Across educational settings, leaders in the field are recognizing a need to support students' social-emotional development in order to improve educational outcomes (CASEL, 2020; Collie et al., 2015). Social emotional learning (SEL) is one approach which educational communities can collectively employ to improve students' cognitive, affective, and…

As we grow through leisure education, we tend to manage challenges to leisure and gravitate to positive experiences. These positive encounters transport us toward achieving the ultimate goals of experiencing leisure, being happy, and flourishing. The intention of "Leisure Education Program Planning, fifth edition," is to share…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore professional development from the perspective of instructional leaders to identify if the assumptions of Knowles's (1990) Adult Learning Theory were present in the planning and implementation of continuing education. For the purposes of this research study, professional development was defined…

This dissertation develops a cognitive model describing when children learn to group distinct sound segments (allophones) into abstract equivalence classes (phonemes). The allophones an individual acquires are arbitrary and determined by their particular input, yet are intricately involved in language cognition once learned. The proposed…

My dissertation examined the effect of adaptive prompts in virtual reality (VR) based social skills training on social skills of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In my dissertation, adaptive prompts refer to an instructional technique to enhance social skill performance of children with ASD considering their emotional states. Despite…

The purpose of the current manuscript is to delineate a collaborative professional development effort between Norfolk Public Schools and Old Dominion University--a nascent school-university partnership. Ed Talks were created to build relationships between public school and university faculty, but we have encountered challenges in implementing this…

Every year brings new research studies that aim to describe early childhood development. Despite this boom in research, there has been little useful translation of these studies into clear recommendations for educators and mental health practitioners. This book shows experienced educators and mental health practitioners who work with young…

Ample studies have confirmed that the concepts of Community of Practice and Lesson Study can effectively develop professional development, especially in the design of learning. This positive impact on learners is also evident. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the results that occurred with students who learned from teachers who used…

It is well established that positive youth development (PYD) programs improve adolescent psycho-social wellbeing; however, it remains unclear if PYD programs developed for able-bodied adolescents can be implemented with adolescents with disabilities in low-resource settings. We conducted a pragmatic trial of an evidence-based PYD program…

Caregivers are increasingly recognised as significant in providing naturalistic interventions for children with autism spectrum disorder in high-income countries and low- and middle-income countries including Sri Lanka. It is imperative to assess the impact of programmes targeting desired parenting skills within cultural boundaries. A preliminary…

The COVID-19 pandemic influenced academia in many ways, impacting learners and teachers. This article is authored by six sustainable urban development doctoral researchers from various backgrounds and stages of their journey, and an academic advisor. The article is an outcome of remote collaboration through a substantial period during the…

This study explored how secondary school EFL teachers engaged in professional learning opportunities when they participated in the development of ELT materials. While increasing research has examined language teaching materials and teacher learning, the two research fields have remained largely disconnected, hindering the potential of materials…

Health care in the 21st century has emphasised science and technology-centred practice, which might lead to dehumanisation such that healthcare professionals come to treat patients less like persons and more like objects. A programme of humanities for healthcare professionals has been suggested as a solution to overcome the problem of…

While increasing emphasis has been placed on computer science (CS) and computational thinking (CT) little is known about these topics in elementary classrooms. Significant equity gaps exist within CS/CT at the elementary level, with a major contributor being the lack of highly qualified CS/CT elementary teachers. Professional development (PD) for…

This report analyzes the design process that campus teams use to create sustained professional development (SPD) programs such as faculty learning communities for VITAL faculty. The authors begin with a description of the larger research project that this report contributes to, including an overview of earlier research and methodology for the…