Education Commons^™

Developing Pedagogical Content Knowledge As Communal Practice: A Case Study Of Chemistry Graduate Teaching Assistants, Walker Bryan Mask

Theses and Dissertations--Education Sciences

Learning does not only happen during dedicated instructional time, which also applies to learning how to teach. Teachers can reflect on their practice while working to continue to improve and develop their teaching skills. In addition to self-reflection, teachers can also learn from their colleagues to experiment with new practices and take others’ teaching knowledge into their repertoire. Understanding how these two processes function can lead to developments in teacher education and professional development, specifically for initiatives that seek to promote collaboration among teachers. Post-secondary educators in particular can benefit from collaborative and reflective practices to improve their teaching, especially …

Investigating Individual And Collective Value Within A Network Of Communities Of Practice, Paula M. Jakopovic, Kelly Gomez Johnson, Nina White

Teacher Education Faculty Proceedings & Presentations

This report examines the value-add of mathematics faculty participating in regional communities of practice (CoPs) embedded within a larger Math CoP network. The CoPs and the network are aimed at fostering the use of teaching with inquiry practices in undergraduate mathematics courses. We examine value found at the individual participant level as well as at the CoP level within the larger network. We present themes identified using Wenger, Traynor and de Laat’s (2011) value framework to illustrate how individuals and CoPs find value within the network. In this paper we provide an initial look at how the network can support …

Building Leadership Capacity For The Effective Implementation Of A Professional Development Tool In K-12 School In A Region In Arctic Canada, Sonia Osbourne

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) aims to identify and remediate the organizational factors that are presently leading to the faulty delivery of a professional development framework (PDFM) tool in an educational organization in the Canadian Arctic. Implementation of change initiatives in organizations is a complex undertaking and can be further complicated by contextual factors such as culture. In this region, a large percentage of students are Inuit, and teachers and school leaders are both Inuit and non-Inuit. Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (IQ), translated as Inuit traditional knowledge, is a foundation upon which education is delivered in the region. Therefore, this organizational change …

A Practitioner Inquiry Of High School Teachers’ Experiences Participating As A Community Of Practice, Joe Don Procter

Theses & Dissertations

The focus of this study was to explore high school teachers’ perceptions of self-directed professional development learning as participants in a community of practice. The questions for this study were: How did directing their own learning influence high school teachers’ perceptions of their professional development? How did participating in a community of practice influence high school teachers’ perceptions of their professional development?

Four teachers participated in a community of practice. Individual participants used practitioner inquiry to collect and to analyze data as appropriate to their classroom practice instructing the students. I was both a participant and a researcher in the …

On The Cultivation Of Their Community Of Practice: A Case Study Of Efl Malaysian Pre-Service Teachers, Taghreed El Masry, Mohd Rashid Mohd Saad

The Qualitative Report

This study examined the experiences of five EFL student teachers/pre-service teachers (PSTs) who participated in a Community of Practice (CoP) during their simulated teaching course and the practicum stage or teaching practice (TP), at The University of Malaya, a public Malaysian university. The experiences and tensions they encountered through this stage were discussed in the light of cultivating their CoP over five stages. Joining the CoP, increasing participation and negotiation of one's tacit knowledge and assumptions were found to be productive at their learning to teach stage. However, some tensions, such as English proficiency level, self-confidence and agency, power relationships …

Learning To See The Forest For The Corn: Establishing Sense Of Place And Community In A Field-Based Ecology Course For Pre-Service Educators, Michelle Edgcomb Friday

Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation grounded theory techniques were used to characterize pre-service educators’ experiences in a semester-long, field-based ecology course. Through participation in a citizen science project, participants formed a community of practice that extended their conceptions of themselves as ecology students and scientists. Extended field experiences in a variety of local ecosystems contributed to the development of a sense of place. Paired fieldwork with lecture aided their developing ecological literacy and their understanding of place-based pedagogy. All of these combined to support their growing understanding of their role in field-based ecology education. Lack of background in ecology and ecology pedagogy …

The Nature Of Teacher Learning In Collaborative Data Teams, Robert Michaud

The Qualitative Report

As data teams have grown in popularity in recent years, they have been increasingly looked to by educational researchers because of the tantalizing prospect of combining teachers’ on the job professional development with increased and effective data use to drive instruction. Data teams have been increasingly implemented within schools by educational leaders attempting to take advantage of what teachers learn from each other in the context of a data team. Many conceptual models of data team function have been proposed, but few empirical studies have examined how teachers learn from collaborating with each other in a data team. This paper …

Blended Learning For Faculty Professional Development Incorporating Knowledge Management Principles, Julie E. Hewitt

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Adjunct faculty comprise a large percentage of part-time faculty for many colleges and universities today. Adjunct faculty are hired because they are experts in their content areas; however, this does not guarantee that they are skilled in effective classroom management. These instructors can become bewildered and frustrated because they lack the knowledge and skills that are needed to run an effective classroom.

While educational organizations have adopted blended learning environments as an effective delivery method for their students, this method has not gained much traction as a way to deliver instruction to their own employees. Thus, there are opportunities to …

Team-Teaching Experiences Of A Mathematician And A Mathematics Teacher Educator: An Interpretative Phenomenological Case Study, Sarah K. Bleiler

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, experts and organizations involved in mathematics education have emphasized the importance of collaboration between mathematicians and mathematics teacher educators as a means of improving the professional preparation of mathematics teachers. While several such collaborative endeavors have been documented in the extant literature, most research reports have focused on the products, rather than the process, of collaboration. The purpose of this interpretative phenomenological case study is to gain an understanding of the lived experiences of a mathematician and a mathematics teacher educator as they engaged in a team-teaching collaboration within the context of prospective secondary mathematics teacher preparation. …

Professional Identity Development In Online Christian Theological Education: A Case Study Of Preparing Pastoral Practice Through Discursive Activity, Rovina L. Hatcher

Theses and Dissertations--Curriculum and Instruction

The purpose of this dissertation study was to explore the professional preparation of students in online classes at a Christian theological seminary. Concerns of theological education involve the capacity or incapacity of community development and somatic or embodied learning in online education. Using a theoretical framework drawn from communities of practice (Wenger, 1998), professional clergical preparation (Foster, Dahill, Golemon, & Tolentino, 2005), and Gee’s (2000-2001) dimensions of identity development, the researcher focused the analyses on students’ written texts located in the discussion board fora of the online courses. These records were examined for indications of formation of the professional identity …