There is increasing interest in how academic development of various kinds influences university teaching and student learning. To date the focus has been on formal, expert-led opportunities to learn how to teach. Our institution has developed a less formal, participant-led forum for teaching staff that was initially established to share ideas on…

If you are reading this, as a child, you probably went to school to learn. However, as we enter adulthood, we do a great deal of learning informally after we have completed compulsory and formal schooling. Although early theories of learning fell under the quantitative paradigm, new qualitative and social theories of learning have now been…

Computing education has been an important and sometimes contentious issue ever since the advent of modern computing. Debates about computing education have closely followed job markets, technological development, academic interests, societal concerns, and changes in the perception of computing. The themes in computing education debates can be…

This paper describes the experiences of four diverse faculty, representing chemistry, education, faculty development, and entrepreneurship, who participated in a voluntary reading circle to discuss teaching and learning in higher education. We provide examples of how our circle shared pedagogical ideas, engaged in collaborative scholarly projects,…

Opportunities for self-directed and connected professional learning are made possible by applications and tools available on the Internet and are part of an educator's professional learning network (PLN). For the past 6 years, educators across the world have reflected together through a voluntary, educator-generated, informal, online professional…

International graduate students who are professionals (IPGS) comprise a large proportion of international graduate students (IGS) in English-speaking host universities. Yet, despite their distinctive characterizations as professionals and the significance of academic literacy socialization to graduate education, specific studies on IPGS'…

Many school districts do not require science in the elementary school curriculum or place significantly more emphasis on the performance of students on the ELA and Math tests. With science education shifting to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), there is a critical need for high quality science instruction in elementary schools. This…

Purpose: Professional learning communities (PLCs) have provided a popular means by which schools have used structured collaboration to improve student outcomes. For this reason, the PLC model for collaboration has a strong reputation for helping schools achieve success. However, teachers and administrators regard the PLC efficacy differently. The…

One-third of the entering freshman class is a first-generation college student. Prior studies show that first-generation college students are low-income, they tend to graduate in six-years, and likely to leave college after their first year. Researchers have found that high-impact practices is one way to help remedy the various challenges that…

How do market-driven reforms and the privatization of public education reshape the professional identities of teachers and school leaders? This timely and accessible book examines two waves of business influence that created models of schooling that are out of touch with the experiences of students, the professional expertise of teachers, and the…

This qualitative study examined the experiences of student affairs educators who serve student veterans, their knowledge, skills, and dispositions, and how these experiences and qualities influenced their practice and the community of practice that is shared within the field at large. There is a dearth of research regarding these educators on…

Block scheduling has been touted as a reform effort for American schools (Trump, 1959; Zepeda & Mayers, 2006). Block scheduling allows teachers to use the additional class time to vary the activities in the classroom and move away from the lecture model and affords teachers the opportunity to utilize more student-centered activities to engage…

This case study investigated disciplinary literacy specific to the trades from a sociocultural perspective. Four community college faculty (diesel marine technology, mechatronics, and mathematics) participated in a disciplinary literacy learning community where they unpacked the discourse of their discipline, identified what it meant to be a…

Literary criticism of children's literature asserts a one-directional view of power with the adult writer constructing the child reader. Using "aetonormativity"-- adult perceptions of normality -- this paper explores what happens when children co-construct publishable fiction. Our analysis of drama and creative writing workshops shows…

The purpose of this study is to explore how participating in professional learning communities influenced teachers' curriculum design skills during the recent curriculum reform in Taiwan. A cohort of high school teachers in suburban areas participated in a semester-long professional learning community, strictly based on a well-planned agenda as…