In this article, we discuss the importance of theory driven program development and present the empowerment framework using two case studies at a center for teaching and learning (CTL). We describe the empowerment framework, offer programmatic examples aligned with this framework, and make specific recommendations for those wishing to pursue this…

Institutions of higher education are struggling to meet the growing demand for online courses and programs, partly because many faculty lack experience teaching online. The eCampus Quality Instruction Program (eQIP) is an online faculty development program developed to train faculty to design and teach fully online courses. The purpose of this…

This paper outlines the design and implementation of a nine-month faculty development programme delivered using a combination of face-to-face and online methods. Participants from a range of disciplines met at regular intervals throughout the year. Between the face-to-face meetings, participants engaged in online activities such as discussions,…

Collaborative learning environments found with gaming communities can provide excellent structures to study the way that learners act within informal learning environments. For example, many of these gaming communities encourage gamers to create videogames and virtual world walkthroughs and commentaries. Walkthroughs and commentaries provide…

The health workforce of the 21st century has enormous challenges; health professionals need to be both experts in their field and equipped with leadership and managerial skills. These skills are not part of the regular curriculum, so specific programs bridging this gap are required. Since 2001, FAIMER®, with eight centers across the globe, has…

Writing studies has considered college students' literacy development as a chronological progression and as influenced by their off-campus connections to various cultural and professional communities. This project considers students' literacy development across disciplines and university activity systems in which they're simultaneously involved to…

A "conference" is a familiar mode of work for academics. Conferences provide opportunities to bring professionals working in a field together to share and build knowledge. As common as conferences are, however, they are quite challenging to design in ways that truly succeed in galvanizing the attention of an academic community on a…

ePortfolios (ePs) have been used in a variety of applications ranging from undergraduate assessment to graduate student work showcases. We hypothesize that the flexible, individualized nature of ePs makes them suitable assessment tools for graduate engineering programs, which are likewise flexible and individualized. Our investigation resulted in…

This case study investigates the implementation of a virtual learning environment designed for language teachers for an institution-wide language programme in a UK higher education institution. This development has taken place over a 3 year period and included a pilot virtual learning environment for 300, followed by a full implementation to more…

The financial services industry faces many demanding challenges. Firms within this industry are predominantly knowledge-based, as are most of the industry's products, processes and services. The application of knowledge management represents a clear opportunity for financial services firms to confront challenges. However, no industry specific…

If you are looking for an organic approach to purpose-driven professional learning, this is the book for you. Award-winning educator Lois Brown Easton's latest work provides a compelling case study in narrative form, a chronological PLC planning outline, and first-hand "lessons learned" about how PLCs develop, mature, and sustain themselves. You…

The objective of this study was to develop a model for building professional learning communities (PLCs) in schools. Samples were public primary schools that consisted of 1,826 teachers from 185 schools in Thailand. They randomized by using two-stage random sampling. The questionnaire was used to survey the level or magnitude of teacher…

The 2011 U.S. Government Evidence Summit on Protecting Children Outside of Family Care brought together leading researchers and technical experts to assess the available evidence to inform policies, strategies, and programs relevant to protecting children outside of family care in lower and middle income countries. While child vulnerabilities are…

Developing online learning communities is a promising pedagogical approach in online learning contexts for adult tertiary learners, but it is no easy task. Understanding how learning communities are formed and evaluating their efficacy in supporting learning involves a complex set of issues that have a bearing on the design and facilitation of…

What if your professional learning community was available 24 hours a day, every day of the year? Would you like to have a place to share lesson plans, student work, a new curriculum, and to provide a discussion forum for all stakeholders? You can, even with only a basic understanding of technology. The authors explain how they created an online…