This study explored the almost 20-year-old Community of Inquiry (CoI) social presence construct through faculty's perspectives and practices of their online teaching. Social presence has many CoI-identified characteristics, but overall it is the ability of a student to project their persona into the classroom. The preponderance of investigation…

Given the variety of learning and engagement needs of the increasingly diverse student population in higher education, flexible approaches to teaching are critical for improving student success. Professional development that provides faculty exposure to effective, evidence-based instructional strategies in an online context may enhance their…

Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) have become a popular reform initiative for schools looking to increase student achievement. School district officials can find it difficult to implement and sustain Professional Learning Communities as some teachers are not accustomed to the levels of collaboration with peers involved. If implemented and…

This article investigates the approach of care as curriculum and teachers' perceptions of this notion. It is a descriptive account of the interviews of four Aotearoa New Zealand-based infant and toddler teachers' perceptions of care as curriculum. Care as curriculum is a pedagogical approach that was brought to the research process. This was an…

Rapid changes in the Higher Education (HE) sector are increasing the pressure on teaching staff to introduce technology-enhanced learning experiences into the curriculum. Institutions therefore need to provide effective means of enabling academics to successfully transition to these new modes of curriculum delivery. This paper reports on an…

Attrition among new teachers with fewer than 5 years of experience was high in an urban high school in Texas. The high attrition rate is a problem for students, because high teacher turnover can result in teachers with low expertise. In this study, the conceptual framework used was Hord's professional learning community (PLC) model, which…

Based in a time of major curriculum reform, this article reports on a qualitative case study of teacher professional development (PD) in the Republic of Ireland (ROI). Five mathematics teachers in an Irish secondary school were introduced to and participated in successive cycles of school-based lesson study (LS) over the course of one academic…

Because it is not clear that teachers will volunteer for good professional development if it is made available, this study used surveys--including social network analysis--and interviews to examine why teachers did and did not participate in one school's high-quality study group. While all teachers were motivated by intrinsic incentives, two…

Literature on teacher evaluation describes a flawed system that evokes wide-ranging attempts to "get it right." This qualitative study is another effort that seeks to understand its legal and traditional constructs. The goal of this research is to identify growth-producing practices that will transform teacher evaluation into an organic…

This article presents an analysis of the experiences of scholars in a university-wide curriculum reform in one public research university. The focus is on the intentions and dynamics that shape the curriculum process in the local communities of practice (CoPs). The data, comprising interviews with 25 scholars, are examined as experience-centred…

Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) are a best practice that has been around for decades; however, due to organizational structuring in elementary schools, teachers are allowed 30 minutes of planning time. During this time little planning or collaboration with peers is achieved. Previous research has proven that professional learning by way…

Professional learning communities (PLCs) are a group of educators working collaboratively to improve student achievement and expand the pedagogy of the individual as well as the group. Studies on PLCs, grounded by the social constructivism theory of Vygotsky, Bandura, and Wenger, have found that collaboration and collegiality foster a positive…

Head Start (HS) is a nationally known program for young children and continues to serve the most vulnerable children and families. HS teachers are required to have a minimum degree status and a certain number of Professional Development (PD) hours. However, teachers continue to struggle with preparedness and effectiveness. The problem is that HS…

This article shows how a group of language teachers use Twitter as a tool for continuous professional development through the #MFLtwitterati hashtag. Based on data collected through a survey (n = 116) and interviews (n = 11), it describes how this collective of teachers use the hashtag and evaluates the impact of their Twitter network on their…

This article focuses on the processes that come into play as part of a school development project and how these processes contribute to strengthening teacher professionalism. Through processes of consciousness raising and the development of learning cultures where tacit knowledge becomes explicit and shared, and new practices are tested out and…