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Based on evidence of the success of data informed interventions in the literature, we undertook a qualitative case study investigation of how two public primary schools used the results of the two external assessments, the Gauteng Provincial Assessment (GPA) and the Annual National Assessment (ANA) in 2008, to improve teaching and learning. At the time of the study the Department of Basic Education (DBE) has not yet guided the schools officially how to use the results and the district participating in the study used innovative measures to assist the schools. During semi-structured interviews, the district coordinator and principal, head of department and Grade 3 Literacy and Numeracy teachers at each of the two schools helped us understand how they interacted with the results. Several reasons were given why neither of the two schools used the GPA results. The ANA results were more useful for the classroom and the district and both schools considered them in part for planning their intervention strategies for the following year. Both exercises were new to the schools and at the time of the study the DBE had not yet provided teachers with guidance on how to use the test results to improve teaching and learning. As a result the two schools studied made very little use of the ANA scores, while the GPA results were found by the teachers to be of no assistance. Instead both schools relied on their internal assessment practices. The DBE have started to address the lack of guidance on how to use the results in 2011.

Trust is an intrinsic component of any loyal “consumer friendship” between customers and service providers, and is a by-product of shared understanding. Nowhere is the notion of trust more relevant than in technical service—such as professional legal practice, architecture, medical care and auto repair—where the primary commodities exchanged are specialized knowledge, equipment and skills. A common challenge in dialogue between expert providers and novice customers in this context is meaningful sharing of technical information. A successful exchange requires care in representation, language, attitude, delivery and timing. Furthermore, with communication breakdowns, trust falters, and business relationships run the risk of falling apart. Rather than relying on simple transactional exchanges of information in service, a customer’s journey could be enriched by framing service touchpoints as individual opportunities for learning. Learning activities occur in everyday life via interactions with society, artifacts or programs, and often involve the pursuit of knowledge or skills without the structure of a formal curriculum. This study explores how learning might function as a channel for strengthening multi-faceted trust relations in service through integration into programs and artifacts. In this project, an auto repair shop was investigated as a case study in technical service, given its long inglorious history of customer mistrust. Through exploration in the context of a local mechanic shop, prototypes for experiential and transformative service learning were implemented, tested, and re-shaped into a four-part framework designed to improve technical communications

This essay examines rubrics for learning found in the learning platform Unikum and analyses their construction in relation to research on rubrics for learning. Formative assessment, variation theory and design for learning together with previous research are used as a framework for analysis. Jönsson (2017) says that rubrics for learning are used for formative assessment in order to answer Hattie’s (2007) three questions for feedback: Where am I going, how am I going and where to next? To be able to do that, rubrics should contain clear criteria and task-level specificity with several levels of quality which are differentiated by small, highlighted variations. The language should be adapted from the list of knowledge requirements in the national curriculum, to better suit the students. The analysis of rubrics for learning found in the learning platform Unikum, shows that very few of them followed these criteria. Only 18 out of 123 rubrics for learning matched all of the criteria. Most of the rubrics that match the criteria, contain a mix of descriptive and evaluative language making it harder for students to understand what is expected from them. A topic for further research might be to find a common terminology that could help define a rubric for learning thus making them easier for teachers to construct and use. It would also be interesting to

Research shows that schools are largely a professional solo cultures (Blossing 2014), which impede teachers' professional development as learning takes place in social interaction and through living-practice dilemmas (Wenger 1998/2004). Changing cultures is difficult, not least in the world of education that on the whole has been a solo culture since the establishment of convent schools.The purpose of this study is to investigate whether teachers believe that through professional collaboration in the form of Teacher Learning Community (TLC) has contributed their knowledge and compentence in the field of embedding formative assessment. TLC is a sort of community of practice for improve teaching. The study works according to the hypothesis that “Teachers believe that professional collaboration in the form of Teacher Learning Community (TLC) has contributed to their knowledge and expertise in the field of embedding formative assessment”. The study was conducted at a large secondary school in central Sweden which organized its collegial learning according to TLC and exclusively worked to develop and modify instruction regarding embedding formative assessment during five years before the study. The theoretical approach applied is based on the tradition of "school improvement" with a human relational and group dynamic organizational based on social-constructivism) (Schein, 1994; Giddens, 1984; Wenger 1998/2004; Schmuck & Runkel, 1994; Blossing 2008; Scherp 1998). The study is quantitative and was conducted using a questionnaire, processed through a factor analysis, that is, a multivariate analysis. The analysis was conducted in four stages: stage 1: factor analysis to reduce factors exceeding the value of 1; step 2: categorization of all questions related to the component; step 3: measurement of the homogeneity of issues with Cronbach's Alpha; step 4: hypothesis testing in Person. The correlation was 0,686 (p<0,001). This is a so called census survey and the high response rate gave the study high validity. The study concluded that it is possible to change a school's historic solo culture to a collaborative team culture through systematic collegial cooperation in the form of TLC, and as a result to change the current teaching patterns.

abstract: There is a demanding need to empower students from kindergarten through high school to learn computer science and be equipped with the computational thinking skills that they need in today's technology driven world. However, introducing computer programming to students can be challenging, especially for those who aren't familiar with the nuances of code. Several popular tools are used in curriculum for K-12 students which utilize interactive and visualization approaches to engage young kids in learning computational concepts. Possibilities of using Augmented Reality (AR) in teaching programming to novices are explored in this work. In this thesis Ogmented, an AR application is designed which includes interactive learning material that covers a range of fundamental Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) concepts. This work aims to exploit the idea to learn abstract concepts via AR by capitalizing the strength of visual-aided and interactive elements. A user study with a group of elementary school students is conducted. It explored how students operated the AR application with the interactive elements and how they wrote codes to solve programming problems. It was observed that students who followed instructions while taking tutorials were successfully able to write fragments of codes in exercise modules. Irrespective of their knowledge about programming, majority of students were able to write executable code snippets for concepts they were taught with use of Ogmented. This shares an initial insight on using AR in classroom to teach abstract programming concepts. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Computer Science 2017

Thesis advisor: Richard M. Jackson / The diversity of the student population in K-12 settings has steadily increased over the past few decades. While students who are of a racial/ethnic minority background have increased (Villegas & Lucas, 2007), teachers are increasingly young, female, and white (Goldenberg, 2008; NCES, 2013). In acknowledging these demographic discrepancies between teachers and students, many studies and reports have put forward an array of frameworks that teachers can employ in their practice to address diversity. Among these frameworks are Teaching for Social Justice (TSJ) and Universal Design for Learning (UDL). This dissertation seeks to examine the potential relationship among the two frameworks as viewed by undergraduate teacher candidates as they develop their dispositions for teaching diverse learners through a 17-week course attached to a one-day-per-week pre-practicum experience. This multi-case study examined how the beliefs of 19 participants regarding TSJ and UDL changed over the course of a 6-month study within the context of a course. This study investigated how these participants connected UDL and social justice as a cohesive framework for addressing diversity in the classroom. Using daily and weekly journals, online discussion forums, and pre- and post- surveys, this study analyzed all 19 participants to identify four representative cases. Findings from this study reveal that most participants were impacted by the course to the extent that they were able to identify the importance of aspects of social justice in the practice of an educator. Fewer participants were able to identify the role of UDL in the classroom. Only one participant viewed social justice and UDL as a cohesive framework for impacting classroom practice. Analysis of the representative case studies suggests that participants at this level of development may need more time to engage in complicated abstract concepts. They may also need course-attached field placements in classrooms that align with the mission and vision of the preparation program, consistency in messaging through the duration of a preparation program, and differentiated supports based on their background experiences. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2015. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

Educational researchers, practitioners and policymakers agree that quality of leadership and learning influence the quality of education. In the context of Ghanaian basic schools, previous research has shown that the Leadership for Learning (LfL) framework, an educational theory and practice, has improved the leadership capacities of education stakeholders as well as the quality of teaching and learning. However, the processes which lead to such improvements have not yet been studied. This study aimed to contribute to research on LfL by analysing the processes that accounted for the successful incorporation of the LfL principles. This in-depth case study was conducted in two successful LfL schools in the Central Region of Ghana. It engaged multiple stakeholders and gathered data through semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, observations, and document analysis. Intra- and inter-case analyses were conducted to understand each case in its own terms as well as to identify areas of convergence and divergence between them. The findings reveal that despite the ubiquity of household poverty, youth unemployment, and paucity of infrastructure, stakeholders recreated structures, reoriented attitudes, developed self-efficacy, and deployed creativity. It has been found that stakeholders were able to come to a shared and contextualised understanding of the LfL principles. This engendered collaboration, co-ownership of the leading, teaching and learning activities, and their successful institutional absorption. Put differently, the successful incorporation of the LfL principles was driven by four practices: the stakeholders understood the principles based on their contextual realities; believed in their understanding; taught what they believed in; and practised what they taught. These findings are of practical relevance for policymakers and practitioners. Policymakers need to appreciate the importance of context in understanding and incorporating policy initiatives. Practitioners need to reorient their attitudes and practice, collaborate, form communal beliefs, and recognise, appreciate and harness their internal human capital to succeed. Further research is needed to understand the impact of communication technology - television soap operas, mobile phones and social media on leading, teaching and learning.

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Simulation games may increase student engagement in the social studies classroom. Papert (1991) states that constructionism allows students to build, whether tangible or intangible objects, and that the building and conversation around the building allows student to learn best. In this study, the researcher observed and interviewed participants, as well as wrote in a journal about the experience, regarding playing a simulation game about the Electoral College. The researcher utilized en vivo coding to facilitate data interpretation. The participants were 18 year-old students at a suburban high school in a metropolitan area in the southeastern United States. These participants were selected by self-identifying themselves as ‘social studies haters.’ The researcher gathered data to determine if the simulation game has a relationship to engagement in the social studies classroom and examined with the simulation game, eLECTIONS, exercised elements of the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) theory to engage the participants. The researcher determined that self-identified social studies haters at this school more strongly engaged in the social studies content when they participated in the simulation game on the Electoral College. The research also determined UDL enhanced engagement in the simulation game.