This article investigates how informal positions of power emerge within a community of practice and how positions of power influence communication and understanding about key issues. Findings from a study of one community of practice reveal Janusian leadership within the group and the effects of emergent, informal power roles on group goals,…

This essay offers (1) a brief overview of how various sociological theories articulate the relationship of the individual to society; and (2) an analysis of community and self from a symbolic interactionist perspective in which the focus lies on the "webs of interaction" that shape music schooling as a field in which networks of groups of…

Debates on improving performance in science and engineering at higher education institutions have stressed the need for institutions to adopt pedagogic practices appropriate for the setting. In this paper we contribute to this debate by presenting the results of empirical research conducted in a first-year foundation mathematics course for Civil…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine if Professional Learning Communities in elementary schools that have strong evidence of the five dimensions of a Professional Learning Community have a higher degree of teamness than those schools that do not have strong evidence. Methodology: Using a descriptive and ex post facto study, the…

This book raises provocative questions about the efficacy, viability, and sustainability of professional learning communities given the current political and structural realities of public schools. The culmination of six years of research in five states, it explores real-world efforts to establish learning communities as a strategy for…

In a time of educational reform Professional Learning Communities is one initiative research suggests improves student achievement. The transition from a traditional middle school where content teachers work in isolation to an environment where teachers work in collaboration, necessitates a cultural shift. A qualitative case study was conducted to…

This report summarizes results of AISD's 2010 employee coordinated survey.

The aim of this study is to reveal how well online communities of practice (oCoPs) help teachers share explicit knowledge and bring their tacit knowledge to the surface. An Internet based oCoP platform called "The Professional Development Circle" (The PDC) was developed for this study. The study was conducted in two phases: 1) a…

A group study method proved helpful in improving senior-level students' performance on unit tests through collaborative learning. Students of a History of Textiles course voluntarily attended study sessions to review course content and prepare for unit tests. The students who attended the group reviews scored better on tests than those who did…

There has been a conversation about university graduate employability within the Higher Education literature for some time (Cryer, 1997; Barrie, 2004, 2006, 2007; Murray, 2000; McAlpine, 2006). Within this, and often under the banner of questioning the relevance of the PhD (Murray, 2000), there have been discussions about the employability of…

Two approaches to professional learning communities, the inquiry-oriented and the results-oriented approaches, both have weaknesses. Neither adequately addresses the overall coherence of a school's efforts to improve teaching and learning. A third model, the Common Priorities approach, combines the strengths of the other two approaches and…

This article contributes a framework for analyzing learning as an expansive process in which persons come to partly transcend marginalization. Expansive learning is a kind of learning that partly transcends marginalization through changed participation and recognition by others of participants in their changed communities. This article draws on…

Regular readers of "Computers in Libraries" are aware that social networks are forming increasingly important linkages to professional and personal development in all libraries. Live and virtual social networks have become the new learning playground for librarians and library staff. Social networks have the ability to connect those who are…

This article reports on a study into how collaborative contexts influence the professional development of an early-career primary teacher, Julia. We describe the process of change by which Julia manages to make her planning to teach mathematics more flexible so as to adapt to student difficulties, and we analyse the role that joint reflection…

Classroom discipline is a major concern of American teachers and why many leave teaching. A conventional view of learning is so deeply interrelated with schooling in the American culture it also drives the view of discipline, especially in urban contexts where students are disproportionately failed and excluded by the mainstream educational…