Digital Commons Network^™

Building A Collaborative Culture In A Middle School: A Case Study, Andrew Olson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There is extensive research indicating the importance of teachers working together in teams and in conjunction with school leadership to improve teaching practice and, ultimately, outcomes for students. However, there is little evidence that collaboration is valued in the American school system. Tension pervades in a system that often prescribes a top-down approach to teacher evaluation, fails to provide sufficient time for teachers to collaborate, and unfairly scapegoats teachers for many challenges both within society and the education system itself. It is not surprising that teachers are leaving the profession at an alarming rate.

Combine these contextual factors with the …

Examining Efl Learners’ Reading Comprehension: The Impact Of Metacognitive Strategies Discussion And Collaborative Learning Within Multimedia E-Book Dialogic Environments, Abrar H. Alsofyani

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

For most English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners, both reading and comprehension skills are challenging to acquire. EFL students find reading challenging due to their inability to comprehend and interpret text information, which may lead, at times, to demotivation and loss of interest. The current study intends to explore how Saudi EFL learners may better tackle reading comprehension challenges by examining the utilization of metacognitive reading strategies through discussion and extensive collaborative learning activities within a multimedia e-book dialogic environment. Accordingly, the study investigates the impact of teaching metacognitive strategy-based discussion and collaborative learning on students’ application of the …