Educational Development

Part of the well-known Staff and Educational Development Series, this practice oriented book brings together leading research and evaluation approaches and supporting case studies from leading educational researchers and innovative teachers. With much emphasis on change, innovation and developing best practice in higher education, it is essential that those involved in actually developing, researching or implementing approaches to teaching, learning or management, are informed by the experiences of others. The emphasis of this book is on changing practice in HE; how developments come about; what research underpins desirable development; and the impact of development of student learning, staff expertise and institutional practice and policy. Specifically, the book is developed in two themed parts: Part A, Supporting change within subjects and departments. Part B, Supporting change within institutions and the wider environment.

Systematic support for improving education and learning in further and higher education, has moved to centre stage in recent years. This is reflected in the increasing membership of professional bodies. Most new staff are encouraged to engage in staff development programmes, but receive little training to do so. This book has been written to meet this need: it is a practical handbook that introduces the key issues in staff and educational development, ideal for any education professional in the early years of their career at further or higher education level.

This book explores the place of education in development debates and provides a systematic and a theoretical overview of the main approaches to the subject. It emphases the fact that education is profoundly shaped by national and local cultures even if many issues are shared across locations.

Children are already learning at birth, and they develop and learn at a rapid pace in their early years. This provides a critical foundation for lifelong progress, and the adults who provide for the care and the education of young children bear a great responsibility for their health, development, and learning. Despite the fact that they share the same objective - to nurture young children and secure their future success - the various practitioners who contribute to the care and the education of children from birth through age 8 are not acknowledged as a workforce unified by the common knowledge and competencies needed to do their jobs well. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 explores the science of child development, particularly looking at implications for the professionals who work with children. This report examines the current capacities and practices of the workforce, the settings in which they work, the policies and infrastructure that set qualifications and provide professional learning, and the government agencies and other funders who support and oversee these systems. This book then makes recommendations to improve the quality of professional practice and the practice environment for care and education professionals. These detailed recommendations create a blueprint for action that builds on a unifying foundation of child development and early learning, shared knowledge and competencies for care and education professionals, and principles for effective professional learning. Young children thrive and learn best when they have secure, positive relationships with adults who are knowledgeable about how to support their development and learning and are responsive to their individual progress. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 offers guidance on system changes to improve the quality of professional practice, specific actions to improve professional learning systems and workforce development, and research to continue to build the knowledge base in ways that will directly advance and inform future actions. The recommendations of this book provide an opportunity to improve the quality of the care and the education that children receive, and ultimately improve outcomes for children.

Learning is the foundation of the human experience. It begins at birth and never stops, a continuous and malleable link across life stages of human development. Disparities in learning access and outcomes around the world have deep consequences for income, social mobility, health, and well-being. For international development practitioners faced with today's unprecedented environmental and geopolitical pressures, learning should be viewed as a touchstone and target for those seeking to truly effect global change. This book traces the path of international development work—from its pre-colonial origins to the emergence of economics as the dominant discipline in the field—and lays out a new agenda for policymakers, researchers, and practitioners, from early education through adulthood. Learning as Development is an attempt to rethink international education in a changing world.

The book highlights the inadequate attention given to pedagogical frameworks and educational development perspectives in discussions about online learning. It reviews the apparent "technology over drive" in higher education agendas that are influenced by corporate greed rather than by pedagogical need. The author encourages a balanced focus on the use of technology in learning. Technologies, when carefully selected to add value to learning and to provide learners with alternative media to engage in learning, are expected to enhance learning. If embedded technologies do not enhance the learning experience, we have to question their inclusion in learning design. From this perspective, online learning embraces pedagogy as a framework and key focus; and supports the inclusion of technology as an additional component to enhance learning.

Education and National Development: A Comparative Perspective discusses the correlation between education and national development. The book is comprised of nine chapters that cover several concerns regarding the subject matter, such as the theoretical underpinning, dimensions, policies, and practice. The first chapter discusses the origins of modern development thought, while the second chapter talks about how formal schooling can serve as an “agent of change . Chapters 3, 4, and 5 cover the various dimension development, which are economic growth, employment, quality of life, and political system. Chapter 6 discusses strategies for educational reform, while Chapter 7 deals with the evaluation of development policy. The eighth chapter provides a comparative discourse about education and development under capitalism and socialism. Chapter 9 talks about education, the state, and development. The book will be of great interest to readers concerned about how education correlates with national development.

First published in 1995. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

With reference to India.

Information and Communications Technology (ICT) has proved to be one of the key drivers of change in education. In higher education particularly, ICT is enabling educators, educational developers and institutions to 'reach out' to learners, using innovative approaches based on the flexibility, accessibility and diversity that it offers. This book is based on the experiences of expert educational developers from the UK, United States, Canada, South Africa and Malaysia. It considers the ways in which ICT can be used to enhance learning both on and off campus, and how educators and institutions have tackled the issues associated with the adoption of new approaches and technologies. However, as the development of new technology is relentless, the book recognizes that ICT is not a panacea in itself -- good teaching remains crucial to good education. With this in mind, the contributors address issues beyond 'technology', looking at the importance of teaching and at the skills of teachers themselves if ICT is to be truly successful. Coverage is grouped into four key themes: *strategic issues for ICT initiatives *introducing ICT into the classroom *using ICT in practice *using ICT in learning and educational support International in scope, and written by educators and educational developers rather than by technologists, this book is intended to be accessible to anyone with a critical interest in improving education through the use of ICT. It will be of particular interest to staff and educational developers, ICT coordinators, course leaders and course developers.