This volume is the seventh in the Advances in Service-Learning Research series, and presents a collection of papers selected from those presented at the Sixth International Service-learning Research, hosted by Portland State University in Portland, Oregon in October 2006. The theme of the conference, which is also the title of this volume, was ""From Passion to Objectivity: International and Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives on Service- Learning Research."" This theme was selected to showcase several important topics in contemporary servicelearning and community engagement research. Of key importance is the way in which the chapters selected for this volume reflect the evolution and maturation of research in the field of service-learning-moving from descriptive narratives of the passion for addressing social problems and inequities that was evident in much of the early research (and is still reflected today) to increasingly sophisticated research that draws on multiple methodologies, presents solid evidence, and offers the basis for replication and further exploration through future research.

This book is located at the interface of online learning within a context of English language studies and academic literacy and is underpinned, from a critical theoretical perspective, by an understanding of the implications of the digital divide for developing countries worldwide. The work is an exploration of online learning in an undergraduate English language and academic literacy classroom at a university in South Africa, and theorises the need for technology in developing countries as a means of social inclusion. The aim is to explore the extent to which communities of practice are enabled in an online environment, among English non-mother tongue speakers from technologically under-resourced backgrounds. This study examines the extent to which the students participate, negotiate meaning, and construct identities in online spaces. From a sociocultural perspective this book locates learning as a form of interaction and co-participation, and argues that learning occurs within specific contexts, hence the focus on how individuals become members of 'communities of practice'.

Service-learning in higher education symbiotically combines community service and academic study--that both fields strengthen in the union is one reason for the movement's increasing popularity. This comprehensive guide to service-learning in colleges and universities includes:

A-Z encyclopedia of terms and concepts

Directory of service-learning programs and services at 325 colleges and universities

Resource guide to essential information culled from books, journals, Web sites, and Internet discussion groups

Directory of service-learning organizations, conferences, institutes, and training opportunities

Inventory of awards, scholarships, fellowships, internships, and grants in the field

This multi-faceted new resource is a gold mine for college administrators, faculty, students, and volunteer coordinators involved in higher education service-learning.

Informative, insightful, and accessible, this book is designed to enhance the capacity of graduate and undergraduate students, as well as early career scholars, to write for academic purposes. Fang describes key genres of academic writing, common rhetorical moves associated with each genre, essential skills needed to write the genres, and linguistic resources and strategies that are functional and effective for performing these moves and skills. Fang's functional linguistic approach to academic writing enables readers to do so much more than write grammatically well-formed sentences. It leverages writing as a process of designing meaning to position language choices as the central focus, illuminating how language is a creative resource for presenting information, developing argument, embedding perspectives, engaging audience, and structuring text across genres and disciplines. Covering reading responses, book reviews, literature reviews, argumentative essays, empirical research articles, grant proposals, and more, this text is an all-in-one resource for building a successful career in academic writing and scholarly publishing. Each chapter features crafts for effective communication, authentic writing examples, practical applications, and reflective questions. Fang complements these features with self-assessment tools for writers and tips for empowering writers. Assuming no technical knowledge, this text is ideal for both non-native and native English speakers, and suitable for courses in academic writing, rhetoric and composition, and language/literacy education.

Are you a student about to enrol on a Problem-based Learning course? Or are you currently engaged in Problem-based Learning and want to get the most out of your course? Are you tutoring a course in Problem-based education? This book will help you understand this popular learning method. It enables students and teachers to experience the full potential of Problem-based Learning.

Introduction to Problem-based Learning pays particular attention to the skills students need to operate within, as well as outside of Problem-based groups.

A trend in colleges and universities today is the acceptance of students who, though they have passed high school, are not yet ready for the rigors of postsecondary education. Many of these developmental college students do not know how they learn, and they do not have the self-knowledge to regulate their own learning. This book, incorporating a study of developmental students, tells how teaching college students to use cognitive skills, by knowing their own learning styles, multiple intelligences, and automaticity, can lead to theirgaining the necessary self-effi cacy, the thus the empowerment over their own learning, to be successful students and adults.