This inquiry originates in a conversation between the first two authors which concluded with the challenge that a Revans Institute for Action Learning & Research should not only be doing research "by" action learning and but should also be researching "into" action learning itself. Action learning has been a recognised…

The purpose of this article is to provide a critical review of the motivating factors, processes and outcomes pertaining to learning-centred curriculum reform in higher education. A case study example is provided from the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of British Columbia. Although academic units on university campuses tend…

Two teachers participating in an online study group provided the foci for in-depth case studies. Transcripts of conversations they had with colleagues about issues related to reform-oriented pedagogy were analyzed from both acquisition and participation perspectives on learning. Both teachers exhibited mainly marginal changes to their pedagogical…

Computer-mediated conferencing has been adopted, particularly for purposes of online course provision, as a method that can deliver community. Widespread interest in a communities-of-practice approach within both informal and formal learning has strengthened perceptions of the value of creating a community online. A case study of asynchronous…

Purpose: This paper seeks to surface less positive aspects of communities of practice (CoPs), regardless of emergent or organisationally managed, grounded in political-power interactions. Examples are provided from the authors' experiences of a research-based CoP within UK higher education. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is primarily…

Building upon a related 2005 panel presentation at the 25th annual Lilly Conference on College Teaching, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, the authors, several tenure-track assistant professors and tenured associate professors who have participated in a Research and Teaching Faculty Learning Community at Bowling Green State University, share their…

How do people experience engagement? We explore this question by interpreting stories of engagement, stories associated with projects undertaken in conjunction with the W. K. Kellogg Foundation's Leadership for Institutional Change (LINC) initiative. The stories convey a sense of what it means to be and feel engaged: it is a resonant experience,…

Introduction: Genre analysis is an approach to study communication patterns and thus it can be applied to the specific context of meetings. This research investigates the use of genre analysis in the design of electronic meeting systems. Background: The primary goal of genre analysis is to understand how virtual communities use digital…

Are communities better off because of the efforts of higher education? Extension educators have extended university-based research and technologies that have helped create strong, natural resource-based communities. However, the political and socioeconomic environments in which these communities function are changing even faster than the natural…

This article examines the year-long experience of one fourth grade teacher, Anne, as she learned about comprehension strategy instruction and attempted to integrate the approach in her reading program. The goal of the study was to extend current understanding of the factors that support or inhibit an individual teacher's instructional decision…

In this position paper, reservations are presented regarding the potential of knowledge management (KM) as it is currently applied to the learning and teaching activity of schools. We contend that effective KM is contingent upon the explication of a deep and shared understanding of the learning and teaching process. We argue that the most…

Looking collaboratively at student and teacher work is a process in which teachers primarily, but also administrators, parents, students, and members of the community, look at student and/or teacher work with the goal of improving student learning. To structure the process and create a safe, caring environment, teachers use a protocol to…

The purpose of this analysis is to describe the research base that undergirds the emerging concept of learning-centered leadership. We begin with our definition of leadership. Leadership is "the process of influencing others to achieve mutually agreed upon purposes for the organization" (Patterson, 1993, p. 3). Next, we make a number of…

The concept of physical and chemical change is far from being the clearest and most self-explanatory concept in the world. If a number of chemists are asked to define physical and chemical change, there may well appear to be a fair degree of uniformity in their answers, until a few examples are suggested. When chemists are asked to place a variety…

A commonly accepted assumption in music education based on the apprenticeship tradition is that teachers deliver their musical expertise using pedagogically relevant methods that will help them to have effective mastery and control over the process of learning. This article decentres the traditional notion of mastery and pedagogy. Rather, it is…