The implementation of professional learning communities (PLCs) in schools has been shown to serve as a catalyst in transforming school culture and increasing the academic performance of students. Our school district mandated that PLCs were established at the research site, an urban Louisiana school, for the primary purpose of closing the achievement gap. Yet, recent data from the local district indicate that these PLCs have not resulted in capacity building for sustainable improvement. Ineffective implementation of the current PLCs may have contributed to the poor outcomes. One purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine teachers' perceptions of the implementation of PLCs. Another was to gauge teachers' views on PLCs as a means of promoting a positive school culture and increasing academic achievement among students. A social constructivist framework was used for this qualitative case study. Research questions centered on teachers' perceptions regarding refinement of the currently implemented PLCs. Purposeful sampling was used to select 13 seventh through ninth grade teachers as participants. Qualitative data were collected through questionnaires and telephone interviews and then analyzed for emergent themes. Findings revealed that the current PLCs were beneficial but needed refinement related to relevance, intent, and planning. The following four themes emerged: time, collaboration, shared responsibility, and a focus on learning for all students. Study findings provide insight about PLCs from the perspectives of the teachers who work within them. The implications for social change include enhanced knowledge and understanding that may help educators in better implementing PLCs with intent and transparency and by positively contributing to school improvement and student achievement.

Learning Analytics plays an increasing role in the analysis of virtual learning activities. This article addresses the gap between educational needs and technical supply. By means of a Systematic Literature Review of the LAK conferences the authors extracted observations, methods and tools which represent potential solutions for a given eCollaboration scenario. Based on three prioritised examples of an observation sheet, methods are derived and recommendations for the use of Learning Analytics tools are given. The result is a catalogue that enable users to select suitable methods and tools for an implementation. The (semi-) automation can increase the efficiency of Community Managers in monitoring the participants and hence make real-time intervention feasible.

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Human existence (or be-ing) is profoundly relational. Yet educational environments often assume that learning happens individually. Though many educators are trying to rectify this problem by introducing community into the learning process, these efforts are too often simply overlaid onto a system that works through competition and rewards individual achievement. Therefore, an alternative perspective for who we are as humans and how we should be together is needed. In this dissertation, I examine what it means to be fundamentally related and show how such an understanding might impact learning. We often think of “community” as a place, but I also use it to embody an alternative understanding of human be-ing: how we are and should be related and the process by which we can learn to embrace our ethical responsibilities. This second way of understanding community addresses a mode of be-ing that describes how we should come together: with (or “com”) unity. I use religious narratives to explore what a non-modern understanding of relational be-ing might mean for education. Looking at community in a religious context is helpful because it offers a different framework for understanding human be-ing. Using three stories found in Genesis—(a) the Creation of the world including the introduction of Adam and Eve, (b) their Fall, and (c) their Expulsion from Eden—I argue that they reveal the importance of three aspects of community: (a) diversity, a deep appreciation for our and others' enduring individuality, (b) unity, a willingness to be responsible both to and for others in a particular, ethical way, and (c) work, the catalyst for coming together and making relationships purposeful. Understanding how the aspects of diversity, unity, and work strengthen supportive relationships is an important way to understand community, including learning communities. It suggests that the purpose of education should be to help learners realize their moral responsibilities to others and teach them how to respond to that obligation. Moral learning communities can generate experiences that speak more authentically to human be-ing. They enhance education so that learning becomes not only more meaningful but truly life-changing.

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The purpose of this non-experimental, comparative quantitative study was to determine if there were significant differences between the perceptions of undergraduate and graduate students about the importance and presence of sense of community in online classes at two southern public universities using survey data. The study also aimed to determine if there were significant relationships between students’ perceptions of the presence of sense of community and students’ satisfaction with the course and between students’ perception of the presence of sense of community and students’ perceptions of increases in cognitive learning. The study also addressed factors of undergraduate classification, gender, and format of the class as synchronous, asynchronous, or a combination of synchronous and asynchronous elements. The survey also provided data on how to best create a sense of community in online classes. The findings provide evidence that graduate students had significantly higher scores on the perceptions of the importance and presence of sense of community than undergraduate students. No significant differences were noted based on undergraduate classification, gender, or format of the class. Significant positive relationships were found between the presence of sense of community and students’ satisfaction with the course and between the presence of sense of community and students’ perceptions of increases in cognitive learning. A rank ordering of class activities and practices provided insights on the most effective ways to create a sense of community online. The top five responses were feedback from the instructor, introductions of classmates, synchronous video meetings in large groups of five or more students, instructors’ announcements, and email communication with the instructor. Students’ open-ended responses showed that some students preferred to be independent learners; some found a sense of community in online classes; and some felt isolated but did not find a sense of community. Other comments showed the value of cohorts, social media chat groups, and connections with another student. Students reported mixed reviews about discussion boards, synchronous video meetings, and group work. Students also reported on the critical role of the instructor in creating a sense of community.

This study explores mechanisms involved in small scale schooling and student engagement. Specifically, this study questions the validity of arguments for small scale schooling reforms that confound the promised effects of small scale schooling structures (such as smaller enrollments, schools-within-schools, and smaller class sizes) with the effects of the school climates assumed to follow from these structural changes. Data to address this issue was drawn from the Philadelphia Educational Longitudinal Study - one of the few publically-available datasets to include student-level measures of school-within-a-school participation and relative quality - and supplemented by school-level data from the National Center for Education Statistics' Common Core of Data. Regression analyses were designed to examine whether academic press and/or personalized teacher-student relationships - two aspects of school climate often associated with small scale schooling - mediate the relationships between small scale schooling structures and student engagement. The results suggest a pattern of widespread connections between small scale schooling structures and students' emotional engagement in school, but only a loose connection between these structures and students' behavioral engagement in school. Furthermore, school climate does, in fact, mediate many of the relationships between small scale schooling structures and emotional engagement; however, it does not fully mediate the relationship between small scale schooling structure and behavioral engagement. Findings relating student engagement to the quality of small learning communities relative to others in the same school suggest that comprehensive schools that are broken down into smaller within-school units may create a new mechanism for tracking students. Those who participate in relatively high quality small learning communities like school more and participate in more extracurricular activities/sports than students who participate in relatively low quality small learning communities or in no small learning community at all. These relationships are not mediated by school climate. Overall, the findings of this study suggest that the results of small scale schooling reforms are largely dependent on the school climates where they are instituted. / Urban Education

This thesis comprises a critical review and suggestions for enhancement of the Community of Inquiry Framework (CoIF), the frequently cited model of collaborative community-based online learning. It combines a systematic engagement of relevant literature and research, with the application of the CoIF thinking to six of my peer-reviewed publications. Although not initially conceived as forming part of a doctorate submission, these publications are drawn upon throughout this narrative, to assist my interrogation of the CoIF. They are also used to provide evidence of my continuing journey as an education researcher. This thesis is therefore not an exegesis – a traditional meta-narrative encompassing this candidate’s publications. It moves beyond my findings in the publications to create and present supplementary concepts, and develop pointed guidance about using the Framework in supporting online learning in tertiary education. My review first critically interrogates the three constituent elements or Presences of the CoIF. Social presence emerges as a highly complex and multi-faceted construct, in which the de-emphasising of the affective in the CoIF seems at variance with current research reporting the strong student emotional response to working online, and particularly in collaborative, community-based groupings. Then, in Cognitive presence, there has been little consideration of, and specificity about, reflection in the CoIF. My critique proposes that reflection and critical thinking are distinct but inter-related concepts; both of which need to be addressed. Teaching presence is renamed ‘Tutoring presence’ informed by my review based upon my emergent understandings of student-centred learning. Two enhancements to the CoIF are then proposed, together with the rationale for establishment of a Tutors’ Network. The first enhancement, referred to as 'the Influences,’ unites and enriches the individual Presences. The second argues for the existence and use of a personal learning retreat at the heart of a community of inquiry, addressing a perceived omission in the CoIF. This learner ‘space’ provides a ‘quiet, safe place’ for the private (internal) world of the learner, as a foil to the shared collaborative space in the CoIF (the external world). Finally, a Tutors’ Network is outlined as a vehicle for advancing their understandings and knowledge of online, collaborative, community-based learning in general, and in particular of communities of inquiry. This should develop the abilities of online tutors, improve their learners’ educational experiences and encourage research and scholarship into the CoIF.

A presente pesquisa configura-se como um estudo de caso de natureza qualitativa que procurou analisar e tecer algumas considerações importantes a respeito de um curso livre experimental de inglês básico on-line - denominado Beginner Grammar Writing (BGW)-, com enfoque no desenvolvimento das habilidades de leitura e de escrita. Esse curso foi oferecido para alunos de diferentes países cuja língua materna não é o inglês, e ministrado, concomitantemente, por duas professoras da área, residentes em países distintos. Procurou-se verificar se o curso, que adotou uma metodologia de ensino-aprendizagem colaborativa/comunicacional, veio a se tornar uma comunidade de aprendizagem, a partir das características apontadas por vários teóricos, e das quais elegemos as seguintes: interesses comuns, empatia, sociabilidade colaborativa e tempo de exposição no grupo. Os dados obtidos foram coletados ao longo do curso em questão, no primeiro momento em que foi oferecido. Esses dados consistem em documentos digitais do curso (tais como e-mail dos alunos, e-mail trocados entre as professoras, registros de participação dos estudantes no fórum e em sessões de chat) e na observação participante da professora/pesquisadora ao longo de todo o curso. O estudo fundamentou-se nas teorias da comunicação escolar, comunicação on-line, de aprendizagem colaborativa e no referencial teórico a respeito de comunidades virtuais (de aprendizagem). A reflexão sobre os dados recolhidos e a análise efetuada apontaram algumas questões relevantes a respeito de ensino de inglês on-line na perspectiva de uma metodologia de ensino-aprendizagem colaborativo/ comunicacional e mostraram que o curso BGW atingiu o objetivo de promover a aprendizagem coletiva. A análise de dados confirmou ainda que uma comunidade de aprendizagem foi criada e é mantida como tal a partir do curso BGW aqui estudado. / The present study is a qualitative case study of an experimental English basic on-line course, entitled Beginner Grammar Writing (BGW), with emphasis on the development of writing and reading skills. This course was offered to students from different countries, whose native language was not English, and was delivered simultaneously by two teachers of English, resident in distinct countries. The study attempted to verify whether the students in the course, which adopted a teaching and learning collaborative/communicational methodology, became a learning community from the characteristics described by several theoreticians and from which we selected the following: common interests, empathy, collaborative sociability and time of exposure in the group. The data were collected from the course when it was first offered. Data consisted of digital documents (such as students´ e-mail, e-mail exchanged between the teachers, questionnaires, registers of students´ participation in the discussion forum and in the chat sessions, and some others) and the participative observation of the teacher/researcher throughout the course. The theoretical framework was based on the communicative theory, the collaborative learning approach and the theoretical referential on virtual learning communities. The data showed that the BGW course reached its objective of promoting a collective learning. The data also confirmed that a learning community was created and is maintained as so from the course studied.