The aim of this study is to reveal how well online communities of practice (oCoPs) help teachers share explicit knowledge and bring their tacit knowledge to the surface. An Internet based oCoP platform called "The Professional Development Circle" (The PDC) was developed for this study. The study was conducted in two phases: 1) a…

Mentoring is an effective method of helping inexperienced individuals develop and progress in their profession. Extension staff have many opportunities to mentor volunteers and other community partners. The keys to establishing a successful mentoring relationship include creating a relationship of trust, clearly defining roles and…

This research tests the effectiveness of taking learning style variables from the Kolb learning model in designing strategic planning seminars. We observe in our research that the participants in the seminar--school principals--positively judge the effectiveness of the seminar. The research also tests the seminar's effectiveness in terms of the…

With a commitment to establishing collaborative relationships with a local special education community, a consultation process was undertaken to ascertain what practising educators considered essential special education graduate characteristics. This consultation occurred against the backdrop of broad-scale university organisational restructure,…

The discovery of DNA is a classic example of the importance of working across content areas. Conceptually, interdisciplinarity can be fuzzy. Thankfully, scholars like Allen Repko and Julie Thompson Klein offer definitions one can build on. Klein (1990) sees interdisciplinarity as a bridge that links different disciplines while restructuring and…

New teachers, especially those who are not certified in education, need support to succeed at teaching and remain in the profession. Because there is a growing national shortage of science teachers, many school districts are forced to hire teachers who have science degrees but little training in education or experience teaching. Research shows…

In a perfect world, students would never talk back to school staff and never argue or fight with each other. They would complete all their assigned tasks, and disciplinary actions never would be needed. Unfortunately, people don't live in a perfect world. Student behavior is a daily concern. Teachers continue to refer students to the office as a…

This paper focuses on one teacher team and the university facilitators who supported their collaborative action research within a province-wide professional development initiative designed by the provincial elementary teacher union to bring together teachers and university faculty in teacher-directed action research. The paper is collaboratively…

This study investigated the influence of direct modeling of a supplemental classroom program on the early literacy beliefs and practices of Head Start teachers. Developed by speech language pathologists (SLPs), Systematic and Engaging Early Literacy Instruction (SEEL) was not undertaken with an explicit professional development goal. However, the…

Objective: To explore the perceptions of General Medical Practitioners and pharmacist supplementary prescribers of the training provided for qualification as a pharmacist supplementary prescriber, and the experience of pharmacist supplementary prescribers of subsequent continuing professional development in practice. Design: A qualitative study of…

The impact of the Internet on our lives has been pervasive. People are increasingly turning to the social interaction available on the Internet to satisfy their needs, whether these are professional or personal. The Internet offers users fast access to social contacts such as online chat groups and discussion lists, helping us to make connections…

The purpose of this evaluation was to determine the effectiveness of an online reading teacher and literacy instructor training program. A mixed-method research design was used in conjunction with the improvement-focused model of program evaluation to help the researcher identify strengths and weaknesses of the program. Overall, data showed the…

Adequate and appropriate supervision of interns is frequently identified as a significant problem by training programs while, on their part, field placement sites often indicate that training programs generate expectations for interns that are not always "in synch" with district expectations of school psychologists. As a result of an…

Educational development, which the authors use to refer to the field of professional and strategic development associated with university and college learning and teaching, can be described in many ways by referring to its different aspects. In this article the authors endeavor to categorize many of the models that have been used to describe…

Little is known about the impact of Western educational ideals in Japan during the Meiji (1868-1912), Taisho (1912-1926) and Showa (post-1926) eras, although, in reality, there was considerable interest among Japanese educators in Western thought and practice and there were numerous attempts to disseminate these ideas widely. This article…