Education Commons^™

Investing In Connection: Exploring The Online Graduate Student Experience, Michelle Vaughan

Journal of Practitioner Research

Within the context of online learning, there are challenges presented by the virtual medium that may lead to diminished experiences in learning. Without a physical connection or the ability to feel the support from your teacher, online students can be left isolated, and the pedagogy can easily slip into an execution of tasks as opposed to a pedagogy of care. My inquiry into the online graduate student experience began with a survey to understand how online graduate students describe their experiences as an online learner and their relationships with their instructors. A thematic analysis of their responses revealed themes regarding …

Building Collaborative Teacher Education: Integrating Udl Through A Faculty Learning Community, Stacie B. Whinnery, Keri C. Fogle, Jennifer C. Stark, Keith W. Whinnery

Journal of Practitioner Research

Teacher educators have focused reform efforts on preparing graduates to address increasingly diverse K-12 students. Collaboration among general and special education faculty is seen as beneficial for preparing teacher candidates who can teach diverse learners, yet it is not the norm. This practitioner research study explored a curriculum reform effort that employed a faculty learning community (FLC) to engage general and special education faculty to collaboratively integrate Universal Design for Learning (UDL) into two teacher education programs. Faculty perceptions of the collaborative reform process and resulting curriculum enhancements are presented. Findings indicated the process was valued by our faculty, promoted …

Encouraging Practitioner Research Engagement: Overcoming Barriers, Annie M. Cole

Journal of Practitioner Research

Despite a body of evidence showing the vast benefits of practitioner engagement in higher education research, the literature suggests that many practitioners do not regularly engage in research activities due to three main barriers: the busyness of daily practice, perceived irrelevance of research to practice, and inadequate training to engage in research. This article reviews the literature on each of these three barriers, providing practitioners in higher education insight into how to overcome these barriers to successfully engage in regular research. Through an analysis of current literature, this article furthers the understanding of practitioner research engagement despite common barriers.

Equitable Mathematics Classroom Discourse, Liza Bondurant

Journal of Practitioner Research

In this article the author shares a self-study investigation into how the quality of talk and opportunities to participate are distributed across individual students based on race and gender in her college math class. Readers will learn how to conduct a similar investigation in their classroom. A discussion of ways to use the information gathered from equitable mathematics classroom discourse investigations will follow.

Practitioner Experiences In Teacher Education Partnerships: Examining Practice In An Accredited Professional Development School, Jennifer J. Roth, Derek Decker, Donna D. Cooner

Journal of Practitioner Research

In this qualitative study, practitioner researchers used focus group methodology to collect clinical partnership stakeholders’ descriptions of their understanding of rich practitioner practice and the benefits of clinical partnerships as defined by CAEP Standard 2. These descriptions provided the data that was analyzed through a deductive and inductive coding process. It was found that stakeholders described clinical experiences as crucial to teacher candidates’ development of knowledge, skills, and professional dispositions, and identified clinical experiences as the space where theory and practice intersect. Findings also showed that stakeholders identified collaboration, mutually beneficial, sustaining and generative, shared accountability, and positive impact as …

Collaborating Across National Boundaries For Narrative Teaching And Learning, Haji Karim Khan, Theresa Y. Austin

Journal of Practitioner Research

University faculty members always learn through their collaborative engagement in teaching and research. This article reports on collaborative efforts between a Pakistani and US university professor to develop and teach a graduate seminar on narrative inquiry. We used a self-study approach to record, analyze, and report on our experience of teaching narrative inquiry in a graduate research course. We used our reflective journals, course outline, course description, session plans, class-notes, and students’ reflections as data for analysis. As a result, we developed our analytical stories of experiences under several themes.

Findings showcase insights arising from philosophical (ontological and epistemological) underpinnings, …