Education Commons^™

A Virtual Community Of Practice: Impact On Instructional Design Knowledge And The Cultural Elements Evident Within Interactions Among Nigerian Faculty, Hala Walid Esmail

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

With the expansion of higher education and the growth of online course offerings in Sub-Saharan Africa, there is a critical need to support faculty in developing the necessary skills to teach effectively online. The purpose of this qualitative, single-case study was to examine the nature of the discourse in which faculty members engaged within a virtual community of practice that was created to support their instructional design and online teaching efforts. The community of practice framework and the related learning theories of situated learning and social constructivism served as the underpinning of this study. The E-Learning Program was facilitated via …

Developing An Instrument To Measure Student's Perception Of The Medical Education Curriculum From The Perspective Of Communities Of Practice Theory, Yoga Pamungkas Susani, Gandes Retno Rahayu, Yayi Suryo Prabandari, Rossi Sanusi, Harsono Mardiwiyoto

REID (Research and Evaluation in Education)

The concept of participation as a learning process is essential to foster professional identity development. Faculties are expected to provide a curriculum that supports students' participation in the profession's context. Curriculum evaluation is needed to assess the extent to which curriculum implementation supports participation. In this regard, this study aims to develop instruments that measure students' perceptions of the medical education curriculum. The blueprint for the instrument's development was based on the concept of participation in communities of practice theory. Qualitative research, which involved 17 pre-clinical and clinical medical students as participants, was conducted to explore medical students' perception about …

The Practice Of Being A Student: Cops And Graduate Student Success, Aimee Dechambeau

Aimée L. deChambeau

What's A Policy Maker Doing At A Research Conference? Mediating Stronger Partnerships Between Research, Policy And Practice In Schooling And Early Childhood Development, Elizabeth Hartnell-Young, Elvira Vacirca

Dr Elizabeth Hartnell-Young

This paper, written from the stance of central government policy makers, explores the sometimes tense relationships between researchers, practitioners and education policy makers in a context where evidence-based policy is espoused by governments. It is based on a belief that research in education affects, and is affected by, multiple stakeholders, and that if we are to strengthen the role of education research as a public good, making a difference to society, then we need a model and a practice that can bridge stakeholder interests. The current quest in school education policy making for ‘what works’ is influenced by economic imperatives, …

Eportfolios, The Harvesting Gradebook, Accountability, And Community, Gary R. Brown, Nils Peterson, Meriem Chida, Theron Desrosier

Office of Academic Innovation Publications

Article discusses a project at Washington State University that engaged students in projects that combined a portfolio approach with emerging technologies, as well as involvement with professionals from outside the campus community. The article discusses the results, impact and implications of this experiment for learning and assessment in the university environment.

Teachers As Designers In Computer-Supported Communities Of Practice, Elizabeth Hartnell-Young

Dr Elizabeth Hartnell-Young

School classes can be conceptualized as bounded communities of practice made up of teachers and students working together to build knowledge. Teachers make design decisions about physical and virtual spaces supported by information and communications technologies, and about curriculum. Design influences how students go about their work, and their learning outcomes, but its processes are rarely observed. This paper, based on observations and conversations in schools, explores how teachers engage in designing learning environments. It argues that while most teachers display leadership in design decisions for their classes, they should build on this experience to influence policy and become more …

Using Electronic Portfolios As A Pedagogical Practice To Enhance Student Learning, Yves P. Labissiere, Candyce Reynolds

University Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Real learning transcends barriers of time and place. It can also provide a bag of tools one can take on the journey through life. Some students, unfortunately, leave college with empty toolkits, or ones they do not know how to open. Engaging students in the process of salient, transformative learning is a challenge, but one worth taking. Tagg (2004) speaks eloquently in a recent About Campus article about the need for faculty to use practices in the classroom that improve the quality of learning, and calls for faculty to help students claim their learning and engage in what Kegan (1995) …