Communities of practice have become important tools for districts striving to improve teacher quality in a way that improves student outcomes, but scaling the benefits of these communities requires a more rigorous, intentional approach. That's why Learning Forward, with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, created the Redesign PD…

Equity-minded institutional transformation requires robust faculty learning. Research has shown that the single most important factor in student success is faculty interaction. Positive, supportive, and empowering faculty interaction is particularly important to the success of female students, poor and working class students, and students of…

This paper reports on Phase Two of a small-scale qualitative research project. Phase One (2015-2016) focused on pre-service student teachers' perceptions of observation and feedback in relation to their developing identity as teachers. In Phase Two, two previous participants reflected on the research findings as qualified and beginning teachers.…

Within educational settings, well-developed web-based social networking technologies such as interactive weblogs (blogs) can serve to effectively facilitate and mediate interactions among members of a "community of practice" (Chong, 2008; Wenger, White, & Smith, 2009). The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of an…

In higher education, faculty work is typically enacted--and rewarded--on an individual basis. Efforts to promote collaboration run counter to the individual and competitive reward systems that characterize higher education. Mentoring initiatives that promote faculty collaboration and support also defy the structural and cultural norms of higher…

The purpose of this mixed-methods case study was to examine the effectiveness of a blended learning community of practice model in providing professional development to improve K-12 teacher's self-efficacy in the implementation of personalized learning. Eighteen teachers participated in a nine-month professional development program focused on…

This study explored whether or not, and how, an on-site and research-teacher community of practice model for professional development addressed the challenges to classroom practices in a Head Start program. Data sources included interviews with teachers, videos of planning and teaching sessions, and the researchers' fieldwork log and reflective…

Communities of practice, which enable sustained collaboration among fellow practitioners, have potential for advancement of faculty development, but traditionally employ face-to-face meetings with inherent economic and geographical limitations. Our virtual community of practice (VCP) model exposes engineering instructors from across the country to…

The last two decades have witnessed an ongoing effort to re-design the education doctorate to prepare practitioners to conduct research as a key aspect of their practice. As part of the reform, Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate (CPED) members have tried to ensure the delivery of a relevant practice-based curriculum that prepares…

Learning communities (LCs) can provide authentic, social learning experiences but require an extensive amount of time and effort to orchestrate, often more than instructors can provide in typical university courses. Extracurricular, undergraduate, student-led learning communities (SLLCs) overcome this cost through volunteer peer-instructors.…

This article comes out of our shared experiences of undertaking post graduate research whilst working in the further education (FE) sector. In 2014, we established a research network within our college, with the initial aim of providing opportunities for those undertaking research to meet and discuss their work. We provide insight into our…

This article explores arguments for adopting appreciative inquiry (AI) as an action research approach that generates pedagogic development in UK and international higher education. An overview of AI considering the methodological dilemma of focusing only on positive experiences is discussed. Findings from focus group discussions in a post-1992 UK…

This paper critiques the journey of pedagogical change over three mobile learning (mlearning) project iterations (2009 to 2011) within the context of a Bachelor of Architecture degree. The three projects were supported by an intentional community of practice model involving a partnership of an educational researcher/technologist, course lecturers,…

International higher education student mobility can lead to social change in the students' home countries. This article examines the case of the Ford Foundation's International Fellowship Program Alumni Association in Ghana and how it has organized to affect change. Findings show that this association has assimilated many of the attributes of…

Despite the ubiquity of professional learning communities (PLCs) among researchers, studies on PLCs have widely differed in terms of dimensions used to conceptualise them. Thus, the study aimed to validate the conceptual model consisting of PLCs practices. The study employed a quantitative method using a survey. Firstly, a pilot test was conducted…