No description available.

The term Community of Practice (CoP) is often used rather loosely to describe many types of instructional settings that support more constructivist or social learning settings. This study differentiates CoP from other learning communities with greater discipline in defining CoP, as characterized by sustained self-organization for example. Such a CoP sits quite apart from the typical intent of instructional settings. The literature on intentional CoP suggests that the greatest challenges are a sense of interdependence among CoP members, the authenticity of the practice or purpose, and a trajectory for the CoP's future. The purpose of this case study was to attend to these issues with an online initiative to nurture CoP among practicing teachers in a reading-specialist, graduate program. For the course under study, learners engaged only in cooperative projects with the support of a community worksite (Sakai). Throughout the term, the worksite was promoted as a community place independent of the course and program, a place where they could continue to share indefinitely; and they were encouraged to think of what formal and informal activities the system could support, and how. The study explored how participants responded verbally and behaviorally to the community worksite and the other technologies employed to better support their group work and sharing of knowledge in general. The group's technical skills, competing cultures and practices, and the level of authenticity were all significant challenges. The study's findings challenge the application of this learning theory at the course level of academics, and they inform future design of online support for intentional CoP. / Ph. D.

Service-learning, with a longstanding history in American higher education (Burkhardt & Pasque, 2005), includes three key tenets: superior academic learning, meaningful and relevant community service, and persistent civic learning (McGoldrick and Ziegert, 2002). The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching has created an elective classification system – Carnegie Community Engagement Classification – for institutions of higher education to demonstrate the breadth and depth of student involvement and learning through partnerships and engagement in the community (Dalton & Crosby, 2011; Hurtado & DeAngelo, 2012; Kuh et al., 2008; Pryor, Hurtado, Saenz, Santos, & Korn, 2007). Community engagement "is in the culture, commonly understood practices and knowledge, and (CCEC helps determine) whether it is really happening – rhetoric versus reality" (J. Saltmarsh, personal communication, August 11, 2014). The study considers the applications of three Carnegie Community Engagement Classification designated institutions to understand the institutionalization of service-learning over time by examining the 2008 designation and 2015 reclassification across institution types – a Private Liberal Arts College, a Private Teaching University, and a Public Research University located in the same metropolitan area. Organizational Change Theory was used as a theoretical model. Case study methodology was used in the present qualitative research to perform document analysis with qualitative interviews conducted to elucidate the data from the 2008 and 2015 CCEC applications from the three institutions. Using intra- and inter-comparative analysis, this study highlights approaches, policies, ethos, and emerging concepts to inform how higher education institutions increase the quality and quantity of service-learning opportunities that benefit higher education practitioners as well as community leaders.

本研究旨在瞭解國民中學校長分布式領導、教師專業社群學習與教師教學效能之現況，並分析不同背景變項之教師對於校長分布式領導、教師專業社群學習與教師教學效能知覺之差異情形，且探討三者之間的關係，最後則探討國民中學校長分布式領導、教師專業社群學習對教師教學效能之預測力。 本研究採問卷調查法，共計抽樣48所國民中學，發出445份問卷，回收423份有效問卷，問卷有效率達95.1%，問卷調查結果以描述性統計、獨立樣本t檢定、單因子變異數分析、皮爾遜積差相關及多元逐步迴歸分析等統計方法進行統計分析。 本研究最後獲得以下結論： 一、國民中學教師知覺校長分布式領導為中高程度，以「校長專業自信與謙遜」之知覺程度為最高，「營造適當的變革時機」之知覺程度為最低。 二、國民中學教師知覺教師專業社群學習為中高程度，以「關注學生學習」之知覺程度為最高，「分享教學實務」之知覺程度為最低。 三、國民中學教師知覺教師教學效能為高等程度，以「教學氣氛」之知覺程度為最高，「教學策略」之知覺程度為最低。 四、國民中學教師，因年齡、擔任職務、學校地區、及學校規模之不同，在知覺校長分布式領導上有顯著差異。 五、國民中學教師，因性別、學校地區、及學校規模之不同，在知覺教師專業社群學習上有顯著差異。 六、國民中學教師，因性別、擔任職務、及服務年資之不同，在知覺教師教學效能上有顯著差異。 七、國民中學校長分布式領導、教師專業社群學習與教師教學效能整體及各層面，彼此之間具有正相關的關係。 八、國民中學校長分布式領導、教師專業社群學習對教師教學效能具有預測作用，以「教師專業社群學習」的預測力最佳。 / The purpose of this study was to investigate the current development of principals’ distributed leadership, teachers’ professional learning community, and teachers’ teaching effectiveness in junior high schools, and to analyze the difference between teachers of different background variables, and to explore the relationship among the three variables. This study has aimed to predict teachers’ teaching effectiveness through principals’ distributed leadership and teachers' professional learning community. Through the use of questionnaire survey method, data were collected from 48 junior high schools, distributing 445 questionnaires in total. Valid questionnaires of 423 were collected, with a usable rate of 95.1%. All data were analyzed by the methods of descriptive statistics, independent t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson product-moment correlation, and multiple stepwise regression analysis. The conclusions of this study are as follows: 1. Junior high school teachers’ perception of principals’ distributed leadership is above average, in which the dimension “principals’ self-confidence and modesty” was the highest, and “construction of a proper turning point” was the lowest. 2. Junior high school teachers’ perception of teacher professional learning community is above average, in which the dimension “focusing on students’ learning” was the highest, and “sharing teaching practices” was the lowest. 3. Junior high school teachers’ perception of teachers’ teaching effectiveness is above average, in which the dimension “teaching environment” was the highest, and “teaching strategy” was the lowest. 4. There are significant differences in the junior high school teachers’ perception of principals’ distributed leadership in terms of age, position, location of school, and scale of school. 5. There are significant differences in the junior high school teachers’ perception of teacher professional learning community in terms of gender, location of school, and scale of school. 6. There are significant differences in the junior high school teachers’ perception of teachers’ teaching effectiveness in terms of gender, position, and years of service. 7. There is a positive correlation among the principals’ distributed leadership, teacher professional learning community, and teachers’ teaching effectiveness. 8. Principals’ distributed leadership and teacher professional learning community have a predictive effect on teachers’ teaching effectiveness.

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.

Cette thèse relevant du domaine de la Didactique des langues (français langue étrangère) concerne l’apprentissage/enseignement enrichi par les TICE. Elle définit et analyse les stratégies de collaboration pour un écrit interactif, pratiquées par une communauté virtuelle d’élèves blogueurs. Le cadre théorique s’inscrit dans la perspective actionnelle (CECRL), instrumentée des TICE, et il embrasse les réseaux sociaux et leur application dans l’éducation, les caractéristiques de l’écrit interactif en tant que nouveau cybergenre. La méthodologie appliquée est principalement qualitative et relève de la recherche-action et, en particulier, de la recherche-développement appliquée à la conception de ressources multimédia. La construction d’un blogue communautaire a permis le recueil des données pour la partie empirique. Dans cet environnement numérique d’apprentissage, des élèves de 15 à 17 ans de Pologne, Ukraine, Tchéquie et Italie, stimulés par un scénario d’apprentissage, ont réalisé des interactions écrites pendant huit mois. La recherche a montré que les extensions intégrées au blog ont facilité l’émergence d’une communauté d’apprentissage. Elle a également montré comment ces artefacts ont été exploités, en se concentrant notamment sur une analyse des stratégies mobilisées pour l’écrit, ainsi que les caractéristiques de cet écrit interactif produit. / This dissertation belongs to the field of foreign language didactics (French as a foreign language) and it focuses on the use of ICT in learning and teaching. Its objective is to define and analyse the collaborative strategies in interactive writing practiced by a virtual community of blogging students. The theoretical framework is mainly qualitative, based on the principles of action research and more specifically Research and Development. The data for empirical studies were collected through a digital learning environment – a Communitarian Blog, specifically constructed and enriched with different plug-ins. In this learning environment, students, aged 15-17, from Poland, Ukraine, Italy and the Czech Republic, stimulated by a learning scenario, developped written interactions for eight months. The study has demonstrated that the added extensions have facilitated the emergence of a new learning community. It has also shown how the added artefacts have been used, allowing for an extensive analysis of the strategies mobilised for writing and the characteristics of this interactive writing.

The purpose of this study is to investigate conceptions that affects the results of school development in order to improve the language used while teaching within all subjects. The approach is a dialogical practitioner-research where the principal studies within her own occupation/school and is driven by a social constructionist framework of knowledge and learning. Laclau & Mouffe´s discourse-theory was used to analyze the articular-practice in eighteen teachers and their principal’s written reflections. The study focus discourses of school-development and second-language-development in relation to the nodal point ”learning”. It also focuses on teachers’ construction of identity within the school. The meaning of conceptions within school-development and second-language-development discourses are analyzed using discourse-theory methods. Conflicting meanings are also highlighted. The prior questions of the study investigates the conceptions of school-development and second-language-development and how they relate to current discourses and to each other. Conceptions that are connected to these discourses are compared with how the role of the teacher is described by the teachers themselves. The study shows an agreement on the necessity of school-development and improvement of language. Boundaries are made against those who don’t agree with school-development-projects. Different approaches are standing side by side within both fields and the role of the teacher are given multiple understandings due to their diverse experiences and framework of teaching. The understanding of the concept “diversity” alter in different fields. The meaning of “safety” varies, the teachers and principal have different thoughts on the idea of what safety is. The study shows a lack of research and science in the teachers written reflections. One implication of the study is that the conception of the role of teachers has to be reconstructed to be able to build a professional-learning-community. Different conceptions about safety has to be highlighted to avoid different understandings that prevents collaborative work between teachers. / Syftet med denna masteruppsats är att få syn på föreställningar som påverkar utvecklingsprocessen på en skola där målet är att arbeta mer språkutvecklande. Studien är att betrakta som praxisforskning med en dialogisk ansats, där rektor lär genom att forska i sin egen verksamhet. Studien utgår från en socialkonstruktionistisk syn på kunskap och lärande. Genom den diskursteori som utvecklats av Laclau och Mouffe synliggörs skolans artikulatoriska praktik, så som den framträder i arton lärares och deras rektors reflekterande loggar. De diskursiva fälten ”skolutveckling” och ”andraspråksutveckling” studeras i förhållande till nodalpunkten ”lärande”. Även lärarnas föreställningar kring subjektspositionen som lärare granskas. Genom diskursteorins verktyg synliggörs också de olika innebörder som ges kring begrepp som förekommer i diskurserna om skolutveckling och andraspråksutveckling. Även motsättningar lyfts fram. Studiens frågeställningar handlar om föreställningar kring skolutveckling och andraspråksutveckling och hur de förhåller sig till rådande diskurser och till varandra. Även föreställningar om begrepp som hör samman med skolutveckling, andraspråksutveckling, lärande och lärarrollen studeras. Studien visar att det råder enighet både kring nödvändigheten av skolutveckling och kring att utveckla det språkutvecklande arbetet på skolan. Markeringar görs mot ett diskursivt yttre, att motsätta sig utvecklingen. Olika diskurser kring andraspråksutveckling och lärande syns sida vid sida i de två fälten. Också lärarrollen ges skiftande innebörder, som kan kopplas till olika epoker och lärandeteorier. Föreställningar om begreppet ”olikhet” varierar i olika diskursiva fält. Motstående uppfattningar kring begreppet ”trygghet” framträder utifrån de olika subjektspositionerna som lärare respektive rektor. Studien visar att vetenskap och forskning inte är så framträdande i denna skolas artikulation. En slutsats som dras av studien är att lärarrollen behöver ges nya innebörder om man vill få till stånd en professionell lärande gemenskap. Även olika föreställningar kring trygghet respektive lärande behöver lyftas till ytan och synliggöras, för att undvika att motstridiga tankemönster står i vägen för det fortsatta gemensamma arbetet.

Ninth grade students are at a greater risk of dropping out of high school than are other grade-level populations. Factors such as a lack of academic preparedness, social and developmental changes, and the decline of parental support often result in 9th grade students falling behind in their academic work. Using holistic education as the conceptual framework, the goal of this intrinsic case study was to explore the perceptions of school and district office administrators on the impact that a 9th grade transition program has on the 9th grade retention and dropout rate of a high school located in the southeastern United States. The features of the 9th grade transition program (designated personnel, classes, location, and resources) were analyzed. Data collection occurred by a review of the school's evaluation reports and one-on-one interviews using a purposeful sample with 4 school and district office administrators. Thematic analysis of data followed an open coding process to identify categories and themes. The findings indicated that the 9th grade transition program positively impacted student and school performance and revealed inconsistencies in the transition programs and services among the 3 high schools within the school district. The resulting project was a policy recommendation that advocates for the use of standard 9th grade best practices. This study contributes to positive social change through the implementation of a best practice policy recommendation, intended to reduce 9the grade retention and dropout rates of the students within the school district.

Low graduation rates are a significant issue for colleges. The majority of higher education institutions in the United States offer learning communities (LCs), which have been found to be effective for improving course success and persisting to the next semester. However, there is a gap in the literature regarding the effectiveness of LCs with different types of populations and different types of LCs. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to identify the most effective types of LCs. Research questions addressed the effects of different types of LCs on different student success outcomes for community colleges. The study was based on Tinto's interactionist model of student departure and Astin's model of student involvement. Studies examining the relationship between student success and participation in college LCs provided the data for the meta-analysis. A random effects model was used to generate the average effect size for 39 studies and 50 individual effect sizes. The results showed that LCs are most effective with community college students when they include additional support strategies, counseling is available to students, one of the linked courses is an academic skills course, at least one of the linked course is developmental, and the focus is on increasing course success or student engagement. The implications for positive social change suggest that LC programs implement two linked courses, include an academic skills course, focus on developmental courses, and provide access to a counselor and additional student support strategies. In addition, LC programs are most effective when the goals of the program are student engagement and course success.

Increased enrollments of nontraditional students in U.S. higher education institutions have prompted many college and university administrators to consider student service programs. These programs ensure that support services are available to nontraditional students to cultivate healthy graduation rates among that student population. The purpose of this study was to discover factors that influence nontraditional students to become disengaged or be retained. The study was a qualitative case study with data collected from individual interviews with 10 nontraditional students participating in online and traditional onsite delivery systems at a private, nontraditional higher education institution in the western United States. The theoretical framework that guided this study was Knowles's andragogy theory. The research questions addressed students' perceptions of the role of persistence, barriers, self-direction, intrinsic motivation, delivery systems, learning modality, and academic and support services in their academic success. Data analysis was conducted to identify themes by coding the narrative responses and using member checks to validate data interpretations. Findings derived from the interviews indicated that students believed that they benefitted from a community of support within the university system. A professional development workshop was designed as a project to train university employees on how to create a professional learning community (PLC) to support students. This PLC was designed to promote positive social change by enhancing retention of adult students in academic programs until graduation and create an environment where people work together in a collaborative way within the university to ensure student success.