Learning is most effective when intrinsically motivated through personal interest, and situated in a supportive socio-cultural context. This paper reports on findings from a study that explored implications for design of interactive learning environments through 18 months of ethnographic observations of people's interactions at "Hack The…

The development of socio-interactive web technologies such as social media necessitates the exploration of how they can be effectively appropriated and implemented in educational contexts. In an effort to respond the need, the present study examines the use of a synchronous multimodal tool in higher education context. By applying the Community of…

This mixed-methods study explored how early-career academics (ECA) at the Universidade Eduardo Mondlane (UEM) acquire pedagogical knowledge, develop their teaching experience as well as examine their expectations regarding the teaching profession. A questionnaire, composed mostly of closed questions and one open-ended question, was applied to 71…

This article reports on the experiences of two lecturers working at the University of Tasmania required to teach outdoor and sustainability education (O&SE) courses online. Using an (auto)ethnographic case-study approach, the lecturers were interviewed with a view to exploring their perceptions, challenges, ethical dilemmas, tensions,…

This article reports on two cycles of a Participatory Action Research (PAR) study on student experiences of the process of establishing social learning spaces in a Johannesburg university student residence. We draw on Wenger's (2009) notion of "social learning spaces" to explore the manner in which students mediate their social and…

This article examines the implementation of a wiki-type platform for lesson planning for teacher candidates in an undergraduate general instructional methods course in the teacher education program of a Midwestern university in the United States. The study draws on the results of two separate sets of analysis involving 159 participants. Teacher…

STEM learning communities facilitate student academic success and persistence in science disciplines. This prompted us to explore the underlying factors that make learning communities successful. In this paper, we report findings from an illustrative case study of a 2-year STEM-based learning community designed to identify and describe these…

This study uses Critical Discourse Analysis and Social Network Analysis to examine an online peer mentoring site created to unite first-year and third-year preservice teachers enrolled in an undergraduate teacher education program. The peer mentoring site was developed to provide both first-year preservice teachers and more experienced peers the…

This study looked to situated learning (Lave & Wenger, 1991) in order to explore students' participation in the social practices of first-year learning communities. Wenger's (1998) elaboration on "communities of practice" provides insight into how such participation transforms learners. These perspectives frame learning as a…

Culinary Arts training at the associates level presents a set of challenges to the instructor. It has been my experience that as the work environment is changing, students face new challenges in the kitchen, including a new mix of skills, both technical and social in nature. In this piece, I reflect on a promising learning community model at our…

As the cultural and experience gap between an increasingly diverse student population and predominantly white, female educators widens, schools continue to rely heavily on the pedagogies, curricula, assessments, and interventions that more effectively served a homogeneous group of educators than they do a heterogeneous student population. The…

In a study of the information behaviors of graduate students enrolled in an online Masters of Library and Information Science (MLIS) program, it was determined that learners engage in threaded discussions not only for cognitive purposes but for affective reasons as well. The information sharing among students was particularly prolific during a…

The use of high-impact practices is well documented in higher education literature. This brief describes the integrative practice of undergraduate peer-led leadership learning communities as a model of delivery within a large introductory leadership education course for first-year students. Utilizing open-ended questions embedded within…

A growing body of work has emerged regarding the responsibilities required of district leaders in establishing plans that initiate and create conditions for sustainability of continuous improvement achieved through a systemic reform structure such as professional learning communities. However, limited research exists in respect to sustaining…

This record of study examines the relationship between certified staff personnel perception of digital citizenship and the impact upon professional development. Quantitative and qualitative data was used to examine responses to teacher familiarity with the concept of digital citizenship and status of teaching digital citizenship culminating with…