scholarly journals Equity-Minded Faculty Development: An Intersectional Identity-Conscious Community of Practice Model for Faculty Learning

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kimberly Costino
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Community Of Practice ◽  
Students Of Color ◽  
Female Students ◽  
Institutional Transformation ◽  
Practice Model ◽  
Faculty Interaction ◽  
Inclusive Learning ◽  
Faculty Learning ◽  
Working Class Students

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 color, but most faculty are not prepared to offer the kind of support that has been shown to be most effective for marginalized students.  If institutions are serious about equity and about transformation, then they are obligated to provide professional development that will support the learning necessary for faculty to fulfill these important roles and to support faculty financially or by buying their time to participate in it.  An effective way to do this is to align such professional development with the urgent needs of the campus and their related campus-wide initiatives.  This article describes a community of practice model of identity-conscious professional development that engages faculty in a scholarly approach to the science of learning and evidence-based teaching and curriculum development while at the same time insistently and consistently incorporating critical reflection on and exploration of how systems of power and oppression impact learning. We believe this faculty engagement is key to transforming our institution into a more equitable and inclusive learning environment for students and faculty alike.

scholarly journals Preservice Teachers’ Professional Development in a Community of Practice Summer Literacy Camp for Children At-Risk: A Sociocultural Perspective

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janet Richards
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
At Risk ◽  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Community Of Practice ◽  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Sociocultural Perspective ◽  
Children At Risk ◽  
Multiple Perspectives ◽  
Practice Model ◽  
Teachers Professional Development

This inquiry applied an innovative sociocultural framework to examine transformations in preservice teachers’ professional development as they worked with children at-risk in a summer literacy camp. The camp incorporated a community of practice model in which teams of master’s and doctoral students mentored small groups of preservice teachers. The study examined preservice teachers ’ learning following Rogoff’s (1995, 1997) notions of the personal, interpersonal, and community planes of analysis. The research also employed a postmodernist crystallization imagery to capture multiple perspectives on the preservice teachers’ growth. The study assigns importance to the contextual dimensions in which learning takes place, and emphasizes that learning is nourished by interactions with others.

Teachers’ Engagement With Professional Development to Support Implementation of Meaningful Physical Education

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Stephanie Beni ◽  
Tim Fletcher ◽  
Déirdre Ní Chróinín
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Physical Education ◽  
Community Of Practice ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Pedagogical Approach ◽  
Pedagogical Innovation

Purpose: The purposes of this research were to design a professional development (PD) initiative to introduce teachers to a pedagogical innovation—the Meaningful Physical Education (PE) approach—and to understand their experiences of the PD process. Method: Twelve PE teachers in Canada engaged in an ongoing PD initiative, designed around characteristics of effective PD, across two school years as they learned about and implemented Meaningful PE. Qualitative data were collected and analyzed. Findings: This research showed that teachers valued a community of practice and modeling when learning to implement Meaningful PE. While teachers were mostly favorable to the PD design, there were several tensions between ideal and realistic forms of PD. Discussion: This research offers support for several characteristics of effective PD to support teachers’ implementation of a novel pedagogical approach and highlights the need to balance tensions in providing forms of PD that are both effective and practical.

scholarly journals Expanding social cognitive career theory : academic satisfaction of female students of color in STEM

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Chan Jeong Park
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Differences ◽  
Students Of Color ◽  
Social Cognitive Career Theory ◽  
Social Cognitive ◽  
Female Students ◽  
Career Theory ◽  
Academic Satisfaction ◽  
Three Samples ◽  
Social Cognitive Career ◽  
Racial Ethnic

Underrepresentation of women and students of color has been a longstanding issue in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Although the gender gap has narrowed in several STEM fields in recent years, female students, especially those of color, continue to face challenges in thriving in their chosen fields. The present study examined factors that contribute to these students' academic satisfaction, based on the satisfaction model of Social Cognitive Career Theory. Perceived discrimination and proactive personality were selected as an environmental obstacle and a person input in the model, respectively, as they were postulated to be especially relevant to these students. In addition, critical consciousness was included as an additional socio-cognitive variable. Data from 585 female college students of color (Mage = 21.42, SDage = 3.25; nBlack = 174, nLatina = 171, nAsian = 240) were collected through Qualtrics. Multigroup measurement invariance tests and multigroup sing were conducted to examine the racial/ethnic differences in constructs and their interrelationships. The findings showed that the three samples were equivalent at the scalar level and the proposed model fit the data from the three samples well. Significant racial/ethnic differences in several latent means and structural paths were observed. Theoretical, clinical, and institutional implications are discussed in light of the findings. Limitations and future research directions are also discussed.

Case Studies from the Inquiry Learning Forum

2010 ◽  
pp. 42-59
Author(s):  
Rebecca Scheckler
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Communities Of Practice ◽  
Community Of Practice ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Inquiry Learning ◽  
Online Professional Development ◽  
Future Trends ◽  
Online Tool ◽  
Development Tool ◽  
Electronic Tool

Two intense case studies were done of teachers using the Inquiry Learning Forum (ILF), an online space for professional development in inquiry pedagogies. Major findings included: The ILF initially conceived as an online professional development tool in the form of a Community of Practice (COP) was reconceived as an electronic tool within a larger space that included the online tool but also many co-present spaces pertinent to a teacher’s practice of inquiry pedagogy. These case studies also demonstrated the transformative nature of teachers engaging in a COP. Not only is the teacher changed but also the COP is changed by the practice. The cases demonstrated the need for teachers to feel disequilibrium in their practice before they are willing to engage in change of those practices. Lastly immersion in practice described as The Pedagogy of Poverty hampered one teacher’s progress in the ILF. These findings are based upon my empirical observations with the backdrop of John Dewey’s Theory of Inquiry and of Etienne Wenger’s concept of communities of Practice. Future trends in using online COPs for professional development need to look at practice in these terms where allowance for transaction, support outside the electronic space, and disequilibrium are considered.

Making Through the Lens of Culture and Power: Toward Transformative Visions for Educational Equity

2016 ◽  
Vol 86 (2) ◽  
pp. 206-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shirin Vossoughi ◽  
Paula K. Hooper ◽  
Meg Escudé
Keyword(s):  
Students Of Color ◽  
Educational Equity ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Maker Movement ◽  
Research And Teaching ◽  
Working Class Students ◽  
Sociopolitical Values ◽  
Pedagogical Philosophies ◽  
Research And Design ◽  
Oriented Research

In this essay, Shirin Vossoughi, Paula Hooper, and Meg Escudé advance a critique of branded, culturally normative definitions of making and caution against their uncritical adoption into the educational sphere. The authors argue that the ways making and equity are conceptualized can either restrict or expand the possibility that the growing maker movement will contribute to intellectually generative and liberatory educational experiences for working-class students and students of color. After reviewing various perspectives on making as educative practice, they present a framework that treats the following principles as starting points for equity-oriented research and design: critical analyses of educational injustice; historicized approaches to making as cross-cultural activity; explicit attention to pedagogical philosophies and practices; and ongoing inquiry into the sociopolitical values and purposes of making. These principles are grounded in their own research and teaching in the Tinkering Afterschool Program as well as in the insights and questions raised by critical voices both inside and outside the maker movement.

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