Traditional Teacher Evaluation Models

Student achievement has become one of the main focal points regarding education across the United States. With this intense focus on students, teachers are thrust unwillingly into the spotlight. Teacher practices and student outcomes have become the new norm for evaluation in PK-12 education. That method of evaluation is crossing over into teacher preparation programs as attempts are being made to connect the quality of a teacher preparation program to the performance of those graduates in the classroom. This chapter focuses on the current trends that exist for both pre-service teachers as well as teachers of record. A brief history is examined as well as issues that currently exist within these structures. The chapter concludes with the implications of these practices and suggestions for future trends and recommendations for evaluating teachers at both the pre-service experience level and when they are employed in the classroom.

Artful Learning

This chapter begins with a critique of traditional models of curriculum development as overly rigid, fragmented, and disconnected from the true nature of the learner. Holistic learning is described as engaging the mind, body, heart, and spirit of the learner in relationship to the learning environment. Holistic learning is earth-centered, participatory, and inclusive of the cultural context of the learners. These various learning domains and their relationship to curriculum are discussed, including the application of learning from indigenous communities. Several examples of arts-based and creative learning activities are offered along with holistic ways of developing learning objectives and assessing learning.

Dynamics of Informal Learning in Two Local Markets in Ile-Ife, Southwest Nigeria

In this chapter, the authors report on a recently concluded research study of the nature of adult informal learning in two local markets in Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Through case study research design, the authors explore what adult buyers and sellers learn as they interact in two local markets, who learned from who, and how they acquire the specific learning experiences identified. They examine the factors that drove learning and provide an explanation, a substantive theory of informal learning in the two local markets, which they name Communication, Value, and Profit (CVP).

Online Education Programs for Adult Learners in Higher Education

To serve a significant portion of the student population, adult learners, in the academy in the 21st century, this chapter argues that online education (e-learning) has the potential to open wider the door to greater access and advancement for learners across their life spans than the traditional four walled classroom. Some of the major issues revolving around online education and adult learners, such as policy, access, completion, and equity, are addressed in this chapter. The purpose of this chapter is to identify future technology trends, and then show how we can rely on practice and research to harness the great yet untapped potential of online education to promote online education programs, especially among adult learners. Policy, access, completion, and equity must be well addressed if online adult education is to be employed effectively and efficiently.

Mentoring in Graduate Education

The purpose of this chapter is to examine and analyze the concepts of power, critical reflection, and potential for transformative learning in graduate mentoring models and programs, exploring research and models that reflect these concepts in their program design and “curriculum” for mentoring. The chapter concludes with an analysis of two mentoring models/programs and suggestions for future research and practice in mentoring in higher educational institutions that may lead to transformative learning among mentors and participants in these programs.

Expanding the Discourse of Identity in the English Language Arts Curriculum

The English Language Arts (ELA) curriculum in United States (US) schools is failing students from ethnically and economically diverse communities. Standards for ELA have been accused of perpetuating inequality and causing a spiral of marginalization to continue for diverse learners. The current conceptualization of ELA and literacy does not reflect the complex set of diverse social, cultural, and linguistic dynamics inside and outside the classroom that influence the curriculum. Changes in the literacy curriculum need to be made that mirror changes in the world. The present chapter proposes an ELA curriculum that is flexible enough to respond to the socio-cultural synergy between language, identity, and power to combat diverse learner school resistance, misevaluation, and barriers to higher levels of literacy knowledge. There is an urgent need for a curriculum based on a universal and dynamic curriculum that acknowledges the identity and needs of each student. Our theoretical framework is based on the classic works of Piaget and Vygotsky and traces the history of ELA research from the deficit-based theories regarding the oral-literate continuum to the inclusive research design and pedagogy of “new literacies.” Being cognizant of myriad reading and cognitive development theories is needed to guide ELA educators in teaching reading and literacy. We need to go beyond blaming students to transforming and expanding the ELA curriculum through critique and reflection. The ELA curriculum must itself be potentially transformative in that it will embrace diverse learner discourses and identities by integrating rather than assimilating diverse learners into the classroom.

Designing Online Curriculum for Adult Learners

The Digital Age has brought change and automation to almost every aspect of our lives, and learning is no exception. This chapter considers adult learners engaged in online higher education. The purpose of this chapter is to present a framework for designing adult learner-friendly eLearning in higher education settings. What pedagogy is most effective for facilitating eLearning? What emerging trends will influence eLearning? This chapter introduces the challenges of living and learning with technology, considers the impact of technology on teaching and learning, examines the characteristics of online learners and online learning, offers strategies for designing and facilitating eLearning in higher education, and muses about future research directions.

Using Creativity to Facilitate an Engaged Classroom

Student achievement, learning, and engagement are at the forefront of the educational concerns for both school administrators and teachers. While it seems to be common knowledge that engaged students tend to retain more from the lesson, a bigger question is how does a teacher create lessons that lead to this engagement? How can teachers structure these learning experiences in a creative way to obtain their objectives? One approach to this is by designing lessons with creative brainstorming to promote different ways of thinking. Creativity is the springboard that allows for critical thinking and engagement. The first instance of this should be in the planning of lessons. This chapter demonstrates how a simple lesson can be redesigned through creative practices and concludes with a checklist that can be used by school administrators, program coordinators, and teachers to quickly evaluate how engaging and creative their teaching truly is.

Andragogical Curriculum for Equipping Successful Facilitators of Andragogy in Numerous Contexts

This chapter addresses a curriculum definition, especially as it relates to preparing teachers to be successful in working with adult learners. The main thrust is to clearly articulate some of the major elements needed to help the art and science of helping adults learn the ideas and practices of that process and be as consistent/congruent as feasible. Reciprocity among empathy, trust, and sensitivity are considered to be crucial in the teaching and learning exchange. Competence and experience in andragogy is important even to the extent of selecting and using various techniques and methods in the learning experience, whether used with learners in higher-order thinking or used with lower-level learners. Techniques the author has found helpful are: mixing a lecture with discussion of questions raised by learners in response to content of the lecture; encouraging and giving learners opportunity to take more responsibility for their learning, thus becoming more self-directed; varying one's approach for accommodating different learning styles each learner possesses; looking at a perspective of learning in various areas/pillars of life – being, knowing, doing, living together, changing, and developing sustainability. A true story is provided illustrating a principle of andragogy – doing in practice the same thing one believes and says.

Impact of Technological Advancement on the Higher Education Curriculum and Program Development

The current educational structure was created in response to the demands of an industrial society, which, alongside workers, needed an elite of highly educated professionals. The knowledge revolution accelerated this trend: professionals are now not only the people who “have” the knowledge, but they should be also able to find it quickly and efficiently, and have the skills to apply knowledge in new situations, extending the scope of their initial field of expertise. With massive growth of free open educational resources, knowledge became available and accessible to everyone with a simple Internet connection. All these conditions currently call into question the role and operationalization of educational processes in Higher Education, since universities are no longer the one central source of knowledge generation. In this chapter, the authors analyze the current situation in Higher Education, in terms of why a demand for transformation of educational models has been almost entirely unable to generate sustainable changes in curriculum development. Aside from theoretical foundations, the authors also analyze literature and what the practitioners have to say in that respect. The ultimate goal of this chapter is to set the basis for an analytical framework for discussions about the transformative process of Higher Education in order to be able to bring curriculum development a step forward, in a sustainable way.