This study was conducted to evaluate the extent to which, in a high turnover context, teacher leaders at an American International school in Asia were meeting the goal of building capacity within their teams to prepare for effective succession planning. Using Clark and Estes' (2008) gap analysis framework, the study investigated the knowledge,…

Calls for enhancing student engagement in higher education have offered strong arguments for student-faculty partnerships in teaching and learning. Drawing on a conceptual model of partnership learning communities (PLC), we investigate the experiences of two undergraduate research assistants (co-authors of this paper) who participated in a PLC…

The author argues that the current conjuncture is a kairotic moment for their own learning community program as well as the national movement to support the development of learning communities in universities and colleges and the array of pedagogical approaches associated with them. With Barbara Leigh Smith (2013), they recognize a link between…

This article examines communities of practice as an example of a theory applied within higher education research. It traces its origins and meaning, reviews its application by higher education researchers and discusses the issues it raises and the critiques it has attracted. This article concludes that while, like all theoretical frameworks,…

The goal of the study described was to understand the process and degree to which an undergraduate science research program for rising college freshmen achieved its stated objectives to integrate participants into a community of practice and to develop students' research identities.

This study describes the impact of the College Supporting Transition, Access and Retention (College STAR) project at a public university in the southeastern United States, which sought to develop faculty knowledge, skills and competencies to better meet the needs of diverse student populations, especially those with learning differences. A focus…

In this essay, the author responds to Madhu Prakash's piece on friendship gardens and healing our "Mother" through Prakash's central question, "How to birth a world in which many worlds flourish and complement each other in their wild, divine diversity; all equally enjoying Ahimsa flourishing and happiness?" Coming…

The Professional Doctorate has become an increasingly popular doctoral route. Research has tended to focus on outcomes and "impact" or on the epistemological nature of programmes and resulting student identities compared to other routes. This paper takes a different focus, examining the "process" through which students come to…

Academic development recognizes the strengths of communities, such as communities of practice or learning communities, in providing academics with supportive environments for the development of teaching. The problem academic development faces is that not enough academics are involved in these communities. Instead of trying to interest academics in…

In the field of teaching artists a new professional profile might be arising: the cultural learning entrepreneur. Compelled by European standards for business and social innovation, the new role is in search of identity and shared understanding. In the present article, the author presents a network project, funded by the European Community, which…

There is still no agreed pedagogic definition of practice-based research. However, there is not a dearth of definitions, but rather a wide variety, predicated upon the developing programmes of individual places of study. This article will examine these definitions in terms of underlying concepts of intentionality and alterity and the ways in which…

In an Australian education policy environment where professional standards are determining the parameters of effective teaching and learning, it is important that we revisit ways to ensure reflection and collegial engagement are embedded in pre-service teachers' professional experience. This article reports on a university program initiative that…

This paper will consider how teaching assistants' (TAs') roles are changing from the historical 'mum's army' (Bach Kessler & Heron, 2006) of paint-pot washers, as some considered it pre-national curriculum, to the developing conception of the TA as a 'paraprofessional'. Contemporary issues arising from the loosely defined current expectations…

This study sought to discover how one high school principal sustains a context for continued improvement through PLCs using case study methodology. Schools comprised of PLCs allow educators to grapple with the unique needs of their students in their specific contexts. The problem is that there is limited literature and research to indicate how…

Experimental economic games reveal significant population variation in human social behavior. However, most protocols involve anonymous recipients, limiting their validity to fleeting interactions. Understanding human relationship dynamics will require methods with the virtues of economic games that also tap recipient identity-conditioned…