Schools in New York City have made attempts to embrace and support the strand of "making connections", which is laid out in the New York City Department of Dance blueprint for teaching and learning in dance for grades PreK-12. Accordingly, some schools have integrated Ugandan traditional dances into the dance curriculum, and dance…

This paper details our collaborative work on the Improving Learning Outcomes in Primary Schools (ILOPS) project in Burundi, Malawi, Uganda and Senegal. ILOPS set out to establish an innovative template for multi-stakeholder, multinational participatory evaluation (PE) and examine the fundamental roles, relationships and evidence that underpin the…

Through a Communities of Practice Network Analysis, this research illustrates the ways in which dual language graduates participate in multiple, varied, and overlapping communities of practice across time. Findings highlight that the dual language school as a shared community of practice represents a critical and formative part of participants'…

Context: The past decade has witnessed a sustained emphasis on information and communication technologies (ICT) in education, coupled with the rise of online social media and increasing pervasiveness of personal media devices. Research Question: Our research question asked: How has this changing context affected the educational experiences of…

The use of social media is tremendously increasing trend for personal use. At the same time, social media are penetrating to the educational settings as well. Thus purpose of this study is to investigate pre-service social studies teachers' conceptions on use of social media in social studies education; it is possible implications on social…

Social media are fundamentally changing core practices in various industries. Although surveys indicate that social media are impacting social scientists, we know little about how education scholars, specifically, use social media for their work or professional learning. This article explores how educational scholars incorporated the social media,…

We present findings from the first wave of a longitudinal study of civic and political engagement among undergraduate students at a mid-sized university in the Midwestern United States. We find that high school experiences of civic learning are a significant predictor of three of our four measures of civic and political engagement, namely, the…

This study examines the influences that high school seniors considered when making their plans for after graduation. Bourdieu's theory of habitus and Coleman's social capital theory inform the conceptual framework. Qualitative interviews were conducted with students and school counselors from four rural Kentucky school districts. Family, peers and…

The paper introduces a virtual collaborative learning setting called "Net Economy," which we established as part of an international learning network of currently seven universities. Using the Community of Inquiry framework as guidance and Canonical Action Research (CAR) as the chosen research design, the discussion forum of the online…

Using Patricia Gandara's "Over the Ivy Walls" analysis of educational mobility of Latino students as a research model, this study utilized the grounded theory methods to investigate and collect data regarding the personal, educational, and career experiences and conditions that influenced pathways taken by successful Latino higher…

Large urban school districts across the country face the daunting challenge of deciding what kind of system will best administer and support schools with widely differing needs, resulting in high achievement for all students. In New York City, the best system structure has been debated for decades. A new Annenberg Institute for School Reform…

This article examines a little-discussed phenomenon in the study of both peer-to-peer collaborative networks and teaching with technology: that of teachers caught in the middle between open public networks as teaching resources and highly restrictive school policies regarding internet content and online access. Based on their experiences as…

Digital communication increases students' learning outcomes in higher education. Web 2.0 technologies encourages students' active engagement, collaboration, and participation in class activities, facilitates group work, and encourages information sharing among students. Familiarity with organizational use and sharing in social networks aids…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explain the emergent nature of leadership in a university-based learning network of mature-aged practitioner-scholars. Design/methodology/approach: The paper draws on previously published work, interviews, and current research. Findings: The paper finds that once initial structures have been established,…

Past research has shown that informal communications among Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs) are more influential in shaping their teaching practices than formal induction programs. Yet little is known about how these informal helping relationships evolve and how universities can help support their formation as part of the preparation of future…