Participatory culture has many mechanisms to support peer-to-peer learning as young people enter interest-driven and friendship-driven networks. In this article, the authors argue that school librarians can help bridge the gap between the excitement of having students experiment with new forms of social learning and new digital-media practices,…

Members of staff joining a school of education often have extensive experience in practice but not in academia and the university setting may present a complex diversity of roles, ways of working, values and goals. Colleagues may face issues of understanding the organisational structure and culture, changing identities, and concerns about their…

This article examines relational ways of knowing--a concept both broad and deep--as a strategy we have infused throughout our design of one first-year Living and Learning Community (LLC). As outlined here, the authors teach faith as relationship; justice as being in just relationship with others, research as the concept of putting ideas in…

This article is based on a study focusing on how structured learning communities can promote reflective awareness and professional development, through collaborative analysis of professional experience. As participant-observer, the researcher used recorded observations as well as individual participants' reflective writing as data. Of importance…

The aim of this article is to exemplify the value of using a phenomenological approach when investigating graduates' lived experiences of vocational learning. For this study, qualitative data was obtained during a series of email interviews with 35 participants. As a group they are highly aspirational and, during their graduate studies, were…

While professional development (PD) has always been central to the teaching profession, increasingly traditional models of PD are out of step with contemporary ways of learning. Commiserate with the literature, we see the field moving along a continuum which reflects changes in what, how and when teachers learn. Following a brief sketch of the…

A low-performing California school district experienced a dramatic turnaround when faculty members began studying student assessment data and working together to ensure students had the support they needed. Sanger Unified School District began its reform journey in 2004 when district leaders launched an effort to focus deliberately on student…

School-university partnerships (SUPs) are considered a way of improving teacher education. For the successful implementation of such partnerships, cooperation between the different stakeholders is of crucial importance. Therefore, most partnerships are organised in short- and long-term teams, which are usually composed of teachers, student…

This study investigates the professional development of one EFL teacher, Gen, through narrative analysis and the notion of community of practice (CoP) (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1998). This study addresses two questions: (1) How did a Japanese high school teacher generate context-appropriate pedagogy?; and (2) How did multi-membership in…

"Shaping the Future", the 1996 report to the National Science Foundation (NSF), called for the research community to identify and characterize practical solutions for developing "supportive" and "excellent" learning experiences for all students in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (SME). The recommendation was that we "start with…

Wenger (2000, 229) describes communities of practice as the "basic building blocks of a social learning system" since they are the "social containers" that make up such a system. By practising in academic communities, academics define with one another what constitutes academic competence and, for that matter, what constitutes…

The National 4-H Council Learning Priorities team developed educational content for professional development to increase evaluation capacity and evaluation skills for 4-H educators. Extension specialists in Oregon, Vermont, and Virginia piloted Evaluating for Impact curriculum through learning communities. Lessons learned from the pilot project…

In too many places, community members have abdicated their collective responsibility for education, thinking it only happens in schools. But if their role as citizens is to wrestle with tough problems together, and education is a primary societal function, then it stands to reason that educational accountability focused solely on schools would…

The timely incorporation of health research into the routine practice of individual health practitioners and interprofessional teams is a widely recognized and ongoing challenge. Health professional engagement and learning is an important cog in the wheel of knowledge translation; passive dissemination of evidence through journals and clinical…

Every August for the past six years, teachers at Walled Lake Consolidated Schools in Michigan learn how to use the latest educational technology tools from their colleagues during the district's one-day technology conference called Spice It Up! The teachers are both the presenters and the attendees, and they have a shared goal of moving the…