Understanding one's competitive stance in a globally competitive environment provides the requisite awareness to maintain both competitive edge and institutional responsiveness. In this chapter, three case studies are presented to provide examples of ways in which strategic scanning can enhance the academic program development process and how…

Simply defined, effective English Language Arts (ELA) instruction is cohesive, integrated, and requires students to think deeply. Creating such instruction is difficult, however, because of insufficient training in instructional planning and the numerous types of curricula teachers must navigate that may not align well. Therefore, new secondary…

As the limitations of individual leadership have become evident, distributed leadership has attracted increased interest. Since the early 1980s, school principals in Sweden have distributed responsibility for improving pedagogical practices to teacher leaders, and the legal scope for such delegation has further expanded since 2010. Nevertheless,…

Reflection is a high-impact practice in education. This paper explores the premise, approach, and outcomes of a learning community centered on scholarly engagement with the literature of reflection. Using the reflection model operationalized by a national consortium, we developed, implemented, and assessed reflection activities designed to create…

This case study describes several courses that resulted from a teaching partnership between an instructional technologist/professor and a librarian that evolved over several semesters, and the information literacy implications of the course formats. In order to increase student engagement, active learning and inquiry-based learning techniques were…

In winter 2014, I came upon an opportunity to conduct a case study on a team of middle school math teachers who initiated a study group to examine how a set of learning progressions could help them with their planning, instruction, and assessment. Learning progressions are research-based hypotheses about how students develop more sophisticated…

This chapter provides a conceptual model that academic leaders can use to navigate the complex, and often contentious, organizational terrain of academic program development. The model includes concepts related to the institution's external environment, as well as internal organizational structures, cultures, and politics. Drawing from the…

Open education has revolutionized the educational environment. Massive open online courses have become the main showcase for open educational resources, but the competition to establish a position in this movement has led to the rapid publication of many courses of arguable quality. This paper presents and analyzes the process of creating a small…

Universities have a key role to play in the progress and development of the Knowledge Society. They should lead the way in the design of teaching strategies that promote knowledge building. Personal learning environments (PLE) represent a groundbreaking new development in educational practices through the incorporation of Information and…