A mentoring relationship that began as part of teacher preparation can evolve into a professional community that stays connected through several means of communication. While there are examples of mentoring relationships within schools and among former university cohorts, these authors took a slightly different approach. Rather than forming a…

Bill Frisell's new album ("Big Sur") was heralded with a short documentary about its impulse and inception: Frisell's retreat to an isolated coastal ranch in Central California. In the video, he describes the influence of the place, the dramatic and evocative landscape, and how it ultimately became the subject and theme for the…

In the field of higher education Newman has been dismissed as irrelevant and out of date. Ronald Barnett, for example, is highly critical of his "value-laden" vision of a particular kind of university. This article seeks to consider the question of values more carefully, suggesting that Newman's writings do have strong resonances…

This concluding contribution to the special issue on the Ethnography of the University Initiative based at the University of Illinois locates the project at the intersections of several of the main currents in modern higher education: the push for undergraduate research, calls for critical inquiry into higher education, an interest in pedagogical…

The Staff and Educational Development Association (SEDA) was formed in 1993 combining a number of predecessor organisations, including the Standing Conference for Educational Development and the Staff Development Group of the Society for Research in Higher Education. It was later joined by the membership of the Association of Educational Training…

Over 20?years, 25 books have been published to date in the SEDA series, and this review article aims to analyse the ways in which books within the series have contributed to thinking in higher education pedagogy over this time. We have approached the texts through three lenses, analysing them chronologically, thematically and by the orientation of…

As states continue to implement CCSS, science teachers will be asked to incorporate more discipline-specific reading and writing in their classes. Yet, according to national studies, few science teachers have previous experience to draw upon and most have little to no training in writing pedagogy. This article reports on one science teacher's…

Utilizing the conceptual framework of Garrison, Anderson, and Archer for critical inquiry, this paper outlines the importance of the community of inquiry (COI) model and how it may inform online social work education. Integrating the COI model, we discuss how online learning in the classroom with a hybrid approach has been used to facilitate…

This paper traces the history and impact of communities of practice (CoPs) in supporting early-career academics, although the primary focus here in the United States is on the faculty learning community (FLC) model, a special type of CoP in higher education. The initial development of this model, beginning in 1979, takes place over two decades at…

This article makes the case for a new framing of liberal education based on several decades of research emerging from the learning and developmental sciences. This work suggests that general knowledge stems from acquiring both the habits of mind and repertoires of practice that develop from participation in knowledge-building communities. Such…

This study explores the interaction between transformative processes in which a group of teacher educators became a professional development community (PDC) and the individual progress of these instructors through the professional development course on the topic of thinking education. Twelve teacher educators who participated in one of three…

Extra-curricular activities have for many years been a prominent and valuable feature of UK university music departments, but the current political and economic climate poses several significant threats to their survival, including uncertain funding, demands on students’ time (including the need to undertake paid employment), and, potentially, the…

Becoming an effective literacy learner requires a bit of slowing down and appreciating the reflective nature of reading and writing. Literature circles support this instructional direction because they provide opportunities for immersing students in discussions that encourage their personal responses. When students feel their personal responses…

One of the great challenges to teachers both historically and contemporarily is to facilitate a classroom as a "group" of students, while concurrently attending to each "individual" student. As the profession becomes increasingly aware and sensitive to student (dis)abilities, academic giftedness, pressures of athletics and…

Researchers have identified teaching quality as a significant factor in increasing student academic achievement (Berry & Wieder, 2009; Hord, 2009; Schmoker, 2005; Waters, 2011). Educational leaders have therefore sought ways to improve teachers' pedagogy. One popular method for doing so has been to implement Professional Learning Communities…