In the current era of mathematics standards, whether they are Common Core State Standards or other state standards, effective vertical mathematics teams offer an opportunity for teachers to grow professionally through shared experiences, for leadership to grow among the faculty, and for the school to change its perspective on the teaching and…

Dissemination of learning and teaching innovation in higher education requires approaches to change that are socially contextualised, dynamic and self-reflexive. This article, therefore, presents a methodology for dissemination employing an embedding heuristic and engaging in participatory action research. The embedding approach emphasises three…

As mainland China seeks to implement its curriculum reforms, efforts to apply reform concepts emphasizing teacher empowerment have not been very successful. Theory and policy indicate that one possible solution is to establish a teachers' professional learning community (PLC). This study conducted a survey of thirty-two high schools in three…

There was a time, not so long ago, when having a website for a teacher's music program was considered cutting-edge. But today, over 40 years after the birth of the Internet, everyone lives in an age of instant information. New online services and Internet technologies have changed more than just the interaction between teacher, student, and…

This qualitative case study examines a sojourn in an English speaking country for a group of experienced teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL). Sojourner learning was interpreted through a community of practice perspective. These participants formed a transitory community in the host country to support their academic and social learning.…

This article describes the SS "School Library Leadership" maiden voyage, which departed from the University of Vermont (UVM) during the 2010 fall semester. Twelve intrepid sailors followed their sense of adventure into uncharted waters with cocaptains Judy Kaplan and Susan Ballard in an online collaboration that provided a powerful…

Historically speaking, reading and writing among African Americans were collaborative acts involving a wide range of texts that held social, economic, political, or spiritual significance. One of the constants of literacy collaboratives was being regularly and purposefully engaged with print within a meaningful social context. During the summer of…

The aim of this paper is to give an account of the response of secondary schools to the primary school foreign language teaching initiative recently introduced by the UK government. The paper also explores defining features of the process of cross-phase interaction and the role that knowledge and collaborative practice plays in generating change…

We report on the experience of creating a socially networked system, the Research-oriented Social Environment (RoSE), for representing knowledge in the form of relationships between people, documents, and groups. Developed as an intercampus, interdisciplinary project of the University of California, this work reflects on a collaboration between…

This qualitative study examines the narratives of 27 new teachers as they grapple with social justice in the context of their classrooms. Informed by pedagogical perspectives regarding social justice education and new teacher mentorship, this research is framed by theories of communities of practice and professional knowledge landscapes. At the…

Informal learning takes place in the workplace through connection and collaboration mediated by Web 2.0 applications. However, little research has yet been published that explores informal learning and how to integrate it with workplace training. We aim to address this research gap by developing a conceptual Web 2.0-based workplace learning and…

Writing groups have been used in a variety of academic disciplines to support and encourage faculty in their scholarly endeavors. This article gives an overview of the impact a writing group within a Teacher Education department at a teaching institution had on scholarly output over a two year period. The structure of the writing group is shared…

There is a growing literature about conducting an action research that could help achieving significant changes in teachers' practices. Although an action research can contribute obtaining improvements, this process is not straight-line and without obstacles. The text elaborates three problems the author faced with while dealing with the action…

Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, New York, is a leader in the learning community movement. The college has run learning communities for many years, and more than half of its incoming freshmen were enrolled in one as of 2010. This Brief summarizes findings from an evaluation of the same title of Kingsborough's "Career-Focused…

Central to this dissertation was an examination of the role teachers' social networks play in schools as living organizations through three studies. The first study investigated the impact of teachers' social networks on teaching practices. Recent evidence suggests that teachers' social networks have a significant effect on teachers' norms,…