This paper considers the under researched area relating to defining and conceptualising non-formal teacher professional development. It makes the case for adopting the general term grassroots professional development, specifically when this is self-directed activity led by educators. The article serves the purpose of being a position paper for…

This qualitative study investigates how academic librarians perceive the professional conversation about information literacy assessment, focusing on their characterization of the discourse and the benefits of and barriers to their participation. Findings from phenomenological interviews indicate that librarians view the conversation as valuable…

Background/Context: When new, rigorous standards are adopted, teachers often need to learn new content and new ways of teaching while concurrently attending to accountability demands. Both formal and informal school structures potentially enable this new learning, and school leaders likely influence the nature of these structures.…

Using "banking" and "kitchen" metaphors to illustrate the educational frameworks of Freire's banking concept and constructivist learning theory, we--students and instructor--describe an innovative pedagogical adult learning-teaching model utilized in a required course, "Qualitative Research," within the curriculum of…

The Community of Inquiry framework is a collaborative-constructivist process model that describes the essential elements of a successful online higher education learning experience. This history column entry briefly describes the 20 years of progress in the framework. The column is divided into two decades, first, explaining the establishment of…

Academic communities of practice (ACoPs) are formed in collaboration with professionals from industry and the community with the aim of providing innovative solutions to real-world problems. There are no adequate frameworks and clear support structures for managing academic communities of practice (ACoP). The main aim of this paper is to develop…

Most research and practice in teacher in-service learning focuses on formal professional development activities. This article calls for paying greater attention to the informal conversations that are embedded in teachers' day-to-day work and through which they learn from one another what it means to be a teacher and how to perform their duties.…

WhatsApp is one of the most popular and widely used communication platforms today. However, from an application in a few subject areas, this mobile application (app) can be distractive and cause users to lose their focus as it attracts and promotes social interaction among learning communities. In this study, firstly, qualitative research approach…

Lesson study (LS) is a collaborative practice of inquiry in which teachers design a lesson plan and work to improve it and its execution after observing its instruction. Originating in Japan, LS is recognised in international research as a useful mechanism for teachers' training and professional development. However, research reveals that…

Set in the context of modeling-based learning (MBL), this research investigated the potential of epistemic frames as a theoretical and analytical framework for understanding teaching and learning practices used in classroom communities of practice. Epistemic frames are conceptualized as an orienting lens for a classroom community of practice that…

Today's learning ecologies stand out due to their variety, dynamism and mutability, demanding an observation that matches them. This paper focuses on emerging youth informal learning cultures, with the main objective of recognizing and characterizing a new figure in online social media: the studygrammer. Using questionnaires (N=256), discussion…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper (case study) is to capture a novel school culture that values instructional leadership (school leaders and teachers) and serves students in ways that create a culturally responsive and socially just schooling environment. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative methodology was best suited for the collection…

This paper presents some initial findings of a double-sided study on collective research in inclusive education. The aim is to discuss how thinking on inclusive education can be produced and evolved in a community of inquiry consisting of practitioners and researchers. The paper presents both a research process and an explorative theoretical…

In today's society, student safety is the number one concern of school administrators. As such, the need to continuously think, practice, and grow as an educational leader charged with keeping students safe is of paramount importance. This action research aimed to increase school administrator self-efficacy in a community of practitioners during…

This program evaluation of the University of Pittsburgh EdD program was conducted to determine potential changes and modifications to create a more successful EdD program. The study had three purposes. The first was to determine how the Foundations and Practitioner Inquiry courses were structured to accommodate areas of concentration (ARCOs) and…