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To best prepare students for the real‐world research environment, key skills, including experimental design, data analysis, communication of results, and critical thinking, should be key components of undergraduate science courses. Furthermore, the impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on in‐person teaching has resulted in a need to develop courses that enable flexible learning. This paper details the laboratory component of a senior‐level toxicology class that was developed to emphasize all these skills and allow for flexible learning. The aim of the laboratory class was for students to determine how curcumin protected against acetaminophen‐induced hepatoxicity. To stimulate critical thinking, students were required to choose a maximum of four experiments from the six on offer. Before conducting an experiment, students stated a hypothesis and selected the appropriate treatment groups. Once an experiment was completed, students were given access to a complete dataset, on which they performed statistical analysis and drew conclusions. Students who were unable to attend the laboratory session in person were able to complete the required pre‐lab work and access the dataset. Following each experiment, students could write a lab summary, and receive thorough feedback. The final assessment was a written manuscript of their findings as well as a chance to respond to reviewer comments. This teaching approach prioritized the critical thinking, analysis, and experimental design aspects of scientific research. Overall, this structure was well received by students and it could easily be adapted for use on other life science courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzes undergraduate students' enrollment intentions and preferences for alternate teaching modalities during the pandemic under a range of reopening scenarios and flexible teaching modalities to investigate the value of flexible learning options and campus life offerings for students. Using primary survey data from six land‐grant universities, our findings suggest that there is no one‐size‐fits‐all policy for tackling significant shocks like the pandemic. Business‐as‐usual was the most divisive, with wide differences in preferences both within and across universities. These results have important implications for future responses to major disruptions in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To explore students' perception on the implementation of flipped classroom (FC) combined with formative assessment during the undergraduate teaching of orthodontic wire‐bending skills. Methods: Third‐year undergraduate dental students were taught wire‐bending skills via FC teaching method using a series of pre‐recorded online video demonstrations. As part of the formative assessment, the students were given the results and assessment rubrics of their prior wire‐bending assessment before every subsequent session. Purposive sampling method for focus group discussion was used to recruit eight students comprising four high achievers and four low achievers. Strengths, weaknesses and suggestions for improvement of the FC with formative assessment were explored. Data were transcribed and thematically analysed. Results: Students perceived that FC allowed for a more convenient and flexible learning experience with personalised learning and improved in‐class teaching efficiency. The pre‐recorded online videos were useful to aid in teaching wire‐bending skills but lacked three‐dimensional representation of the wire‐bending process. Students suggested better standardisation of instructions and access to the marking rubric before and after assessment. Conclusions: FC teaching with continuous formative assessment and constructive feedback as a form of personalised learning was viewed favourably by students. The implementation of periodic individual feedback can further enhance their learning experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID‐19 pandemic and associated school closures may have constrained educational participation particularly for students in disadvantaged circumstances. We explore how 30 disadvantaged students in secondary school (14 mainstream/16 Flexible Learning Programme) from Queensland, New South Wales and Tasmania experienced home learning during the first wave of COVID‐19, teasing out nuances across two educational models. Drawing on semi‐structured interviews with these students, our analysis revealed three interconnected themes inflecting their learning: connection, connectivity and choice. Connection captures the desire for belonging and practices that facilitated meeting this desire during system‐wide disruptions to school routines and face‐to‐face learning. Connectivity captures the impact of digitally facilitated learning at home on students' ability to engage with curriculum content and with their learning community. Choice captures the availability of viable options to overcome barriers students encountered in their learning and possibilities to flexibly accommodate student preferences and learning needs. Students from Flexible Learning Programmes appeared generally better supported to exercise agency within the scope of their lived experience of home‐based learning. Findings indicate a need for strengthening student‐centred policy and practices aimed at leveraging the affordances of information technology, balancing self‐directed and structured learning and providing holistic support to enable meaningful student choice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of skills related to executive function (EF) in infancy, including their emergence, underlying neural mechanisms, and interconnections to other cognitive skills, is an area of increasing research interest. Here, we report on findings from a multidimensional dataset demonstrating that infants' behavioral performance on a flexible learning task improved across development and that the task performance is highly correlated with both neural structure and neural function. The flexible learning task probed infants' ability to learn two different associations, concurrently, over 16 trials, requiring multiple skills relevant to EF. We examined infants' neural structure by measuring myelin density in the brain, using a novel macromolecular proton fraction (MPF) mapping method. We further examined an important neural function of speech processing by characterizing the mismatch response (MMR) to speech contrasts using magnetoencephalography (MEG). All measurements were performed longitudinally in monolingual English‐learning infants at 7‐ and 11‐months of age. At the group level, 11‐month‐olds, but not 7‐month‐olds, demonstrated evidence of learning both associations in the behavioral task. Myelin density in the prefrontal region at 7 months of age was found to be highly predictive of behavioral task performance at 11 months of age, suggesting that myelination may support the development of these skills. Furthermore, a machine‐learning regression analysis revealed that individual differences in the behavioral task are predicted by concurrent neural speech processing at both ages, suggesting that these skills do not develop in isolation. Together, these cross‐modality results revealed novel insights into EF‐related skills. Highlight: Monolingual infants demonstrated flexible learning on a task requiring executive function skills at 11 months, but not at 7 months.Infants' myelin density at 7 months is highly predictive of their behavioral performance in the flexible learning task at 11 months of age.Individual differences in the flexible learning task performance are also correlated with concurrent neural processing of speech at both ages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The world‐wide pivot to remote learning due to the exogenous shocks of COVID‐19 across educational institutions has presented unique challenges and opportunities. This study documents the lived experiences of instructors and students and recommends emerging pathways for teaching and learning strategies post‐pandemic. Seventy‐one instructors and 122 students completed online surveys containing closed and open‐ended questions. Quantitative and qualitative analyses were conducted, including frequencies, chi‐square tests, Welch Two‐Samples t‐tests, and thematic analyses. The results demonstrated that with effective online tools, remote learning could replicate key components of content delivery, activities, assessments, and virtual proctored exams. However, instructors and students did not want in‐person learning to disappear and recommended flexibility by combining learning opportunities in in‐person, online, and asynchronous course deliveries according to personal preferences. The paper concludes with future directions and how the findings influenced our planning for Fall 2021 delivery. The video abstract for this article is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F48KBg%5fd8AE. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topicEmergency Remote Teaching (ERT) allowed institutions across the world to continue teaching and learning at all levels of education during the COVID‐19 pandemic. However, this form of delivery, created under conditions of uncertainty, was developed out of an urgency to keep education going rather than maintaining it at the same level.What this paper addsThis study comes after ERT, and is situated between ERT and the return to campus, with some social distancing restrictions still active, in a delivery method widely viewed as "remote delivery".This is a case study of an entire Canadian higher education institution that implemented remote learning for over one full academic year, documenting and examining instructors' and students' experiences and challenges of the remote learning course delivery format.Quantitative and qualitative data were collected to provide a holistic overview of instructors' and students' experiences of delivery method and assessments including the use of face‐tracking proctoring software.Implications for practice and/or policyCompared to ERT, remote delivery was a thoughtful and deliberate way to transform in‐person courses into virtual learning experiences.Instructors and students were able to successfully replicate many features of in‐person learning and assessments experiences in remote delivery of courses by using effective online tools to teach and learn.As a result, instructors and students called for the use of elements of remote delivery to create more flexible learning opportunities by combining in‐person, live streaming, and asynchronous learning options. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID‐19 pandemic significantly impacted undergraduate education and fundamentally altered the structure of course delivery in higher education. In field‐based biology and ecology courses, where instructors and students typically work collaboratively and in‐person to collect data, this has been particularly challenging. In this context, faculty from the Ecological Research as Education Network (EREN) collaborated with the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) to design five free‐flexible learning projects for use by instructors in varied modalities (e.g., socially distanced in‐person, remote, or HyFlex). The five flexible learning projects incorporated the Ecological Society of America's 4DEE framework and included field data collection, data analysis components, and an activity that incorporates existing NEON field protocols or datasets. Each project was designed to provide faculty members with a high degree of flexibility so that they could tailor the implementation of the projects to fit course‐specific needs. Collectively, these learning projects were designed to be flexible, inclusive, and facilitate hands‐on research while working in alternative classroom settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emerging technologies provide new opportunities for organizations but also introduce uncertainty and ambiguity about future developments. One specific risk that firms encounter in the prospective sensemaking process is the failure to adequately judge their potential impact on the organization, if they rely heavily on existing beliefs about the future or the industry. This study explores how opening up the strategy process (through a collaboration of companies from various industries) influences the way actors interpret and make sense of ambiguous and uncertain environments caused by blockchain technology. We recognized that this cross‐industry, prospective sensemaking approach played a noticeable role in the way actors interpreted and reflected on technological change. The diversity of perspectives was framed by the participants as conducive to out‐of‐the‐box thinking and to develop new frames and mental models. In various social and discursive processes, new meanings and application possibilities for the own company were developed. Due to the cross‐industry approach (without competitors), an open learning climate could evolve, intracompany power struggles were prevented and there was no need to develop a 'common sense', which facilitated adopting a wide variety of perspectives and thinking in scenarios. Moreover, it was found that skilful facilitators played an important role in initiating and accompanying the sensemaking process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper outlines a practical intervention aiming to collect the effects of introducing flexible learning in engineering higher education. The work discusses the implementation of the flipped classroom method and the threshold concepts in the Turbomachinery section of Fluid Engineering course in the third year of Mechanical Engineering (Bachelor's degree) at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Fluid Engineering is traditionally one of the hardest courses involving a complex interaction between understanding concepts and using those concepts in the solution of cases, which also require the development of a set of skills. This case study is centred on two student cohorts, and the research spans over two consecutive Fall semesters. The study is based on sound pedagogy of educational technologies, in practice, frequent student‐to‐instructor interaction, academic results, and statistical and survey analyses. A principal conclusion is that overall class performance is much higher than that of the previous courses. The results indicate that learners gained understanding from semester to semester and no statistical significance was observed between group and exam format. Students were satisfied with the level of suitability and the degree of compliance of the new implementation and found it constructive in their learning process, an important educational benefit. This positive experience, in terms of benefit‐cost and outcomes, encourages the intervention without sacrificing any curriculum syllabus, but taking advantage and bringing the benefits of interactivity distance learning technologies and traditional face‐to‐face lectures. This scholarly research aims to contribute to this area, by abandoning traditional lecturing in favour of active learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biodiversity is a complex, yet essential, concept for undergraduate students in ecology and other natural sciences to grasp. As beginner scientists, students must learn to recognize, describe, and interpret patterns of biodiversity across various spatial scales and understand their relationships with ecological processes and human influences. It is also increasingly important for undergraduate programs in ecology and related disciplines to provide students with experiences working with large ecological datasets to develop students' data science skills and their ability to consider how ecological processes that operate at broader spatial scales (macroscale) affect local ecosystems. To support the goals of improving student understanding of macroscale ecology and biodiversity at multiple spatial scales, we formed an interdisciplinary team that included grant personnel, scientists, and faculty from ecology and spatial sciences to design a flexible learning activity to teach macroscale biodiversity concepts using large datasets from the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON). We piloted this learning activity in six courses enrolling a total of 109 students, ranging from midlevel ecology and GIS/remote sensing courses, to upper‐level conservation biology. Using our classroom experiences and a pre/postassessment framework, we evaluated whether our learning activity resulted in increased student understanding of macroscale ecology and biodiversity concepts and increased familiarity with analysis techniques, software programs, and large spatio‐ecological datasets. Overall, results suggest that our learning activity improved student understanding of biological diversity, biodiversity metrics, and patterns of biodiversity across several spatial scales. Participating faculty reflected on what went well and what would benefit from changes, and we offer suggestions for implementation of the learning activity based on this feedback. This learning activity introduced students to macroscale ecology and built student skills in working with big data (i.e., large datasets) and performing basic quantitative analyses, skills that are essential for the next generation of ecologists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving both the quantity and quality of existing data are placed at the center of research for adaptive micro open learning. To cover this research gap, our work targets on the current scarcity of both data and rules that represent open learning activities. An evolutionary rule generator is constructed, which consists of an outer loop and an inner loop. The outer loop runs a genetic algorithm (GA) to produce association rules that can be effective in the micro open learning scenario from a small amount of available data sources; while the inner loop optimizes generated candidates by taking into account both rare and negative association rules (NARs). These optimized rules are further applied in refining and augmenting data denoting learners' behaviors in open learning into a low‐dimensional, descriptive and interpretable form. The performance of rule discovery and data processing have been empirically evaluated using genuine open learning data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When faced with changing contingencies, animals can use memory to flexibly guide actions, engaging both frontal and temporal lobe brain structures. Damage to the hippocampus (HPC) impairs episodic memory, and damage to the prefrontal cortex (PFC) impairs cognitive flexibility, but the circuit mechanisms by which these areas support flexible memory processing remain unclear. The present study investigated these mechanisms by temporarily inactivating the medial PFC (mPFC), the dorsal HPC (dHPC), and the ventral HPC (vHPC), individually and in combination, as rats learned spatial discriminations and reversals in a plus maze. Bilateral inactivation of either the dHPC or vHPC profoundly impaired spatial learning and memory, whereas bilateral mPFC inactivation primarily impaired reversal versus discrimination learning. Inactivation of unilateral mPFC together with the contralateral dHPC or vHPC impaired spatial discrimination and reversal learning, whereas ipsilateral inactivation did not. Flexible spatial learning thus depends on both the dHPC and vHPC and their functional interactions with the mPFC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ChemML is an open machine learning (ML) and informatics program suite that is designed to support and advance the data‐driven research paradigm that is currently emerging in the chemical and materials domain. ChemML allows its users to perform various data science tasks and execute ML workflows that are adapted specifically for the chemical and materials context. Key features are automation, general‐purpose utility, versatility, and user‐friendliness in order to make the application of modern data science a viable and widely accessible proposition in the broader chemistry and materials community. ChemML is also designed to facilitate methodological innovation, and it is one of the cornerstones of the software ecosystem for data‐driven in silico research. This article is categorized under:Software > Simulation MethodsComputer and Information Science > ChemoinformaticsStructure and Mechanism > Computational Materials ScienceSoftware > Molecular Modeling [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecologists have long suspected that species are more likely to interact if their traits match in a particular way. For example, a pollination interaction may be more likely if the proportions of a bee's tongue fit a plant's flower shape. Empirical estimates of the importance of trait‐matching for determining species interactions, however, vary significantly among different types of ecological networks.Here, we show that ambiguity among empirical trait‐matching studies may have arisen at least in parts from using overly simple statistical models. Using simulated and real data, we contrast conventional generalized linear models (GLM) with more flexible Machine Learning (ML) models (Random Forest, Boosted Regression Trees, Deep Neural Networks, Convolutional Neural Networks, Support Vector Machines, naïve Bayes, and k‐Nearest‐Neighbor), testing their ability to predict species interactions based on traits, and infer trait combinations causally responsible for species interactions.We found that the best ML models can successfully predict species interactions in plant–pollinator networks, outperforming GLMs by a substantial margin. Our results also demonstrate that ML models can better identify the causally responsible trait‐matching combinations than GLMs. In two case studies, the best ML models successfully predicted species interactions in a global plant–pollinator database and inferred ecologically plausible trait‐matching rules for a plant–hummingbird network from Costa Rica, without any prior assumptions about the system.We conclude that flexible ML models offer many advantages over traditional regression models for understanding interaction networks. We anticipate that these results extrapolate to other ecological network types. More generally, our results highlight the potential of machine learning and artificial intelligence for inference in ecology, beyond standard tasks such as image or pattern recognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As use of adaptive learning technology in STEM courses gains traction, studies evaluating its impacts are important to undertake. Adaptive e‐learning platforms provide personalized, flexible learning via monitoring of student progress and performance and subsequent provision of an individualized learning path containing various resources. In this study, adaptive technology was utilized in blended and flipped versions of a numerical methods course. A particular challenge with flipped instruction is preclass preparation, in which videos with the same instruction for all students are often assigned. Therefore, to diversify preclass learning, the instructor developed adaptive lessons via an NSF grant and rigorously assessed outcomes in this flipped class with adaptive learning. In addition, to fully evaluate the lessons and respond to calls from the literature, the lessons were implemented and evaluated in a blended version of the course, which was lecture‐based with available online resources. Data from previous semesters of flipped and blended instruction (without adaptive learning were available), enabling a comparison of four instructional methods. The comparisons consisted of direct assessment (i.e., exam questions) and affective assessment via a survey (i.e., perceptions of the classroom environment). An analysis was performed for students collectively and for underrepresented minority students in engineering. Focus groups enabled a comparison of student perspectives of using adaptive technology in blended versus flipped classrooms as well as by demographic. Upon combining these outcomes, including a notable Cohen's d = 0.34 for open‐ended‐response performance, the flipped classroom with adaptive learning may be the best method for this STEM course. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As technology has become ubiquitous in learning contexts, there has been an explosion in the amount of learning data. This creates opportunities to draw on the decades of learner modelling research from Artificial Intelligence in Education and more recent research on Personal Informatics. We use these bodies of research to introduce a conceptual model for a Personal User Model for Life‐long, Life‐wide Learners (PUMLs). We use this to define a core set of system competency questions. A successful PUML and its interface must enable a learner to answer these by scrutinising their PUML, aided by its scaffolding interfaces. We aim to give learners both control over their own learning data and the means to harness that data for the important metacognitive processes of self‐monitoring, reflection and planning. We conclude with a set of design guidelines for creating PUMLs. Our core contribution is a way to think about the design and evaluation of learning data and applications so that they give learner control and agency beyond simple data access and algorithmic transparency. Practitioner NotesWhat is already known about this topic There is decades of Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIED) research on learner modelling, personalisation and Open Learner Models (OLMs).There is a growing body of work on Personal Informatics.What this paper adds Drawing on the above research, we present a conceptual model showing how learning applications and data repositories relate to a Personal User Model for Life‐long, Life‐wide Learners (PUMLs).A set of competency questions to inform design and evaluation of PUMLs.Guidelines for designing interfaces that enable learners to scrutinise and control their learning data and models.Implications for practice and/or policy As universities create institutional repositories of learning data, our work takes a complementary, learner‐centred perspective of learning data, applications and repositories.PUMLs offer a mechanism to support student's meta‐cognitive processes.PUMLs go beyond simplistic views of data access and transparency of algorithmic processes—empowering learners to scrutinise their long‐term data and its use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Open educational resources (OERs) are increasingly adopted in non‐formal education contexts. However, little research has been conducted to investigate the self‐directed learning patterns of non‐formal learners using OERs. A lack of knowledge about non‐formal learners precludes discussions on how to support their self‐regulated learning in open learning environments. We explored the self‐directed learning patterns of 1892 non‐formal online learners who were using OER repositories. In addition, we examined whether differences existed in future intentions to use OERs between learners with different learning patterns. Four latent classes were identified, and learners' age was found to affect class membership. We also found that non‐formal learners' use of self‐directed learning strategies predicted their future intentions to use OERs. This study advanced our understanding of the subpopulations of non‐formal learners using OERs. Future research will benefit from the findings related to designing OER environments that can accommodate diverse self‐directed learners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent advances in machine learning open new opportunities to gain deeper insight into hydrological systems, where some relevant system quantities remain difficult to measure. We use deep learning methods trained on numerical simulations of the physical processes to explore the possibilities of closing the information gap of missing system quantities. As an illustrative example we study the estimation of velocity fields in numerical and laboratory experiments of density‐driven solute transport. Using high‐resolution observations of the solute concentration distribution, we demonstrate the capability of the method to structurally incorporate the representation of the physical processes. Velocity field estimation for synthetic data for both variable and uniform concentration boundary conditions showed equal results. This capability is remarkable because only the latter was employed for training the network. Applying the method to measured concentration distributions of density‐driven solute transport in a Hele‐Shaw cell makes the velocity field assessable in the experiment. This assessability of the velocity field even holds for regions with negligible solute concentration between the density fingers, where the velocity field is otherwise inaccessible. Key Points: A convolutional neural network is trained on density‐driven solute transport simulations to incorporate the physical process representationMissing velocity fields on experimental data are estimated utilizing the physical process representation learned on purely synthetic dataLight transmission measurements using a Hele‐Shaw cell are conducted to infer spatially resolved solute concentration distributions [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flexible approaches to online learning are gaining renewed interest in some part due to their capacity to address emergent opportunities and concerns facing higher education. Importantly, flexible approaches to online learning are purported to be democratizing and liberatory, broadening access to higher education and enabling learners to participate in educational endeavours at "anytime" from "anyplace." In this paper, we critique such narratives by showing that flexibility is neither universal nor neutral. Using critical theory, we demonstrate how flexibility assumes imagined autonomous learners that are self‐reliant and individualistic. Through relevant examples, we show how such a framing to flexibility is oppressive, and argue that a contextual, relative and relational understanding of flexibility may in fact be more liberatory. Such an approach to flexibility, for example, may involve contextual and relational efforts to relax prescribed curricula within courses or programmes of study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Personalized learning (PL) has been a hot topic in the field of education over the past several years with roots tracing as far back as the 1800s (Keefe & Jenkins, [6]). The U.S. Department of Education defines PL as an experience that (a) includes a competency-based progression, (b) is based on individual student needs and interests, (c) is standards-aligned, and (d) encourages student ownership (eduvateRI, [2]). When it is discussed, it often requires the use of specific PL platforms and teachers with a deep knowledge of PL in order to impact students. [Extracted from the article]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various articles in the issue on topics including how teachers are trained and assessed; earliest uses of student assessments to select those who were considered ‘fit' for different roles; and Open Learning Environments.

Techno‐centric initiatives to bridge the digital divide, such as One Laptop per Child (OLPC), has been criticized for not taking a holistic approach that has led to limited success in providing quality education in developing countries. Particular emphasis is placed on examining the context in Information and communication technology for development (ICTD) initiatives. In this paper, we applied the theoretical lens of information ecology to conceptualize context to conduct a case study of Open Learning Exchange Nepal, which has been described as one of the few successes in implementing OLPC. Our findings show that it is not the technology per se (OLPC in this case), but its ecosystem that brought quality education in schools of remote mountain regions of Nepal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This chapter describes an open learning analytics system focused on learning process measures and designed to engage instructors and students in an evidence-informed decision-making process to improve learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel educational methodology, Implementation of Mathematical, Experimental, and Computer-based Education (IMECE), where its name was derived from the letters of the word 'imece' (a Turkish tradition) by taking into account the integrative meaning of this cultural concept, was proposed to explore the synergistic effect of the conventional mathematical solution procedure, visual application, and MATLAB-based simulation on the perceptions and learning quality of the engineering students. Within the scope the present research carried out both at the state university (undergraduate and graduate levels) and at the foundation university (undergraduate level), water discharge problem (a special case of the Bernoulli's principle/Toricelli's law) was chosen as an example application. In the study, the experimental results of three different tank models (vertical cylindrical, conical, and spherical) and the solution algorithms written in MATLAB were presented in detail, and new empirical equations were also developed for each laboratory scale system depending on the experimental data. The effectiveness of the proposed IMECE method was evaluated statistically within the framework of both 'Student Survey' and 'Student Assessment' conducted with the participation of 84 students. Based on the mean scores obtained for all participating students, the results of the statistical tests indicated that the quantitative performance (or effectiveness) of the applied IMECE methodology was determined as 97.73%, 67.36%, and 82.55% for the perception/satisfaction section, the learning section, and the overall evaluation category, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on findings of a study on redesigning an English language course using a flipped classroom approach. It states that the approach was used approach to redesign and transform a university-level English as a foreign language course, and mentions a model presented by the Flipped Learning Network. It notes the model's affordance for flexible learning environments, which is denoted as the first pillar of the flipped learning model.

For marginalised young people, alternative education settings-referred to here as flexible learning programs (FLPs)-are thought to provide a powerful 'counter-space' to damaging experiences of mainstream schooling. Such programs are inherently contradictory, with potential to also reproduce stigma and disadvantage. The provision of secondary schooling via FLPs is significant. In Australia, for example, the sector serves over 70,000 students. A better understanding of student experiences and outcomes in these educational spaces is needed. Drawing on interview data with staff, students, and graduates from two FLPs in Victoria, this paper employs Soja's ideas about conceived, perceived, and lived space to explore what outcomes are valued and to consider how success is measured in these programs. The paper shows that FLP staff and students valued a diverse range of academic, social, and personal outcomes that support a more expansive vision of education and monitoring student success than dominant perspectives. The paper also suggests that these FLPs are both a counter-space and a space that connects back to the mainstream, optimally understood as third space, a hybrid place, bringing together the conventional and the alternative to create a valued and valuable education for marginalised young people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Facing pandemic-related closures of field sites and laboratories, many researchers with ecological data science skills made use of NEON data to perform analyses (both impromptu and planned) and to prepare for future field seasons. We thank the participants of the 2021 US National Science Foundation (NSF) Macrosystems Biology and NEON-Enabled Science Investigator Meeting. Open data facilitate resilience in science during the COVID-19 pandemic. [Extracted from the article]

The author offers basic information about the Free Open Access Meducation (FOAM), also known as Free Open Medical Education (FOAMed), a concept describing the collective efforts of online educators in producing free of charge and freely available medical education resources. Topics discussed include definitions of the terms and technology available, an insight into the benefits of using FOAM, and the limitations of FOAM and how to mitigate against them.

This chapter considers many of the major directions, issues, and themes that will play an important part in the future of coaching adult populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses equitable assessment interactions in the ‘Open Learning Environment' (OLE). It states that OLEs are learning environments that reduce the psychological ‘risks' associated with competitive interactions designed to focus students on the attainment of pre-defined outcomes or standards, and mentions that in Japan, social and learning interactions are considered ‘successful' when they can be described as equitable.

The article focuses on video- or teleconferencing as a form of learning language through Distance Learning (DL). It is mentioned that teacher-to-class, student-to-student and class-to-class are three different types of teleconferencing. Similarities and differences between the traditional and teleconferencing classroom are compared.

Open learning is becoming a critical focus for K-12 technology-supported programs as the importance of digital literacy and digital freedoms for all learners grows. This article describes current open learning policy, open educational resources and potential implications for open practice and ends with suggestions for future research in open learning. The column situates this examination in the context of current opportunities and challenges that impact open learning in educational spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Universities everywhere have been transformed as a result of expectations of labour flexibility and the implementation of market-oriented policies and practices including cost containment measures and efficiency-driven management models. Online teaching can be seen as a reform to education constituted by a 'common sense' vision for post-secondary education survival. Critical pedagogical approaches in social work education, geared towards fostering critical thinking skills and an insistence on students taking into account the social and historical positioning and identities of professionals and service recipients, must function within this context. This article explores how digitalized learning spaces in online social work education programs shape critical pedagogies and create different knowledge, power, and spatialized relations as universities are being restructured along neoliberal lines. Our central question is: What gets produced in the neoliberal university when critical pedagogies go online? We situate our discussion at the intersection of four areas of literature: critical pedagogies; geographies of education; neoliberalism; and distance education. Online education is analyzed as a technology of governance that effectively restructures the workplaces of university educators while constituting and disciplining willing subjects who can respond successfully to the demands of the neoliberal university. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a process for negotiating aspects of flexible learning through the consideration of flexibility from student, teacher and institutional perspectives. The process aimed to reconcile, in an Australian school of architecture, the competing demands of learner's increasing flexibility demands, teacher's attributes and pedagogical objectives and the structural limitations that militate against the delivery, resourcing and maintenance of flexibility. Results indicated that the only categories of flexibility (out of time, content, access/entry requirements, pedagogy and delivery) that were demanded by students were pedagogy (but only in the choice of working in groups) and delivery; whereas teachers were merely willing to offer flexibility in delivery. Thus, what students desired of teaching, and what teachers were able to provide, were multiple mediums of knowledge delivery that allowed students flexibility in when and where they could learn. These findings, it is suggested, have relevance for course redesign throughout the creative/visual arts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the development of education of students with special needs in vocational education. The paper is based on a case study research conducted in 2001-2005 in Jyväskylä Municipal Federation of Vocational Education in Central Finland. The study consisted of two parts: firstly of the historical analysis of special educational stages, and secondly of the contemporary analysis of special educational challenges in the research target. The Developmental Work Research model was used in attempting to get a systemic view of different factors affecting a special educational entity. The study showed the importance of a holistic view. The special educational system in the research target seems to be strongly linked to the general structure of vocational education, its goals, learning principles, legislation and personnel structure. The development of vocational special education in Jyväskylä followed the strongly regulated national guidelines set for vocational special education until the end of the 1990s. At that time new legislation, structural reforms and the change from norm-based towards an autonomous information-based self-government opened doors for new special educational implementation. From the perspective of teachers specialized in special educational needs (SEN-teachers) a clear change can be seen from an autonomous, defined work towards a loss of an expertise position. However, the strong linkage between general and special education in vocational education offers possibilities for inclusive education. In order to face the new challenges, the work of SEN-teachers has to be redefined to clearly broaden the perspective from teaching towards new expertise in each educational establishment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This chapter explores the potential of museums as sites for critical 'public pedagogy.' It foregrounds the role of adult educators as co-interrogators with adult learners of what is generally perceived as politically innocent and neutral knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This chapter explores the tremendous growth in the use of the Internet to deliver distance education at community colleges. The author examines various definitions of online education, including the types of courses, programs, and degrees available and the types of community colleges that offer greater amounts of online programming. Considerations for the future growth of online education are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This chapter describes some of the lessons learned during the evolution of distance education and suggests several important elements that practitioners should consider as they strategically plan for the future of online learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been relatively little research to date that has explored the transition to postgraduate study. This paper reports findings from a project (funded by the UK's Higher Education Academy) that sought to address this gap. The research project was ethnographic and explored university practice and student participation in five UK universities. A significant emergent feature of the research was that a multiplicity of identities construct student experience and contribute to student transition. This finding provides support for learning theory that argues for inextricable links between learning and wider social identities. Moreover, the process of negotiating an academic identity in light of wider experience and university practices emerged as a key factor in understanding transition together with the imperative for independent study, which was a particularly powerful practice that necessitated complex identity negotiations in order to enable full participation in the university community of practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This chapter will discuss the impact of a community-based transformational model of adult education that challenges white privilege and the racial profiling of immigrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nurturing place, sharing power, heart listening, talking story, engendering humor, and the expressive arts are discussed as appreciative ways to add depth and dimension to community-based health education with diverse adult learners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This chapter describes white privilege and how it impacts the learning environment. Included are actual examples of white privilege from practice and how enforcing white privilege results in racism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This chapter explores how white privilege and racism function in adult education graduate programs regarding admissions, retention, and curricula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature and pan-Canadian consultations involving adults with low literacy skills, immigrants and refugees, adults with HIV/AIDS, and those in remote Canadian communities all point to a health learning gap and a critical role for adult educators—a role that crosses all borders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on an analysis of official policies and initiatives, this chapter presents the specific situation of adult education in Quebec, its problems, and the solutions that have been devised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This chapter summarizes the area of critically oriented environmental adult education, focusing on the relationship between historical contextual factors and Canada's current leadership in environmental adult education. A comparison of Canadian and American student environmental activism demonstrates how contextual factors shape nonformal learning and activism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the context of the community college system in Canada, this chapter presents a case study for faculty development within which this development is treated as an adult education initiative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]