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Full-Text Articles in Education

Understanding Contradictions In Teacher-Learner Identity, Digital Video, And Goal-Directed Activity In A Blended Graduate Reading Education Course, Jennifer K. Lubke Dec 2013

Understanding Contradictions In Teacher-Learner Identity, Digital Video, And Goal-Directed Activity In A Blended Graduate Reading Education Course, Jennifer K. Lubke

Doctoral Dissertations

More teachers are experiencing professional development within blended/virtual learning communities, which I consider a fruitful avenue for expansion of new literacies in K-12 classrooms. However, new literacies challenge traditional structures in education even as new rules of corporate-sponsored reform and high-stakes accountability serve to reinforce these structures. Within this context of contradictions, a cohort of teachers from a rural, remote county in the southeast United States participated in a blended learning environment in their final semester of graduate-level coursework in Reading Education. Some of the teacher-learners, whose own attitudes and motivations toward technology were as diverse as the tools themselves, …


Turkish And Lithuanian Efl Instructors' Professional Development Experiences: Worth The Effort, Or Waste Of Time?, Servet Celik, Nemira Mačianskienė, Kübra Aytin Dec 2013

Turkish And Lithuanian Efl Instructors' Professional Development Experiences: Worth The Effort, Or Waste Of Time?, Servet Celik, Nemira Mačianskienė, Kübra Aytin

Servet Celik

Effective EFL instructors must have a good command of English, as well as sound pedagogical knowledge and adequate communication and classroom management skills. Professional development has been indicated as significant in developing these attributes. This comparative study was designed to analyze the viewpoints of EFL professionals working in Turkey and Lithuania using a scalar survey. The results revealed that Turkish instructors found their professional development experiences to be largely irrelevant, while the Lithuanian instructors perceived professional development as beneficial. In both groups, obstacles such as financial concerns and heavy teaching loads impaired the participants’ ability to grow professionally. The findings …


A Primer For Mathematical Modeling, Marla A. Sole Oct 2013

A Primer For Mathematical Modeling, Marla A. Sole

Publications and Research

With the implementation of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics recommendations and the adoption of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics, modeling has moved to the forefront of K-12 education. Modeling activities not only reinforce purposeful problem-solving skills, they also connect the mathematics students learn in school with the mathematics they will use outside of school. Instructors have found mathematical modeling difficult to teach. To successfully incorporate modeling activities I believe that curricular changes should be accompanied by professional development for curriculum developers, classroom teachers, and higher education professionals. This article serves as an introduction to modeling by …


Civic Engagement Scholars Initiative (Cesi), Camille Martinez-Krawiec Apr 2013

Civic Engagement Scholars Initiative (Cesi), Camille Martinez-Krawiec

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

UMass Boston received a Performance Incentive Fund grant to institutionalize and increase teaching and learning that promotes civic and community engagement. Specifically the funds are being used to support the implementation of the Civic Engagement Scholars Initiative (CESI), which supports faculty and community partners on how to effectively engage undergraduate students in service-learning and community-based research activities that reinforce classroom learning, foster civic habits and skills, and address community-identified needs. This enhancement will be accomplished through implementation of a professional development program that improves the efficacy and assessment of faculty-driven community-engaged instruction and undergraduate research. CESI, as part of the …


Emerging Critical Literacy In Teachers As Novice Researchers, Jennifer Mitton Kukner Mar 2013

Emerging Critical Literacy In Teachers As Novice Researchers, Jennifer Mitton Kukner

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper explores the experiences of three teachers as novice researchers as they taught full-time in a university English language school in Turkey. Viewing the participants’ experiences as researchers through a narrative understanding of teacher knowledge and a critical literacy lens enhanced their critical cognisance of their positioning as women instructors in a higher education setting. Their research experiences were shaped not only by their classroom concerns but also by expectations and larger social narratives that lived beyond their classroom doors. This study focuses specifically upon English language teachers and acknowledges the intersection of gender roles and contextual constraints as …