This quantitative study investigated the perceptions and experiences of K-12 teachers utilizing social media platforms for self-directed professional development. Through a survey administered to 111 public elementary school teachers in Mississippi, data was collected to analyze various factors influencing teachers' engagement with social media…

This study examines Arkansas early childhood practitioners' propensity for self-directed learning when using mobile phones to participate in self-paced online professional development. Further, the activity system model provides context for understanding practitioners' willingness to use technology, like smartphones, to adopt new information when…

The purpose of this study is to understand teacher perceptions of a self-directed professional learning model named Go Time. I examined the factors that influenced teacher learning and motivation to sustain learning in this model. This study contributes to the research on teacher professional development by examining a model that is self-directed…

Professional development (PD) hours are required for licensure renewal for the more than 110,000 teachers in Ohio. Despite being entrenched in the culture of education; many teachers view PD negatively. In this qualitative study, three structures of PD are studied to determine their impact on teacher attitudes. These three structures are online…

This mixed-methods study explored the relationship between teacher academic optimism and personalized professional learning in a rural Appalachian elementary school in southeastern Ohio. Twenty K-5 educators participated, with pre/post-surveys utilizing the Teacher Academic Optimism Scale-Elementary (TAOS-E) yielding quantitative data. Six…

Medical school faculty often lack formal training in effective teaching methods, posing a challenge to their ability to deliver high-quality education. To facilitate high-quality teaching and help medical faculty grow professionally, academically, and scholarly, the burden for training faculty was placed on each medical school's faculty…

Teacher professional learning communities (PLCs) are a valuable tool that increase teacher collaboration to enhance student learning. These adult learning environments are dynamic in that they are places where adults are able to work within a community of practice (CoP) to address work-related challenges and lend support in semi-structured…

Personalized learning is gaining popularity among educational leaders due to reexamining teaching and learning the pedagogy by increasing student ownership. However, the implementation of personalized learning is limited, even after professional development opportunities. The problem addressed in this study was the inconsistency in the content and…

This qualitative descriptive study explored how teachers perceive the significance of their leadership and digital pedagogy in fostering students' self-directed learning skills in a digital learning environment. Grounded in transformational leadership theory, Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems theory and ISTE standards, the study answered three…

Even though, there are many studies on teacher professional learning and many studies on teacher motivation, there is a lack of research to examine the relationship between teacher professional learning and motivation. This study examined the relationship between teacher motivation and professional learning in Makkah, Saudi Arabia. This study was…

The purpose of this mixed methods, qualitative and quantitative study was to explore how math and science teachers perceived and supported the learning of students with high abilities in inclusive, urban, general education classrooms. Drawing on the literature on self-regulated learning (SRL), the study explored: (1) teachers' perceptions of…

Decades of research have elucidated the practices associated with effective professional development (PD) for educators, yet evidence suggests that school practices in the United States do not regularly meet these criteria, and even when they do, they may not have the desired effect on student outcomes (Darling-Hammond et al., 2017; Didion et al.,…

For this study, I initiated an inquiry group to research how to meet the needs of mainstreamed English language learning (ELL) students. I chose a practitioner action research design with a socially critical lens in order to address the injustice inherent in the district where I currently work and inform future policy. Although what we learned…

In this qualitative study using participatory action research (PAR), educators explored how to understand and implement culturally and linguistically responsive pedagogy (CLRP) and joyful learning strategies to support Chinese ELLs. In PAR project and study over 18 months, we focused on building teacher capacity in working with Chinese ELLs in…

Today's students spend an unprecedented amount of time using technology in comparison to any other generation. With increased access to technology, music-making has changed for the 21st-century music student. How are music teachers then keeping up with the needs of today's technology-hungry music students, and how are they leveraging music…