Drawing from a wealth of research and experience, this book shows educators how to use the transformative power of professional learning in community to raise the professional stature of educators. The authors, experts in their field, provide clear steps and real-school examples with a focus on collaborative adult learning for student gains,…

Evidence-based and highly effective, "coaching" helps early childhood practitioners support other professionals and families as they enhance existing knowledge, develop new skills, and promote healthy development of young children. This hands-on guide shows professionals how to conduct skillful coaching in any setting--home, school, or community.…

This is a conceptual paper, based on several semesters of collaboration in which the American author interacted with students in the Taiwanese author's EFL classes in Taiwan. The best native language users are typically those who read extensively, especially reading for pleasure in their youth. This gives them a large vocabulary and an intuitive…

The Effective Instructional Strategies Series is a collection of six booklets based on the components used in Pacific Communities with High-performance In Literacy Development (Pacific CHILD), a principles-based professional development program consisting of research-based teaching and learning strategies proven to help improve students' reading…

This qualitative study utilized a meta-ethnographic approach to synthesize findings of five dissertations that focused on distance learning support services. The history of ethnographical studies stemmed from an anthropological background. Researchers have applied ethnographical approaches to examine and document various phenomena. This…

The European Union funded LITERALIA project connected adult language learners from four countries with the help of an online workspace and supported visits. The project was based on Tandem principles, whereby learners of different languages support one another in learning one another's language and culture, in turn taking on the roles of learners…

Excelsior College, located in Albany, New York, has been a pioneer institution in distance learning. The Integrated Technology Assessment (ITA) is one particularly unique dimension of student assessment offered by the School of Business and Technology at the College. This portfolio-based assessment method is a capstone experience for the BS…

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to examine continuing education students' perceptions of adult education instructional practices at an urban community college. The continuing education students recently graduated from programs of law enforcement, truck driving, and health occupations. Perception analysis was based on the six principles…

The purpose of this interpretive qualitative research study was to explore how adult learners perceive they construct knowledge in connection to their participation in educational outreach programs, encompassing a continuum of formal, non-formal, and informal learning experiences. The study context involved three world affairs outreach education…

This exploratory study was an attempt to understand the types of affective learning. The study focused on beginning students who were enrolled in apparel construction/sewing laboratory in community colleges within Los Angeles and Ventura counties during the spring of 2009 (n = 155). The primary purpose of the study was to develop scales that would…

Teachers of English as a Second Language use curricula offered to them for their classroom instruction. Although there are many good materials to be used in the classroom, and many opportunities to develop themselves professionally, research shows that including students' backgrounds into the curriculum will engage the students and benefit them. …

Today the multidimensional global shortage of nurses is negatively impacting the work environment of hospital nurses and causing, in a cyclical fashion, decreasing work satisfaction, increasing nurse turnover, and decreasing patient outcomes. While strategies aimed at causation of the nursing shortage must be addressed, to support nursing until…

The purpose of this study was to increase an understanding of spirituality's place in the holistic adult adjustment of new faculty members during their transitional years at a public research university. Many have been concerned about the sense of fragmentation experienced in the academy and have called for cultural reforms of the conditions that…

The purpose of this qualitative research study was to determine how Baby Boomers make meaning out of disorientating dilemmas and challenges as they enroll in community college for career training. The dilemmas include: retirement, layoffs, shrinking job market, returning to school, and dwindling retirement accounts. Understanding Baby Boomers'…

There are two dimensions of positioning: self-identity (reflexive) and, events and interaction between people (discursive). Positioning may become socially restrictive when disruptive discursive episodes have a negative impact on individual self-identity. An interpretive biographical study of 11 participants in a transitional residency (temporary…