The expression and development of teachers' capacities within two learning communities : a participant-observer case study

The learning community model has been an integral component of teacher development in Ontarian schools and beyond. This research was conducted to understand how teachers' personal capacity and professional, interpersonal, and organizational competencies are developed and expressed within this context. Nineteen elementary teachers and administrators participated in the study from November through January 2007. A qualitative case study methodology was used to investigate the role ofteachers' capacities and competencies in learning communities. Combined data sources from semistructured interviews, research journals, and document review were used to gather data about teachers' capacities and competencies. The study included 3 phases of analysis. In the final phase the analysis provided 3 qualities of the teachers at Jude and Mountain Schools (pseudonyms): identification as professionals, investment in others, and institutional affiliation that may explain how they differed from other educators. The data revealed these three themes, which provided an understanding of educators at Jude and Mountain Schools as dedicated professionals pushing practices to contribute to school life and address student learning needs, and as teachers who reflected on practices to continue expanding their skills. Teachers were heavily invested in creating a caring culture and in students' and team members' learning. Educators actively participated in solving problems and coplanning throughout the school levels and beyond, assumed collective responsibility for all pupils, and focused on generating school-wide consistent practices. These qualities and action patterns revealed teachers who invested time and effort in their colleagues, who committed to develop as professionals, and who affiliated closely with every aspect of school living.

The Implementations of Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) in Beijing and Ontario Schools

Since the knowledge-based economy has become a fashion over the last few decades, the concept of the professional learning community (PLC) has started being accepted by educational institutions and governments as an effective framework to improve teachers’ collective work and collaboration. The purpose of this research was to compare and contrast the implementations of PLCs between Beijing schools and Ontario schools from principals’ personal narratives. In order to discover the lessons and widen the scope to understand the PLC, this research applied qualitative design to collect the data from two principal participants in each location by semistructured interviews. Four themes emerged: (a) structure and technology, (b) identity and climate, (c) task and support, and (d) change and challenge. This research found that the root of the characteristics of the PLCs in Beijing and Ontario was the different existing teaching and learning systems as well as the test systems. Teaching Research Groups (TRGs) is one of the systems that help Chinese to organize routine time and input resources to improve teachers’ professional development. However, Canadian schools lack a similar system that guarantees the time and resources. Moreover, standardized test plays different roles in China and Canada. In China, standardized tests, such as the college entrance examination, are regarded as the important purpose of education, whereas Ontario principals saw the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) as a tool rather than a primary purpose. These two main differences influenced principals’ beliefs, attitudes, strategies, and practices. The implications based on this discovery provide new perspectives for principals, teachers, policy makers, and scholars to widen and deepen the research and practice of the PLC.

Supporting graduate development through work based learning

The genesis of this innovation lies in the commitment of a national Irish business enterprise to the professional development of its staff in general, and to the enhancement of its Information Technologies (IT) staff specifically, in collaboration with a national Higher Education (HE) provider. A postgraduate degree, awarded by the HE provider, seeks to bring coherence and cohesion to the education and training provision for newly recruited IT graduate staff of the business enterprise, simultaneously acting both as an induction process for new staff and as a professional capacity building exercise, thereby enhancing the enterprise’s organisational learning and collective competence in the areas of information technologies, IT security and technical service management. The curriculum was designed by the HE provider in collaboration with the business enterprise to offer it to circa sixteen IT staff per cycle of delivery through a model known generally as the new apprenticeship for professional practice which uses a combination of college-based, block release taught elements, regular day release seminars and substantial work-based learning, supported by the academic staff of the HE provider and work-based support staff/mentors of the business enterprise. Academic quality assurance, pedagogical, assessment and accreditation responsibilities remain with the HE provider. (...)

Be careful how you ask! Using focus groups and nominal group technique to explore the barriers to learning

Schools have a legal duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled pupils who experience barriers to learning. Inclusive approaches to data collection ensure that the needs of all children who are struggling are not overlooked. However, it is important that the methods promote sustained reflection on the part of all children, do not inadvertently accentuate differences between pupils, and do not allow individual needs to go unrecognized. This paper examines more closely the processes involved in using Nominal Group Technique to collect the views of children with and without a disability on the difficulties experienced in school. Data were collected on the process as well as the outcomes of using this technique to examine how pupil views are transformed from the individual to the collective, a process that involves making the private, public. Contrasts are drawn with questionnaire data, another method of data collection favoured by teachers. Although more time-efficient this can produce unclear and cursory responses. The views that surface from pupils need also to be seen within the context of the ways in which schools customize the data collection process and the ways in which the format and organization of the activity impact on the responses and responsiveness of the pupils.

Concept learning of text documents

Concept learning of text documents can be viewed as the problem of acquiring the definition of a general category of documents. To definite the category of a text document, the Conjunctive of keywords is usually be used. These keywords should be fewer and comprehensible. A naïve method is enumerating all combinations of keywords to extract suitable ones. However, because of the enormous number of keyword combinations, it is impossible to extract the most relevant keywords to describe the categories of documents by enumerating all possible combinations of keywords. Many heuristic methods are proposed, such as GA-base, immune based algorithm. In this work, we introduce pruning power technique and propose a robust enumeration-based concept learning algorithm. Experimental results show that the rules produce by our approach has more comprehensible and simplicity than by other methods.

Security in the online e-learning environment

This paper addresses the role of security in the collaborative e-learning environment, and in particular, the social aspects of security and the importance of identity. It represents a case study, completed in Nov 2004, which was conducted to test the sense of security that students experienced whilst using the wiki platform as a means of online collaboration in the tertiary education environment. Wikis, fully editable Web sites, are easily accessible, require no software and allow its contributors (in this case students) to feel a sense of responsibility and ownership. A comparison between two wiki studies will be made whereby one group employed user login and the other maintained anonymity throughout the course of the study. The results consider the democratic participation and evolution of the work requirements over time, which in fact ascertains the nonvalidity of administrative identification.

Architecture of adaptive spam filtering based on machine learning algorithms

Spam is commonly defined as unsolicited email messages and the goal of spam filtering is to distinguish between spam and legitimate email messages. Much work has been done to filter spam from legitimate emails using machine learning algorithm and substantial performance has been achieved with some amount of false positive (FP) tradeoffs. In the case of spam detection FP problem is unacceptable sometimes. In this paper, an adaptive spam filtering model has been proposed based on Machine learning (ML) algorithms which will get better accuracy by reducing FP problems. This model consists of individual and combined filtering approach from existing well known ML algorithms. The proposed model considers both individual and collective output and analyzes them by an analyzer. A dynamic feature selection (DFS) technique also proposed in this paper for getting better accuracy.

An exploration of the pedagogies employed to integrate knowledge in work-integrated learning

This article describes a three-sector, national research project that investigated the integration aspect of work-integrated learning (WIL). The context for this study is three sectors of New Zealand higher education: business and management, sport, and science and engineering, and a cohort of higher educational institutions that offer WIL/cooperative education in variety of ways. The aims of this study were to investigate the pedagogical approaches in WIL programs that are currently used by WIL practitioners in terms of learning, and the integration of academic-workplace learning. The research constituted a series of collective case studies, and there were two main data sources � interviews with three stakeholder groups (namely employers, students, and co-op practitioners), and analyses of relevant documentation (e.g., course/paper outlines, assignments on reflective practice, portfolio of learning, etc.). The research findings suggest that there is no consistent mechanism by which placement coordinators, off-campus supervisors, or mentors seek to employ or develop pedagogies to foster learning and the integration of knowledge. Learning, it seems, occurs by means of legitimate peripheral participation with off-campus learning occurring as a result of students working alongside professionals in their area via an apprenticeship model of learning. There is no evidence of explicit attempts to integrate on- and off-campus learning, although all parties felt this would and should occur. However, integration is implicitly or indirectly fostered by a variety of means such as the use of reflective journals.

Exploring the pedagogies used in work integrated learning

This paper focuses on the pedagogical approaches used in New Zealand WIL programs in terms of integration of student knowledge, and what impact these have on student learning. A collective case study methodology was used involving three areas of tertiary education science and engineering; business and management; and sport studies. The study involved researchers working collaboratively conducting focus group interviews with a selection of WIL students, academic supervisors, and employers from the relevant discipline about their teaching and learning experiences at both the academic institution and in the workplace. Relevant documentation (e.g., course/paper outlines, graduate profiles, etc.) was analyzed to afford data triangulation. The findings indicated that the WIL experience is a point of difference that students and employers value. Student learning (soft and hard skills, personal and professional development) occurs from a variety of sources (self-directed, supervisors, and peers) and a variety of modes (on campus, on placement). The findings reinforce what can be achieved through WIL programs, and through dissemination of the findings raise awareness amongst tertiary education institutions (TEIs) of the future possibilities available
via this pedagogy.

Craft groups : sites of friendship, empowerment, belonging and learning for older women

This article reports on a qualitative research project conducted in Victoria, Australia, with nine older women. The purpose of the research was to explore the women's experience of involvement in craft groups, and specifically, the impact of this involvement on their sense of well-being. Traditionally the health of older people has been examined in relation to medical markers of physical well-being, and often, decline. We were interested to widen this perspective to understand the impact of social connection, belonging and ongoing learning and development on the ageing experience. While the focus of the groups was on domestic craftwork, the process of coming together as a collective appeared to have significant bearing on the holistic health of the women involved. Consistent with feminist groupwork literature, the findings indicated that the women we interviewed experienced the group setting as affirming and generative in a number of ways. These include providing an avenue for mutual aid, addressing isolation, affirming individual and collective strength and wisdom, while acquiring new skills, and normalising concerns regarding health and family.

Craft groups: sites of friendship, empowerment, belonging and learning for older women

This article reports on a qualitative research project conducted in Victoria, Australia, with nine older women. The purpose of the research was to explore the women’s experience of involvement in craft groups, and specifically, the impact of this involvement on their sense of well-being. Traditionally the health of older people has been examined in relation to medical markers of physical well-being, and often, decline. We were interested to widen this perspective to understand the impact of social connection, belonging and ongoing learning and development on the ageing experience.

While the focus of the groups was on domestic craftwork, the process of coming together as a collective appeared to have significant bearing on the holistic health of the women involved. Consistent with feminist groupwork literature, the findings indicated that the women we interviewed experienced the group setting as affirming and generative in a number of ways. These include providing an avenue for mutual aid, addressing isolation, affirming individual and collective strength and wisdom, while acquiring new skills, and normalising concerns regarding health and family.

Innovating from the inside: teacher influence and the 'promisingness' of digital learning environments

In line with global trends, Australian educational policy emphatically recognises the need for contemporary learners to be digitally literate, with provision of 'one-to-one' devices to individual learners in schools a major implementation strategy. However, without teacher commitment, the benefits of such investment in one-to-one programs are undermined and the devices themselves are under-utilised. Too often, the focus on hardware is not accompanied by insight into the organisational learning and change required in pedagogical practices. In the knowledge that curriculum and pedagogical renewal rests squarely with teachers and leaders rather than with technological hardware and software per se, this article draws on outcomes/findings from a school/university ethnographic collaboration which closely explored the introduction of a school-funded, one-to-one netbook program in a school excluded from a state-wide initiative. It seeks to make visible the often overlooked work of teachers as members of learning organisations through a narrative of change. The narrative focuses on teacher agency and capacity to mobilise a school community to commit to a vision of; no-blame risk taking; collective professional learning; the power of purpose and passion; leadership in the face of government practice which disempowered teachers and disadvantaged students; and the development of an innovation 'from the inside'.

Productive reflection at work: Learning for changing organizations

This book is an accessible entry point into the theory and practice of work reflection for students and practitioners. Taking a cross-disciplinary approach, it covers management, education, organizational psychology and sociology, drawing on examples from Europe, the Middle East, North America and Australia. It traces reflection at work from an emphasis on training, through a focus on how organizations learn, to a concern with the necessary learning groups to operate effectively. It emphasizes productivity combined with satisfying lived experience of work life and points the way to a new collective focus on learning at work. © 2006 David Boud, Peter Cressey and Peter Docherty. All rights reserved.

Towards an emergent view of learning work

The purpose of this paper is to challenge models of workplace learning that seek to isolate or manipulate a limited set of features to increase the probability of learning. Such models typically attribute learning (or its absence) to individual engagement, manager expectations or organizational affordances and are therefore at least implicitly causative. In contrast, we discuss the contributions of complexity theory principles such as emergence and novelty that suggest that learning work is more a creative and opportunistic process that emerges from contextualized interactional understandings among actors. Using qualitative case study methods, we discuss the experiences of workers in two organizations asked to ‘act up’ in their managers’ role to ensure work continuity. We believe the differences in how workers take up these opportunities result from a complex combination of situational factors that generate invitational patterns signalled from and by various understandings and interactions among actors doing collective work. Rather than a deficit view of learning that needs fixing, an emergent model of learning work suggests that learning develops as a collective generative endeavour from changing patterns of interactional understandings with others. This re‐positioning recognizes that although invitational qualities cannot be deterministically predicted, paying attention to the patterns of cues and signals created from actors interacting together can condition ways of understandings to expand what is possible when work practices also become learning practices.

DIFFERENT MEDIA, DIFFERENT TYPES OF COLLECTIVE WORK IN ONLINE CONTINUING TEACHER EDUCATION: WOULD YOU PASS THE PEN, PLEASE?

This paper presents some findings regarding the interaction between different computer interfaces and different types of collective work. We want to claim that design in online learning environments has a paramount role in the type of collaboration that happens among participants. In this paper, we report on data that illustrate how teachers can collaborate online in order to learn how to use geometry software in teaching activities. A virtual environment which allows that construction to be carried out collectively, even if the participants are not sharing a classroom, is the setting for the research presented in this paper.