This study investigates policy work in educational leadership courses at universities. It analyses the types of engagement present in university teachers' policy work and in their interpretations and translations of policy intentions into teaching designs and practices. The study illustrates policy work as a phenomenon and draws on the theory of…

My dissertation examines undergraduates' online learning experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic through three distinct studies. The primary goal of my dissertation is to shed light on crucial aspects of social cognitive learning theories and learning experience design (LXD) applied in distance learning. These studies, using an LXD approach…

Within a partnership between a California university and Globe Education (Shakespeare's Globe, London), this study features early-career teachers working to infuse Shakespeare and drama in diverse K-12 classes. Teachers needed links between a five-day immersive London course and new jobs in diverse California schools. A three-day university…

A common concern of faculty members is student evaluations of teaching scores. Many factors influence student evaluations of teaching including how the course is designed. This study investigated student evaluations of teaching across three pedagogical techniques: the traditional lecture (where lectures were not recorded), recorded lectures, and a…

Historically, learning for young students has occurred in formal, in-person classroom environments, but the distance learning context has opened a myriad of learning modalities. To this end, we aim to better understand how deploying learning experience design (LXD) approach supports or hinders children's engagement while participating in an…

This study is part of a series of in situ design-based research investigations within a large public university in California, assessing undergraduate science instruction while distance learning. It has become increasingly important to identify sustainable learning alternatives to support online teaching and learning while integrating educational…

The COVID-19 pandemic has deeply impacted the field of education, shifting instruction from in-person classrooms to virtual learning environments on a global scale. To understand how language teachers engaged in online pedagogy during the pandemic, the current study examines how one expert English Language Development (ELD) teacher, Ms. Anya…

A lack of fundamental information literacy skills for college students can be a barrier to academic success. This study sought to investigate how the availability of asynchronous and mobile-friendly learning modules in Canvas impacts students' information literacy learning and to improve students' information literacy skills at a community college…

ELLs need to engage with topics and situations in the classroom that equip them with the social, professional and civic cultural skills to address real-life interactions for their present realities, as well as their future realities (American, 2009, Garett, 2005; Perez & Morrison, 2016). Teachers face the challenge of balancing conventional…

The purpose of this research was to determine the extent to which two professional learning opportunities in one school district were successful in supporting the integration of technology into teachers' instructional practices. The professional learning (PL) opportunities in the study were part of a Southern California school district's drive to…

Primary literature offers rich opportunities to teach students how to "think like a scientist," but the challenges students face when they attempt to read research articles are not well understood. Here, we present an analysis of what master's students perceive as the most challenging aspects of engaging with primary literature. We…

The authors of this article, all of whom have been a part of this effort to assess argumentation in literacy-rich science curriculum, have struggled with our attempts to build 3 argument-related assessments--understanding, critiquing, and constructing arguments about scientific phenomena in both oral and written modes. Loosely affiliated with the…

The use of blended learning is well suited for classes that involve a high level of experiential inquiry such as internship courses. These courses allow students to combine applied, face-to-face fieldwork activities with a reflective academic component delivered online. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to describe the pedagogical design…

The Common Core provides districts an opportunity to renew their focus on teaching and learning. But it also poses a number of design and implementation challenges for school districts. The "Leadership and Design Cycles" described in this guidebook offers an evidenced-based and structured process for leaders to design and implement…

A cloud-based computing environment, Google Apps for Education (GAFE), has provided the Anaheim City School District (ACSD) a comprehensive and collaborative avenue for creating, sharing, and editing documents, calendars, and social networking communities. With this environment, teachers and district staff at ACSD are able to utilize the deep…