abstract: ABSTRACT This mixed methods study examined how a high-poverty urban school district implemented four initiatives to support special education teachers and increase student achievement. The initiatives that were implemented consisted of direct instruction teaching methods, the use of a district-approved curriculum, monitoring program fidelity with walkthroughs, and increased professional development opportunities. Quantitatively, the study compared walkthrough data and student achievement scores. The walkthrough data was collected from 52 special education teachers employed at the 19 schools making up the district while teaching reading and math. Student achievement scores were collected from the students taught by the 52 special education teachers. The walkthrough data compared the percentage of students making academic growth on district assessments with the percentage of teachers implementing the district initiatives with a high level of fidelity. Data was collected and analyzed between the first and third quarters of the 2013–2014 school year. Qualitatively, six special education teachers were interviewed to examine their thoughts on the change process and to determine their needs to be successful as they continued to implement the district initiatives. The results of the quantitative data indicated that students demonstrated growth as walkthrough scores increased in 16 out of 19 schools, specifically in the area of math. Fidelity to the initiatives increased throughout the year as teachers began to use and implement the initiatives. The results of the qualitative data indicated that special education teachers positively responded to the support they received through the Special Services ii Department and the district’s initiatives. Using grounded theory, it was determined that teachers need opportunities for collaboration, feedback, and time to practice in order to be successful. Lastly, the epilogue discusses the next steps that are being taken by the district to support all students with their learning needs. / Dissertation/Thesis / Appendix G--Contains Qualitative and Quantitative Data Used in the Study / Doctoral Dissertation Educational Administration and Supervision 2015

Dissertação(mestrado)-Universidade Federal do Rio Grande, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação Ambiental, Instituto de Educação, 2010. / Submitted by Luize Santos (lui_rg@hotmail.com) on 2012-07-11T20:00:49Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Diana Paula Salomo de Freitas.pdf: 965776 bytes, checksum: 5728d212a7e8267a0b3f04c52f94a404 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Bruna Vieira(bruninha_vieira@ibest.com.br) on 2012-07-28T19:50:36Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Diana Paula Salomo de Freitas.pdf: 965776 bytes, checksum: 5728d212a7e8267a0b3f04c52f94a404 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2012-07-28T19:50:36Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Diana Paula Salomo de Freitas.pdf: 965776 bytes, checksum: 5728d212a7e8267a0b3f04c52f94a404 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010 / A presente dissertação objetivou compreender o processo de formação continuada do grupo MIRAR1, a fim de favorecer a constituição de Comunidades Aprendentes de professores educadores ambientais em processos de formação, que considerem os sujeitos em sua integralidade. Adota-se como perspectiva teorias histórico-sociais, com valorização especial dos discursos sociais e da linguagem como ferramentas culturais vinculadas aos processos de ensinar e aprender. Nos estudos e reflexões do MIRAR desenvolve-se a idéia da articulação da formação permanente com o desenvolvimento curricular, a partir do Educar pela Pesquisa como referência para o trabalho. Os dados coletados a partir da observação-participante das reuniões semanais do grupo, registradas em diário, juntamente com artigos escritos pelos professores e o registro do planejamento e desenvolvimento de Unidades de Aprendizagem, formaram o corpus de análise dessa pesquisa. A partir da Análise Textual Discursiva identificou-se que o grupo encontra-se num movimento em direção a compreender mais intensamente sobre ser uma Comunidade Aprendente, estando os professores mutuamente engajados nos empreendimentos conjuntos do grupo, tais como a sua participação nas reuniões do MIRAR, escrita de um texto para o VIII Encontro sobre Investigação na Escola e registro das Unidades de Aprendizagens. Os repertórios compartilhados para a realização das atividades do grupo foram a fala, a escrita a leitura, a escuta e o ambiente virtual de aprendizagem. O grupo apresentou evidências de que entendia o aprendizado como aspecto central de sua prática, o que indica que os professores do grupo aprendiam a ser professores enquanto também aprendiam a ser comunidade. A triangulação dos dados do corpus de análise buscou expressar o que os professores pensaram e falaram no grupo e o que eles registraram sobre suas ações, indicando, também desse modo, a potencialidade do registro escrito, como ferramenta que permite que os professores percebam o que a formação do grupo vem conseguindo produzir. Ainda, as práticas dos professores evidenciaram atividades que consideraram os sujeitos do processo educativo em sua inteireza, trabalhando além de sua dimensão técnica, mas também sua dimensão estética. Essa pesquisa vem também anunciar uma proposta de formação que vem ao encontro das constatações presentes em muitas dissertações e teses da área da Educação Ambiental: a ausência de espaços de formação de professores e a falta de tempo para reuniões em um grupo que se proponha a repensar a prática pedagógica. Propõe-se também a partir dessa pesquisa que as dimensões estética, ética e política, também sejam consideradas em propostas formativas e, para tanto, sejam também incentivadas a criação e o desenvolvimento de metodologias que trabalhem nesse sentido, como uma oportunidade que venha contribuir com as práticas da educação ambiental. / This thesis aims at comprehending the in-service teacher education process in the MIRAR2 project, in order to favor the constitution of Learning Communities for teachers and environmental educators in a process which values subjects as a whole. Historicalsocial theories have been adopted and social discourses and language get special emphasis as cultural tools linked to teaching and learning processes. MIRAR’s studies and reflections implement the idea of the articulation between in-service education and curriculum development in which Teaching through Research becomes a reference. Data was collected in the participative action during the weekly meetings the group had, besides in papers written by teachers and the record of the planning and the development of Learning Units; they were the corpus of the research analysis. The Discursive Textual Analysis identified the group in this project as a Learning Community: teachers are committed to the group’s projects such as MIRAR’s meetings, a paper written for the VIII Encontro sobre Investigação na Escola, a seminar about school investigation, and the reports of the Learning Units. Speeches, writing, reading and listening tasks, as well as the on-line learning environment, were the activities shared by the group. The group showed evidence that learning was understood as a central issue in their practice, which means that the teachers belonging to this group learned to be teachers and learned to be a community, at the same time. Data triangulation aimed at expressing what the teachers thought and spoke about in the group and what they had written down regarding their actions; thus, they showed the potential of a written record, a tool which enables teachers to perceive what group education can yield. Besides, teachers’ practices also highlighted the activities that considered the subject as a whole. Therefore, both their technical and aesthetic dimensions were also considered. This research presents a proposal for teacher education which agrees with facts presented in several theses and dissertations in Environmental Education, i.e., the lack of spaces for teacher education and the lack of time for meetings in which a group is willing to re-think their pedagogical practice. It also suggests that the aesthetic, ethical, and political dimensions should be taken into account in educational proposals. Therefore, methodologies which believe in it should be developed and applied in order to contribute to the environmental education practices.

While online students should take charge of their own learning and form collaborative learning communities, constructivist instructors should scaffold online learning without dominating course discussions. This research continues the longitudinal investigation of web-based courses at the Faculty of Education, University of Pretoria. The mixed methodological approach this investigation followed consisted predominantly of qualitative methods, augmented with quantitative approaches. I used two distinct online tools to explore student participation in an eight-week online Masters’-level course delivered via the WebCT™ platform. First, I reviewed the use of metaphors in the literature by a framework of requirements for successful online learning. The use of metaphor supports constructivism, facilitates course interaction, helps to avoid students’ initial inertia in online discussions, and contributes to the development of virtual learning communities. I researched how an explanatory metaphor as tool supported online participation and indicated that metaphors eased students’ communication of important and difficult issues. Secondly, I used the tool of a covert virtual student that also acted as an additional facilitator and course helper. I examined the ethical implications of the carefully concealed real identity of the mythical online helper, methical Jane. As she took part in all course activities and assignments, as well as providing her co-students with cognitive and technical support, the students accepted and integrated her presence in their virtual learning community. I consequently analysed students’ reactions to her identity after disclosure of her origin after the course. Although the exposure precipitated students’ shock, disbelief and dismay as she was a convincing virtual student, they did not object to the presence of a virtual student, but rather felt betrayed due to her hidden real identity. The benefits of this teaching intervention include experts supplying technical expertise, multiple faculty enriching the learning experience, and support and teaching assistants and tutors participating with smaller groups in large online classes. I further examined how frequency of course access, discussion postings, collaborative behaviour and integration into a virtual learning community relate to learning and course completion. Quantitative indices indicated highly significant differences between the stratifications of student performance. Absent and seldom-contributing students risked missing the benefits of the online learning community. Students were discontent with peers who rarely and insufficiently contributed to group assignments. Low participation varied from only reading, skimming, or deliberately harvesting others’ contributions, to high student contributions of little value. Conclusions on the formation of an online learning community indicate that the passport to membership of the community is quality participation, rather than prior peer acquaintance. I indicated that students’ learning benefited from contributing high quality inputs to online learning communities while students with poor participation did not benefit from the online learning community. Online facilitators contribute to students’ learning through the timeliness and quality of tailored scaffolding. Recommendations for future research include uncovering the reasons for students’ stressful experiences of online learning; the effect of online assessment on student course participation; the alignment of learning metaphors in multi-cultural learning environments; and the support of non-participating online students. / Thesis (PHD)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Curriculum Studies / unrestricted

The ever-changing demands of working life pose considerable challenges to higher education. The literature indicates that traditional forms of university instruction positioned a deficit model of teaching and learning, which is embedded in a logical positivist paradigm, as authoritative in the production of ‘experts’ who possess legitimate knowledge. However, in professional practice, health practitioners often deal with ill-defined problems. If health practitioners are to be prepared properly for their future careers, the development of reflective thinking should be an integral component of professional education courses. The aim of this study was to explore the public narratives on existing teaching and learning practices in higher education, orthotics/prosthetics and psychology, and to examine the authority of these narratives in the unfolding stories of students and the facilitator in a pilot applied psychology course designed for orthotist/prosthetist professionals. There is a paucity of psychological research in orthotic/prosthetic practice and further research in this domain is needed, particularly from a qualitative approach. A story map was used to integrate the methodology of personal experience methods and narrative analysis into one model that represents the voice of public and private narratives in a specific temporality of past, present and future. The analysis of public and private texts revealed the narrative themes of teaching and learning, co-constructing knowledge, reflection-on-practice, disability, community of concern and agency. A critical psychology and social constructionist approach is proposed to facilitate reflective clinical practice in a psychology module for orthotics and prosthetics. In a collaborative learning community, the lived experiences, knowledge, skills, and desires that invited orthotist/prosthetists into this helping field are honoured. In addition, they are encouraged to reflect on the value of professional interventions by using pragmatic criteria of whether an approach fits or is useful for a client, rather than relying on some abstract notion of ‘truth’. / Thesis (PhD (Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Psychology / unrestricted

One of the difficulties that Colombian students face in order to access higher education lies in their low performance in primary and secondary education levels, in areas like writing and mathematics. This is demonstrated, for example, in the results reported from their exams on international (Report PISA ), national (Saber 11, ICFES ), and local (UN admissions exam) scales. The admissions exam for UN allows incoming students to be identified who need to strengthen their performance in areas of which UN offers leveling tests. In this context, I was invited by the DNIA , the DNPPr , and the Academic Vice-Rector of the UN, in order to design of a pedagogical proposal mediated by the use of ICT to support these leveling courses. The pedagogical proposal revolved around the implementation of an open educational practice, a type of “open teaching” (Chiappe, 2012), in order to promote the “empowerment of learners as co-producers on the road towards lifelong learning,” in other words, self-regulated or autonomous (Ehlers & Conole, 2010; Ehlers, 2011). In this document I describe the theoretical underpinnings and criteria that guided the design of each one of the components of this type of educational practice, namely: (a) a virtual site for the interaction between students, professors, and content in order to achieve the construction of a “Virtual Learning Community”; (b) the norms and rules of behavior to regulate the social relations of that community; (c) the instruments utilized in the interactive activities; and (d) the rules that establish the division of tasks in the same activity (Engeström, 1996; Cole & Engeström, 2001; Diaz Barriga, 2003; Onrubia, 2005; Coll, et al., 2008). The central axis of these components refers to the construction of a virtual learning community; therefore, the main objective of the project was to promote this construction. Faced with the potential offered by virtual learning communities, I wondered what and how does people, who decide to participate in them, learn. Some constructivist conceptions of human learning suggest that in VLC people participate to learn, learn by interacting with others, learn to understand and manifest understanding by performing cognitive performances such as: explaining, arguing, generalizing, applying, representing in a novel way, build, model, etc. Based on these conceptions, I set out to identify the potential of the VLC that I designed to strengthen the mathematical learning competencies of its participants. Thus, I analyzed the messages added by the participants in the virtual forums to characterize the processes of: a) participation, following the elements proposed by Hrastinski, (2008; 2009); b) interaction, from the community of inquiry approach (Garrison et al., 2010); c) mathematical learning, based on the basic standards of mathematical competences (MEN, 2006) and the ontosemiotic approach (Godino, 2017). I developed this research project using a mixed approach: the technique of content analysis and a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. The proposed research design constitutes a significant contribution to the analysis of the mathematical learning achieved by the VLC participants, given its approach from different perspectives. Upon application, the following was revealed: On the one hand, the majority managed to: meet the criteria that characterize a participation in high quality virtual forums; weave an optimal network structure for interaction; show, in an authentic way, the skills and difficulties they have in communicating their ideas and learning with others; demonstrate good performance to correctly deal with mathematical concepts and to apply algorithms. Within the framework of this research, the importance of having expert moderators in guiding the discussions, from the side, was stressed in order to get VLC participants to develop high-level thoughts. Computing tools are also required to monitor and evaluate the discussion process in real time. In addition, it is essential to achieve the design of situations-generating problems of discussion and the implementation of an evaluation process that incorporates various sources and perspectives, to identify in a concrete and effective way the types of learning achieved. According to the above, it can be affirmed that the VLCs offer a high potential to strengthen the mathematical learning process of their participants, since in the debate zones you can easily observe the types of thoughts that they activate and put into operation when trying to find a solution to mathematical situations. This highlights the mathematical competences that each participant dominates and those that are difficult to understand, which makes it possible to develop targeted support strategies by teachers and moderators. The analysis of the mathematical learning of participants in virtual communities has not been sufficiently explored; In some cases, it has been limited to quantitatively reviewing the aggregate contributions in the discussion spaces, but a qualitative investigation of the discursive processes that demonstrate the concrete learning achievements has not been proposed, the combination of these two forms of analysis is one of the greatest contributions of this thesis.:Contents I. Introduction 13 a) How did I learn to learn? 13 b) How was my doctoral research project born? 17 c) Characteristics and purposes of the project 21 Theoretical Considerations 25 1 Chapter I: Human learning in community 25 1.1 Human learning from the constructivist perspective 25 1.2 The scope of learning 27 1.3 School learning from constructivism 29 1.4 Mathematical learning 31 1.5 Educational practices based on constructivism 39 1.6 How to define the notion of community? Contexts and debates 40 1.7 A definition of virtual learning community 45 1.8 Theoretical references for the design of virtual learning environments 53 Practical design considerations 61 2 Chapter II: Design Process of the Virtual Learning Community of Basic Mathematics 61 2.1 Academic activities carried out in the pre-project execution stage 61 2.2 First pilot test of the basic math virtual learning community design 64 2.2.1 Pedagogical Knowledge (PK) 65 2.2.2 Content Knowledge (CK) 65 2.2.3 Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) 65 2.2.4 Technological knowledge (TK) 68 2.2.5 Technological Pedagogical Knowledge (TPK), Technological Content Knowledge (TCK) and Typology of uses of ICT 68 2.2.6 Rules for participation and feedback 73 2.2.7 Results obtained in the first pilot test offered by the basic math virtual learning community 76 2.3 Second pilot test of basic math virtual learning community design 76 2.3.1 Content Knowledge (CK) 77 2.3.2 Pedagogical Knowledge (PK) 77 2.3.3 Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) 78 2.3.4 Technological knowledge (TK) 78 2.3.5 Technological Pedagogical Knowledge (TPK), Technological Content Knowledge (TCK) and Typology of uses of ICT 79 2.3.6 Norms or rules for participation and feedback 86 2.3.7 Results obtained in the second pilot test of the basic math virtual learning community 86 Methodological considerations 88 3 Chapter III: Final version of the virtual learning community offered 88 3.1 Characteristics of the website that hosted the virtual learning community 88 3.2 Human team that participated in the design process of the VLC, in its final version. 94 3.3 Activities that characterized the implementation of the Virtual Learning Community 95 3.3.1 Who was invited to participate and in what context was this invitation made? 95 3.3.2 What evaluation agreements were generated? 96 3.3.3 What academic units were offered? 96 3.3.4 What activities were carried out to promote the effective participation of students in the virtual learning community? 96 3.4 Global map of the Virtual Learning Community offered. Final version. 98 3.4.1 Pedagogical conceptions that support open educational practices, of the 'open teaching' type 99 3.4.2 Connections between technological, pedagogical and content knowledge. 104 3.4.3 Key elements for the design of Virtual Learning Communities (VLC). 111 3.4.4 Dynamics that characterized the VLC offered, in its final version. 113 4 Chapter IV: Research Design 116 4.1 Mixed approach on educational research 116 4.2 Research questions 120 4.3 Analysis of online participation 120 4.4 Analysis of online interaction 127 4.5 Analysis of mathematical learning 132 Empirical Findings and Discussion 148 5 Chapter V: Research data and process of analysis 148 5.1 Collection and selection of data 148 5.2 Structural Analysis 149 5.2.1 First research question about the online participation 149 5.3 Content Analysis 154 5.3.1 Second research question about the online interaction 154 5.3.2 Third research question about the mathematical learning 165 5.3.3 Analysis based on the basic standards of mathematical competences 166 5.3.4 Analysis based on the ontosemiotic approach 169 6 Chapter VI: Results of data analysis and discussion of results 176 6.1 Structural analysis results 176 6.1.1 Online participation 176 6.2 Results of content analysis 194 6.2.1 Online interaction 194 6.2.2 Mathematical Learning 221 6.3 Review of results and conclusions 285 6.3.1 Results and discussion 285 6.3.2 Conclusions 301 7 References 307 8 Annexes 325

Located in Central Africa, Cameroon is considered the driving force of the sub-region due to its strategic location in the center of the African continent. During the last five years, the country has been under the constant threat of a large range of disasters like floods, droughts, landslides, epidemics, etc. In such a context, the government is implementing several strategies for Disaster Risk Reduction in the country. Under the lead of the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralization, the Directorate of Civil Protection, coordinates Disaster Risk Reduction activities through a network of over 379 decentralized institutions and international partners (Ayanji, 2004). Despite a high level of deployment, these activities still prove to have a low level of efficiency on the field. Results from the literature review suggest that this may be due to strategies for public education and public awareness that do not mirror stakeholders’ needs, capacities, and background. There is a need to: (1) identify the failures of the pre-existing public education and public awareness strategy, (2) assess the educational needs and capacities of each category of actors, (3) select adequate instructional methods and tools and (4) ensure the effectiveness and sustainability of the newly proposed strategy. The aim of this work, which is a three-year PhD project funded by the AXA Research Fund, is therefore to propose a public education and public awareness model adapted to the Cameroonian context, using Technology Enhanced Learning to strengthen capacities and competencies of stakeholders involved in the problem of climate change. The study makes use of a mixed method approach. From the literature review, four categories of actors involved into the climate change education process in the country have first been identified namely (1) government, (2) educational institutions, (3) Non-Governmental Organizations and (4) communities. A sample population has been driven from each category using the Respondent Driven Sampling method. Then data were collected during a six-month field trip in Cameroon, using semi-structured interviews (McNamara, 1999), qualitative survey (Fowler, 2009), direct observation (Bernard, 2006) and focus group discussion (Krueger & Casey, 2009). Findings from data analyses, performed using Epi info software for quantitative data and MAXQDA software for qualitative data show that: the educational strategy is not clearly defined; there is a lack of adequate infrastructures; technologies available are not properly used: either they are not evenly accessible, or when accessible they do not match learners’ capacities and competencies. Finally, quality criteria for the evaluation of the existing educational strategy are not met, thus failing to ensure it sustainability. The conceptual solution proposed in this work makes use of the concept of learning communities, especially Community of Practice as proposed by Lave and Wenger (1991) to develop an information and knowledge sharing community system to establish best practices for improving community resilience to climate change impact. This Community of Practice will operate essentially offline with a selected domain, a well-defined and structured community, and a practice that makes use of identified technologies already available among communities and, most importantly, that mirrors the Cameroonian socio-cultural context. One unexpected factor that had to be taken into consideration while determining adequate technology tools, is the actors’ perception, or rather say actors’ (un)acceptance of “new technologies”, which render the design of the instructional model quite challenging. / Kamerun ist ein Land in Zentralafrika. Aufgrund seiner strategischen Lage in der Mitte des afrikanischen Kontinents, gilt das Land als die treibende Kraft der Sub-Region. Während der letzten fünf Jahre wurde Kamerun Opfer von ständigen Bedrohungen einer Vielzahl von Katastrophen wie Überschwemmungen, Dürren, Erdrutsche, Epidemien, usw. In diesem Kontext hat die Regierung eine Reihe von Strategien zur Verringerung der Katastrophenrisiken imstande gebracht. Dies wurde unter der Leitung vom Ministerium der territorialen Verwaltung und Dezentralisierung und vom Amt für Katastrophenschutz durchgeführt. Weiterhin nahmen mehr als 379 dezentrale Institutionen und internationale Partner an diese bedeutende Aktion teil (Ayanji, 2004). Die bei diesem Großeinsatz getroffenen Maßnahmen haben aber bisher eine sehr geringe Effizienz auf dem Feld gebracht. Eine nähere Betrachtung im Zusammenspiel mit entsprechender Literatur lassen folgendes vermuten: die Strategien zur Sensibilisierung sind auf die Bedürfnisse, Kapazitäten und Hintergründe der Akteure nicht angepasst. Demnach sind folgende Tatsachen in Betracht zu ziehen: (1) Identifikation der Ausfälle der bevorstehenden Awareness-Strategie; (2) Bewertung den pädagogischen Bedürfnissen und Kapazitäten der einzelnen Kategorien von Akteuren; (3) Auswahl geeigneter Unterrichtsmethoden und Tools; (4) Gewährleisten der Wirksamkeit und Nachhaltigkeit der neu vorgeschlagenen Strategie. Diese Arbeit stammt aus einem dreijährigen Promotionsprojekt finanziert von der AXA Research Fund. Das Ziel der Arbeit ist der Vorschlag eines Awareness-Modells, das an dem kamerunischen Kontext angepasst ist, und das die Bildungstechnologie zur Stärkung der Kapazitäten und Kompetenzen der beteiligten Akteure des Klimawandels nutzt. Aus der Literatur sind vier Kategorien von Akteuren identifiziert worden: Die Regierung, Bildungseinrichtungen, nationale und internationale Organisationen, Gemeinschaften. Die Studie folgt einer Mixed-Method Forschung. Eine Stichprobe wurde aus jeder Kategorie von Akteuren mit Schneeballauswahl-Methode gezogen. Dann wurden Daten während einer 6-monatigen Studienreise in Kamerun gesammelt. Diese wurde in Begleitung mit semi-strukturierten Interview (McNamara, 1999), qualitativen Erhebung (Fowler, 2009), direkter Beobachtung (Bernard, 2006) und Gruppendiskussion (Krueger & Casey, 2009). Die Daten wurden analysiert mit Epi-info Software für quantitative Daten und MAXQDA Software für qualitative Daten. Die Ergebnisse zeigen Folgendes: - Die pädagogische Strategie ist nicht klar definiert - Mangel an angemessenen Infrastrukturen - Die verfügbaren Technologien sind nicht vorhanden und teilweise falsch eingesetzt. Sie sind entweder nicht gleichmäßig verwendet oder sie stimmen mit den Fähigkeiten der Lernenden nicht überein. - Qualitätskriterien für die Bewertung der bestehenden Ausbildungsstrategie sind nicht erfüllt Die vorgeschlagene konzeptionelle Lösung, die in dieser Arbeit verwendet wird, benutzt das Konzept der Learning Communities, insbesondere "Community of Practice" wie von Lave und Wenger (1991) beschrieben. Ziel ist es, ein Informations- und Wissensaustausch Community-System zur Förderung bewährter Verfahren im Sinne der Verbesserung der Gemeinschaft gegenüber Auswirkungen des Klimawandels zu schaffen. Diese Community of Practice wird offline mit einer ausgewählten Domäne, eine gut definierte und strukturierte Gemeinschaft, und eine gut gestaltete Praxis funktionieren. Ein unerwarteter Faktor, der bei der Bestimmung der angemessenen Technologie-Tools berücksichtigt werden müsste, ist die Wahrnehmung der Akteure oder besser gesagt die (Un-)Akzeptanz der "Neuen Technologien" durch die Akteure. Dies macht das Design des Instruktionsmodells zu einer richtigen Herausforderung.

This diploma thesis deals with the possibilities of professional development of primary school teachers. The focus is on different forms of peer support for teachers, with an emphasis on inter-school observation as a natural way of practical development. There is also a collegial support project presented through the innovative program Step by step, which has been already implemented in many schools. The peer support project is presented in the empirical section, involving teachers from different types of schools who participated in inter-school observation visits. The pre-research was conducted through semi-structured interviews gathering information about the course expectations, followed by an experiment that was evaluated and analyzed during the recorded interviews. A dedicated website was also created providing a supporting environment for its users. KEYWORDS collegial support, professional development, teacher cooperation, teacher quality standard, supervision, mentoring, learning community, observation

2 Abstract The mail aim of this thesis is to set the concept of community education in the broader perspective of historical sociology and to do a case study to find out in which ways the selected Czech primary community school fulfils the principles of community education in practice. Firstly, the work focuses on the general presenta- tion of basic concepts, which are associated with community education (terms of education and community). This is followed by a description and analysis of the principles of community education and by an overview of its historical roots, first abroad and then in the Czech Republic. Attention is also paid to organizations which try to implement community education in the Czech Republic with emphasis on the role and cooperation of primary schools and civil society organizations. After this theoretically oriented part follows the empirical part, which is introduced by the design of the case study. Then the description of the community primary school is provided and results of the research are introduced. Key Words Community education, principles of community education, community, lifelong learning, community school, organizations of civil society

No description available.

In response to the low passing rate of its students with disabilities, administrators at a small urban elementary school in south Texas implemented coteaching. Guided by Nonaka and Takeuchi's collaborative learning framework, this qualitative instrumental case study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of collaborative teaching in the elementary education setting. Data collection consisted of a group interview and classroom observations with a purposeful sample of 4 general education teachers and 2 special education teachers of Grades 3-5 math and language arts who were coteaching at the time of the study. Teachers' perceptions regarding the effects of their professional relationship on collaboration efforts and of the effectiveness of coteaching in meeting the needs of students with disabilities were examined. Emergent themes were identified from the data through open coding and verified through NVivo and a peer reviewer. The findings showed that participants perceived coteaching to be an effective teaching strategy for working with students with disabilities. They suggested the following areas for improvement in their school's current coteaching program: parity among teachers, administrative support, shared planning time, relevancy of training, collaboration, and follow through regarding the roles and responsibilities of teachers. Based on the results, a professional development workshop was developed to improve the overall effectiveness of the coteaching program and better meet the needs of students with various disabilities in general education classrooms. The provision of training through the workshop may positively affect teachers' perceptions and implementation of coteaching. An improved academic environment in cotaught classrooms may benefit students with disabilities.