Inter-organizational collaboration is often seen as a means of increasing the potential for bringing about outcomes that none of the organizations could achieve alone. For example, funding agencies that provide grants for teacher professional development often encourage or require collaboration between institutions of higher education and schools.…

Given the increasingly interactive, dynamic, and cost-effective online learning platforms that are available, as well as studies that demonstrate the efficacy of online and blended learning, museums should consider how these new formats may complement their existing educational programs. Besides offering new possibilities for education, online…

Our universities are becoming increasingly diverse at the same time as online asynchronous discussions (OADs) are emerging as the most important forum for computer mediated communication (CMC) in distance education. But there is shortage of studies that explore how graduate students from different ethnic, linguistic and cultural backgrounds use…

The cognitive and learning styles research domain is a highly complex one which has recently been the focus of rigour-relevance debates (Coffield et al. 2004; Evans and Sadler-Smith 2006; Rayner 2006). There is considerable support for the existence and value of style as a construct (Sternberg 1996) even though further work is needed to evidence…

Since the mid-1990s, the concept of professional learning communities has arisen in the education field in the West, aiming to improve teachers' professional competency by using collaborative approaches. Western studies indicate that these strategies help teachers achieve professional growth. Schools in China have had a long history of enhancing…

The theoretical framework for the present study encompassed the four pillars of the Performance Based Diploma System (PBDS) program: small learning communities, educational technology, flexible scheduling, and mentoring. This mixed-methods study uses appropriate portions of the Context-Input-Process-Product program evaluation model to assess…

Early childhood education teachers have been challenged with the demands for accountability in literacy and English language development, as well as kindergarten readiness skills of preschool children. Researchers have studied professional learning communities (PLCs) as a framework for professional development and student achievement. However, few…

This qualitative descriptive exploratory study investigated how a pedagogy of multiliteracies can be introduced to the ESL curriculum using digital stories and explored the ways ESL learners negotiate their identities through the multimodality of this narrative genre. The study was based on the premise that in language education it is crucial to…

The purpose of this study was to test the efficacy of learning communities for underprepared first-year students. The topic was examined by synthesizing data collected on a cohort of first-year college students participating in a "developmental" (special admittance) program. A quasi-experimental design evaluated the effectiveness of…

The purpose of this study was to examine what effect the Freshmen Interest Group (FIG) program, a variation of a non-residential learning community had on academic achievement scores and institutional rates of persistence. Study variables included: gender; race; pre-collegiate academic achievement (GPA scores); educational preferences (major…

The field of socially just educational leadership is focused on promoting improvements in the teaching and learning environment as demonstrated by student learning gains, particularly for traditionally marginalized students. The field has identified priorities (i.e., school improvement, democratic community, and social justice) and steps to pursue…

Response to intervention (RTI) protocols at the secondary level require a systems approach that is supported by professional learning teams (PLTs). PLTs create viable courses in which most students experience success and work together to plan further interventions. PLT protocol work begins with the design of uniform summative assessments and is…

The study is situated within a national youth organisation called the Australian Air League Inc (Air League). We examine the recent progress of the Air League in South Australia, starting as a loose network of volunteers engaged in a sporadic array of activities, to become a learning community that worked collaboratively and then developed further…

Student Learning Communities (SLCs) for high school and college students with disabilities interested in pursuing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) degrees were piloted at a major Midwestern university from 2009 to 2011. Students participated in a series of weekly sessions and/or a residential campus experience as part of a…

This paper reports data from a larger study into the ways in which Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) students engaged in professional learning during teaching practice (TP) in Ireland. The study comprised one umbrella case study of Greendale University, schools and PETE students that consisted of five individual cases: tetrads of PETE…