The New Zealand Ministry of Education has published a best evidence synthesis iteration (BES) that identifies the characteristics of teacher professional development that make a positive difference for valued student outcomes. A companion best evidence synthesis iteration (BES) that identifies the leadership influences on valued student outcomes…

Although the concept of communities of practice (CoPs) has been applied to many fields, the application within the context of the senior citizens' interaction must be different from those in the vocational arena. In Toy Clinic Shops (TCSs) in Taiwan, senior volunteers together sharpen their skills of repairing toys for school children, which can…

In this paper we describe an evaluation training program sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and led by Duquesne University and OMG Center for Collaborative Learning designed to meet the challenge of developing a cadre of diverse evaluation professionals, specifically those from traditionally underrepresented or underserved…

The authors investigated patterns of change in three middle grade teachers' beliefs and practices about motivation in mathematics during a yearlong professional development project with a university researcher. Four principles of motivation (and corresponding instructional strategies) were introduced in this sequence: supporting students'…

The goal of this study is to investigate how students behave themselves in the virtual learning worlds. The study creates a 3D virtual learning world, entitled the Best Digital Village, and implements a learning program on it. The learning program, the Expo, takes place at the Exhibition Center in the Best Digital Village. The space in the Expo is…

Developmental educators are often familiar with the benefits of learning communities and with the importance of incorporating research-based best practices into their developmental studies courses. Faculty may be less familiar with the educational applications based on the concepts of emotional intelligence (EI). Faculty at College of the Mainland…

The purpose of this article is to explore the potential for fostering transformative learning in an online environment. It provides an overview of transformative learning theory, including the variety of perspectives on the theory that have evolved as the theory matured. Strategies and practices for fostering transformative learning are presented,…

This study explored rural middle-school students' participation in an online summer reading course. The research question explored the patterns and practices of the student's participation in an online reading course and the instructional moves made by the teacher. Data were gathered from a small group (n = 4) of rural middle school students…

The purpose of this study was to investigate three constructs that affect online faculty: initial preparation, collegiality, and continued professional development. An increasing number of colleges and universities are responding to the demand for greater learning flexibility and, consequently, offering online and hybrid courses at an increasing…

Numerous districts are implementing Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) as a part of reform efforts to improve student achievement to meet external accountability mandates. Few districts, however, have considered the essential supports and components that teachers working in PLCs require for these teams to result in instructional improvement.…

Almost ubiquitous in discourses about the development of teachers, reflective practice describes the process that occurs when persons are apprenticed to any meaningful activity. But reflective practice is a descriptive term for that process: it does not imply that the process is itself open to dissection and instruction. We contend that mistaken…

If learning is a journey between worlds, school governing bodies have a crucial role to play in mediating them. By establishing a public space for the voice of different communities to be expressed and deliberated governing bodies enable schools to understand and engage the cultural sources that motivate young people to learn. This article draws…

A generation of principals has heard the mantra that they should be instructional leaders, but rarely have they been encouraged to be learning leaders. While an instructional leader pays attention to the planning, implementation, and evaluation of instruction, a learning leader focuses on what is learned and how it is learned. These roles are not…

English teachers face the shifting landscapes of education, the rapidly expanding repertoire of information and communication technologies, and the diverse nature, interests, and abilities of their students with increasing confidence, skill and creativity. The management of such shifting landscapes, in order to facilitate effective learning,…

This article provides a citation analysis of Lave and Wenger's work on "communities of practice" and "situated learning" over the period 1991-2001. The data relate to educational research in the UK, although comparisons are made with the USA. The findings indicate that although the text was incorporated and heavily used within…