western Carolina University; Debra K. Wellman, Rollins College
Published in: Current Issues in Education, October 21, 2022
This study illuminates the voices of literacy teachers. Findings were based on a questionnaire about what teachers perceive as best practices in literacy instruction. The 44 teacher respondents taught pre-K–6 in rural, suburban and urban schools, with 40% teaching in Title I schools. Teaching experience ranged from one to more than 20 years. More than 130 best practices in literacy instruction were identified and responses illustrated many of the components of comprehensive literacy instruction that covered a broad array of practices, from the initiation of instruction through the assessment of student learning. Responses were organized into three themes: Preparing for instruction, literacy instruction and student assessment and differentiation.
Centering Love as the Foundation of a Racially Just and Decolonizing Student Affairs
By: Dian Squire, Loyola University Chicago; Rachael Blansett, Oyster River Cooperative School District; Raquel Wright-Mair, Rowan University
Published in: Current Issues in Education, October 21, 2022
The researchers of this study challenge the idea of how people commonly think about love as an abstract notion (“fight hate with love”) and, instead, reimagine what love means within a movement that challenges oppressive structures within student affairs. In this manuscript, the researchers provide an overview of settler colonialism and its impact in student affairs, review how love is academically and culturally defined across fields, and present an alternative framework for building love as an actionable "skill set" that allows educators to move the field toward racial justice and humanization.
By: Blanca N. Ibarra, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Published in: Current Issues in Education, October 21, 2022
This study examines the benefits of utilizing social-emotional learning in today’s classrooms to address students’ academic and social-emotional needs. As teachers transition from remote instruction to face-to-face or blended learning, an emphasis must be placed on addressing students’ social and emotional needs while addressing learning loss, Ibarra states. Social-emotional learning, or SEL, may have been in place in school systems before the pandemic; however, understanding SEL and the instructional practices that contribute to developing a learning environment that nourishes students’ sense of belonging is necessary to inform teacher pedagogical practices post-pandemic, writes Ibarra. As teachers attempt to provide a sense of normalcy in the classroom, they must skillfully balance designing instruction, creating an inviting classroom community and helping students “feel” safe and supported, says Ibarra.
About our journals
MLFTC sponsors three innovative, open-access journals on education scholarship. EPAA is a peer-reviewed, international, multilingual and multidisciplinary journal designed for researchers, practitioners, policymakers and development analysts concerned with education policies. Education Review publishes reviews of books on education topics and Acquired Wisdom essays by esteemed educational researchers, and CIE is a peer-reviewed journal led by MLFTC graduate students.
Contact Stephanie McBride-Schreiner to learn more about our journals.