Practicum is seen as an avenue in teacher education where pre-service teachers have the opportunity to turn theory into practice. Teachers begin to form their identities during practicum. This article examines how pre-service teachers' identities are formed through the lens of sociocultural theory. Data for the study were gathered through a survey…

The importance of engaging in high quality program evaluation is a generally accepted principle underscored by external pressure from funders. High quality evaluation necessarily begins with good evaluation planning. This paper outlines Evolutionary Evaluation and specifically the Systems Evaluation Protocol, an approach that emphasizes…

A long-standing disconnect between social work practice and research exists that begins with our current education model. When taught separately, students often think they are distinctly different areas of social work that do not have to coexist. This conceptualization of research and practice as separate could contribute to the dearth of research…

This paper aims to examine how the combination of theory and practice work effectively in teaching and supporting the learning process. Action research methodology was followed in the research by designing a plan of action in the practicing environment. The research focuses on the interaction of the researcher and participants. Mixed approaches of…

Multimodal pedagogy is increasingly accepted among composition scholars. However, putting such pedagogy into practice presents significant challenges. In this profile of Washington State University's first-year composition program, we suggest a multi-vocal and multi-theoretical approach to addressing the challenges of multimodal pedagogy. Patricia…

We have two aims here. Our first is to articulate what gains may be made by students who engage in our course to determine what exactly is gained by students who participate in such experiences. We believe such courses have educational value, but needed to find a way to articulate our course's success in helping students meet our stated learning…

This article describes the construction and development of a course assignment that uses student interviews as an instructional tool to bridge the gap between theory and practice in a graduate educational psychology course. The first part of the article describes the student interview assignment used to examine theories of motivation. The second…

GLASPORT first convened in October 2009 with funding provided by a Foreign Language Assistance Program (FLAP) grant. The grant proposal was submitted by then Glastonbury Assistant Superintendent of Schools (and former Foreign Language Director) Christine Brown. The committee was charged with two ambitious objectives: (1) to aid in the development…

The Council on Social Work Education accreditation standards requires that the social work curricula include content on practice evaluation. To meet this requirement, many schools have a course devoted to clinical evaluation. The desired outcome of these courses is that students not only learn the content but also retain it and implement…

A qualitative analysis of written reflective assignments during a service-learning project at a Southeastern university provide insight into students' learning, as well as a means of assessing the experience for student growth and change. Expectations and concerns of students prior to the project were compared with post-experience reflections to…

Listening skills research has tended to focus on strategy use in classrooms and on theory and practice of second language (L2) teachers. This study examined the teachers' and learners' perceptions of listening skills in non-classroom learning situations. Five (n = 5) study skills teachers and 19 former learners in a distance study skills course at…

Presents the results of a study of grading strategies that suggests that reluctant students can improve their work and develop a better attitude about school if less emphasis is placed on evaluative grading. (JC)

A study reviewed the effects of the whole language movement. Two forms of analysis were used: meta-analysis, and a simple "vote-counting" procedure. Quantitative studies that compared a whole language and a traditional (or basal reading) approach, published between 1988 and 1993, were selected for analysis. A total of 45 studies were…

This paper offers observations on how research and teaching can join forces to improve learning in the classroom by involving the faculty in classroom research. It explains the use of classroom assessment and techniques for gaining information on what students are learning and how well they are learning it. Classroom assessments are defined as…

Because traditional performance measures may not accurately assess what students learn or are taught, some K-12 classroom teachers, states, and teacher preparation programs are beginning to use portfolio assessment to document learning and growth in learning over time. Portfolio assessment is considered a more authentic way of evaluating and…