Much has been written about how to engage students in their learning, but very little of it has issued from students themselves. Compiled by one of the leading scholars in the field of student voice, this sourcebook draws on the perspectives of secondary students in the United States, England, Canada, and Australia as well as on the work of teachers, researchers, and teacher educators who have collaborated with a wide variety of students.Highlighting student voices, it features five chapters focused on student perspectives, articulated in their own words, regarding specific approaches to creating and maintaining a positive classroom environment and designing engaging lessons and on more general issues of respect and responsibility in the classroom. To support educators in developing strategies for accessing and responding to student voices in their own classrooms, the book provides detailed guidelines created by educational researchers for gathering and acting upon student perspectives. To illustrate how these approaches work in practice, the book includes stories of how pre-service and in-service teachers, school leaders, and teacher educators have made student voices and participation central to their classroom and school practices. And finally, addressing both practical and theoretical questions, the book includes a chapter that outlines action steps for high school teachers, school leaders, and teacher educators and a chapter that offers a conceptual framework for thinking about and engaging in this work. Bringing together in a single text student perspectives, descriptions of successful efforts to access them in secondary education contexts, concrete advice for practitioners, and a theoretical framework for further exploration, this sourcebook can be used to guide practice and support re-imagining education in secondary schools of all kinds, and the principles can be adapted for other educational contexts.

This edited volume brings together 10 cutting-edge empirical studies on the realities of English language learning, teaching and testing in a wide range of global contexts where English is an additional language. It covers three themes: learners’ development of interactional competence, the organization of teaching and testing practices, and sociocultural and ideological forces that may impact classroom interaction. With a decided focus on English-as-a-Foreign-Language contexts, the studies involve varied learner populations, from children to young adults to adults, in different learning environments around the world. The insights gained will be of interest to EFL professionals, as well as teacher trainers, policymakers and researchers.

This volume shares proven strategies for Academic English teaching, research, and development in challenging circumstances. Through original first-hand experiences from around the world, the collection reveals how educators in higher education have responded to the specific needs and challenges of teaching second language learners in turbulent times, as seen during the COVID-19 pandemic. Organised thematically, the book covers rapid responses to crises, adapting to teaching online, collaborations and online learning communities, and assessment practices. The volume provides original insights and practical suggestions for a range of practices across English for Academic and Specific Purposes that can address new and unfamiliar circumstances, both now and in future challenging times. The collection includes a wealth of effective strategies, varied research methodologies, and resources for practice making it an invaluable reference for practitioners, students, and researchers in the field of academic English, ESL/EFL, and online language instruction.

Maximizing student outcomes in education presents a significant challenge, as traditional assessment methods often fall short in providing actionable insights for improvement. Perspectives on Learning Analytics for Maximizing Student Outcomes addresses this challenge by offering a comprehensive solution. Edited by esteemed scholars Gürhan Durak and Serkan Çankaya, this book provides innovative knowledge and practical experiences on emerging technologies and processes in learning analytics. It covers topics such as data collection, visualization, predictive analytics, and ethical considerations, serving as a guide for academic scholars, technology enthusiasts, and educational institutions. This book empowers professionals and researchers to leverage learning analytics effectively, enabling data-informed decision-making, improved teaching practices, and tailored educational programs. By presenting best practices and future directions, it equips readers with the necessary tools to optimize learning environments and drive student success. With a focus on the transformative potential of learning analytics, this book propels education toward a more efficient and effective system that prioritizes student outcomes.

The chapters contained in the book present a new and exciting set of conceptual tools that will not only allow us to think about transfer in more productive ways, but will also enable the development of educational and measurement tools that will greatly facilitate our ability to educate the children in our schools. This volume is eclectic in bringing together researchers from psychology and science education (especially physics)—who would not normally present their ideas under the same forum—to share their views and perspectives on transfer. What we believe has emerged is a fresh look at transfer issues from a multidisciplinary perspective.

This book represents the emerging efforts of a growing international network of researchers and practitioners to promote the development and uptake of evidence-based pedagogies in higher education, at something a level approaching large-scale impact. By offering a communication venue that attracts and enhances much needed partnerships among practitioners and researchers in pedagogical innovation, we aim to change the conversation and focus on how we work and learn together – i.e. extending the implementation and knowledge of co–design methods. In this first edition of our Research Topic on Active Learning, we highlight two (of the three) types of publications we wish to promote. First are studies aimed at understanding the pedagogical designs developed by practitioners in their own practices by bringing to bear the theoretical lenses developed and tested in the education research community. These types of studies constitute the "practice pull" that we see as a necessary counterbalance to "knowledge push" in a more productive pedagogical innovation ecosystem based on research-practitioner partnerships. Second are studies empirically examining the implementations of evidence-based designs in naturalistic settings and under naturalistic conditions. Interestingly, the teams conducting these studies are already exemplars of partnerships between researchers and practitioners who are uniquely positioned as “in-betweens” straddling the two worlds. As a result, these publications represent both the rigours of research and the pragmatism of reflective practice. In forthcoming editions, we will add to this collection a third type of publication -- design profiles. These will present practitioner-developed pedagogical designs at varying levels of abstraction to be held to scrutiny amongst practitioners, instructional designers and researchers alike. We hope by bringing these types of studies together in an open access format that we may contribute to the development of new forms of practitioner-researcher interactions that promote co-design in pedagogical innovation.

The contribution of this book to the literature on peer learning is its focus on approaches to peer learning that are concerned with its underlying cognitive processes.

Abstract This study focuses on the use of the blended learning approach in the Saudi EFL context, investigating the advantages and disadvantages of its application in Saudi Electronic University, against a more conventional approach used at Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University. This study also investigates perceptions of students concerning this particular approach. The opinions of instructors are also surveyed in order to identify the challenges and obstacles that they have found in employing it. The study also examines possible differences in performance by comparing five colleges where the approach has been used. For this purpose, 475 students and 12 instructors participated in this study who were studying or working in either SEU or Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University during the first semester of the academic year 1439/1440 from Riyadh female campus. The findings indicated that the students’ results are better using the blended learning approach in their listening performance, also there is a statistically significant difference in the students’ satisfaction in the listening course between the conventional method which is used at Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University and the blended learning approach at Saudi Electronic University in favor of blended learning approach at the SEU, and there is a strongly statistically significant difference in students’listening performance between colleges in favour of college of science and theoretical studies. Finally, the study suggests that further research should be conducted on the use BL in teaching other language skills such as, reading, speaking and writing. Key words: Blended learning, listening performance, Saudi Electronic University

This book presents a practical, effective, and systematic approach to the measurement, assessment, and sensemaking of institutional performance. Included are strategies to measure and assess the performance of Curriculum, Learning, Instruction, Support Services, and Program Feasibility as well as a meaningful Environmental Scanning method.