scholarly journals Professional Development and Moral Reasoning in Higher Education Graduate Programs

10.28945/4274 ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 383-401
Author(s):  
Pamela Felder ◽  
Kimberly A Kline ◽  
Debra Harmening ◽  
Tami Moore ◽  
Edward P. St. John
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Professional Development ◽  
Graduate Students ◽  
Moral Reasoning ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Cultural Awareness ◽  
Graduate Programs ◽  
Learning Framework ◽  
Critical Issues

Aim/Purpose: This work examines the role of professional development in higher education graduate programs through the use of reflective teaching approaches. We discuss the relevance of a professional development framework in supporting the exploration of moral reasoning in addressing challenges in the higher education profession. Background: Shifts in demographics within college university environments has resulted in increased diversity among students facilitating the need for professional development experiences that involve moral reasoning and self-reflection as resources to increase cultural awareness. Methodology: Case study overviews of higher education courses focused on supporting the development of graduate students’ professional interest illustrate ways moral reasoning can be examined to facilitate self-awareness as a professional skill and competency. Four teaching strategies reflect how professional learning can be used to shape students’ experiences, knowledge of critical issues, and understanding of organizational development in higher education. Contribution: This paper contributes to the knowledge of professional development in higher education graduate programs and the experiences faculty and graduate students. Findings: Strategies discussed provide a basis for further research to examine the role of professional learning framework in developing effective pedagogical strategies that facilitate moral reasoning, social justice, democratic values, and diversity. Previous research on the experiences of graduate students has not explicitly discussed the proposed professional learning framework across graduate student experiences. Recommendations for Practitioners: Administrators responsible for managing higher education graduate programs may find this work useful for understanding how moral reasoning can be used as tool for teaching professional development in graduate programs. Recommendation for Researchers: Researchers of professional development within graduate programs may find the use of moral reasoning helpful in understanding strategies that support facilitating discussions of critical issues related to cultural awareness. Impact on Society: Moral reasoning is an effective resource for building the professional insight and awareness needed for understanding multiple experiences in the workplace. Future Research: Additional research is needed to understand how moral reasoning could be used to support the professional development of higher education graduate students.

scholarly journals New Potential Solutions for Mentors in the Development of Physical Education Teachers

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
István Győri ◽  
József Márton Pucsok ◽  
Melinda Biró
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Professional Development ◽  
Teacher Education ◽  
Public Education ◽  
Physical Education ◽  
Physical Education Teachers ◽  
The Past ◽  
Key Aspects ◽  
Special Factors

  The Hungarian Educational System, the Higher Education also Teacher Education have been constantly changing over the past decades. According to the results of international and domestic examinations, there is an increasing need for new standards and approaches,  in the entire Public Education, especially Teacher Education sector. The purpose of our study was to examine the key aspects of the mentoring process in physical education. We were trying to identify those special factors and identify new trends in the area of physical education. What is the role of these factors in the process of professional development of a teacher.  

scholarly journals Professional development of sustainability competences in higher education

2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 697-714 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wim Lambrechts ◽  
Elli Verhulst ◽  
Sara Rymenams
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Professional Development ◽  
Change Process ◽  
Organisational Change ◽  
Constructivist Approach ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Political Analysis ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The University

Purpose This paper aims to provide insights into the relation between professional development (PD) and organisational change processes towards sustainability, with a specific focus on empowerment. Design/methodology/approach The paper builds upon a constructivist approach, combining a literature review, a desk research on key publications and reports and a socio-political analysis to reveal the specific context in Flanders, Belgium. Findings are then connected to earlier insights from research on organisational change for sustainability. Findings The paper provides a number of PD initiatives that focus on sustainability in general and in a single higher education (HE) institution. Framing such initiatives as an organisational change process offers insights on how elements of empowerment are currently incorporated in PD initiatives and how it can strengthen them to lead to the further integration of sustainability competences in HE. Research limitations/implications Limitations are linked with the kind of sources used in the constructivist approach. The analysis only looks at written reports on the topic, albeit it also builds upon the first-hand experiences of educators in the HE institution focused upon in the case. Practical implications There is a need to frame PD initiatives as an organisational change process towards sustainability with specific attention towards empowerment. Without this framing, PD approaches comprise the risk of being left in the margins or being understood as single initiatives without any connection to the bigger picture, i.e. the transition towards sustainability in HE. Social implications Interlinking PD and organisational change provides opportunities to frame the sustainability transition within the university in a wider societal context. Originality/value The paper provides an original contribution to the debate on sustainability competences, as it frames the PD within an organisational context, rather than focusing on the individual role of educators.

Creating Ongoing Online Support Communities through Social Networks to Promote Professional Learning

2013 ◽  
pp. 754-772
Author(s):  
Maria Elena Corbeil ◽  
Joseph Rene Corbeil
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Social Networking ◽  
Informal Learning ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Online Support ◽  
Graduate Courses ◽  
Professional Network ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Impact

Professionals who want to remain competitive in their fields are turning to Web 2.0 to learn the knowledge and skills they need in order to do their work more efficiently and effectively. Through a detailed description of how one instructor transformed his online graduate courses into dynamic, interactive, ongoing online learning communities that extended beyond the classroom, this chapter provides academics and practitioners a model for establishing a professional network that learners can participate in, and replicate in their workplaces for their professional development and informal learning. An overview of the role of social networking in creating professional development and informal learning opportunities for cognitive apprenticeship, knowledge brokering, and ongoing online support communities, as well as the results of a survey conducted on students’ perceptions of the impact of the social networking strategies and tools on their professional development and informal learning in and out of class will also be discussed.

The Role of a WhatsApp Group of a Professional Learning Community of Chemistry Teachers in the Development of Their Knowledge

2019 ◽  
pp. 117-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ron Blonder ◽  
Ruth Waldman
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Professional Learning Community ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
Online Communication ◽  
Knowledge Development ◽  
Communication Behavior ◽  
Chemistry Teachers

The authors analyze chemistry teachers' discourse in a WhatsApp group. This online communication platform is used for continually studying the communication behavior of leading chemistry teachers who are members of a professional learning community (PLC). They describe the network of chemistry teachers' PLC in Israel, which provides the context for the study. WhatsApp enables sustained ongoing, intensive interaction, and sharing of knowledge that is practical, directly related to the members' needs, and is participant driven and constructivist in nature. A theoretical perspective of teachers' knowledge and professional development (PD) was developed in 2015 by Gess-Newsome, which was applied to examine the mechanism underlying teachers' knowledge development.

The Ethos of Online Publishing

2019 ◽  
pp. 884-901
Author(s):  
Joe Erickson ◽  
Kristine Blair
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Graduate Students ◽  
Team Development ◽  
Academic Publishing ◽  
Online Publishing ◽  
Development Team ◽  
Curricular Development ◽  
Digital Texts ◽  
Print Publications

This chapter argues that online academic journals are not only a legitimate venue and sustainable source of disciplinary inquiry, but an important professional development opportunity for graduate students as future faculty and are therefore crucial to maintaining a discipline's ethos. The authors begin by reviewing the ethos of individually produced print publications in the humanities, paying particular attention to the value such publications hold in helping scholars earn tenure and promotion. The authors then posit that efforts within the rhetoric and writing scholarly community to recognize the collaborative nature of multimodal digital texts and to advocate for the collaborative production of such digital texts, which has helped such scholarship achieve a higher level of ethos over the past two decades. Emphasizing the role of graduate students in these ongoing efforts, the authors conclude by recommending three benchmarks developing and advanced scholars should implement to increase their own professional development and thus the ethos of online academic publishing: curricular development, team development, and dissertation research.

Creating Meaningful Research for Graduate Students to Prevent Degree Abandonment

2018 ◽  
pp. 152-171
Author(s):  
Amy L. Sedivy-Benton
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Graduate Students ◽  
Graduate Programs ◽  
Institutions Of Higher Education ◽  
Diverse Population ◽  
Graduate Degree ◽  
Advanced Degrees ◽  
Graduate Research ◽  
Brick And Mortar ◽  
Meaningful Research

Advanced degrees are becoming more valuable in the workplace. In turn, institutions of higher education are providing multiple venues for students to obtain advanced degrees. These venues tend to reach a population beyond those who would have attended a traditional brick and mortar institution. This reaches students from a variety of backgrounds, and institutions are trying to adjust and accommodate this newly recruited and diverse population. The expectations of graduate programs have not changed; students are to emerge from these programs with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to partake in research on their own. However, these students are limited on the readiness they possess to conduct graduate research. This in turn results in attrition from the program and leaving behind their opportunity for a graduate degree. This chapter provides an overview of the skills and issues of graduate students and a discussion of how those issues affect students finding success in graduate programs. The chapter concludes with suggestions and recommendations for addressing these issues.

Introducing Educational Technology into the Higher Education Environment

2016 ◽  
pp. 81-91
Author(s):  
Linda Van Ryneveld
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Professional Development ◽  
Educational Technology ◽  
Capacity Building ◽  
Education System ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Development Framework ◽  
Education Environment ◽  
Roll Out

Over the past decade or two advancements in educational technology have taken place so swiftly that it threatens to revolutionize the education system. This phenomena seem to drive higher education institutions to respond with costly roll out plans that bring state of the art computing hard- and software, together with other highly specialized educational technologies, to their campuses. The dilemma is that these investments in educational technology are often made in isolation, without consideration for imperative aspects such as professional development. To progress, educators need to acquire the skills, knowledge and attitudes necessary to make optimal use of the technology. This can be achieved, among other, by means of well-structured professional development programmes. In this chapter the author explores the role of educational technology in higher education and establishes the need for capacity building by means of carefully designed professional development programmes. It furthermore suggests an alternative professional development framework.

scholarly journals The role of leadership in developing and sustaining teachers' professional learning

2011 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 149-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fiona King
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Prominent Feature ◽  
Disadvantaged Schools ◽  
Key Features ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Education Discourse ◽  
Specific Contribution

A prominent feature of education discourse relating to teachers' practice has been the call for increased emphasis on professional development (PD). This paper is part of a wider project which explored the impact of a collaborative PD initiative on teachers' teaching and learning in five urban disadvantaged schools in Ireland. It focused on the impact of PD and critically on sustainability from which emerged important issues of leadership. This article focuses on the specific contribution that leadership made to the sustainability of the practices in the schools. It aims to identify three key features of how principals contribute to sustaining PD practices.

scholarly journals New Potential Solutions for Mentors in the Development of Physical Education Teachers

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
István Győri ◽  
József Márton Pucsok ◽  
Melinda Biró
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Professional Development ◽  
Teacher Education ◽  
Public Education ◽  
Physical Education ◽  
Physical Education Teachers ◽  
The Past ◽  
Key Aspects ◽  
Special Factors

  The Hungarian Educational System, the Higher Education also Teacher Education have been constantly changing over the past decades. According to the results of international and domestic examinations, there is an increasing need for new standards and approaches,  in the entire Public Education, especially Teacher Education sector. The purpose of our study was to examine the key aspects of the mentoring process in physical education. We were trying to identify those special factors and identify new trends in the area of physical education. What is the role of these factors in the process of professional development of a teacher.  

scholarly journals Learning to Teach in Higher Education for Sustainable Professional Development

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-41
Author(s):  
Bibi Haroon ◽  
N. B. Jumani ◽  
Kehkashan Arouj
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Professional Development ◽  
Knowledge Exchange ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
Professional Status ◽  
Chi Square ◽  
University Teachers ◽  
Academic Management ◽  
Chi Square Test

The role of teacher in higher education is very complex. It is recognized that academicians have a greater responsibility to pursue excellence in several directions including leadership, academic management, teaching skills, pursuing scholarships, research and knowledge exchange, supervision, and many more to maintain their professional status.  Academic practice is a term to encompass all these sides. The main objective of the study is to take the views of the teachers about the participation in different learning opportunities and to see their effect for sustainable professional development of university teachers. All the teachers of public sector universities in Islamabad and Rawalpindi encompass the population of the study. Using purposive sampling technique, data was collected through questionnaires. Chi-square test through SPSS was applied to analyze the data.  Data was presented in the form of tables, percentage with graphs and the results were interpreted accordingly.

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