The article by Aileen Fyfe (this issue) raises a number of important issues about academic identity and the importance of the disciplinary community in the creation and maintenance of that identity. It also discusses some of the additional difficulties faced by interdisciplinary disciplines; lack of recognition (and thus institutional support),…

Strong academic performance in college, as measured by first-year grades, is important for a host of reasons, but perhaps the most critical reason is that students who perform well in their first year of college are more likely to earn a bachelor's degree (Adelman, 2006). Research shows that Advanced Placement Program® (AP®) students, particularly…

This study investigates the potential of Facebook as a medium and process for teachers' learning about mathematical and pedagogical knowledge. Participants' (N = 117) responses towards four inter-related posts regarding division-of-fractions were captured and systematically analysed to gain insight about the participants' engagement. The results…

Do teacher leaders in your school mainly fill the traditional roles of department chair or grade-level representative? Or do they lead their peers in collaborative teams whose primary focus is improving student learning? Terry Wilhelm, director of the School Leadership Center for Riverside County Office of Education in California, says that…

The original article by Kamberelis and Wehunt (2012) discusses an interesting and important research subject in science education as it focus on classroom interactions and the characteristics of the discourse production of interlocutors. The authors start from the premise that discourse heterogeneity is constitutive of social activities, which is…

Researchers have studied professional learning communities for over two decades. Schools have utilized the elements of professional learning communities in their schools to improve instruction and student learning. Yet, there is limited empirical evidence that establishes, describes, and confirms this relationship. This study was completed to…

Knowledge is one of the crucial and dominant economic resources in order to obtain sustainable advantages in any community. The world is now shifting faster thanks to the advanced development of digital connectivity and increasing access to knowledge. Leaders of a community, society, or country must contemplate what factors concerned in the…

This paper explores how to select, or design, the best mathematical task for a given learning goal. Examples are taken from a recent project in Victorian Primary schools that employed Japanese Lesson Study as the means to provide teachers with Professional Learning within their own classrooms. The discussions by participating teachers and…

Over the past years, a number of international initiatives that recognize the importance of sharing and reusing digital educational resources among educational communities through the use of Learning Object Repositories (LORs) have emerged. Typically, these initiatives focus on collecting digital educational resources that are offered by their…

This paper reports on the first year of an innovative Postgraduate Certificate (PGCert) in Advanced Education Practice, designed to meet the specific staff and development needs of one school in the North West of England. The programme is underpinned by three strands of practice based learning: learning about practice (theory), learning in…

Research suggests effective professional learning communities (PLCs) enhance teacher collaboration and student achievement. Within-school variation in PLC processes, however, is underexplored. This study highlights differences in teacher behavior and teams' perceptions of principal leadership in well-functioning teams versus less well-functioning…

A key capacity for engagement in the emerging field of ecohealth is the ability to work collaboratively. Between 2008 and 2010, the Canadian Community of Practice in Ecosystem Approaches to Health collectively designed and delivered three foundational, intensive, field courses. This paper presents findings derived from both quantitative and…

This article reports on a study in which teachers, university teacher educators and a software company formed a learning community which provided a mechanism for knowledge exchange regarding pedagogical approaches using mobile technologies. The study employed an interpretivist methodology. The findings indicated that the collaboration promoted…

The context of this study is a Masters course in educational foundations, adjusted from an overall theoretical format to one which places heavy emphasis on the social interaction of participants toward the building of a community of learning. In a learning community, situations arise which require of its members social competencies conducive to…

This paper reports on an action research project involving the redesign, implementation and evaluation of a peer tutor program in a first year design studio in higher education. The effectiveness of the revised program, particularly its capacity to support learning for commencing students in the environment of a creative studio, is examined…