Communities of practice (CoP) are rich learning spaces that support knowledge creation, social engagement and practice improvement. In some university settings, there is a buoyant interest in creating and supporting interdisciplinary knowledge and practice. The purpose of the study was to apply an action research approach to explore the emergence…

Two aspects of teacher education for cooperative learning are the content taught and the processes used to teach the content. Of the two, the processes used may have the most powerful influences on the desired outcomes. One important theory related to the processes of learning is social interdependence theory. It posits that there are three ways…

University housing has the capacity to offer more than comfortable living spaces, and campuses across the U.S., including our own, are exploring models of residential learning communities that provide both academic and social support students while cultivating a strong sense of community. In this article, we describe our campus foray into offering…

Learning Expectations and Academic Preparation (LEAP) was a two-year pilot offering a cohort (20 students) of our lowest scoring English and mathematics developmental students an intensive cross-disciplinary semester to accelerate through their developmental courses. Blending learning community and summer bridge best practices, LEAP incorporated…

Principals are isolated in their work and suffer from low morale. The role of the principal has become increasingly complex and demanding especially within the current accountability model with the public nature of school report cards. This is a problem in Rocky Top Public Schools and in school districts across the country. The purpose of this…

Research indicates the most effective type of teacher professional development (TPD) involves a sustained and ongoing experience, which is coherent, job-embedded, and involves active participation by the learner and includes a learning community (Borko et al., 2010; Desimone, 2009; Easton, 2008; Loucks-Horsely et al., 2010). However, most teachers…

In these economic times, retention of new faculty, particularly minority and international faculty, is a high priority. In this study, retention of new faculty from 2006 to 2013 was compared for participants and nonparticipants in a formal mentoring program. Retention was 92% for participating faculty and 58% for nonparticipating new faculty. For…

Field experiences are important components of undergraduate music teacher education programs. This applied qualitative study investigated 12 preservice music teachers' reactions to K-12 field experiences for an undergraduate instrumental music methods course. Six weeks of course discussion board posts were analyzed via an iterative, constant…

Teacher professional development (PD) that supports the emergence of professional learning communities (PLCs) is effective for teachers' learning and instructional improvement. Our work focuses on supporting the emergence of online PLCs and an emergent issue in this work is how to maintain the quality of teachers' experiences in online PLCs when…

Background: Teachers can have a significant impact on student interest and learning in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) subjects and careers. Teacher self-efficacy can also significantly affect student learning. Researchers investigated the effects of teacher professional development and integrated STEM curriculum development on…

University students use social media tools not only to connect with friends socially but also to collaborate with classmates. Many universities have embraced academically-focused social media platforms such as social question answering (SQA) applications to make student interactions easier. This study addresses how students in a face-to-face…

Teaching English language learners, referred to as emergent multilingual students here, is a complex endeavor including ESL and bilingual teachers, content teachers, and paraeducators, among others, for example special education teachers and reading specialists, to name a few. As a result, the Illinois State Board of Education's (ISBE) guidance…

Analysis of diverse first-year and first-generation learning communities students' reflective narratives shows this population of students at an urban commuter college of technology face significant challenges in the transition into college. Designed to assist in this transition, the "Our Stories" digital writing project incorporates…

This paper describes the development and implementation of engaging and supportive experiences to promote student engagement, persistence, and success at a commuter, open enrollment, public, minority-serving institution. Project components included faculty development at the SENCER Summer Institute (SSI) 2016, attended by a team comprised of an…

This program evaluation assessed the utility and efficacy of lead4ward toward facilitating meaningful instructional planning, and improving STAAR reading, English language arts, and math performance of students whose teachers participated in lead4ward professional development. A web-based survey on HISD's HUB yielded responses from 340 educators…