Religious practice dramatically decreases in college and students' positions on hot-button religious/cultural questions move appreciably to the left. There's no doubt that college students are on a quest for meaning. In this article, the author reports on new data that reveals unequivocally the decline of religious practice among college students.…

In order to improve teaching and learning within a faculty, an action research intervention involving peer observation of teaching staff via an expert was designed and implemented. A total of ten staff (including the first author) were observed over the year. The process consisted of observation at class, a written report, discussion between…

This article reports on a study conducted in Australia and France that inquired into the meaning and the nature of children's experiences of being in swimming clubs with a focus on the positive aspects of membership that keep them in their clubs. Three-month long case studies were conducted in a club in Australia and in a club in France, employing…

There exists a wealth of computing education literature devoted to interventions designed to overcome novices' difficulties in learning to write computer programs. However, various studies have shown that the majority of students at the end of a semester of instruction are still unable to write a simple computer program, despite the best efforts…

The role of land-grant university Extension specialist originates in a community of place, enters into communities of interest to leverage resources or partnership opportunities, and returns to the local level with more effective outcomes than possible by operating solely within the community of place. A case study describes synergistic specialist…

Professional experience in initial teacher education continues to be a very challenging area in which to work in Australian universities, given the changing times in which we live and the multiplicity of political, professional, economic and pragmatic issues that surround professional placements. The past decades have seen myriad responses to…

The utility and limitations of Lave and Wenger's social theory of learning can be evaluated through specific case studies which enhance our understanding of how education proceeds in diverse contexts. Here I provide an ethnographic case study of the training of Caribbean-born Hindu "pandits" ("priests") living and working in…

This article presents findings from an ethnographic study that explored how participation in an educator network contributed to the production of meaning, identity, and agency among the teachers and school district administrators involved. Prominent in this process were the differences between practice in the network, consisting of dialogue…

In response to uneven academic outcomes and resistance to reading and writing among ELLs in a Canadian grade 7 classroom, teachers and university-based researchers collaborated to introduce a podcast project in which children learned new digital and multimodal literacy skills as a pathway to success in academic literacies. Throughout the four…

Incivility is a critical, but under-examined aspect of teaching and learning. It has important implications for the academic success of students and the university as a whole. Bullying research offers a unique lens through which this type of anti-social behaviour can be understood with a view of developing intervention strategies. The exercises…

An intentional, active and self-regulated approach to professional growth results in improved instruction and higher levels of student achievement over time. School systems that aspire to a continuous learning ethic socialize educators to act on the assumption that all students and all educators are capable of learning and reaching high standards.…

This study examined factors that influence K-5 teachers' technology integration efforts during a semester-long Collaborative Apprenticeship. Results suggest that shared planning time, shared curriculum, connection to an individual, expertise, physical proximity, and comfort level influenced interactions across the community of practice. Posing and…

This study reports on the non-discursive aspects of the disciplinary enculturation experiences of five international doctoral students from East Asia in three Second Language studies graduate programmes in the United States. Based largely on interview data, this study examined how students participate in their graduate discourse communities and…

When Gabrielle Carpenter became a guidance counselor in Northern Virginia nine years ago, she focused on the academic achievement gap and furiously tried to close it. At first, she was compelled by tremendous professional interest. However, after seeing her son lose his zeal for school, Carpenter joined forces with other parents to form an…

The need to engage students studying at a distance in order to reduce isolation, foster a sense of belonging and enhance learning has received significant attention over the past few years. Conversely, very little research has focused on teachers working in this type of environment. In fact, we argue, they appear to be the forgotten dimension in…