Purpose: The purpose of this research is to explore how and to what extent the Blended Learning Classroom (BLC) model enhances students' learning experience. The creation of the BLC model was to provide different learning approaches to overcome the challenges in the new normal regarding how we could manage the Thailand Lesson Study Incorporated…

Why does some professional development fall flat, while others resonate with teachers and make a real difference? How can professional learning be made better and lead to lasting changes in teacher practice? Schools and districts can get more out of their investment in professional learning for teachers (and principals) by creating PD systems,…

As an increased number of international students join College and University classrooms across the United States, their transition and acclimation to campuses has received attention over the past few years, particularly, in the areas of preparation and acculturation. This topic is important because faculty mentors can play a pivotal role in the…

Extension systems are experimenting with new models for conducting professional development to enhance staff competence and other returns on professional development investments. The ISUEO virtual annual conference provides a successful flipped classroom model of asynchronous and synchronous learning events for conducting an Extension annual…

English learners are faced with the dual challenge of acquiring English while learning academic content through the medium of the new language (Lee et al. in "J Res Sci Teach" 45(6):726-747, 2008; Stoddart et al. in "J Res Sci Teach" 39(8):664-687, 2002) and therefore need specific accommodations to achieve in both English and the content areas.…

In the knowledge economy, many companies are well aware of the vital need to maintain the professional expertise of their workers at a high level. Though there have been a lot of research studies in the areas of professional expertise and workplace learning, few examined the learning pathways novice workers went through to become experts in their…

For a quarter century, Kansas State University's College of Education has supported a Professional Development School (PDS) model involving professional collaboration with selected public school systems across Kansas. In that time, this relationship has proved to be an instrumental vehicle for educational change. The state of Kansas' adoption and…

As professional developers for the Adult Basic Literacy Education (ABLE) system in Ohio, the authors have focused their efforts over the last several years on more actively engaging adult basic education teachers as learners in the professional development they offer. By creating activities that engage teachers in active learning with their adult…

The purpose of this research-to-practice article is to describe the literacy and oral language professional development (PD) model that took place in a 3-year Early Reading First project in 9 Head Start and community-based school classrooms. Through our data-driven PD model, we provided 55 hr of training workshops for all classroom teaching staff…

Most professional development plans and strategies simply offer high-quality training or activities that teachers then decide how (or if at all) to implement in their classrooms. By using a targeted professional learning plan, schools can increase the likelihood of student success by using cycles of learning to incorporate professional development…

In "Self-Efficacy: The Exercise of Control" (1997), Albert Bandura writes, "Teachers operate collectively within an interactive social system rather than as isolates" (p. 243). Bandura's attention to the existence of the communal systems that exist in schools is an appreciation shared by many educational reformers, especially those who advocate…

Studies have suggested that professional learning is influenced by two key parameters, i.e., climate and planning, and their associated variables (mutual respect, collaboration, mutual trust, supportiveness, openness). In this paper, we applied analysis of the relationships between the proposed quantitative, fuzzy logic-based model and a series of…

Professional learning communities (PLCs) have been held up as powerful structures for teachers' continuing professional development. In this work, the author has applied transformative learning theory to highlight the psychic risks of collaborative teacher learning, as well as the need for practical efforts to improve student learning--the means…

Lead teachers were a major part of a staff-development program first offered in 1983 for science teachers in Iowa. Later, the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) reform project called Scope, Sequence, and Coordination (SS&C) involved 20 school districts and worked annually with new teachers involved during the 7-year funding period,…

Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) is essential to career development for teachers. Teachers can develop their own PCK by research-based activities such as action research and lesson study, with a particular emphasis on the employment of classroom practice, information technology, and collaborative learning. However, in recent studies, most of…