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"Teaching"

Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Regional Development is unique in that it addresses the central factors in economic development - entrepreneurship, innovation and organizational learning - as regional phenomena. This definitive text focuses on different types of organizations to illustrate the value of entrepreneurship and innovation both for businesses and for regional development. Establishing a firm link between entrepreneurship, innovation and economic regeneration, the book also examines the factors contributing to their success. Replete with international case studies, empirical evidence of concepts and practical examples, this is an ideal text to support postgraduate teaching and research related to entrepreneurship, innovation management and regional economic development. © 2012 Jay Mitra. All rights reserved.

The qualification of adult educators is a central aspect of the quality of adult education. However, within current policy discourses and adult education research on the professional development of prospective adult educators, little attention is paid to teacher qualification when compared to other fields of education and training. In this study, we analyse the qualification paths, or learning trajectories, of prospective adult educators in Sweden and Denmark. The analysis is based on narrative interviews with 29 students in training to become adult educators. The career paths of adult educators are often long and winding roads. Becoming an adult educator could be their primary desire, but it could also be their 'Plan B', a second choice. Individual motives and external demands interact in the professionalisation process. A shift in focus from teaching subject and methods to teaching context and the relation to the learners is part of the professional development. Finally, we argue that both academic studies and hands-on work in the adult education community are crucial parts of the adult educator's qualification path. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

The 'Learning and Innovation Factory for Integrative Production Education (LF)' at the Vienna University of Technology (VUT) is the basis of the case study presented in this paper. One of the key objectives of the Learning Factory was to develop an immersive learning environment resulting in an integrated hands-on and 'heads-on' educational laboratory. One key-challenge was the utilization of the potential of problem-based and action-oriented learning and its transfer to higher education in industrial engineering. The teaching methodology harnesses the advantages of an interdisciplinary, experience-based and applied approach to learning and knowledge transfer, in order to build and hone the key competences of future industrial engineers. This is done in the context of a comprehensive approach to the Product Development Process, spanning the entire genesis of a product from product conception to serial production. Therefore, the pilot course was dubbed the 'integrative Product Emergence Process' (i-PEP). The presented case study shows the first results with respect to competence development for industrial engineers and presents the current approach of the VUT-LF and intended future developments. © 2013 TEMPUS Publications.

The present study analyzes some problems of the current higher vocational education on urban rail transit by investigating personnel cultivation of rail transit in higher vocational colleges in China. Subsequently, the researcher deeply discusses the following aspects: speciality establishment, curriculum system construction, systematic textbooks, teaching format, practice and internship equipment, faculty troop, cooperation between colleges and enterprises etc. Finally, the result reveals that the current situation of urban rail transit in higher vocational education is not optimistic, and needs to be reformed. © (2013) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland.

How to be a Brilliant FE Teacher is a straightforward, friendly guide to being an effective and innovative teacher in post-compulsory education. Focussing on practical advice drawn from the author’s extensive and successful personal experience of both teaching and training teachers, it offers sound guidance, underpinned by the latest research, theory and policy in the field. Structured around the questions that all new teachers and lecturers ask in their first teaching post, it is an introduction to both essential teaching skills and what to expect from working in this exciting, fast-paced sector. Key chapters cover: The learners – who they are, diversity and motivation; What will actually happen – organising teaching, technology and resources; How to keep your students’ interest – understanding and responding to learning styles; How will I know if they’ve learned it? – assessment and feedback; Making sure it’s working – student evaluation, reflecting on and improving practice. Packed throughout with information about where to find the best materials and resources to support your teaching, this book also offers sensible advice on balancing home and life, working effectively with your colleagues and progressing in your career. How to be a Brilliant FE Teacher will be a source of support and inspiration for all those embarking on their initial training and first post in the sector, as well as qualified professionals looking for reassuring, fresh ideas. © 2014 Vicky Duckworth.

Designers face varied, often competing, demands across different disciplines and clients. This has stimulated significant but divergent demands from social scientists, professional educators, training professionals, basic scientists, and K12 and post-secondary educators. While prospects appear unlimited, the approach needed to address these design challenges continues to be disputed. Disagreements concerning the role and influence of differing theoretical, philosophical, epistemological and pedagogical perspectives on design have been debated for more than a century, but with little resolution (see, e.g. R.E. Clark, 1983; Kozma, 1991; Sheehan & Johnson, 2012). Constructivists, for example, define learning as “a change in social activity that integrates what is known with how one came to know it” (Tobias & Duffy, 2009, p. 8). They present evidence that different approaches facilitate learning, especially for ill-structured problems and in ill-structured domains. Critics, however, question the basis for these assertions as well as the implications for associated design practices. Criticisms have been levied against a range of learning approaches including discovery, problem-based, experiential, and inquiry-based teaching. While the debates often center on constructivism versus objectivism, I argue that the design issues require close examination of underlying theories, epistemologies and research appropriate for directed versus non-directed approaches to support learning. © 2013 Taylor & Francis.

This article examines the development of new teachers' practice and conceptions of teaching in English further education (FE). Drawing upon data from observations and interviews involving both trainee and serving teachers at a large FE college, it discusses and applies a restricted conceptualisation of culture to investigate the influence of local cultures on new teachers. The paper concludes that while experiences of sections of teachers within the institution may diverge, they share much greater commonality. Even in the few instances where distinctive and sustainable local cultures existed these did not necessarily lead to distinctive teaching practices, suggesting that the most powerful influences on teaching in FE may derive from dominant ideas in society, not from local workplace settings. The paper argues that research that concentrates on the local, such as the Transforming Learning Cultures in Further Education project, risks understating the significance of wider cultural influences on learning, in this case on learning to teach in FE. © 2013 Further Education Research Association.

This chapter informs readers on ways to integrate social media into the college classroom. Preexisting and relevant research is reviewed including suggested practices, efficacy of use, and data supporting the teaching methods described. Data from an original study is also presented, which assessed students' perspectives on integrating social media into the higher education classroom. The authors of this chapter also provide suggestions on how to transform research into actual classroom practices based on theory including informal and incidental theory, relational mentoring, and situation learning theory. © 2013, IGI Global.

The competence-based formation model has oriented educational policies in different countries during the last decades. From this model, the socio-formative approach has its basis and works as a referent in Latin America to orient the formation and competence assessment. The socio-formative approach uses the methodology of the formative projects by means of an articulated set of pedagogical strategies that are used along the time to solve the problems of the context. This paper presents a model for competences development and assessment using formative projects as part of a technological architecture to personalize the students' educational experience through a virtual learning environment. The model is structured considering the pedagogical guidelines of the University Corporation CIFE, in Mexico. Finally, a case study is presented to validate the proposed model with formation methodology in a virtual course in the CIFE. © 2013 IEEE.

This paper describes the current influence of the remote laboratory on practical learning aspects of secondary sector of education. The key challenges faced by the teaching of science include insufficient hands-on laboratory usage in classrooms. The main objective of the paper is to present learning approach of adaptation and usage of remote experiments of WebLab-Deusto in curriculum of secondary school. The activity was organized in collaboration with secondary school teachers of P. Andrés Urdaneta School. Educators can benefit from different teaching methods (collaborative, inquiry-, and project-based learning) integrated in WebLab-Deusto. The teaching of Ohm's Law in Physics curriculum of secondary school was one of the topics executed during this research. The remote laboratory assignment for students was developed on Virtual Instrument Systems in Reality (VISIR) Open Lab Platform. The existing remote laboratories are more or less copies of hands-on ones. VISIR is a remote laboratory created by Blekinge Institute of technology (BTH) for designing, wiring and measurement of electric circuits. This main feature of VISIR allows one building a scenario of performing basic DC and low frequency AC circuits experiments related to Ohm's and Kirchhoff's laws. Moreover, the students will become familiar with instruments, components, manuals, data sheets, circuit wiring, and other laboratory work. In the paper the main principle of VISIR will be presented; the remote experiments executed by students will be shown. Finally, the result of integrating of remote experiments for study in Urdaneta School will be discussed. © 2013 IEEE.