scholarly journals Statewide Professional Development Conference

2000 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul V. Bredeson ◽  
Jay Paredes Scribner
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Performance Assessment ◽  
Informal Learning ◽  
Significant Role ◽  
Financial Support ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Formal And Informal Learning ◽  
New Knowledge ◽  
Critical Issues ◽  
K 12

In an environment increasingly skeptical of the effectiveness of large-scale professional development activities, this study examines K-12 educators' reasons for participating and beliefs in the utility in a large-scale professional development conference. Pre- and post-conference surveys revealed that while financial support played a significant role in educators' ability to participate, they were drawn to the conference by the promise to learn substantive issues related to, in this case, performance assessment—what it means, how to implement it, and how to address community concerns. In spite of the conference's utility as a means to increase awareness of critical issues and to facilitate formal and informal learning, well conceived linkages to transfer new knowledge to the school and classroom were lacking.

A Decade of Research on K–12 Teaching and Teacher Learning with Social Media: Insights on the State of the Field

2020 ◽  
Vol 122 (6) ◽  
pp. 1-72
Author(s):  
Christine Greenhow ◽  
Sarah M. Galvin ◽  
Diana L. Brandon ◽  
Emilia Askari
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Informal Learning ◽  
Educational Research ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
The State ◽  
Classroom Teaching ◽  
Literature Reviews ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
K 12

Background and Context The increasingly widespread use of social media to expand one's social connections is a relatively new but important phenomenon that has implications for teaching, learning, and teachers’ professional knowledge and development in the 21st century. Educational research in this area is expanding, but further investigation is necessary to better determine how to best support teachers in their professional development, collaboration, and classroom teaching. Prior literature reviews have focused extensively on higher education settings or particular platforms or platform types (e.g., Facebook, microblogging). This article provides needed insights into K–12 settings and encompasses work from a variety of social media types. We describe a systematic review of more than a decade of educational research from various countries to present the state of the field in K–12 teachers’ use of social media for teaching and professional learning across various platforms. Research Questions To define social media's potentially beneficial roles in teaching and learning, we must first take an in-depth look at teachers’ current social media practices. Toward this end, we approached our review with the following research question: How are social media perceived and used by K–12 teachers for their teaching or professional learning, and with what impacts on teachers’ practices? Research Design Guided by Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) established standards for rigor and quality in systematic literature reviews, this article reviews empirical research to examine how social media are perceived and used by K–12 teachers with what impacts on teachers’ practices. Findings We find that social media features offer several benefits for helping teachers fulfill their goals for classroom teaching, including enhancing student engagement, community connections, and teacher–student interactions, but these affordances come with challenges that must be navigated. The literature also suggests that social media features provide benefits for teachers’ professional learning within both formal professional development programs and informal learning networks. Conclusions Implications of this literature review for future research and the design of educational practices are discussed in the final section. Among our conclusions are calls for more data triangulation between teachers’ and students’ learning and experiences on social media, more attention to teachers’ observational behaviors on social media, and further exploration of how social media facilitates interplay between teachers’ formal and informal learning.

scholarly journals Transforming spaces: Fostering student-centered learning through the intentional design of formal and informal learning spaces

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jen Harvey ◽  
◽  
Claire McAvinia ◽  
Kevin O'Rourke ◽  
Jason FitzSimmons ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Active Learning ◽  
Informal Learning ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Learning Spaces ◽  
Learning Space ◽  
Student Centered ◽  
Student Centered Learning ◽  
Formal And Informal Learning ◽  
New Learning

Transforming the academic experience and success of students by building Active Learning Classrooms (ALCs) is increasing, but ALCs are still fewer than traditional classroom spaces. These new learning spaces create an inherent tension between increasing student enrollments and active learning environments. Accommodating increased class sizes does not have to exclude fostering an active learning space. We have an opportunity every time a classroom is renovated or a new building is built to intentionally acknowledge and engage this tension to positively influence student learning and success. As we renovate and construct new learning spaces on our campuses, it is not only important to understand how the “built pedagogy” (Monahan 2000, 2002) and “architecture as pedagogy” (Orr 1993, 1997) of our spaces can help or hinder more active learning pedagogies, but also how to support effective teaching in these spaces (Levesque-Bristol, 2019). While many institutions are prioritizing active learning as old classrooms get renovated, few are doing so at the broad campus-wide scope necessary to affect larger-scale culture change (Park & Choi, 2014). Two such institutions that are developing and supporting large-scale active learning spaces are the Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin) and Purdue University (Indiana, USA). TU Dublin and Purdue are conducting collaborative research focusing on how each institution’s new, large-scale construction of formal and informal learning spaces is impacting teaching and learning.

scholarly journals Re/Claiming Agency: Learning, Liminality and Immigrant Service Organizations

2008 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tara Gibb ◽  
Evelyn Hamdon ◽  
Zenobia Jamal
Keyword(s):  
Informal Learning ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Service Organizations ◽  
Learning Activities ◽  
Service Organization ◽  
Support Programs ◽  
Liminal Spaces ◽  
New Immigrants ◽  
Formal And Informal Learning ◽  
New Knowledge

To facilitate the settlement of new immigrants, immigrant service organizations provide a range of services and opportunities for both formal and informal learning. These organizations, however, also act as liminal spaces in which the women who access their services may renegotiate identities, create new knowledge and forge new conceptions of community. The purpose of this article is to present an analysis of the data from two organizations which were sites for a larger research project designed to explore the formal and informal learning processes in immigrant service organizations. The data for this study was collected through client interviews and participant observation of formal and informal learning activities at two immigrant service organization that provide settlement, educational and support programs and services for immigrant women.

Impact of Podcasts as Professional Learning

2010 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 55-67
Author(s):  
Kathleen P. King
Keyword(s):  
Instructional Design ◽  
Staff Development ◽  
Informal Learning ◽  
Instructional Strategies ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Data Gathering ◽  
Research Model ◽  
Research Strategies ◽  
Formal And Informal Learning ◽  
K 12

Until now, research on podcasting in education mostly examined teacher created podcasts in K-12 and higher education. This paper explores podcasts in professional learning across several genres of podcasts. Using a popular typology of podcasts, teacher created, student created and professional development podcasts (King & Gura, 2007), this paper compares, contrasts and reveals the potential of multiple educational contexts and instructional strategies, formative instructional design, interdisciplinary strategies, formal and informal learning, and effective uses of data gathering methods. The significance of the study extends from not only the extensive reach of the data gathering and production, but also the robust research model, formative and dynamic instructional design for staff development and recommendations for podcasting research strategies.

Impact of Podcasts as Professional Learning

2011 ◽  
pp. 237-250
Author(s):  
Kathleen P. King
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Professional Development ◽  
Instructional Design ◽  
Staff Development ◽  
Instructional Strategies ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Data Gathering ◽  
Research Strategies ◽  
Formal And Informal Learning ◽  
K 12

Until now, research on podcasting in education mostly examined teacher created podcasts in K-12 and higher education. This paper explores podcasts in professional learning across several genres of podcasts. Using a popular typology of podcasts, teacher created, student created and professional development podcasts (King & Gura, 2007), this paper compares, contrasts and reveals the potential of multiple educational contexts and instructional strategies, formative instructional design, interdisciplinary strategies, formal and informal learning, and effective uses of data gathering methods. The significance of the study extends from not only the extensive reach of the data gathering and production, but also the robust research model, formative and dynamic instructional design for staff development and recommendations for podcasting research strategies.

scholarly journals Building major competencies for enhancing higher education for sustainable development

2021 ◽  
Vol 250 ◽  
pp. 07002
Author(s):  
Alexander Ivanov ◽  
Svetlana Tolstikova ◽  
Larisa Ovcharenko ◽  
Tatiana Morozova
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Professional Development ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Informal Learning ◽  
Education For Sustainable Development ◽  
Environmental Responsibility ◽  
Teaching Process ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Formal And Informal Learning

This paper focuses on the specifics and preconditions for building major competencies that are envisaged for enhancing higher education for sustainable development (ESD). It looks into the professional development of specialists in higher education, factors affecting individual stages of professional development of these specialists, as well as into the role of the environment in their professional development. Furthermore, it studies the formal and informal learning as the important setting leading to the creation of the major competencies for linking globalization, complexity and environmental responsibility and channelling them to students through the teaching process in higher education.

scholarly journals Engaging Faculty in Professional Development: Lessons From Bangladesh

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 124
Author(s):  
Mohammad Omar Shiddike ◽  
Asif Ali Rahman
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Informal Learning ◽  
Learning Activities ◽  
Faculty Engagement ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
Student Interactions ◽  
Formal And Informal Learning ◽  
Academic Publications ◽  
Teaching Curriculum ◽  
Faculty Student Interactions

Engagement can be defined as participation, involvement, and commitment (Harper & Quaye, 2015). This paper explains faculty engagement in professional development. Faculty engagement in professional development can be defined as faculty participation and involvement in formal and informal learning activities. These formal and informal activities focus on professionalism that might include exercises leading to the development of knowledge, skills, abilities, values, and self-awareness. Some examples of these formal and informal learning activities are classroom teaching, curriculum and instruction development, training, consulting, faculty/student interactions, workshops/conferences, and academic publications etc. Faculty engagement in professional development incorporates the total sum of formal and informal learning or continuous learning throughout one’s career (Broad & Evans, 2006; Capps, Crawford, & Constas, 2012). Since professional development includes faculty engagement, the paper explores how university faculty professionally develop themselves through engagement.

New Shoots from Old Roots

1998 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 172-177
Author(s):  
Elaine Hendry ◽  
Mark Waltham
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Informal Learning ◽  
Continuing Professional Development ◽  
Employee Development ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
10Th Anniversary ◽  
Current Trends ◽  
Formal And Informal Learning ◽  
Development Unit

On the occasion of its 10th anniversary, the authors describe the development of Cambridge University's continuing professional development unit, the Cambridge Programme for Industry (CPI). From its beginnings in the provision of short, technical courses, the CPI has moved towards a more holistic approach to professional development, reflecting current trends in support of lifelong learning. The unit provides a bridge between academic theory on formal and informal learning and learning organizations, and the reality of businesses of all sizes working towards new approaches to employee development. Three case studies of current projects, together with an outline of two newly-funded research projects illustrate the CPI's present focus.

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