This volume of essays from leading British, North American and Australasian contributors looks at the issues of the convergence of distance and conventional education. The term 'convergence' refers to the breaking down of barriers between open and distance learning and conventional institutions, and the creation of more and more institutions working across a range of modes. Such convergence has been driven by a number of factors, including the new technologies for teaching and learning, the impact of lifelong learning policies, the entry of larger than ever numbers of adult part-time students into tertiary education, and the demands of both employers and individuals for professional and work-related education throughout their working lives. The fourteen chapters engage critically with a range of aspects of convergence, including: * how well is open and distance learning carried out by conventional institutions for which it may continue for a lengthy period to be seen as of secondary importance? * to what extent will open and distance learning be more effectively carried out by conventional institutions able to offer a variety of modes to a wide range of learners? * how well will the variety of learners be served by systems that are converging? * what are the managerial issues at institutional level where converging systems are being developed?

The Routledge Handbook of Spanish Language Teaching: metodologías, contextos y recursos para la enseñanza del español L2, provides a comprehensive, state-of-the-art account of the main methodologies, contexts and resources in Spanish Language Teaching (SLT), a field that has experienced significant growth world-wide in recent decades and has consolidated as an autonomous discipline within Applied Linguistics. Written entirely in Spanish, the volume is the first handbook on Spanish Language Teaching to connect theories on language teaching with methodological and practical aspects from an international perspective. It brings together the most recent research and offers a broad, multifaceted view of the discipline. Features include: Forty-four chapters offering an interdisciplinary overview of SLT written by over sixty renowned experts from around the world; Five broad sections that combine theoretical and practical components: Methodology; Language Skills; Formal and Grammatical Aspects; Sociocultural Aspects; and Tools and Resources; In-depth reflections on the practical aspects of Hispanic Linguistics and Spanish Language Teaching to further engage with new theoretical ideas and to understand how to tackle classroom-related matters; A consistent inner structure for each chapter with theoretical aspects, methodological guidelines, practical considerations, and valuable references for further reading; An array of teaching techniques, reflection questions, language samples, design of activities, and methodological guidelines throughout the volume. The Routledge Handbook of Spanish Language Teaching contributes to enriching the field by being an essential reference work and study material for specialists, researchers, language practitioners, and current and future educators. The book will be equally useful for people interested in curriculum design and graduate students willing to acquire a complete and up-to-date view of the field with immediate applicability to the teaching of the language.

This country review report offers an independent analysis of major issues facing the use of school resources in Colombia from an international perspective. It provides a description of national policies, an analysis of strengths and challenges, and a proposal of possible future approaches.

Contains a comprehensive and detailed view regarding the recent situation in the world of actual implementations in the area of flexible and distance learning. Focuses on training and retraining initiatives through the latest technologies and telecommunication in information that is unavailable elsewhere. The first section discusses leading edge distance and flexible education, training and retraining in Western Europe. The second part deals with current implementations and developments in North America, Eastern Europe, Japan, Africa, Australia and Latin America.

This book is concerned with action research as a form of teacher professional development. In it, John Elliot traces the historical emergence and current significance of action research in schools. He examines action research as a "cultural innovation" with transformative possibilities for both the professional culture of teachers and teacher educators in academia and explores how action research can be a form of creative resistance to the technical rationality underpinning government policy. He explains the role of action research in the specific contexts of the national curriculum, teacher appraisal and competence-based teacher training.

The first cross-national comparative study on school choice policies, this volume features prominent scholars who analyze experiences in countries around the world, England, Chile, South Africa, the Czech Republic, China, Australia, New Zealand, and Sweden. Together, they answer such important questions as: Why are policies that expand educational options being adopted in such a diverse set of countries? Why have governments in widely varying circumstances come to view school choice as an apt response to educational dilemmas? What have we learned about the impacts of these policies on existing educational systems and the quality of teaching and learning in the classroom? The analyses presented here illuminate school choice policies as a critical worldwide development in education, noting both similarities and differences across countries. This volume broadens our understanding of school choice on the world stage while exploring implications for education policy in the United States.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Concept Mapping, CMC 2016, held in Tallinn, Estonia, in September 2016. The 25 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 135 submissions. The papers address issues such as facilitation of learning; eliciting, capturing, archiving, and using “expert” knowledge; planning instruction; assessment of “deep” understandings; research planning; collaborative knowledge modeling; creation of “knowledge portfolios”; curriculum design; eLearning, and administrative and strategic planning and monitoring.