Education Commons^™

Rethinking Professional Development Training Through Mentoring Relationships, Tania Marie-Cecile Benoiton

Administrative Issues Journal

This proposal looks at teacher mentorship and how it is manifested in different school environments. Grid and Group Theory provides the basis of discerning the cultural forces at play within the respective school environments. The theoretical framework will highlight the data collection process. Rather than being a secondary asset, mentorship should become a primary resource for the professional development of teachers, novice and veteran alike. Each school faces challenges that are unique to their environment which calls for the use of inhouse resources to engage the educator on multiple levels. The proposal reports preliminary findings and concludes on with a …

Reframing Steam Pd, Tiffiny Jackson

The STEAM Journal

The reflection addresses the important changes in approach to professional learning experiences in STEAM.

Training Together: State Policy And Collective Participation In Early Educator Professional Development, Anne Douglass, Alice Carter, Frank Smith, Sherri Killins

New England Journal of Public Policy

This study used one state’s early care and education work-force registry and professional development attendance data to examine early educator patterns of professional development participation and the extent of collective participation. The article presents the concept of collective participation in professional development, discusses its potential benefits, and highlights the utility of statewide digital tracking of early educators’ patterns of professional development for informing policy. Results show that collective participation is uncommon in early education and care but can be increased through professional development policy decisions. The article concludes with implications for research and policy.

An Introduction To The Standards For Preparation And Professional Development For Teachers Of Engineering, Jackson E. Reimers, Cheryl L. Farmer, Stacy S. Klein-Gardner

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

The past 30 years have yielded a mature body of research regarding effective professional development for teachers of science and mathematics, leading to a robust selection of professional development programs for these teachers. The current emphasis on connections among science, technology, engineering, and mathematics underscores the need for similar research into the nature of effective professional development for teachers of engineering. With this in mind, this paper completes a review of the literature concerning effective professional development for teachers of engineering, both as a unique discipline and as a context for teaching and learning in other subjects. The results of …

The Use Of Twitter In The Creation Of Educational Professional Learning Opportunities, Carrie R. Ross, Robert M. Maninger, Kimberly N. Laprairie, Sam Sullivan

Administrative Issues Journal

This study sought to examine how educators are using Twitter to increase their professional learning opportunities beyond the boundaries of traditional professional development offers, and whether educators feel a greater sense of fulfillment receiving professional development through networking and community learning than they do through traditional means of learning. A population of 160 educators—105 females and 55 males between the ages of 22 and 65—were surveyed using education related hashtags on Twitter. Thirty-two educators from the survey population elected to participate in an interview. The study discovered that educators are frequently using Twitter professionally to collaborate, network, and engage in …

Professional Development In Urban Schools: What Do The Teachers Say?, Tanya R. Green, Mishaleen E. Allen

Journal of Inquiry and Action in Education

This quantitative causal-comparative study compared perceptions of professional development opportunities between high-achieving and low-achieving elementary-middle school teachers in an urban school district using the Standards Assessment Inventory (SAI). A total of 271 teachers participated including 134 (n=134) teachers from high-achieving schools, and 137 (n=137) teachers from low-achieving schools. Teachers in high-achieving schools reported receiving professional development more aligned to the 12 NSDC standards for quality professional development than teachers in low-achieving schools. In addition, teachers in high-achieving schools indicated receiving professional development modeled as Professional Learning Communities (PLCs). Findings suggest that high quality professional development designed with elements of professional …

Adding Fuel To The Fire: Life And Meaning Of Data In A Principal’S World, Donald Angelaccio, Maja Miskovic

Journal of Inquiry and Action in Education

In this paper a former middle school principal and his dissertation chair look back at the research process envisioned and carried out against the neo-positivist grain aggressively put forward by the government and espoused in school districts across the United States. We revisit the meaning of data and show how they emerged from the paradigmatic stance of action research and came to life via collaboration between teachers-research participants and a school principal-researcher. We provide examples of data that was simultaneously collected and interpreted and served as evidence that the process of action research resulted in meaningful learning, genuine change, and …

Evolution Of The Blendkit Course: Fine-Tuning A Professional Development Mooc, Kelvin Thompson, Patsy Moskal

Current Issues in Emerging eLearning

While many MOOCs modeled on traditional university curricula may be undertaken as sources of professional development, the University of Central Florida has released open courseware and a series of MOOCs specifically for the professional development of higher education faculty and designers preparing to design and teach blended learning courses. This article details experiences with offering multiple iterations of the BlendKit Course in order that others interested in professional development MOOCs may benefit from the authors' successes and lessons learned. The article addresses: background influences on the design of the BlendKit Course; the evolution of the BlendKit Course from its initial …

Arts Immersion: Using The Arts As A Language Across The Primary School Curriculum, Susan N. Chapman

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Abstract: Australia’s national arts curriculum has potential to realise the following benefits: cognitive, social, affective and curricular. This curriculum is designed for generalist and special arts teachers, but its delivery may be hindered by the prioritisation of high-stakes-tested disciplines and pedagogies, and reduced government funding to arts education across school and tertiary sectors. This may lead to a lack of opportunities to build teacher capacity in arts education, and diminished support for arts education in terms of time allocation and resourcing. The notion of ‘silos’, where the separation of teaching practices persists between teachers of different disciplines, discourages meaningful interdisciplinary …

Professional Learning Of Teachers In Ethiopia: Challenges And Implications For Reform, Fekede Tuli Gemeda, Päivi Tynjälä Professor

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Abstract

Continuous professional development of teachers is of growing interest globally, as it is considered vital to cope effectively with ongoing changes and to improve the quality of education. This qualitative case study explores potential and actual barriers that hinder teachers’ professional development in Ethiopian schools. Data was collected via interviews and focus group discussions from 37 purposively sampled participants. The study reveals three major challenges in teachers’ development: 1) conceptions and conceptual issues related to teaching, professional development and mentoring, 2) management and leadership, and 3) teachers’ work conditions. The need to reconsider educational change management strategies, reform teacher …

Antecedents Of Teachers’ Educational Beliefs About Mathematics And Mathematical Knowledge For Teaching Among In-Service Teachers In High Poverty Urban Schools, Danya M. Corkin, Adem Ekmekci, Anne Papakonstantinou

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper examines the antecedents of three types of educational beliefs about mathematics among 151 teachers predominantly working in high poverty schools. Studies across various countries have found that teachers in high poverty schools are less likely to enact instructional approaches that align with mathematics reform standards set by national and international organizations. Researchers contend that for instruction to change, educational beliefs about mathematics and teaching must change. Regression analyses indicated that mathematics-teaching experience was associated with teachers’ self-efficacy for teaching mathematics at the onset of professional development and the number of mathematics college courses teachers had taken moderated their …

Engaging In Lesson Study At Georgia College, Angel R. Abney, Brandon Samples, Doris Santarone

Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Georgia Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators

A lesson study cycle is a professional development process that integrates research and reflection through collaboration. The cycle allows a group to refine a lesson based on these collaboration efforts such as interaction with students and the post-lesson discussion. Secondary pre-service teachers in a mathematics methods course engaged in a lesson study cycle through collaboration between in-service teachers, Georgia College professors, and students in a local high school classroom. We systematically investigated this process to determine that through preparing, enacting and reflecting on their practice, Pre-service Teachers (PST) developed insight, reasoning, and understanding of the mathematics that they taught.