Massive Open Online Courses: A Source of Effective Professional Development for In-service Teachers

The ever-changing needs of society justify the necessity for teachers to engage in continuous learning. Teachers are encouraged to participate in professional development activities that will help them develop the knowledge and skills that are required to meet the needs of a 21st century society. It is recognised that access to professional development has increased since Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) became an option for in-service teachers who traditionally found it difficult to access certain professional development activities because of distance and lack of convenience.A survey was administered to 72 respondents to capture the experiences of in-service teachers from the Caribbean, who participated in a MOOC offered by the Inter-American Teacher Education Network (ITEN). The survey explored the MOOC participants’ perception of the MOOC as a source of professional development, as well as the extent to which they applied the content learnt in the ITEN MOOC. The findings of this research show that 95% of the participants perceived the ITEN MOOC to be an effective source of professional development and were able to apply the content to their professional context. The findings further suggest that MOOCs across the globe provide an opportunity for in-service teachers to forge partnerships and establish learning communities that will improve their professional knowledge and skills.

Identifying and Distinguishing Among Teachers’ Supplementary Curriculum Use Patterns Using the Lasso

Research has shown that officially-adopted textbooks comprise only a small part of teachers’ enacted curriculum. Teachers often supplement their core textbooks with unofficial materials, but empirical study of teacher curriculum supplementation is relatively new and underdeveloped. Grounding our work in the Teacher Curriculum Supplementation Framework, we use data from two state-representative teacher surveys to describe different supplement use patterns and explore their correlates. (We use RAND’s American Teacher Panel survey of K-12 ELA teachers, representative of Louisiana, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, and Harvard’s National Evaluation of Curriculum Effectiveness survey of fourth and fifth grade math teachers, representative of California, Louisiana, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, and Washington.) We find evidence of four distinct supplement use patterns. We then predict each pattern, producing sparse models using the lasso estimator. We find that teacher-, school-, and textbook-level characteristics are predictive of teachers’ supplement use, suggesting that it may be affected by structures and policies beyond the individual teacher. We recommend researchers use consistent measures to explore the causes and consequences of supplementation.

School Internal Organisation as a Correlate of Teachers’ Attrition and Retention in Bauchi Metropolis Secondary Schools, Nigerian

This paper studied school internal organisation as a correlate of teachers’ attrition and retention in Bauchi metropolis secondary schools. To determine the extent to which compensation and benefits as relates to teachers’ attrition and retention is among the objectives of the study. Correlational research design was adopted. The population of the study consisted of all teachers’ of public secondary schools in Bauchi State. A sample of 50 was selected using table for determining sample size by research Advisor. The simple random sampling technique was employed in selecting the sample. A questionnaire was adapted from modified MetLife Survey of the American Teacher instrument from 2006 and UNESCO (2014), titled “Determinants of Teachers Attrition and Retention (DETAREQ)”. The validity of the instrument was ascertained. A reliability of .71 obtained using Cronbach Alpha. A multiple regression was used to analyzed data obtained. The results showed that Compensation and benefit has positive relationship with Teachers attrition and retention to a large extent. Therefore, Refresher courses /Training, Seminars /workshops should be organized by the Ministry of Education to sensitize and educate teachers to change their mentality and provide them other benefits to attract and keep them in the profession, were recommendations made among others.

Investigating an International Exchange of Best Practices

As educators, it is the responsibility of teacher librarians to prepare students to become productive and responsible members of society. In this age of information, jobs require cognitive, personal, and interpersonal skills such as “innovative thinking and solving skills, effective communication skills, teamwork, and the ability to manage information effectively” (AASL, 2009, p. 7). In order to prepare students for living and working in today’s world, traditional instructional practices and beliefs of teacher librarianship have to change and adapt to meet the needs of the learners. This research investigates an international exchange of best practices between German and American teacher librarians as an effort to learn about changing practices of teacher librarians. The context of institutional ethnography offers a critical approach for understanding the institution that is teacher librarianship and the organization of professional practices of teacher librarians on an international level.

Determination and Persistence: Building the African American Teacher Corps through Summer and Intermittent Teaching, 1860s-1890s

This paper explores trends in summer and intermittent teaching practices among African American students in the post-Civil War South, focusing on student activities in the field, the institutions they attended, and the communities they served. Transitioning out of the restrictions and impoverishment of slavery while simultaneously seeking to support themselves and others was an arduous and tenuous process. How could African American youth and young adults obtain the advanced education they sought while sustaining themselves in the process? Individual and family resources were limited for most, while ambitions, both personal and racial, loomed large. Teaching, widely recognized as a means to racial uplift, was the future occupation of choice for many of these students.

Pedagogical aspect of the formation of critical thinking in students of philosophy and theology

The purpose of the article is to reveal and form pedagogical tools for development of critical thinking of students who study philosophy and theology. Alternative variants existing in pedagogy and philosophy are considered for wider analysis of the subject. Critical thinking is considered from the pedagogical point of view, but is focused and addressed more for teaching students who study philosophical and theological subjects. The article emphasizes not just the ability to receive information but also to critically evaluate it, comprehend and practically apply. Students can get tools to consider information from various points of view, and to draw conclusions about its value and accuracy. For these purposes, the first part of the article contains the analysis of the pedagogical model of the American teacher Robert H. Ennis, in which he suggests some phases of development of critical thinking for learning, namely to care that views and decisions are justified, to be able to introduce your own position and the position of others, and to respect opinions and dignity. The article also introduces and considers a position of the prominent American psychologist Diane Halpern, who is developing a critical thinking program in the USA and is introducing her own model in which she thinks that developing a habit to think critically is no less important than developing a habit to think. The psychologist describes the following qualities of a critically thinking person: readiness for planning, flexibility, persistence, readiness for correcting mistakes, awareness, and search for compromise solutions.This work also presents a technology called “Critical Thinking Development” designed by the International Reading Association of the University of Northern Iowa and the colleges of Hobard and William Smith. The authors of the program are Charles Temple, Ginny Steele, and Kurt Meredith. The peculiarity of this technology is in the presented idea of “three phases of challenge” for critical thinking development for students of philosophy and theology. The last part of this article points out what is not considered to be critical thinking. The author refers to the works on critical thinking by Dr. David J. Klooster.

Early Career African American Teachers and the Impact of Administrative Support

This study examined the mobility trends of African American public-school teachers. Guided by the integration of critical race theory and organization theory, this study used longitudinal data from the National Center for Education Statistics to explore how race and organizational climate predict African American teacher mobility. Using a quantitative descriptive study with logistic regression to determine which characteristics impact African American early career teachers’ decision to stay in the profession, findings suggest alarming trends in African American teacher mobility and opportunities for school leadership to have a greater role in retaining African American early career teachers.

Rethinking Racial, Ethnoracial, and Imperial Categories: Key Concepts in Comparative Race Studies in the History of Education

While researching racially segregated education, I came across speeches delivered in the 1940s by two educational leaders—one a black man and the other a Native American man. G. B. Buster, a longtime African American teacher, implored his African American listeners to work with white Americans on enforcing equal rights for all. A few years before Buster delivered his speech, Henry Roe Cloud (Winnebago), a Native American educator, was more critical of white Americans, specifically the federal government, which he blamed for destroying American Indian cultures. At the same time, Roe Cloud praised more recent federal efforts to preserve cultural practices, study traditions before they completely disappeared, and encourage self-government among Native American tribes.

The lens of native-speakerism: Understanding the lived experiences of a Japanese American teacher

Donna Fujimoto also touches on these issues of native-speakerism while discussing the field of English language teaching from the standpoint of a Japanese-American working in Japan.