Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 5 of 5
Full-Text Articles in Education
Operationalizing Centerness And Measuring It In Professional Development Teams, George M. Nickles, Bruce Herbert
Operationalizing Centerness And Measuring It In Professional Development Teams, George M. Nickles, Bruce Herbert
Journal of Educational Research and Practice
Centerness is defined as a quality of multi-agent systems (groups) where agents share a common set of system goals and interact so the system will achieve those goals. A pair of measures is identified to capture the two dimensions of centerness: distance-weighted fragmentation and average goal centerness. As a case study, the measures of centerness are applied to six teacher professional development groups within the Information Technology in Science Center for Teaching and Learning. The calculated measures of centerness of these groups generally conform to the expectations. Insights on using this measure of centerness to evaluate centerness in other professional …
Professional Development And Educational Policy: A Comparison Of Two Fields In Education, Linda E. Martin, Sherry Kragler, Denise Frazier
Professional Development And Educational Policy: A Comparison Of Two Fields In Education, Linda E. Martin, Sherry Kragler, Denise Frazier
Journal of Educational Research and Practice
The purpose of this paper is to compare two fields of research related to school reform: professional development and educational policy. A content analysis of the literature in both fields revealed two areas where they align (i.e., a focus on teachers’ professional development and the idea that change takes time) as well as two areas where there are differences (i.e., theoretical grounding of each field and planning for teachers’ learning). Considerations for successful school reform are suggested.
A Content Analysis Of Images Of Novice Teacher Induction: First-Semester Themes, Jennifer R. Curry, Angela W. Webb, Samantha J. Latham
A Content Analysis Of Images Of Novice Teacher Induction: First-Semester Themes, Jennifer R. Curry, Angela W. Webb, Samantha J. Latham
Journal of Educational Research and Practice
The powerful nature of novice teachers’ experiences in their first years of teaching has been well documented. However, the variance in novices’ initial immersion in the school environment is largely dependent on perceived personal and professional support as well as the environmental inducements that lend to novice teachers’ success in the classroom. For the purposes of this study, 72 participating novices, who were participants in an alternative certification program, drew representations of their current teaching environments. Of the 72 initial participants’ pictures, 58 were used in this content analysis. The interrater analysis involving multiple documentation of codes between and among …
“I’M Teaching What?!”: Preparing University Faculty For Online Instruction, Susan Ohara, Robert Pritchard
“I’M Teaching What?!”: Preparing University Faculty For Online Instruction, Susan Ohara, Robert Pritchard
Journal of Educational Research and Practice
The percentage of higher education students enrolled in online courses has increased from 9.6 percent in fall 2002 to 33 percent in fall 2010. Due to the increased importance of online courses and programs on university campuses there is a need to better prepare novice technology faculty for the delivery of these courses. This article provides a description of the process through which a group of faculty with low to high technology skills prepared to deliver an online masters program. Minutes of meetings, documents produced, online discussion transcripts, and informal conversations were all used as data to analyze outcomes of …
Assessing Content Knowledge And Changes In Confidence And Anxiety Related To Economic Literacy In A Professional Development Program For History Teachers, Julia M. Rollison, Larry H. Ludlow, Todd Wallingford
Assessing Content Knowledge And Changes In Confidence And Anxiety Related To Economic Literacy In A Professional Development Program For History Teachers, Julia M. Rollison, Larry H. Ludlow, Todd Wallingford
Journal of Educational Research and Practice
The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of a Teaching American History professional development program on content knowledge, and confidence and anxiety associated with teaching economic literacy. Two content assessments and a confidence and anxiety instrument were administered to teachers prior to and immediately following a two-week Summer Institute. Statistically significant findings included an increase in economics content knowledge and an increase in confidence combined with a decrease in anxiety. The scale and measurement model employed to examine status and subsequent change should be useful for similar professional development initiatives and evaluations.