Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

Public Acts Of Self-Deliberation: Preparation For Discursive Democracy In Education, Vonzell Agosto

Educational and Psychological Studies Faculty Publications

This conceptual essay forwards self-deliberation as an act to be included in the preparation of educators and administrators. Self-deliberation is defined as a public act of deliberation that can be instigated pedagogically to prepare students for difficult dialogues on enduring issues in education. Self-deliberation provides another pedagogical method for preparing aspiring educators to participate in deliberative or discursive democracy. Narrative vignettes are used to illustrate the acts of self-deliberation performed by aspiring teachers of color as they consider controversial issues such as affirmative action, racial segregation, and culturally relevant education.

Stepping Stone, Community Education- A Stepping Stone To Third Level Education, Lorraine Perkins

Students Learning with Communities

The focus of this research is to explore supports that facilitated participation and retention of learners on a community education course and additional supports needed to progress to third level education. This research was in partnership with Irish National Association of Adult Education (AONTAS) and supported by Community Links, Technological University Dublin. (DIT) This research is qualitative in nature. For this purpose, a focus group of community learners and semi-structured interviews with community education professionals was conducted. The research gives in-depth insight into learners experiences of what supports facilitated participation in community education and additional supports needed to progress to …

Teach For Australia Pathway: Evaluation Report Phase 3 Of 3, Paul R. Weldon, Phillip Mckenzie, Elizabeth Kleinhenz, Kate Reid

Initial Teacher education

This report is the final of three reports of the evaluation of the Teach for Australia (TFA) Pathway, a pilot of an alternative approach to teacher education in Australia. The evaluation was undertaken by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) over the period 2010 to 2012. The basic design of the TFA Pathway is as follows: 1. High-achieving university graduates are recruited nationally. Applicants are subject to a rigorous recruitment process and are selected on the basis of qualities and skills suitable to the teaching profession, and the possession of a genuine desire to reduce educational disadvantage. 2. Selected …

An Investigation Of Traditional Professional Development Versus Reform Professional Development And The Implementation Of Strategies, Curriculum And Classroom Environment By Prekindergarten Teachers, Helen Marie Oliver-Brooks

Wayne State University Dissertations

ABSTRACT

AN INVESTIGATION OF TRADITIONAL PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT VERSUS REFORM PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND THE IMPLEMENTATION OF STRATEGIES, CURRICULUM AND CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT BY PRE- KINDERGARTEN TEACHERS

by

HELEN OLIVER-BROOKS

May 2013

Advisor: Dr. Marc Rosa

Major: Curriculum and Instruction

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

The purpose of this study is to investigate differences between traditional conventional professional development and high quality reflective professional development and curriculum implementation of classroom practices. This study examined the extent to which professional development activities were associated with increased levels of curriculum implementation. Differences in curriculum implementation, teacher knowledge, and changes to teaching practice based upon the type …

Supporting The Growth Of Principals As Instructional Leaders: An Interpretive Study About The New Work Of School Leaders, Jeffrey Thomas Hillman

Wayne State University Dissertations

This study explored the emerging context of elementary school principals as they engaged in the work of Instructional Leadership. Naturalistic Inquiry was adopted as a methodological framework to explore the unique perspectives and understandings of participants. Focus Group activities, surveys, small group interviews, and recursive ethnographic interviews were used to capture rich and descriptive representations of principal understandings. Research questions explored the experiences and conditions that participants identified as essential for their growth as Instructional Leaders. The concept of paradigm and the implications of system structures and hierarchies was investigated as it relates to the supporting conditions necessary for principal …

The Traits, Characteristics, And Qualities Of International Christian School Teachers Valued By Third Culture Kids, Dale B. Linton

Dissertations

The Problem. In this qualitative study, 24 participants, ages 18-30, who had previously attended international Christian schools for at least 2 years at the secondary level, or a combination of 4 years at the primary and middle school levels, were interviewed to determine the traits, characteristics, and qualities they valued in their teachers.

Methodology. Incorporating principles of Grounded Theory, a series of rigorous steps associated with the validity process of Grounded Theory construction was employed. These steps included the simultaneous involvement of the researcher in the data collection and analysis process. Twenty-four participants were interviewed, and written notes were taken …

Exploring The Role Of The Principal In Elementary Teacher Retention And Migration As Perceived By Elementary Teachers In Rural School Districts Of North-Central Pennsylvania, Diana L. Barnes

Dissertations

Problem. Teacher migration and attrition are costly to educational institutions and negatively impact students' education. Teachers migrate to other positions and/or leave the profession for different reasons. Research of literature indicated that one influence on the teacher's decision to migrate to another position or to leave the profession is lack of principal support. This sequential mixed-methodology study explores elementary teachers' perception of the relationship between principal support and teacher retention and migration in the rural elementary schools of north-central Pennsylvania.

Method. To explore the role of the principal, this sequentially mixed-methodological study used a focus group to identify elementary teachers' …

Fostering A Growth Mind-Set: Integrating Research On Teaching And Learning And The Practice Of Teaching, Beth A. Fisher, Carolyn L. Dufault, Michelle D. Repice, Regina F. Frey

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Centers for teaching and learning have a crucial role to play in helping facuity learn about and apply research on learning. The approach we have developed integrates discussion of recent research with specific recom mendations of teaching modifications that can be adapted for different disciplines and courses. Preliminary evaluation suggests the effectiveness of this approach in fostering a growth mind-set about teaching--a mind-set that helps faculty develop, implement, and assess effective teaching modifications, thereby transforming facuity into scholars of teaching and learning and further developing a collaborative, innovative culture that integrates research on teaching and learning with the practice of …

Navigating The New Normal, Terre H. Allen, Holly Harbinger, Donald J. Para

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Faculty socialization and satisfaction are critical to retaining quality teacher/scholars and key to a well-functioning teaching-intensive, research-driven university (Ponjuan, Conley, and Trower, 2011). This chapter reports on a year-long research project aimed at investigating faculty work life and satisfaction at a large, urban, comprehensive state university. Our goal was to use empirical evidence to understand and support faculty work under the "new normal" conditions characterized by reduced state funding and increased faculty workload. We discuss the results in terms of a revitalized direction for facuity and explore directions for organizational development within the context of the new normal.

Envisioning Creative Collaboration Between Faculty And Technologists, Gail A. Rathbun, Sally Kuhlenschmidt, David Sacks

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Faculty developers must often mediate conflicts resulting from differences between seemingly mutually exclusive cultures that university technolo gists and university teachers inhabit. Activity theory embraces workplace conflict as normal and as contributing to organizing health and adapta tion, in contrast to a functionalist approach that focuses on how to maintain system equilibrium. Engestrom’s (1987) interpretation of activity theory provides a theoretically informed framework for under standing different forms of human activity, mediated by culturally mol ded rules, values, and division of labor, without suffering from the polarizing effects of an us-versus-them approach.

Keeping The Fire Burning: Strategies To Support Senior Faculty, Michael J. Zeig, Roger G. Baldwin

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Recent reports indicate that at some colleges and universities, as many as one in three professors are age sixty or older. This increase in senior faculty raises the question of what institutions do to support this large and important cohort. Historically, faculty development programs have focused on early-career faculty, with less attention paid to more seasoned professors. Based on a national web-based investigation, this chapter reviews the strategies some institutions have implemented to support senior faculty. It also provides recommendations for how senior faculty and their administrator colleagues can provide new meaning and purpose to this phase of academic life.

Connect To Learning: Using E-Portfolios In Hybrid Professional Development, Bret Eynon, Judit Török, Laura M. Gambino

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Based at LaGuardia Community College, the Connect to Learning (C2L) project has developed an innovative hybrid professional development model using e-portfolios, online conversations, and face-to-(ace meetings to support campus leadership teams as they strengthen e-portfolio initiatives on twenty-five diverse campuses nationwide. The C2L model adapts a conceptual framework of inquiry, reflection, and integration to a hybrid context and addresses the challenge of local professional devel opment leadership for classroom and institutional change.

Developing A Faculty Learning Community Grounded In The Science Of How People Learn: A Year-Long, Faculty-Led Teaching And Learning Seminar, Alison Rudnitsky, Glenn W. Ellis, Patricia Marten Dibartolo, Kevin M. Shea

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This chapter describes a multiyear professional development effort undertaken by a learning and teaching center at a liberal arts college. As part of its founding mandate, the center helps faculty improve teaching by paying attention to the current literature about how people learn. This core commitment of our center is pursued through support of a year-long faculty seminar. Now in its fourth year, the seminar has had a significant impact on its faculty participants and their thinking about teaching and learning. Moreover, the seminar has seeded a number of teaching and assessment initiatives at the college.

Faculty Development Scholarship: An Analysis Of To Improve The Academy, 1982-2011, Kathryn E. Linder, Suzanna Klaf

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

As To Improve the Academy enters its thirty-second year, this chapter offers a retrospective to honor the history of the field through a timely analysis of the content published in TIA and editorial and authorship trends over the previous three decades. Frequency distributions identify the most published authors, their institutional affiliations, the most written about topics, and patterns of collaborative authorship in volumes 1 (1982) through 30 (2011), and findings from a citation analysis of ten years of TIA (volumes 21-30), highlight trends in resources cited and types of resources.

Program Planning, Prioritizing, And Improvement: A Simple Heuristic, Peter Felten, Deandra Little, Leslie Ortquist-Ahrens, Michael Reder

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

As educational developers working with multiple constituencies and demands on our time, how can we efficiently and creatively improve our programming and prioritize our efforts? In this chapter, we offer a simple heuristic to prompt quick yet generative examination of our goals or programs in relationship to three key characteristics of effective educa tional development on three different institutional levels. We then describe uses and applications of the tool and reflective process, which allow developers to efficiently gain insight into their work and effectively frame priorities for planning and improvement.

A Consultations Tracking Database System For Improving Faculty Development Consultation Services, Jason Rhode, Murali Krishnamurthi

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

The role of the facuity development center in supporting the academic environment of the institution often includes creating or sustaining a culture of teaching excellence, responding to individual faculty members’ needs, and advancing new initiatives in teaching and learning (Sorcinelli, Austin, Eddy, and Beach, 2006). The varied programs, resources, and services offered routinely result from efforts to meet the expressed needs of faculty. While workshops and seminars are effective for introducing new pedagogical approaches or emerging technologies, faculty often have unique questions within specialized contexts that cannot be fully addressed in a large group setting. In such instances, a more …

From Outsiders To Insiders: Graduate Assistant Development At State Comprehensive Universities, Kathleen M. Brennan, Laura Cruz, Freya B. Kinner

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

We assess graduate assistant competency in key skills that employers in and outside of academia value and examine whether these skills are developed in the context of the graduate assistantship (GA) at a specific state comprehensive university. The GAs in our sample rate themselves as competent or very competent on all skills and report their GA experience somewhat influenced or influenced their skill competencies. Furthermore, perception of how one’s graduate assistantship influenced skill compe tency was significantly associated with perceived skill competency level. Based on these findings, we qiscuss distinct gaps that could be addressed to facilitate GA development at …

Using Undergraduates To Prepare International Teaching Assistants For The American Classroom: Development Of Senior Faculty, Warren E. Christian, Brian J. Rybarczyk

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This chapter describes how undergraduates may be used in the training of international teaching assistants (IT As) in three ways: as conversation partners, classroom consultants, and guest instructors. Increasing the contact between undergraduates and international graduate students before they meet in the classroom as students and instructors can benefit each group. After a brief review of the literature that explores the chal lenges IT As face in the American university classroom, we describe the roles that undergraduates may perform in training IT As, explain the benefits to both IT As and undergraduates, and provide a list of best practices for …

Tomorrow's Professor Today: Tracking Perceptions Of Preparation For Future Faculty Competencies, Michael S. Palmer, Deandra Little

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

The University of Virginia’s Tomorrow’s Professor Today (TPT) pro gram is a broadly conceived graduate student professional development program designed to facilitate the transition from student to academic professional. Begun in 2005 in response to the recommendations of a number of national reform initiatives, TPT focuses on improving pre paredness in three key areas: teaching, research, and service. We describe the key elements of the program and ongoing assessment efforts. Pre- and postprogram participant surveys from the first eight years show that TPT is improving perceptions of preparedness in twenty-one competencies tracked; follow-up studies support long-term impact.

Student Consultants Of Color And Faculty Members Working Together Toward Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy, Alison Cook-Sather, Praise Agu

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Through positioning undergraduate students as pedagogical consultants to college faculty, Students as Learners and Teachers is a program that provides reconceptualized "counterspaces" for students and facuity members with whom they work. In our study of the experiences of consultants of color, we found that those students and their faculty partners used program counterspaces to explore links between their lived identities and pedagogical commitments and to share authority and responsibility in developing culturally sustaining pedagogy. In this chapter we report on participants’ experiences in these collaborations and how they legitimate the knowledge of students of color in faculty learning.