Empowering Teachers as Leaders: A Hard Sell

Despite emphasis on preparing teachers as leaders, teacher educators realize that the transition of classroom practitioners into school leaders is fraught with many obstacles. This session addresses some of these obstacles, describes strategies and opportunities that we have used in our graduate master’s degree programs for teachers that support professionals as they make this change. The session will present evidence on the results of our efforts in terms of teachers’ performances within their programs and in the field after they graduate.

Concepciones sobre las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación (TIC) y sus implicaciones educativas: un estudio exploratorio con profesorado de la provincia de Ñuble, Chile

El propósito de este estudio fue conocer las concepciones de profesores de educación primaria sobre las tecnologías educativas en dos dimensiones: a) conocimiento de las tecnologías de la información y comunicación; y b) creencias sobre el uso educativo que el profesorado da a estas herramientas. Se opta por un enfoque metodológico cuantitativo y un diseño no-experimental descriptivo del tipo encuesta. El análisis de los datos se realizó mediante paquete estadístico SPSS 14.0 y las técnicas utilizadas fueron descriptivos, frecuencias y porcentajes, técnicas de reducción de datos (análisis factorial) e inferencia estadística (comparación de medias y porcentajes). Los resultados demuestran que la mayoría de los profesores reconocen el interés que las tecnologías despiertan en el alumnado y las oportunidades de aprendizaje que ofrecen principalmente en relación con los diferentes ritmos de aprendizaje y las necesidades educativas especiales. Se identifica la búsqueda de información como una competencia fundamental, así como se evidencia que existe una relación causal entre el nivel de formación, la importancia que el profesor otorga al recurso y el uso educativo. Los resultados hacen aconsejable promover programas de formación continua en esta área y fortalecer la formación inicial docente.

Pathways to excellence : a federal strategy for science, mathematics, engineering, and technology education /

Committee chairman: James D. Watkins.

Thirty years in health education; a report on the preparation and use of the Health bulletin for teachers, 1929-1959.

Mode of access: Internet.

Making the processes of designing explicit within an information technology environment

In this paper, technology is described as involving processes whereby resources are utilised to satisfy human needs or to take advantage of opportunities, to develop practical solutions to problems. This study, set within one type of technology context, information technology, investigated how, through a one semester undergraduate university course, elements of technological processes were made explicit to students. While it was acknowledged in the development and implementation of this course that students needed to learn technical skills, technological skills and knowledge, including design, were seen as vital also, to enable students to think about information technology from a perspective that was not confined and limited to 'technology as hardware and software'. This paper describes how the course, set within a three year program of study, was aimed at helping students to develop their thinking and their knowledge about design processes in an explicit way. An interpretive research approach was used and data sources included a repertory grid 'survey'; student interviews; video recordings of classroom interactions, audio recordings of lectures, observations of classroom interactions made by researchers; and artefacts which included students' journals and portfolios. The development of students' knowledge about design practices is discussed and reflections upon student knowledge development in conjunction with their learning experiences are made. Implications for ensuring explicitness of design practice within information technology contexts are presented, and the need to identify what constitutes design knowledge is argued.

Male teachers, homophobia, misogyny and teacher education

Placing issues of homophobia and anti-lesbianism on the agenda of teacher education programmes often meets with resistance from some students, and others. Such resistance is indicative of broader attempts to maintain the straight face of schooling. However, one way in which it is possible to place such issues on the agenda in schooling and teacher education is to demonstrate how these discourses impact upon all students and teachers. A current opening for raising such matters within teacher education programmes is the problematisation of the calls for more male teachers, calls that are becoming pervasive in many Western education systems. Within the drives to attract more male teachers to the profession there is usually a silence relating to the ways in which homophobia and its counterpart, misogyny, work to construct normalised notions of teachers. This paper examines the ways in which these silences perpetuate existing gender regimes in schools to the detriment of female teachers, girls, and marginalised male teachers and boys. It then suggests that teacher education programmes use this topic to demonstrate the impact of homophobia and misogyny on all involved in education.

Technology enhanced learning in Higher Education

Technology-Enhanced Learning in Higher Education is an anthology produced by the international association, Learning in Higher Education (LiHE). LiHE, whose scope includes the activities of colleges, universities and other institutions of higher education, has been one of the leading organisations supporting a shift in the education process from a transmission-based philosophy to a student-centred, learning-based approach. Traditionally education has been envisaged as a process in which the teacher disseminates knowledge and information to the student, and directs them to perform – instructing, cajoling, encouraging them as appropriate – despite different students’ abilities. Yet higher education is currently experiencing rapid transformation, with the introduction of a broad range of technologies which have the potential to enhance student learning. This anthology draws upon the experiences of those practitioners who have been pioneering new applications of technology in higher education, highlighting not only the technologies themselves but also the impact which they have had on student learning. The anthology illustrates how new technologies – which are increasingly well-known and accepted by today’s ‘digital natives’ undertaking higher education – can be adopted and incorporated. One key conclusion is that learning remains a social process even in technology-enhanced learning contexts. So the technology-based proxies we construct need to retain and reflect the agency of the teacher. Technology-Enhanced Learning in Higher Education showcases some of the latest pedagogical technologies and their most creative, state-of-the-art applications to learning in higher education from around the world. Each of the chapters explores technology-enhanced learning in higher education in terms of either policy or practice. They contain detailed descriptions of approaches taken in very different curriculum areas, and demonstrate clearly that technology may and can enhance learning only if it is designed with the learning process of students at its core. So the use of technology in education is more linked to pedagogy than it is to bits and bytes.

The development, application, and implications of a strategy for reflective learning from experience

The problem on which this study focused was individuals' reduced capacity to respond to change and to engage in innovative learning when their reflective learning skills are limited. In this study, the preceding problem was addressed by two primary questions: To what degree can mastery of a strategy for reflective learning be facilitated as a part of an academic curriculum for professional practitioners? What impact will mastery of this strategy have on the learning style and adaptive flexibility of adult learners? The focus of the study was a direct application of human resource development technology in the professional preparation of teachers. The background of the problem in light of changing global paradigms and educational action orientations was outlined and a review of the literature was provided. Roots of thought for two key concepts (i.e., learning to learn from experience and meaningful reflection in learning) were traced. Reflective perspectives from the work of eight researchers were compared. A meta-model of learning from experience drawn from the literature served as a conceptual framework for the study. A strategy for reflective learning developed from this meta-model was taught to 109 teachers-in-training at Florida International University in Miami, Florida. Kolb's Adaptive Style Inventory and Learning Style Inventory were administered to the treatment group and to two control groups taught by the same professor. Three research questions and fourteen hypotheses guided data analysis. Qualitative review of 1565 personal documents generated by the treatment group indicated that 77 students demonstrated "double-loop" learning, going beyond previously established limits to perception, understanding, or action. The mean score for depth of reflection indicated "single-loop" learning with "reflection-in-action" present. The change in the mean score for depth of reflection from the beginning to end of the study was statistically significant (p $<$.05). On quantitative measures of adaptive flexibility and learning style, with two exceptions, there were no significant differences noted between treatment and control groups on pre-test to post-test differences and on post-test mean scores adjusted for pre-test responses and demographic variables. Conclusions were drawn regarding treatment, instrumentation, and application of the strategy and the meta-model. Implications of the strategy and the meta-model for research, for education, for human resource development, for professional practice, and for personal growth were suggested. Qualitative training materials and Kolb's instruments were provided in the appendices.

A comparison of a distance education and locally based course in an urban university setting

The purpose of this research was to compare the academic performance and attitudes of students at the instructor-based site of a televised course and the distant site. An earlier pilot program indicated the need for certain technical and structural interventions at the distant site such as multiple "press-to-touch" microphones, a site-administrator and participative seating arrangements. At the beginning of the class, demographic data were collected from the students at both sites through a questionnaire and supplemented with information from students' records. Factors such as age, gender, ethnicity, marital status, number of children, current class status, major, work status and CLAST scores (achievement tests) were examined. There were no significant differences between the students at the sites except ethnicity and reading CLAST scores. The instructor-based site had a higher percentage of Hispanic students and the distant site had a larger percentage of Caucasian and Black Americans. The distant site scored significantly better on the reading section of the CLAST achievement test. An evaluation instrument was distributed to both sites, at the midpoint of the semester, measuring their attitude toward the organizational, technical, and pedagogical factors of the course. A second evaluation instrument, measuring similar factors, but more in-depth, was distributed to both sites near the end of the term. Nine students at the distant site were interviewed along with the site administrator to collect additional information.^ Course completion rates, dropout rates, pass rates and final grades of students at both sites were compared. There were no significant differences in academic performance between the students at both sites, however, there were significant differences in their attitudes. Those at the instructor-based site gave better ratings to most of items in the evaluation instruments. Problems at the distant site included audio and visual clarity, lack of available assistance, too much nonrelated talking, not enough opportunities to ask questions or to interact with the instructor during class. ^

Toward understanding the study experience of culturally sensitive graduate students in *American distance education programs

The purpose of this research was to gain an understanding of the study experience of non-American graduate students living outside of the United States and formally engaged in graduate studies in an American Distance Education (DE) Program. These students have been labeled “culturally sensitive.” The nature of this study dictated a qualitative case study methodology using in-depth interviews to collect the data and the hermeneutic approach to understanding and description. This study aims at generating questions and hypotheses that will lead to further investigations that explore the need for cultural and contextual sensitivity in order to provide more equitable and accessible higher education for all. ^ The study attempted to answer the question: What is the study experience of “culturally sensitive” graduate students in American DE Programs? The underlying issue in this study is whether education designed and provided by educators of different socio-cultural backgrounds from that of the students could be content relevant and instructionally appropriate, resulting in educational enhancement and/or prepare students to function adequately in their own communities. ^ Participants in this study (n = 12) were engaged in Master's level (n = 2) and Doctoral level (n = 10) DE programs at American Universities, and were interviewed by E-mail, face-to-face, or using a combination of the two. Data analysis compared interviews and highlighted repetitive patterns. Interview data was triangulated with recent related literature and data from document reviews of archived E-mail conversations between students and their professors. The patterns that emerged were coded and categorized according to generative themes. The following themes were identified in order to analyze the data and confirmed through participant check-back: program benefits, communication, technology, culture and methodology, and reflectivity. ^ Major findings in this study indicate that culture plays an important role in cross-cultural encounters for students in American DE programs vis-à-vis student perceptions as to whether their study needs were being met. Most notably, it was found that the coupling of cultural perceptual differences with transactional distance created a potential barrier to communication that could affect short-term success in American DE programs. To overcome this barrier, students cited good communication as essential in meeting student's needs, especially those communications that were supportive and full of detail and context and from a primary source (ex. directly from the professor). Evaluation was a particularly sensitive issue, especially when students were unaware of their professor's cultural and contextual intricacies and therefore were uncertain about expectations and intended meaning. CSGS were aware of their position and the American rather than global context in which they were participating. Students appear to have developed “extended identities”, meaning that they acculturated in varying degrees in order to be successful in their program but that their local cultural identity was not compromised in any way. For participants from Venezuela access to higher DE has been a limiting factor to participation, due to the high cost of technology and telephone lines for communication. ^

Examining the needs for student services of adult learners in continuing higher education

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the availability and quality of student services offered to adult learners in selected continuing education programs in Dade County, Florida. The two basic research questions addressed in this study were: 1) What are the student services being provided to adult learners by the selected colleges and universities? 2) What is the quality of these services being provided as perceived by administrators and adult learners at their institutions? Two groups comprised the population for this study. One group sample of adult learners enrolled in credit courses being offered by the continuing education unit. The second group sample was comprised of administrators in the areas of Admissions, Financial Aid, Registration, Student Services and Continuing Education at each of the five colleges and universities in Dade County, Florida. Data were collected from 107 students and 25 administrators using the Continuing Education Student Services Questionnaire (CESSQ) developed by the researcher in a pilot study. The questionnaire, one for administrators and a similar one for adult learners, consisted of two parts. One consisted of eight demographic items and the second one of twenty items describing student services. An overview of responses by institutions showed that only the following services received a 100% response as available at one or more institutions: 1) Admissions Information, 2) Convenient Hours for Registration, 3) Assistance in Class Registration, 4) Assistance in Planning a Class Schedule, 5) Access to the Library in Evening and Weekends, 6) Parking and Security, 7) Food Services, 8) Bookstore and 9) Access to Computers.

A Jaworskian analysis of four senior class primary teachers endeavouring to teach mathematics from a constructivist-compatible perspective

A constructivist philosophy underlies the Irish primary mathematics curriculum. As constructivism is a theory of learning its implications for teaching need to be addressed. This study explores the experiences of four senior class primary teachers as they endeavour to teach mathematics from a constructivist-compatible perspective with primary school children in Ireland over a school-year period. Such a perspective implies that children should take ownership of their learning while working in groups on tasks which challenge them at their zone of proximal development. The key question on which the research is based is: to what extent will an exposure to constructivism and its implications for the classroom impact on teaching practices within the senior primary mathematics classroom in both the short and longer term? Although several perspectives on constructivism have evolved (von Glaserfeld (1995), Cobb and Yackel (1996), Ernest (1991,1998)), it is the synthesis of the emergent perspective which becomes pivotal to the Irish primary mathematics curriculum. Tracking the development of four primary teachers in a professional learning initiative involving constructivist-compatible approaches necessitated the use of Borko’s (2004) Phase 1 research methodology to account for the evolution in teachers’ understanding of constructivism. Teachers’ and pupils’ viewpoints were recorded using both audio and video technology. Teachers were interviewed at the beginning and end of the project and also one year on to ascertain how their views had evolved. Pupils were interviewed at the end of the project only. The data were analysed from a Jaworskian perspective i.e. using the categories of her Teaching Triad of management of learning, mathematical challenge and sensitivity to students. Management of learning concerns how the teacher organises her classroom to maximise learning opportunities for pupils. Mathematical challenge is reminiscent of the Vygotskian (1978) construct of the zone of proximal development. Sensitivity to students involves a consciousness on the part of the teacher as to how pupils are progressing with a mathematical task and whether or not to intervene to scaffold their learning. Through this analysis a synthesis of the teachers’ interpretations of constructivist philosophy with concomitant implications for theory, policy and practice emerges. The study identifies strategies for teachers wishing to adopt a constructivist-compatible approach to their work. Like O’Shea (2009) it also highlights the likely difficulties to be experienced by such teachers as they move from utilising teacher-dominated methods of teaching mathematics to ones in which pupils have more ownership over their learning.

Education and self-regulation of learning for gifted pupils: Systemic design and development.

Gifted pupils differ from their age-mates with respect to development potential, actual competencies, self-regulatory capabilities, and learning styles in one or more domains of competence. The question is how to design and develop education that fits and further supports such characteristics and competencies of gifted pupils. Analysis of various types of educational interventions for gifted pupils reflects positive cognitive or intellectual effects and differentiated social comparison or group-related effects on these pupils. Systemic preventive combination of such interventions could make these more effective and sustainable. The systemic design is characterised by three conditional dimensions: differentiation of learning materials and procedures, integration by and use of ICT support, and strategies to improve development and learning. The relationships to diagnostic, instructional, managerial, and systemic learning aspects are expressed in guidelines to develop or transform education. The guidelines imply the facilitation of learning arrangements that provide flexible self-regulation for gifted pupils. A three-year pilot in Dutch nursery and primary school is conducted to develop and implement the design in collaboration with teachers. The results constitute prototypes of structured competence domains and supportive software. These support the screening of entry characteristics of all four-year old pupils and assignment of adequate play and learning processes and activities throughout the school career. Gifted and other pupils are supported to work at their actual achievement or competency levels since their start in nursery school, in self-regulated learning arrangements either in or out of class. Each pupil can choose other pupils to collaborate with in small groups, at self-chosen tasks or activities, while being coached by the teacher. Formative evaluation of the school development process shows that the systemic prevention guidelines seem to improve learning and social progress of gifted pupils, including their self-regulation. Further development and implementation steps are discussed.

Telefone celular como recurso didático no ensino de física

Currently, there are several factors that suggest the need for the school to review their teaching practices: 1) the speed with which information and communication technologies - ICT are spread throughout society and in particular the increasing use of mobile phone by groups in school age;2) the scope and power of integrating ICT convergence of these technological resources, that can be used as teaching resources; 3) the fact that nowadays students grow up in a technological world and make their thought patterns operating in accordance with this reality, etc... In contrast, there are educators unrelated to the appropriation of ICT, presenting, in many cases, resistance to them. There is a incongruity between how individuals use mobile phones, for example, inside and outside the school. There are also educators, schools, public educational departments claiming to be against mobile phones usage; bills and laws regulating their use in educational space, etc... For these controversial aspects we have investigated whether cell phone use as a teaching resource practices mediator in Physics teaching. For this purpose, we developed an applied research with qualitative and exploratory approach about the objectives, adopting participant and the technical procedures. A documental and bibliographical research was taken. First of all, data were collected by e-mail, through a multiple choice questionnaire applied to private school teachers in southern Brazil, to identify the researched reality and develop teaching practices likely to be applied in the studied corpus. Then, such practices were applied in workshops located in Curitiba and Ponta Grossa cities, in Paraná state. During the application, data was collected by the researcher's field notes. Then, we recorded chats about the workshops from an instant message software (msn messenger), and we took photographic records. Data analysis was performed by triangulation. The results showed the need to enhance continuing education courses for teachers and the production of national academic literature, such as articles, dissertations, theses and books that explore the theme of the cell phone and its functionality in educational spaces as an educational resource mediator in the practices of teaching Physics. They are available in the dissertation defended in 2012, and now are also systematized in this book, organized as a final product of research conducted by the Graduate Program in Science Education and Technology UTFPR, Campus Ponta Grossa-PR.