Communities of practice are emerging as an innovative approach to faculty development. While collaborative learning is becoming popular in the classroom, autonomy and individualism continue to dominate the culture of higher education for faculty. However, as we begin to recognize that old solutions to new problems are no longer effective, there is…

An emerging challenge for the Australian higher education sector is the delivery of authentic eLearning to support the collaborative construction of knowledge through the provision of real-life tasks in an online environment. This paper describes research conducted in a fourth-year university course where students from across the nation were…

This formative design study examines how a program curriculum and implementation was emergently (re)designed in dynamic relation to the expressed emotions of teachers and students. The context was a yearlong afterschool game design program for STEM learning at an urban and public all-girls middle school. Using Randall Collins' (Interaction ritual…

The purpose of this study was to understand the nature of collaboration between academic affairs and student affairs units in the community college context from a qualitative perspective. A discourse analysis study was conducted to explore the ways in which collaborative practice was discussed and understood by chief and midlevel academic and…

Research on bullying has confirmed that social identity processes and group-based emotions are pertinent to children's responses to bullying. However, such research has been done largely with child participants, has been quantitative in nature, and has often relied on scenarios to portray bullying. The present paper departs from this methodology…

Rebecca Van Tassell struggled during her first years as a science teacher. She knew her colleagues had good ideas to share, but she never got to see them in action, so she started a walk-through club in which she and a few colleagues visited one another's classrooms and discussed what they saw. The group met every two weeks, after having…

The introduction of a Lean approach to management requires the development of understanding and capability. This in turn requires a structured training intervention and other supporting activities. This paper explores, through a case study, the way in which action learning groups (ALGs) supported the development of Lean capabilities in the…

Cooperative work is an effective strategy when team members are kept motivated and collaborate towards the achievement of a common goal. However, social loafing may significantly reduce educational gains. In this article, we analyse whether assessment-based reactive strategies that exploit existing emotional relationships between the team members…

We describe a multifaceted, multilevel approach to teamwork learning and assessment. It includes teamwork knowledge, peer and self-appraisal of teamwork behavior, and individual and team performance on objective tests for teaching and assessing teamwork in an undergraduate business program. At the beginning of this semester-long process, students…

This study aimed to clarify and deepen the knowledge on and understanding of the role that teachers' practices during teacher-led learning sessions play in creating and enhancing social life in Finnish preschool classrooms. Observational data pertaining to 20 preschool teachers were analysed according to the principles of thematic analysis. Four…

As teams have become fundamental parts of today's organisations, the need for these teams to function and learn efficiently and effectively is widely emphasised. Also in military contexts team learning is vital. The current article examines team learning behaviour in military teams as it aims to cross-validate a team learning model that was…

In August 2012, I was awarded a Fulbright grant to travel to Malawi, one of the poorest countries in Africa. One critical education issue is that the government has opened its education sector to the donor community. Outside donors identify and define the educational needs of the country and often impose solutions with minimum stakeholder input;…

This article describes the knowledge and skills that professional learning community members need to create a habit out of their desire. Habits serve educators as signposts of progress toward achieving their desires. They are interim indicators of a professional learning community's success. Ultimately, of course, professional learning communities…

This article discusses the effects of separating 15-16 years-old school students in isolated academic and practical study programs in upper-secondary education. It is based on an investigation of the social identities developed by and about youth learners in these circumstances. In particular we examine the creation of identity positions by youth…

A body of literature asserts that group work can be beneficial in enhancing learning and in developing specific skills among students. This research builds on the literature and on Gardner's (2006a) five notions of mindsets: disciplined, synthesising, creation, ethical and respectful, as a descriptive framework to explore and understand the…