Current Issues in Education (E-Journal, Arizona State University)
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Innovatively Preparing the Teacher Workforce: Virtual Learning Environments
Get PDFAs one of the hardest professions, teaching can lead to burnout, stress, and other physical and emotional reactions throughout one’s professional life. However, implementing the innovative practice of training teachers in virtual learning environments can reduce stress and increase the success of the teacher workforce. Therefore, in this study, the researchers focused on a small group of novice teachers and teacher candidates in the Midwest in order to reduce initial stress during teaching segments. The findings indicate that practice and coaching, within a virtual learning environment, can reduce stress. However, feedback and peer interactions are also essential
More than a babysitter: Looking back on an effective summer enrichment program
Get PDFEach summer families across the globe send their children to summer camps and daycares for what amounts to babysitting. This study takes the discussion beyond babysitting and explores a unique summer enrichment program offered to rising second through fifth grade students in a modified enrichment camp model. During the four-week program, students were engaged in standards-based academic instruction in reading, mathematics, and science designed to provide enrichment activities to better prepare them for academic success in the upcoming year. Students were pre-tested over standards from the first quarter of the upcoming year. Then, they were taught the standards and post-tested. Analysis of the pretest and posttest data suggests that the program was successful in increasing students’ content knowledge in each of the subject areas taught. The findings imply that summer programs intentionally offering standards-based academics in an enrichment camp environment can be used to provide learning opportunities that diminish academic opportunity gaps
Teacher Candidates' Perceptions of Grade Level Organization and Its Influence on Their Professional Development
Get PDFTeacher candidates consistently indicate field experiences are the most impactful aspect of their preparation for teaching. In this study we explored elementary teacher candidates’ perceptions of elementary K-6 grade level organization (departmentalized or self-contained) during their teacher preparation field experiences at two universities in the southeastern region of the United States. Findings suggest teacher candidates vary in terms of their attitudes towards grade level organizational structures and how their preparation in these contexts impacted their professional development. Because field experiences occur at critical developmental junctures for teacher candidates, teacher educators must understand the impact of grade level organizational structures on teacher candidates’ professional development so as to appropriately scaffold and guide these experiences
The STAC Model: Rethinking the Basic Functionality of Informal Learning Spaces
Get PDFProductive “Third Spaces” are often an afterthought when designing learning environments, both in a physical sense and online. These areas, properly mediated by technology and designed around humans, can often be a key facilitator for student success. The STAC Model is designed to provide a framework for understanding what makes these spaces successful in capturing and retaining students who would otherwise leave the learning environment at the first opportunity. STAC stands for “Stickiness, Toolsets, Adjacencies, and Community” and is an order of priority system for prioritizing design and technological elements within any space. This article describes the rationale behind the model and how it can be applied in both physical and online environments
Introduction: Shaping the Futures of Learning in the Digital Age
Get PDFThe ShapingEDU community was established in 2018, with a call to action for a global gathering of Dreamers, Doers and Drivers. This diverse group came together and began to form a new vision for the pathways to the future of a more connected and relevant global approach to education. Emerging from this group was the vision that learning and teaching are inherently human activities, and that even in an increasingly digital and regulated world, all learning should support and enhance our development as people, communities, and societies. This brief introduction outlines the driving factors that brought forth the call for proposals, and provides a contextual grounding for the first selection of papers to be included in this first installment of the special issue
The Value of Imperfect Videos
Get PDFIn this video for ShapingEDU, Karen Costa describes her philosophy of creating imperfect videos as a tool to humanize learning and to connect with new traditional learners
Undergraduates’ Learning on Elementary School English Education through Problem Based Learning in Scenario Analysis
Get PDFThis study explored 45 Taiwanese undergraduates’ learning about elementary school English education through problem based learning (PBL) in scenario analysis in a teacher education program in the northwestern Taiwan. The data analysis on the documentation, questionnaires, and participants’ projects revealed the following findings. First, this study supported current empirical studies on the importance of PBL in scenario analysis for pre-service teachers’ knowledge construction. Secondly, what participants gained the most from the PBL in scenario analysis was “teamwork” and “developing interests in elementary school English education.” In order to effectively integrate scenario analysis into the language teacher education program, three essential elements should be taken into consideration in terms of peer learning, authentic scenarios, and bridging the theories and practice
An Investigation into the Relationships among Middle School Teachers’ Beliefs about Collaboration, Their Perceptions of Formative Assessment, and Selected Teacher Characteristics
Get PDFThe purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among middle school teachers’ beliefs about collaboration, their rationale for using common formative assessments, and teacher characteristics that can explain these relationships. Seventy-six middle school teachers from two middle schools participated in the study. Findings indicate that teachers believe collaboration benefits instruction and assessment informs instruction. The findings suggest that age might play a role in the relationship between teacher beliefs and assessment, that the degree to which teachers get along with each other influences the success of a collaborative group, and that collaboration is not limited to structured meetings
Pre-Service Teacher’s Efficacy, Anxiety, and Concerns about Data and the New Idea of Anchored Judgment
Get PDFIn this study, teacher education students’ concerns, sense of efficacy, and anxiety related to the future use of data to drive educational decision-making were explored. In alignment with prior research with practicing teachers, this sample of pre-service teachers reported concerns (thoughts, preoccupations, and feelings) that indicate they are not interested in engaging in data driven decision-making (DDDM). Moreover, they had a low sense of efficacy for DDDM and high levels of anxiety for DDDM; further indicating that they are unlikely to adopt DDDM practices. We explain these results, but we go further and propose a new way of talking about data that may mitigate some of these concerns. Specifically, we propose a new paradigm for evidence-based practice in which teacher experience and intuition are deemed of equal import with data. We propose anchored judgment as an integrated decision-making model in which the intersection of teacher experience, teacher intuition, and classroom data creates the context for optimal instructional decision-making. This model is based on established research about effective decision-making in psychology, medicine, and business, and may help support the international educational mandate for DDDM
Becoming a Successful International Faculty Member in a Striving University
Get PDFHiring academics from abroad is one of the strategies that contemporary universities employ to become international institutions. At the same time, a growing number of academics are considering a wider range of academic opportunities, which has contributed to an increase in transnational academic mobility. However, most universities are not yet prepared to support the unique needs of international faculty members. Despite the crucial roles that international faculty play in colleges and universities, relatively little is known about their experiences since most of the studies on the topic are quantitative in nature. The purpose of this qualitative study was to better understand the ways in which international faculty members navigate academic life at a striving university – defined as an institution that aspires to become a world-class university. Our findings show that the international faculty members who participated in this study underwent processes of adjustment in which their agentic responses intermeshed with institutional structures, posing challenges to both the faculty members and their host institution. However, it was found that the burden of adjustment is being placed upon individual academics. Therefore, we examined agentic responses to challenging academic environments that were not ideally suited for internationalization and will provide insights into how universities might better support international academics as they navigate uncertainty