"Instructional Design: Case Studies in Communities of Practice" documents real-world experiences of instructional designers and staff developers who work in communities of practice. "Instructional Design: Case Studies in Communities of Practice" explains the strategies and heuristics used by instructional designers when working…

In recent years, some endeavours have been made to overcome the gap between theoretical and practical knowledge. In many countries projects have been conducted that aim to disseminate research-based knowledge in the practical field of education. This article presents an approach to the implementation of research results. This approach is referred…

It is often stressed that the pedagogic models and approaches of Collaborative Online Learning support a learner's shared knowledge building within collaborating groups of learners, the individual construction of knowledge and the formation of an ongoing learning Community of Practice. Based on a recent case study of a Danish Master's programme,…

Drawing on an activity theory analysis, Elizabeth A. Wardle considers whether cross-disciplinary FYC collaborations can help us achieve current FYC goals. Her analysis of learning community linked FYC courses at a large Midwestern university suggests that learning community teachers are faced with as many--if not more--challenges as traditional…

Social capital has recently emerged as an important interdisciplinary research area. It is frequently used as a framework for understanding various social issues in temporal communities, neighbourhoods and groups. In particular, researchers in the social sciences and the humanities have used social capital to understand trust, shared…

This is the culminating report of a three-year study of seven small schools in Washington State. It examines adult learning in the context of school redesign and highlights three schools where teachers are beginning to capitalize on adult learning opportunities to turn the corner to instructional change. In our view, effective adult learning…

This chapter presents a basic overview about psychological theories that are foundational to cooperative learning: social psychology, developmental psychology, cognitive psychology, humanistic psychology, and motivational theories. In so doing, our purpose is to acquaint readers with aspects of theory and research that may be helpful to teachers…

This article draws on Lefebvre's rhythmanalysis to interrogate and extend Bernstein's theory of pedagogic framing. It develops a typology of modes of pedagogic practice differentiated in terms of the dominance of one of three potential organising referents. These are (a) the grammar of the instructional discourse configured by a regulative…

A novel approach to improving instruction in an introductory computing course for freshmen non-computer-science majors is to couple it with a logic course as part of a Learning Community. Research has shown that effective Learning Communities can lead to higher academic achievement, better retention rates, diminished faculty isolation, and…

This article draws on a wider body of research that explores whether art and design teachers (art teachers) and museum and gallery educators (gallery educators) hold conflicting conceptions of "critical and contextual studies". The data analysis focuses on what interviewees said about each other in relation to crossing boundaries between…

Online communities are meeting places for learners on the Internet designed to facilitate interaction and collaboration among people who share common interests and needs. Most participants are drawn by an opportunity to share a sense of community with like-minded strangers, regardless of were they live. School communities can be distinguished by…

Collaborative Learning in group settings currently occurs across a substantial portion of the UK Higher Education curriculum. This style of learning has many roots including: Enterprise in Higher Education, Action Learning and Action Research, Problem Based Learning, and Practice Based Learning. As such our focus on Collaborative Learning…

Campus teaching is not independent of campus politics. Quality of teaching is partly a function of who cares. The complexity of the disciplines taught is not justification for indifference to the needs of students--and the needs of the public, and the state, and the campus administrative offices, and the instructors. Teaching is not merely a…

This research explores how community cohesion can sustain teacher participation in a small scale, mixed mode (face to face and online) PD course. Secondary school teachers in Queensland undertook a mixed mode PD course utilising Education Queensland's Learning Place. The results indicate significantly longer participation than required and when…

In many reports, scholars describe parent involvement in schools by focusing on the influence parents have on their children's learning or on the educators' perspective of parent involvement (e.g., Norton, 2003). This article looks at the issue through a different lens. It focuses on the nature of parents and community engagement in schools that…