Personal journaling is common practice in outdoor programs and is an important means of reflection and meaning-making. For over 20 years the author has used group journals to promote reflection and understanding, raise important questions, explore difficult issues, develop writing and speaking skills, and enhance group development. In this…

Brainstorming is the default method of idea-generation in organisations, and is widely applied in higher education by students, academics and support staff. Its popularity is mainly attributable to an illusory belief that groups working together are more productive than individuals working apart. Shared responsibility, the need for collaboration…

While universal literacy is one of the most pervasive targets of today's educational systems, it is at the same time perhaps the narrowest of all goals. Standardised testing reduces language and literacy to tasks associated with reading and writing. As learning communities become increasingly diverse, teachers, administrators and policy makers are…

Leadership experiences, arguably some of the most significant developmental opportunities in college, are ripe for helping students move from mere engagement to making meaning of and learning from their leadership experience. The International Learning Association's teaching and learning area asks: "what methods are most appropriate to ensure…

The imagination has traditionally been associated with unreality and is commonly thought to be the antithesis of reason. This is a notion of imagination that can be found in Plato's writing and has influenced modern Western epistemology and educational ideals. As such, traditional schooling, which has focused on the cultivation of reason and the…

International service learning courses, cultural immersion projects, and international disaster response teams have provided valuable aid, services, supplies and programs to trauma-impacted communities across the globe. Many colleges and universities support global learning and the creation of global citizens, and this ethic is reflected in many…

This paper examines the practice and professional development of teacher educators engaged in diversity pedagogy in Canadian teacher education programs. Using a reflective inquiry combined with a self-study of teacher and teacher education practices (S-STEP), three educators discuss the complexity of their research and teaching experiences through…

This article outlines how student teachers' experiences of a philosophical community of enquiry (PCoE) facilitated their pedagogical reflections. Although reflection occupies an important place in teacher education curricula and pedagogy, it is a contested and problematic concept. In this study, a group of second year student teachers took part in…

A professional learning community (PLC) is one of the most promising strategies for effecting change in educational practices to improve academic achievement and wellbeing for all students. The PLC facilitator's role in developing and leading blended (online and face-to-face) PLCs with members from Ontario's school districts was examined through a…

This study examined whether teaching in a community arts organization that provides services for people with developmental disabilities enabled preservice art teachers to better understand diverse contexts of art programs and the benefits of teaching the arts to others. Through this activity, the author also examined whether preservice art…

In the spring of 2014, John Bragelman accepted an administrative position at a community college in Chicago. He struggled with the decision because it meant leaving the mathematics classroom, a space he calls home. As a critical educator, he had the opportunity to watch his students become critical participators in their communities, readers and…

This study reports on an action research on increasing the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students' confidence in speaking. Participants involved in this study were 16 male university students who had an upper-intermediate level of English. Extra speaking activities were incorporated into the classroom for 8 successive weeks. Insights into…

This article reports the research findings of teacher educator inquiry using qualitative methods examining how incorporating the topic of culture into the field seminar component of a newly developed urban school-university partnership influenced preservice teachers' abilities to become critically conscious. After analyzing preservice teacher…

The incorporation of animation in mathematics teacher education courses is one method for transforming practices and promoting practice-based education. Animation can be used as an approximation of practice that engages preservice teachers (PSTs) in creating classroom scenes in which they select characters, regulate movement, and construct…

P-12 students who have mobility limitations often face environmental and social barriers that have an impact on educational performance; thus, teachers who work with these students need to have an understanding of these barriers. One potential way for teachers to understand environmental and social barriers is to experience them from a first-hand…