We present a distinctive approach to knowledge exchange used in the 'Shared Space' project; an inter-disciplinary researcher-teacher partnership using Allport's contact theory contact theory as a lens to interpret teachers' self-reported practice in the subject Religion and Worldviews (RWE). By so doing, we created new professional knowledge and…

This case study describes a project designed by university museum curators, managers and educators working in collaboration with curriculum designers to elicit new uses for university museum collection objects in the delivery of tertiary, secondary and primary education programs. It involves an object-based learning community of practice…

In this chapter we describe the Decoding the Disciplines Faculty Learning Community at Mount Royal University and how Decoding has been used in new and multidisciplinary ways in the various teaching, curriculum, and research projects that are presented in detail in subsequent chapters.

Social and emotional learning (SEL) is having a moment. After years of being neglected for an agenda heavily focused on test scores, the pendulum is swinging back toward the whole child. The 2015 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act asks states to develop at least one metric, outside reading and math scores, to measure…

Faculties of Education in North America are experiencing an increase in demand for professional graduate programs that provide flexible and accessible research pathways for working professionals. Our School of Education offers high quality professional graduate programs that increase access and respond directly to complex needs and problems of…

This article describes Children's Museum of Pittsburgh's multi-phase approach to developing professional development (PD) for its maker educators. Researchers engaged maker educator staff in research-practice partnerships at each stage of the process, with the intention of supporting maker educators in developing their practice. Grounded in…

This article details a faculty learning community (FLC) that started in 2009 on the campus of a Midwestern University and has evolved into an interdisciplinary research, teaching and social community of practice and learning called SurPriSe. SurPriSe is an acronym that reflects the interest area of the FLC; Sur for surveillance, Pri for privacy,…

Grounded as a self-study using arts-based inquiry to explore the experiences of six university faculty members participating in a cross-disciplinary faculty development program, the purpose of this paper is to (1) describe the Madison Research Fellows (MRF) program, and (2) explore the impact of the MRF program. Participating members included…

"Cross-disciplinary" has become a buzzword in academia. Here the authors offer a student-based perspective on the benefits of cross-disciplinary discussion, based on their experience in New York University's Graduate Forum. Founded ten years ago by Catharine Stimpson, then dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Science (GSAS), the forum…

At Wagner College, students are required to participate in a series of three curriculum-based learning communities (C-BLCs) as the core of the undergraduate curriculum known as the Wagner Plan for the Practical Liberal Arts. This article describes the senior learning community (LC) in psychology at Wagner College, which is an example of a…

As qualitative research methodologies continue to evolve and develop, both students and experienced researchers are showing greater interest in learning about and developing new approaches. To meet this need, faculty at the University of Manitoba created the Qualitative Research Group (QRG), a community of practice that utilizes experiential…

This report describes the eLearning Fellowship Program at the University of Jos (UNIJOS), first introduced in October 2008 through a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and recently adopted by the Partnership for Higher Education in Africa (PHEA) Educational Technology Initiative (ETI). The fellowship is a one-year program aimed at…

Professional development among teacher educators requires a framework in which collaborative learning can support growth and change. This study describes a professional development project modeled on a professional development community focused on thinking education in a teachers college. Qualitative measures revealed a multilayered process…

In this article, we investigate what happened when, contrary to the typical isolation of faculty in higher education, a group of higher educators from various disciplines in a graduate school of education met regularly to discuss issues related to our teaching and social justice. More specifically, we explored the following research question: How…

Drawing on an activity theory analysis, Elizabeth A. Wardle considers whether cross-disciplinary FYC collaborations can help us achieve current FYC goals. Her analysis of learning community linked FYC courses at a large Midwestern university suggests that learning community teachers are faced with as many--if not more--challenges as traditional…