Search

Previous research has identified the importance of teacher attitudes and self-efficacy in supporting inclusive education. This study involved a multi-national exploration of a further dimension of inclusive education, collective efficacy, through the testing of a new tool, the Teacher Efficacy for Inclusive Practice-Collective (TEIP-C) Scale. The study also aimed to investigate whether teacher attitudes, self-efficacy, collective efficacy and intention to teach in inclusive classrooms differ across countries. Participants included 1,523 teachers from Canada, Greece, Italy and Switzerland. Results suggested a two-factor structure for the TEIP-C, Engagement, and Inclusive Pedagogies, with strong internal consistency for the scale. Several differences across countries were identified, with teachers from Italy reporting more positive attitudes towards inclusion and a greater intention to teach in inclusive classrooms. Implications of the study in terms of further strengthening inclusive practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The student experience with mathematical modelling has the potential to differ in nature to the experience of a typical mathematics student. The research reported in this paper forms part of a broader study looking into tertiary learning experiences for mathematical modelling. This paper reports on: What are the student experiences when learning to mathematically model? How might these experiences inform mathematics education? Data were collected across two different tertiary mathematical modelling courses in the form of student interviews. Student interviews were analysed, using reflective thematic analysis, to identify themes relating to the collective student learning experience. The results show that modelling provides an opportunity for students to be actively involved with their learning. Being open-minded was a key behaviour for a productive student experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since its original publication, this article has received tremendous interest on the Intellect website as well as through other platforms. Attending to a/r/tography as practice-based research through stories in motion, the authors explore becoming-artist, becoming-researcher and becoming-teacher as a métissage approach of weaving layered stories alongside and through one another. Together, as co-labourers, the authors enact coming to understand their own as well as their collective learning through processes of practising, theorizing and materializing their work. Permeating these practices is a commitment to emergence as evidenced through a/r/tographic states of intensity, events and movement. The result is an exemplar of a/r/tography with an appeal to many a/r/tographers desiring to experience becoming-a/r/tography and who wish to deeply impact their own art education practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through a process of action research with a non-religious organization, this article provides a foundation for the characteristics of a secular discernment process. Importantly, we argue that discernment can be conceptualized as a process of entwined individual unlearning and collective relearning. Our action research study contributes to both the discernment and the unlearning literatures by unpacking how discernment encourages a process of individual unlearning – which our study suggests entails a process of 'setting aside' and reflexive-distancing from a priori individual knowledge – to be more open and receptive to new ways of emergent collective re-learning. The process of unlearning – and the behavioural norms and routines that are central to discernment – underscores the collective relearning process. The article concludes with future pathways for research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim(s): The aim of this paper is to provide a reflective account of using Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) and Developmental Work Research (DWR) when exploring the research culture of one EP service in Scotland. Method/Rationale: Previous research completed within the Educational Psychology Service (EPS) recommended to explore in more detail how Educational Psychologist’s (EPs) were engaging with research. Thus, three DWR workshops based on the principles of CHAT and the cycle of expansive learning (Engeström, 2015) acted as in intervention to achieve this. Each of these workshops lasted a half day and created a discourse around the role of research in our service delivery. Findings: Key insights from using DWR as a means of furthering organisational change are presented. These include the unique benefits that CHAT and DWR bring to complex systems as opposed to other approaches and how collective learning during the workshops led to a concrete outcome for the EPS. I will argue for the benefits of using DWR to reconceptualise persistent tensions within the profession whilst reflecting on the difficulties of applying these methodologies to practice. Limitations: Colleagues provided positive feedback from the process but there were little in-built methods of evaluation during the workshops. Furthermore, this was my first attempt at utilising DWR to elicit change and so the main stages of DWR were not fully explored. Conclusion: DWR offers a framework to reconceptualise persistent tensions within organisations. Its collaborative approach, grounded in psychology, allows for co-production of goals and for articulation of the EP role with regards to research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article considers the factors of development of the teacher's spiritual image. The causes of these problems were analyzed and recommendations for their elimination were developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Suellen Shay's research focused extensively on both the challenges of creating socially-just higher education curricula and the knowledge and practices of the field of educational development. Shay's work highlights the important ways in which curricula define what it means to be educated and the importance of socially-just curricula that provide all students with the opportunity to participate in and succeed through higher education. In order to meet the challenging agenda this creates for curriculum transformation, there is a need to rethink the focus of educational development in higher education. I argue that an important implication of Shay's work is to shift educational development from a focus on the development of individual teachers to focus on the collective creation of socially-just curricula. I explore the implications of this change for understanding the practices and priorities of educational development in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study is a collective self-study on how we as 15 teacher educators at a university in Norway tried to improve our teaching through working with cases with the aim of better supporting student teachers in making links between theory and practice. We wanted to address the common criticism in teacher education concerning a perceived gap between practice and theory. Our presupposition was that one way to prepare student teachers for work and bring together theoretical and practical knowledge would be through case-based teaching. We agreed that we wanted to try different ways of working with cases and to follow our own actions with research and conduct a self-study. Throughout the project, each teacher educator experienced to learn about case-based teaching, but our joint learning was limited due to practical issues and lack of time. With teacher education as a shared responsibility, our conclusion is that teacher educators need time to develop as a team, not only as individual teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Iskolakultúra is the property of University of Szeged, Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Sustainability initiatives in higher education are growing in importance. This case study may guide faculty at other institutions seeking to gain deeper insight into the state of sustainability education where they work. Members of the Vancouver Island University Sustainability Advisory Committee hosted a workshop for faculty members, students and staff to explore how sustainability is incorporated into teaching and learning at the institution, to share perspectives, and examine ways to enhance individual and collective pedagogical practices. A World Café posed four questions for participants to answer as they rotated between tables. The resulting qualitative data were content analysed and interpreted. Key themes and categories from data concerning participants' successes and inspirations while teaching and learning at Vancouver Island University (VIU), challenges and barriers in blending sustainability into coursework, faculty's perceptions of student perspectives of sustainability in VIU courses and about resources and opportunities to integrate sustainability in interdisciplinary courses are reported and discussed. This case study differs from others in that it does not describe an evaluation of a programme but, rather, explicates a process by faculty working at a new university to elicit information from their peers and develop networks that will engage the university in interdisciplinary sustainability for years to come. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing effective parent–teacher relationships in music lessons is important for the well-being and learning outcomes of the learners. The aim of this collective case study was to explore the relationship between teachers and parents of pre-school children in group music lessons in the Klang Valley, which is an area in West Malaysia centred on Kuala Lumpur. It includes the neighbouring cities and towns in the state of Selangor. Interviews were conducted with nine parents and three teachers of three group music classes for pre-school children. The results point to the values and attitudes that parents and teachers hold and the interactions between them that both encouraged and discouraged parent–teacher partnerships, which are relationships where trust, reciprocity, mutuality, shared goals and decision making are essential characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article talks about dramatic art and cultural policy under the Reign of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1799-1815 (Consulate) and the French Empire by mentioning about French literature and work of French authors. Topics discussed include theater as the most effective means of collective education and political propaganda, report of playwright Marie Joseph Chénie about the relations of literature to cultural policies and to political authorities; and reading of the literary and dramatic production by poet Victor Hugo.

Resume. Introduction. In epoch of global social, economic and demographic crisis a problem of the health level of the population, its maintenance and incresing becomes more relevant. It is a sociomedical problem that requires an immediate solution. It causes a need for the development of a system of education of physical therapists to be. The aim of the study is to develop and scientifically prove the theoretical concepts of methodical system of education of physical therapists to be. Materials and methods. To secure the aim a set of research methods is used. In particular, the authors used theoretical methods: historical-comparative and logical, terminological, quantitative-qualitative (bibliometry), generalization, analysis and synthesis, modeling; empirical: observation and interview. Conclusions. The authors developed and theoretically proved the methodical system of education of physical therapeutists to be at higher educational institutions. The system includes the principles of active approach; the ideas of cognitive theory about the model types of of cognitive activity, in particular the idea that an education is a process of formation of thinking; the idea of competence approach about the opportunity of objective quantitative assessment of the level of readiness according to the proved targets of educaction; the conception of collective education the essence of which lies in creating of specific conditions for exchange of information, knowledge and experience of the students; the conception of problem education the essence of which lies in acquiring of knowledge and skills in process of professional activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this instrumental case study was to explore the extent to which Dalcroze-inspired activities can facilitate collective learning in a Swedish choir as a community of musical practice (CoMP). The research intervention was undertaken with an established, professional Swedish choir in Göteborg, the Amanda Sångensemblen. Data sources included in-depth semi-structured interviews, researcher field notes, observations and video recordings of rehearsals and concerts. The data were analysed within the conceptual framework of the social theory of collective learning as conceived by Wenger [1998. Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning and Identity. New York: Cambridge University Press] and developed by Murillo [2011. Communities of Practice in the Business and Organization Studies Literature. Information Research 16 (1). http://InformationR.net/ir/16-1/paper464.html]. The findings expanded the theoretical framework of collective learning by developing superordinate themes of learning. It was found that not only Dalcroze-inspired activities but also the way of thinking and the rehearsal atmosphere all formed a part of the collective learning experiences of the Amanda choir as a CoMP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This classroom-based study examined the effect of collective peer scaffolding activity on self-revised as well as new narrative and descriptive paragraphs developed by 32 EFL university students in a paragraph writing course in Iran. Each genre was discussed and practiced every other week and was followed by a collective peer scaffolding session. For each genre, learners were required to develop a 150-word paragraph in two drafts (preand post-collective scaffolding activity) and email them to their lecturer within five days before the next sessions were held. During collective scaffolding sessions representative learners were asked to write their paragraphs on board while other students scaffolded solutions to the problems they noticed in the paragraphs written on board. The analyses of the students" pre- and post-collective peer scaffolding drafts and new developed paragraphs revealed that although the activity improved learners" self-revised drafts, its effect on new developed paragraphs was inconclusive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article introduces a strategy to diversify the teaching workforce through decentering teacher education as the primary stakeholder in the preparation of diverse teachers. The article expands the focus on teacher recruitment and retention by proposing a model that counters the educational context of White supremacy through Grow Your Own (GYO) programs. Using a critical race theory (CRT) orientation to educator development, this article introduces the national Grow Your Own Collective (GYOC) as an advocacy and support network for locally tailored collaborations to recruit, prepare, place, and retain culturally rooted teachers of color. In clarifying how GYOC applies CRT as an operational framework for preparing teachers to teach within historically underresourced school systems, the article defines GYO programs, shares nationwide models, and argues that collaborations between community-based organizations, districts, schools, and higher education partners are essential to disrupt institutionally racist practices. The article ultimately argues for a reconceptualization of teacher preparation processes to more fully recognize and address institutionalized racism at the K-12, collegiate, and community levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article highlights the interactional work involved in relational aggression, and how rules and norms around sitting are used by students to achieve exclusion and dominance. This research took place in an English secondary school which educates pupils from Year 7 to sixth form (ages 11-18). Drawing on observation, walk-and-talk and group discussion data with Year 9 students (age 13-14), this research highlights how the girls developed shared rules and norms around sitting which, while seemingly reasonable and applied equally to all, are seen to facilitate and legitimise exclusion and relational aggression. Girls from different social groups collaboratively constructed and participated in a system of rules which were then utilised for dominance and exclusion by regulating where, when and how girls sat. Sitting is seen to be an important marker of ownership, both of people and places, as well as a group management tool within student social groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Matéria Prima is the property of Revista Meteria Prima and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Religious Studies / Dini Araştırmalar is the property of Diyanet Isleri Baskanligi Yayinlari and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Practices such as making connections between topics, prioritizing content, and identifying broad themes are essential to learning mathematics. This paper describes a project designed to integrate these synthesizing activities into an abstract algebra class. Students used a classroom wall to record and organize their collective learning and developing knowledge, with an emphasis on visual connections. The evolution of the wall reflected the development of students’ thinking throughout the course, and helped to personalize the classroom space. Suggestions for implementing similar projects in different courses and spaces are also included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although scholars have acknowledged the role of collaborative relationships of teachers in improving the quality of instruction, teacher collective efficacy continues to be a neglected construct in educational research. The purpose of this paper is to explore the relations between transformational school leadership, teacher self-efficacy and perceived collective teacher efficacy, using a sample of 120 permanent secondary-school teachers in Serbia, whose average age was 42.5. The results of the hierarchical regression analysis showed that transformational school leadership and teacher self-efficacy were independent predictors of teacher collective efficacy. The research findings also showed that individually-focused transformational leadership contributed significantly to an explanation of collective efficiency after controlling specific predictor effects of group-focused dimensions of transformational leadership. It is argued that the results have a double meaning. First, this study expanded the understanding of the relationship between different dimensions of transformational school leadership and collective teacher efficacy. Second, a contribution of teacher self-efficacy to collective efficacy beliefs was established, confirming the assumptions of social cognitive theory on reciprocal causality between two types of perceived efficacy: individual and collective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Spanish Journal of Comparative Education / Revista Española de Educación Comparada is the property of Editorial UNED and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Incident reporting systems (IRSs) are used in many organisations as tools that promote safety by allowing to collectively learn from incidents. In this paper, we propose a social constructivist approach to learning from incidents, in which the focus is not purely on safety, but on the technology of incident reporting itself. We employ Wiebe Bijker’s work on the Social Construction of Technology to open up the analysis of a specific IRS in use at the Belgian Nuclear Research Center. For this purpose, we carried out 28 interviews with key local actors and collected documents and observation notes. Such social constructivist perspective provides detailed insight into the practices of reporting and the meanings of learning from incidents. Our research shows that various actors within the organisation frame the IRS differently. These framings each have their own implications for the vulnerability of the organisation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Entrepreneurship literature has proven the efficacy of an experiential and collaborative learning approach that promotes entrepreneurial capabilities, that is, risk-taking, positive thinking, vision, intuitive decision-making, creative problem-solving, managing interdependency, tolerating ambiguity and innovation. To advance this, we propose a Deleuzian-inspired theoretical framework for entrepreneurship learning around innovation based on a rhizomatic perspective. We offer an illustrative case and identify the advantages and challenges of a rhizomatic approach to learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This narrative delineates the International, Australian and Queensland settings, between 1940 and 1970 that impeded the development of endodontology and evidence-based endodontic practice. It explores the genesis of the Endodontic Study Club of Brisbane between 1964 and 1970. Pioneers' contributions to endodontology in Australia, together with contemporaneous problems, are identified. The author used literature review and historic method. The historical and constitutional backgrounds contributed to the disjointed origins of the Australian Society of Endodontology, which were networked but autonomous study clubs that appeared in capital cities between 1960 and 1965. This was an era when dental education in Queensland was emerging from serious problems. Brown and Simpson liaised with Ehrmann and established the Endodontic Study Club of Brisbane. Members of the Endodontic Study Club of Brisbane were collegiate, disciplined, few, innovative, insular, isolated and visionary. Membership demanded a commitment to self-education, collective learning and peer review. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to rapidly evolving Information System (IS) technologies, instructors find themselves stuck in the constant game of catching up. On the same hand students find their skills obsolete almost as soon as they graduate. As part of IS curriculum and education, we need to emphasize more on teaching the students 'how to learn' while keeping the curriculum up to date. Toward this direction, we develop collective learning extension leveraging social media and implement in three IS courses at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Collective learning extension is adaptable to existing learning paradigms. Collective learning extension is not a new learning paradigm but it is supporting the existing learning paradigms. Collective learning extension creates a curriculum development strategy that produces a nimble curriculum adaptive to the rapidly evolving technologies. It encourages collaborative and participatory learning among students and promotes self-learning, critical thinking, and non-linear learning skills. Collective learning extension emphasizes teamwork, coordination, and strengthening interpersonal skills, preparing the students as the next-generation workforce. Collective learning extension uses social media technologies for learners. It encourages students for better collaboration. In this research, students experience is evaluated on collective learning extension and data is collected from formative and summative surveys in the class. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single case studies are prolific in South African education research. I equate the abundance of case studies to the urgency for evidence to transform the highly unequal landscape of education opportunities. In contrast however, stand-alone case study evidence does not offer much impact in building an evidence-based body of knowledge for education interventions. I posit an alternative for education research in the absence of collective studies, and propose for education researchers to collaborate in order to be deliberate in building a collective body of knowledge on circumstances that enable positive education outcomes given a postcolonial context, such as South Africa. I use an egalitarian political philosophy position to posit the notion of schools as enabling spaces, so as to counter a dis-enabling disaster perspective and promote dialogue on evidence of that which supports positive learning and development, given high structural disparity. I show that, as with studies in which I participated, many studies exist locally to generate evidence on education responses given adversity. However, insights thus derived are fragmented, regional and mostly single case studies using multiple conceptualisations, measures and indicators. I argue that an intentional education research agenda to coordinate inquiries could inform design, conceptualisation, measurement, comparative value and data sharing. An enabling schools research agenda could intentionally guide inquiry into that which supports education, where chronic poverty renders society as characteristically less equal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent advances on power, politics, and pathways in climate change adaptation aim to re-frame decision-making processes from development-as-usual to openings for transformational adaptation. This paper offers empirical insights regarding decision-making politics in the context of collective learning through participatory scenario building and flexible flood management and planning in the Eastern Brahmaputra Basin of Assam, India. By foregrounding intergroup and intragroup power dynamics in such collective learning spaces and how they intersect with existing micropolitics of adaptation on the ground, we examine opportunities for and limitations to challenging entrenched authority and subjectivities. Our results suggest that emancipatory agency can indeed emerge but is likely to be fluid and multifaceted. Community actors who are best positioned to resist higher-level domination may well be imbricated in oppression at home. While participatory co-learning as embraced here might open some spaces for transformation, others close down or remain shut. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Implementation of inclusive education for children with disabilities continues to vary across and within Canadian provinces and territories leading us to question why some schools move forward while others maintain traditional segregated approaches. Drawing from Appreciative Inquiry methodology, this study used semi-structured interviews to gather and document successful practices within four inclusive elementary schools within a Canadian province. Interviews were conducted with students, parents, teachers, educational assistants, and principals. Thematic analysis revealed a common belief in the central importance of learning and relationships for all students, shared commitment to inclusion, general classroom teacher responsibility, and collaborative team work characterised by a belief in collective efficacy. The predominant finding in this study was individual and collective agency that transcended themes. Participants reported ongoing and conjoint processes of planning, teaching, reflecting on current practice, sharing knowledge and ideas, solving problems together, and attending to relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The international literature on science learning in inclusive settings has a long history, but it is generally very limited in scope. Few studies have been undertaken that draw upon a cultural-historical reading of inclusive pedagogy, and even less in the area of science education. In addition, we know next to nothing about the science learning of preschool children with visual impairment using cultural-historical theory. This paper seeks to fill this gap by presenting a study of one child with Albinism who participated in a unit of early childhood science where fairy tales were used for learning about the concepts of sound and growth. This paper reports upon the social and material conditions that were created to support learning in the preschool, whilst also examining how the learning of growth and sound were supported at home. The study found three new pedagogical features for inclusion: Imagination in science; Ongoing scientific narrative; and Scientific mirroring. It was found that when a dialectical reading of home and centre practices feature, greater insights into inclusive pedagogy for science learning are afforded, and a view of science as a collective enterprise emerges. It is argued that a cultural-historical conception of inclusion demands that the social conditions, rather than the biology of the child, is foregrounded, and through this greater insights into how science learning for children with visual impairment is gained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a process of emancipatory collective education proposed by the Urban Boundaries Project, this paper discusses the importance of the educational process not as cloistered but as critical tool to the current hegemonic system, and thus its roots in our situationality (Freire, 1970), as well as in our relations of survival (D'Ambrosio, 2013). The concept of love as a political category (Žižek, 2013) will be argued from the modes of production of the urban human beings and its relations among the productive forces, the relations of production, and the conscious bodies (Mesquita, 2011). Disturbing choices made in the dialogical exercise, from a victimization posture to a free collective subject rooted in or identified with a particular form of life, supports this argument. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we trace the development of our theorizing about students' mathematical understanding, showing how the adoption of an enactivist perspective has transformed our gaze in terms of the objects of our studies and occasioned for us new methods of data analysis. Drawing on elements of Pirie-Kieren (P-K) Theory for the Dynamical Growth of Mathematical Understanding, together with aspects of improvisational theory and the associated notion of coactions, we describe the ways in which we have moved from a focus on the individual learner to that of the collective. In particular, we identify how our research methods and methodology have evolved to enable us to transform our data in ways that allow us to identify, consider, and discuss collective mathematical action. Using a brief transcription of an extract of video-recorded data in which three Grade 6 students work together to find the area of a parallelogram, we share and discuss successive iterations of our data analysis process. We identify the ways in which we manipulate and rework transcriptions of group discourse to reveal the relationship between enactivist thought and processes of engagement with data involving groups of mathematics learners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Canadian Journal for the Study of Adult Education is the property of Canadian Journal for the Study of Adult Education and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this paper we study the collective dimensions of teachers’ work in their ordinary daily practice. We argue that teachers’ ordinary work comprises many collaborative aspects, and that the interactions with colleagues, often through resources, are crucial for teacher professional development. Using a theoretical framework based on teacher documentation work, we focused on interactions between teachers and resources to study two teachers’ work: one teacher in France and one teacher in Norway. For both teachers we identified collective dimensions in their work with resources. Contrasting these two cases enabled us to identify particular features, but also possible invariants, of teachers’ work with resources. Our results indicate that collective dimensions are always present in teachers’ work, but that true communities of practice, which could be considered as an achievement of collective teachers’ work, are scarce. We discuss the conditions for the emergence of such communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The rapid development of social networking sites brings about many data mining tasks and novel challenges. We focus on classification tasks with students’ interaction information in a social network. To mitigate the difficulties of developing a learning system, this study proposes a new computing paradigm: spectral clustering as a service, providing a service to enable exacting social dimensionality on demand. Spectral clustering has been developed in a social network dimensionality refinement model as a kernel middleware, namely SNDR. The SNDR service can process the sparse information, explore the network’s topology and finally exact suitable features. Experimental results justify the design of Collective Behavior Learning System and the implementation of the Social Network Dimensionality Refinement model’s service. Our system makes better performance than baseline methods. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Many innovations in education are not completed, even if they are well thought out in advance. One of the main causes is the organization's lack of learning ability, combined with a shortage of teachers' and students' ownership with respect to the renewal of ideas and design. In communities of learners, teachers and students collaborate and learn together in order to shape innovations in their daily practice. Their ability to learn collectively is a key factor in developing a learning organization. So far, insights into how processes of collective learning can be designed effectively, and which critical factors play a role, have been based on limited empirical research. This article's goal is to contribute to the development of these insights, using the results of a study based on 48 cases of collective learning in communities of learners in primary schools and teacher education institutes. The results suggest that although collective learning rarely takes place in most cases, many outcomes are created that affect all community members. This leads to the conclusion that some participants create outcomes, not only on behalf of themselves but also on behalf of others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

TerWalA. L. J. Cluster emergence and network evolution: a longitudinal analysis of the inventor network in Sophia-Antipolis,Regional Studies. It is increasingly acknowledged that clusters do not necessarily exhibit networks of local collective learning. Through a case study of Sophia-Antipolis in France, this study investigates to what extent networks of collective learning emerged throughout the growth of the business park. A longitudinal analysis of the inventor networks of its two main sectors reveals that a local network of collective learning emerged only in Information Technology and not in the Life Sciences. Through the creation of spin-offs and high-technology start-up firms, the initial dominance of large multinationals decreased only in Information Technology. This suggests that small firms play an important role in establishing local networks. TerWalA. L. J. La naissance des clusters et l'évolution des réseaux: un analyse longitudinal du réseau d'inventeurs à Sophia-Antipolis,Regional Studies. On affirme de plus en plus que les clusters n'hébergent pas nécessairement des réseaux d'apprentissage collectif. Par moyen d'une étude de cas de Sophia-Antipolis, en France, cette étude cherche à examiner dans quelles mesures les réseaux d'apprentissage collectif ont émergé pendant le développement de la technopôle. Une analyse longitudinale des réseaux d'inventeurs dans ses deux principaux secteurs révèle qu'un réseau local d'apprentissage collectif n'a émergé que dans l'informatique et non pas dans les sciences de la vie. Par moyen de la création de startups et spin-offs, la dominance initiale des grandes sociétés multinationales n'a diminué que dans l'informatique. Cela suggère que les petites entreprises ont un rôle important à jouer dans l'établissement des réseaux locaux. Evolution des grappes?Evolution des réseaux?Apprentissage collectif?Sophia-Antipolis TerWalA. L. J. Entstehung von Clustern und Evolution von Netzwerken: eine longitudinale Analyse des Erfindernetzwerks von Sophia-Antipolis,Regional Studies. Es wird zunehmend anerkannt, dass Cluster nicht unbedingt Netzwerke des lokalen kollektiven Lernens aufweisen. In dieser Studie wird anhand einer Fallstudie des Geschäftsparks Sophia-Antipolis in Frankreich untersucht, in welchem Umfang im Verlauf des Wachstums dieses Geschäftsparks Netzwerke des kollektiven Lernens entstanden. Aus einer longitudinalen Analyse der Erfindernetzwerke in den beiden Hauptsektoren des Geschäftsparks geht hervor, dass ein lokales Netzwerk des kollektiven Lernens nur in der Informationstechnik entstand, nicht aber in den Biowissenschaften. Die Gründung von Spin-off- und Start-up-Firmen im Bereich der Hochtechnologie führte nur bei der Informationstechnik zu einem Rückgang der anfänglichen Dominanz großer multinationaler Konzerne. Dies lässt darauf schließen, dass kleine Firmen bei der Gründung lokaler Netzwerke eine wichtige Rolle spielen. Evolution von Clustern?Evolution von Netzwerken?Kollektives Lernen?Sophia-Antipolis TerWalA. L. J. La aparición de aglomeraciones y evolución de redes: un análisis longitudinal de la red de inventores en Sophia-Antipolis,Regional Studies. Se reconoce cada vez más que las aglomeraciones no muestran necesariamente redes de aprendizaje colectivo a nivel local. A través de un estudio de caso en Sophia-Antipolis, Francia, en este estudio investigamos en qué medida las redes de aprendizaje colectivo surgieron durante el crecimiento del parque comercial. Un análisis longitudinal de las redes de inventores en sus dos sectores principales indica que una red local de aprendizaje colectivo surgió solamente en la tecnología de la información y no en las ciencias de la vida. Mediante la creación de sociedades derivadas y empresas incipientes de alta tecnología, el dominio inicial de grandes multinacionales disminuyó sólo en la tecnología de la información. Esto indica que las pequeñas empresas desempeñan un papel importante a la hora de establecer redes locales. Evolución de aglomeraciones?Evolución de redes?Aprendizaje colectivo?Sophia-Antipolis [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Educação is the property of EDIPUCRS - Editora Universitaria da PUCRS and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

As mainland China seeks to implement its curriculum reforms, efforts to apply reform concepts emphasizing teacher empowerment have not been very successful. Theory and policy indicate that one possible solution is to establish a teachers' professional learning community (PLC). This study conducted a survey of thirty-two high schools in three cities in mainland China and found that the establishment of a PLC can help teachers feel more empowered; make teachers more receptive to the new high school curriculum reforms by promoting managing the change at school; and influence teachers' perceptions of the value of the reforms by helping them feel more empowered, thus making them more receptive to reforms. The special characteristics of a PLC of sharing practices, collective learning, and collaborative culture can encourage teachers to participate in the curriculum reforms as agents of reform: by collectively sharing responsibility for the risks of reform and bravely striding forward, they can truly become a force for change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Anuario do Instituto de Geociencias is the property of Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Instituto de Geociencias and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this article we explore school leaders’ responses to challenges of inclusion in two Norwegian upper secondary schools. The empirical data are interviews with principals, deputies and social advisers in the two schools. We use multicultural education and inclusive leadership as theoretical lenses in the analysis. The results show that while the school leaders recognised challenges of inclusion of minority students, it did not become a driving force in their strategic work. Individual teachers were trusted to carry out their teaching practices in ways that would accommodate the needs of all students. There were few arenas for collective learning and sharing experiences about teaching the students from ethnic and linguistic minorities. The study contributes to a currently weak research base about school leadership in multicultural schools. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

'An Educational Space, a Stimulating Space?' is a project by the Educational Sciences Faculty at the University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain, which has been developed through the collaboration of university lecturers, the Galician Center of Contemporary Art and teachers. This project poses the question: What do we understand by an educational space? This question is posed in order to initiate a community work process that is formative, artistic and educational. This process is formative because it means a shared reflection upon the concept of public space as a shared space. It is educational because it does not involve just the group class (90 students), but every faculty student and teacher in order to discover the different faculty building spaces. Working on educational spaces and how they are perceived, lived and used is a way of encouraging a collective, intergenerational agreement to live together. And it is artistic because it highlights the need to experiment with teaching as a process of artistic creation in which we can understand and put into practice creativity as a tool of transformation into reality: liberating arts from being a representation of things and transforming them into action, into direct, active participation. In this article, we propose 'educational photoactivism' as a line of artistic action and research for teacher training. This approach is targeted to reflect on the situations involved in teachers' work by means of the narrative, suggesting the power of photography. Educational photoactivism favours a type of spiral learning on the part of the trainee teachers, because there is a constant flow of ideas, hypotheses, opinions and photographic interpretations from the teaching point of view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to examine the relationship between reported levels of teacher self-efficacy, collective efficacy, and job satisfaction in special educators, teachers in one school district completed three surveys measuring these constructs. The results indicated that teacher self-efficacy had a direct effect on job satisfaction. It was further found that collective efficacy directly affected teacher self-efficacy but that it did not have a direct effect on job satisfaction. No significant differences were found in reported levels of these areas across subgroups of teachers categorized by teaching level (elementary, middle, and high), teaching setting (self-contained, resource, or inclusion), and certification type (highly qualified, not highly qualified, or emergency). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article looks at the principles of democratic leadership in the development of effective community schools leadership. Studies have shown that community resources and school-community relations are not used to their full potential. The necessity for community schools leadership to emphasize the ability to influence others toward a common goal is emphasized. Among the advantages of boundary-spanning democratic leadership are expansion of the influence of the leader and sustaining partnerships.

In this paper we consider the phenomenon of the growth of collective mathematical understanding and explore its dependence on the particular way that a group of learners work together collaboratively. We label this group process as improvisational coaction. In an earlier paper (Martin, Towers and Pirie, 2006) we drew on the theoretical work of Becker (2000), Sawyer (2001, 2003, 2004), and Berliner (1994) in improvisational jazz and theatre, to characterise the growth of collective mathematical understanding as a creative and emergent improvisational process. Here, we extend that conceptual analysis to a yet-finer grain to explore one element of that framework, improvisational coaction, and its relationship to the growth of mathematical understanding at the level of the group. In particular we identify improvisational coaction as a particular form of interaction, and through using data extracts we derive four characteristics of the phenomenon and consider how these occasion the growth of collective mathematical understanding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context The growing emphasis on teamwork within the National Health Service (NHS) has made it a priority to understand how health care teams learn together and cope with change. Objectives This study aimed to explore how collective learning and change happen in primary care teams and how the process varies across the disciplines of general medical practice, pharmacy and dentistry. Methods This study reports on qualitative data gathered from 10 primary care teams over 1 year, by means of observational visits and 38 semi-structured interviews. Results Informal collective learning is a powerful team coping mechanism that develops through experiential, evolving and implicit learning processes. These processes are predominantly relational in that they rely on the extent to which team members know and understand one another as people. This makes shared learning an effective but ‘messy’ dynamic, the motivation for which is internally generated by the team itself. Teams report that if they cannot learn together, they cannot meet patient needs. Conclusions These findings demonstrate that teams share their knowledge because they believe it has value, not because they are driven by external incentives or are monitored. This challenges the prevailing assumption that, to be effective, interprofessional learning should be externally managed. As health care develops, it will become increasingly important to consider how to support the internal learning processes of care teams as they navigate complex organisational changes and the shared learning experiences that characterise those changes. Those who support learning and development within the NHS should therefore focus on how relational processes, as well as educational content, contribute to a team’s collective learning capability and the quality of care its members provide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper introduces a new approach to reflecting and acting called participatory and appreciative action and reflection (PAAR). It explores its potential to enable individuals and groups to move forward, to improve their working practices and lives in particular communities and contexts. The paper situates PAAR in the historical context of participatory and action research and reflective learning. It suggests that using PAAR requires four strategic 'turns'. By turn we mean a change in direction from one way of thinking and practising to another. The four turns are: (i) away from a preoccupation with changing behaviours in order to solve problems, with 'fixing' things and an engagement in deficit-based discourses, towards the development of appreciative insight, understanding the root causes of success and sustaining strengths-based discourses in order to amplify those things that will help build a better future from the positive present; (ii) away from self-learning (individualism and isolation) and towards collective learning through interconnectedness, appreciative knowledge sharing and the use of new forms of communications technology which enable simultaneous action in dispersed geopolitical spaces; (iii) away from one way of knowing and one perspective on truth to an acceptance of more pluralistic view of ways of knowing, of understanding human experience and putting this knowing to good use; (iv) away from reflective cycles and spirals and towards the use of a reflective learning (r-learning) framework comprising four mutually supportive processes. They are those of developing an appreciative 'gaze', of reframing lived experience, of building practical wisdom and of achieving and moving forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to provide an exploratory investigation of college-level instructors' sense of teaching and collective efficacy. We investigated the relations of teacher- and collective-efficacy with a series of variables: experience, professional level, age, gender, academic domain (for teacher-efficacy only), and academic department (for collective-efficacy only) as well as the relationship between collective- and teacher-efficacy. Data from 117 graduate students, lecturers, and faculty were analyzed. Differences in teacher-efficacy were found with respect to gender and academic domain. Differences in collective-efficacy were not found across departments, experience levels, or professional levels. Teacher-efficacy was significantly correlated with collective-efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study replicates Hwang et al. (2005) with a different cohort of accounting majors. This study also extends Hwang et al.'s (2005) article by exploring the effectiveness of employing cooperative learning pedagogy to enhance students' learning outcomes at both the application level and analysis level of knowledge (Bloom 1956). Different from the original paper, this study evaluates participants' learning outcomes using cases with supporting calculations, instead of multiple-choice questions. Overall, this study finds that cooperative learning is a more effective pedagogy than traditional lecture for students who were raised and educated in a passive learning environment. Limitations and possible directions for future research are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]