Traditional models of professional development for teachers are often characterized by formats intended to transmit information for transfer to classroom practice. But it can be argued that one-size-fits-all models do not adequately meet the professional needs of teachers or respect the view of teachers as learners (Hall & Loucks, 1978; Stigler & Hiebert, 1999). More recently, school districts have explored job-embedded approaches to professional development. However, little or no program evaluation has been utilized to gather evidence of their value to practitioners (Guskey, 2000). This study examined the perceived transformative value of an alternate professional development (PD) experience on teacher practice. The study aimed to: 1. Describe teachers' conceptualizations of "teacher practice". 2. Describe the ways teachers perceive their professional development experiences as having impacted their teaching practice. 3. Report teachers' perceptions of effective and ineffective professional development. 4. Identify institutional practices that influence teachers' perceptions of meaningful professional development. 5. Describe the intrinsic and extrinsic factors valued by teachers in a professional development experience. Qualitative research methodology was utilized for this case study. I invited participants from the District Literacy Committee (DLC) to participate in this research, and conducted a cross-case analysis to analyze the experiences of Practicing Teachers (PTs) and Observing Teachers (OTs). My data collection included web-based surveys, artifacts, and two focus group discussions. Results indicated a strong perception that the job-embedded lesson study model had significant impact on teaching practice. My analysis of the data analysis elicited many similarities and some key differences between the two groups. While the OT and PT were similar in their conceptions of effective and ineffective PD, they differed in their conception of teacher practice and what they valued in a PD experience. Both groups believed PD had tremendous potential to impact teaching behaviours. The findings suggest that differentiated learning opportunities are necessary to meet the needs of teachers, and that alternative models of PD such as lesson study deserve consideration. This study has significant implications for those who facilitate PD and those who develop it. / Thesis (Master, Education) -- Queen's University, 2009-04-24 21:26:10.355

The purpose of this action research study was to document 8th grade students' experiences at a residential marine learning facility as they discovered the interconnections between life on Earth and its dependency on ocean health. My goal was for students to take their new knowledge and share it with others in a quest to become educated and caring stewards of the Earth's ocean. Students in this study participated in open peer and instructor discussions, performed full and guided inquiry activities, and snorkeled among the shallow water habitats that transition from mangroves toward coral reefs to discover the interconnections among shallow water marine habitats and the critical necessity of biological diversity among habitats. The processes used to collect data for this action research study were a pre/post knowledge assessment about coral reefs, videotaped conversations among peers and instructors, photographs documenting student engagement in activities, and interviews conducted at the conclusion of the trip. The themes that emerged included a mindset of ocean stewardship, deep engagement in inquiry-driven activities while interacting among peers, the ability to clearly articulate the effects of human impact on biological diversity and the need to maintain sustainable shallow water ecosystems that are biologically diverse. Although this study was only conducted over a three day weekend, the emergent themes highlight the value of providing students with opportunities to interact with nature. Experiential learning not only contributes to the various ways of knowing but such experiences help students develop a stronger sense of self perception and values as they begin formulating their sense of relationship to and responsibilities toward their own communities and the larger, natural world.

Magister Educationis - MEd / In this paper, I focus on the issue of student perceptions and experiences of a 3rd generation academic development programme in higher education. I set out to explore the issue from two perspectives: firstly from the perspective of the higher education institution’s approach to academic development, namely, a learning skills programme and a first year sociology course, and secondly from the perspective of students’ intentions, expectations and experiences of such a programme. The research questions focused on the learning priorities embedded in the curriculum of a learning skills programme at Monash University, South Africa and the learning experiences of students in this programme.The methodology used in this study includes a case study which focused on the responses of six participants from a number of African countries completing their BA degrees. Semistructured interviews held and the content analysis method was used to analyse the data. The study concludes: that the main priority of the learning skills programme is to prepare students for their university learning rather than to prepare students for the world of work i.e. it falls within Street’s (2004) academic socialization model and that the Learning Skills programme can be seen as an example of Boughey’s (2007) 3rd generation academic development programmes.The study also suggests that there is a need to explore Volbrecht’s (2003) argument on the limitations of discipline-based models of academic development, the need to examine how academic literacy is constructed and how identity and power relations intersect in this construction. It further highlights the importance of the idea of multi-literacies as put forward by Street (2004) and suggests that as practitioners we should include a consideration of these literacies in academic development programmes to improve the quality of students’ learning and meaning making.

Within the past decade little research has been conducted in the United States to examine the preparedness of beginning speech-language pathologists; the seminal article used for this research study comes from the United Kingdom (Horton, Byng, Bunning, & Pring, 2004). Literature from the past few decades indicates that there may be deficiencies in the way that beginning speech-language pathologists are being trained clinically. The review of the literature suggests that the field may lack a clear and broadly supported learning theory or framework for the clinical supervision and training of speech-language pathology graduate students. The literature further supports the importance of work-embedded learning and problem-based learning, as well as suggests a theoretical framework that may be utilized for supervision and clinical training in the future. The purpose of this exploratory phenomenological study is to understand and describe how speech-language pathology graduate students perceive their clinical training and supervision obtained during graduate school prepared them for their first externship placements. The literature suggests that a framework for the transfer of theoretical knowledge into the clinical setting is often not present in graduate academic programs (Horton & Byng, 2000b). Models of highly effective practices that are grounded in adult learning theory and empirical research regarding clinical training and supervision should be taken into account. In this way, department-level leaders may be able to design more effective models for clinical training and supervision. The data from participant interviews conducted for this study were organized into two over-arching themes: supervision and clinical experiences. The data in each theme were further organized into more specific categories. The theme of supervision includes five categories: a) most helpful supervisor characteristics, b) least helpful supervisor characteristics, c) differences in supervision, d) feedback from supervisors, and e) working with different supervisors. In addition, the theme of clinical experiences includes four categories: a) differences between in-house experiences and externship experiences, b) significant aspects of clinical training, c) limitations of clinical training, and d) limitations of clinical coursework.