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Due to the development of the broadband Internet access and advanced learning technology, online synchronous teaching with teachers and students located at many different countries becomes feasible nowadays. Online international teaching not only enhances the varieties of teaching environments but also arouses learners to generate multiple thoughts through interacting with foreign instructors and classmates without living their own countries. However, online international teaching is a more complex educational environment, the cross-cultural differences and the characteristic of computer-mediated communication result that a single instructor would not be possible to handle all the matters in an online synchronous classroom. In the past, international instructors employed teaching assistants to reduce problems of cultural differences. This idea can be applied to online international teaching, a group of instructors can form a teaching team which includes different nations¡¦ instructors, teaching assistants and technicians such that the problems caused by the cross-cultural communication and challenges of information technology can be reduced. Online international team teaching is a brand new teaching environment, there are few researches being done in this kind of teaching environment so far. Therefore, this study wants to explore the components and the important criteria for online international team teaching. The case we adopted for this study was an online international team teaching course called ¡§Business English and Communication¡¨ offered by the MIS department of NSYSU. This research used participant observation and in depth interview to get primary data, and then use the phenomenology to analyze the secondary data which extracted from course discussion boards. The research findings are three main components and 17 criteria in total for online international team teaching. The three main components are ¡§online international teaching¡¨, ¡§online collaboration by teaching team¡¨ and ¡§interacting instruments¡¨. ¡§Online international teaching¡¨ includes 6 criteria offering guidelines for international teaching. ¡§Online collaboration by teaching team¡¨ includes 5 criteria offering suggestions for international collaboration. And ¡§interacting instruments¡¨ includes 3 criteria related to the interacting instruments of online international team teaching course. The last 3 criteria are for the common intersection of the three main components. We also proposed suitable suggestions from three different aspects, teaching aspect, material/ system aspect and learning aspect for researchers to do further study and for instructors to better teach online international team teaching courses.

Doctor of Education / Department of Educational Leadership / Royce Ann Collins / There is a need for critical thinking skills in our society. This research study examines graduate student’s growth in critical thinking after experiencing a specifically designed curriculum. This study evaluated the effectiveness of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff Officer Common Core Course to change student critical thinking skills and habits of the mind attributes, and further examined instructor perceptions of the curriculum, instructional methods, and instructor skills and behaviors that impact student critical thinking development within the Core Course. This study used an explanatory sequential mixed method research design in order to answer the four research questions and test their respective hypotheses. Eight student staff groups (n=120) were selected from the Command and General Staff Officer Common Core Course Class 15 population, and the quantitative data used to conduct the analyses was derived from a pretest and posttest using the Military and Defense Critical Thinking Inventory (MDCTI), a nationally recognized instrument designed specifically for individuals in the defense and military profession. The qualitative component of the study consisted of focus group interviews conducted with instructors from the eight selected staff groups (n=24) to examine their perceptions on the role of the curriculum, instructional methods, and instructor skills and behaviors in developing student critical thinking. The data collected from these interviews were analyzed and presented using a collective case study approach. Analysis of the student pretest and posttest score change results indicated statistically significant changes in analysis, induction, deduction, and overall critical thinking skills, and in the communicative confidence, professional confidence, expression, and directness habits of the mind attributes. Further analysis indicated that there was no statistically significant change differences in critical thinking skills or habits of the mind attributes between the teaching team groups. Analysis of the qualitative data revealed nine themes that were categorized within the theoretical framework of curriculum, instructional methods, and instructor skills and behaviors. Four additional themes emerged which did not address the role of curriculum, instructional methods, and instructor skills and behaviors in developing student critical thinking. These themes included: lack of contact time, the importance of the physical classroom configuration, the military/school culture, and student attributes.

The purpose of this study was to explore the tensions that existed between my co-teaching partner and me while working together during the last four years. Additionally, I studied how my partner, the special educator, and I, the general educator, negotiated the tensions that came up during our collaboration. Using a narrative approach to share our stories about our teaching, I investigated how we worked together and contributed to our co-teaching relationship. I analyzed the stories and storylines that we shared using a theoretical lens called positioning. Positioning theory looks at how people interact with each other and the positions that they take up and give away. Positioning helped me to understand better how we were negotiating the tensions we were experiencing while co-teaching together. The findings suggested that the tensions that existed between us stemmed from our confusion about our roles and our lack of planning. It was also strained because of the ways in which the institution positioned us. Because we were confused about our roles and were not planning, our co-teaching was not as excellent as it could have been. Both of us negotiated our tensions by (a) remaining positive about our relationship, and (b) continuing to value teaching together even though there were tensions in our partnership. Our "friendship" persisted even after professional tensions came up and, many times, in spite of the tensions. In conclusion, this study revealed that my co-teaching partner and I needed more training about how to be co-teachers so that we could negotiate the tensions that came up. We did not plan regularly and did not understand how our roles co-existed because we had no training about how these things would help us in our relationship. This study also reveals that co-teachers need to be more committed to co-teaching. Despite our lack of training and preparation, we remained positive about our relationship and this is the reason why our partnership endured.

This study was undertaken in order to compare the self-contained classroom with team-teaching organizations according to pupil behavior and personal-social adjustment in children of first- and second-grade level. A comparison was made of pupil behavior and personal-social adjustments between (1) children in the first grade after one year in the self-contained classroom and children in the first grade after one year in a team-teaching organization and (2) children in the second grade after two years in the self-contained classrooms and children in the second grade after two years in team-teaching organizations.

Despite the common occurrence of teaming in preschool classrooms, very little research has explored the experiences of teachers working in such a context. Due to a high turnover of preschool teachers and a recent change in the educational requirements of lead teachers in Head Start, it is anticipated that the number of young and inexperienced lead teachers is likely to increase. The purpose of this case study research is to illuminate the teaming relationships between young, recently qualified lead teachers and their assistants working together within one classroom. Over the course of a school year, interviews and observations were conducted of two Head Start teaching teams. Five major themes were revealed through data analysis: understanding of roles; organization of work; use and resistance of power; development and management of conflict; and support from within and outside the team. Analysis across the findings of both cases showed that identity and power played a central role in team functioning. The teachers' identities, perceived threats to their identities, and their understanding of the power differential played a significant role in the way the teams organized their work, the way the teachers viewed their roles within the team, and the conflict and support they experienced. Conclusions of the study are discussed through the lens of identity process theory and elements of Bourdieu's theory of power and practice. Implications for teacher professional development and the need for increased institutional support for teaming in preschool is presented.

This study describes two heterogeneously grouped second-grade classrooms during the 1998-99 school year. One class featured collaborative team teaching, and the second class was taught by a traditional single teacher. There were 33 regular education students and nine at-risk students in the team classroom and 14 regular education students and eight at-risk students in the one-teacher classroom. One hundred three interviews were conducted with 21 students in the team classroom and 18 students in the one-teacher classroom, with 13 parents, with three teachers, and with the school principal. The researcher observed the two classes 61 times from September to May. Data were organized according to the respondents' perspectives and the observation entries on four themes: classroom social climate; instruction and its effects, including provisions for small-group and individual assistance; distribution of teachers' roles and tasks; and information on the practice of teaming. Regular education and at-risk students in both classes reported that school was a highly positive experience, that their teachers provided motivating instruction; and the social climate was one of group cohesion and help from everyone. Parents confirmed the students' perceptions. Teachers reported that they felt confident meeting the needs of nearly all students in both classroom settings. The school principal agreed with the teachers but believed that it was easier for the team-teaching pair to meet their goals. The researchers' field notes supported the interview data. Results were interpreted by defining the general themes that emanated from the data and by delineating guidelines for effective teaming and elaborating on problems to be avoided in collaborative team-teaching partnerships. In the classrooms included in this study. Collaborative team teaching appears to offer an important alternative to traditional single-teacher models for both regular education and at-risk students.

Though, most of online courses conducted in the pass were asynchronous oriented, due to the recent advance of information technology on the Internet bandwidth and the IP-based conferencing system, conducting synchronous online courses are now feasible. There are no longer obstacles for promoting e-learning in terms of limited computing power, short memory capacity and not enough network bandwidth. The new challenges have shifted to how to conduct a high qualify online course by combing synchronous and asynchronous learning into a blended mode. The feature of asynchronous-oriented instruction and the text only interaction mode in the passed e-learning are very inconvenient and inefficient. Because Chinese input for many senior teachers are difficult and using text express the meaning of content and answer questions would result bad performance of demonstrating instructors¡¦ professional. The advanced Learning Management System nowadays can support IP-based video-conferencing and document sharing for teachers and students to do online synchronous face to face instruction and interactions; the question is most teachers are not aware of this kind of potential and what kind of teaching models can be adopted in the online synchronous classroom. The purpose of this thesis is to explore different teaching models and their best practices by action research, such that the results can serve as good references for teachers. This research environment is the course named e-Learning Theory & Practice conduced for many semesters on NSYSU Cyber University.

The purpose of this exploratory study was to determine the perceptions of co-teachers concerning their professional development needs for co-teaching and to determine the level of training they received to prepare them for co-teaching. Sixty-one co-teachers (general education teachers: n=36, 59%; special education teachers: n=25, 41%) in the state of Kentucky completed the Professional Development for Co-teaching Survey for Teachers (PDCST). Survey data demonstrated mean ratings for 14 content-related items ranging from 5.57 to 7.31 indicating teachers generally perceived all were important to their professional development. The items identified as the most critical content were: co-teaching strategies that allow both co-teachers to play active instructional roles, strategies for sharing roles and responsibilities among co-teachers, strategies for building and sustaining co-teaching partnerships, and co-teaching formats. Teachers also identified content area training and planning for co-teaching in open ended queries. Second, co-teachers prioritized content, formats, and follow-up activities for professional development. Top content priorities included strategies for building and sustaining co-teaching partnerships, co-teaching formats, and strategies for sharing roles and responsibilities. Participants identified single day workshops, multiple day workshops, and professional learning communities as their top professional development formats. Top follow-up activities were observing experienced co-teachers, additional professional development, and mentoring from an experienced co-teacher or co-teaching team. Co-teachers validated suggestions on professional development for co-teaching. The items with the highest validation included: train co-teachers prior to co-teaching, train co-teachers with their co-teaching partners, and provide three to five days of preparation for co-teachers. Additionally, the following suggestions were made: include planning time during and after training, provide opportunities for practice and feedback during and after training, and provide opportunities for teachers to observe model co-teaching teams. Lastly, nearly half the co-teachers (n=28, 46.7%) reported receiving no professional development for co-teaching. Sixteen teachers (26.2%) reported between one to six hours of training, while seven (11.5%) reported having between seven to 12 hours. The results may be used to guide professional developers and teacher educators in preparing future and current co-teachers. Additionally, recommendations for training, policy, and future research are provided.

xiii, 142 p. : ill. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / This study employs a case-study methodology to examine the sustainability of reforms at an innovative young high school. A variety of factors present obstacles to the success of reforms, including loose organizational linkages and staff turnover. Using Linde's framework of the paradigmatic narrative, this study explores how the stories teachers tell each other about the origin and history of the school affect the way teachers currently implement the founding vision in the face of loose organizational linkages and staff turnover. In particular, this study focuses on the system of 9th- and 10th-grade Language Arts and Social Studies team teaching. / Committee in charge: David Conley, Chairperson, Educational Leadership; Philip McCullum, Member, Educational Leadership; Deborah Olson, Member, Special Education and Clinical Sciences; Alan Meyer, Outside Member, Management