Jennifer Lock

Designing learning to engage students in the global classroom

The purpose of the article is to examine how the paradigm shift in education and the availability of digital technologies have created new opportunities to move learning beyond the microcosm of the traditional face-to-face classroom and into the online global classroom. Students and educators are better positioned to work with other students and experts in new and meaningful ways at anytime and anywhere in the world. The challenge is how to design and facilitate authentic collaborative learning in the global classroom that engages students. The author shares a four-element framework with examples from her research to provide images and strategies to help educators to design rich learning experiences for the global classroom. The paper concludes with a discussion of technological and pedagogical implications for practice.

Assessing Research Readiness of Graduate Students in Distance Programs

SUMMARY The aim of this descriptive research study was to assess the skill level, confidence, and overall research readiness of selected groups of graduate students (on and off campus) within two divisions housed in the Faculty of Education at the University of Calgary. The researchers expected participants to overestimate the value of the Internet as a source of academically reputable information, and to have a limited understanding of the complex nature of online academic research. These expectations were not validated by the conclusions of the assessment.

It's Not Just a Book Club: A Novel Approach to Prepare Researchers for Practice

A diverse group of researchers faced the challenge of developing practical proficiency in using Universal Design for Learning (UDL). In order to address the problem, the group initiated a book club strategy to develop a common understanding of principles of UDL. Their book club supported collaborative and reflective discussions, which informed their practice. In this paper, we share our lived experiences with book club as a professional learning strategy. Out of this experience, three recommendations are offered: intentional selection of the book, shared facilitation in support of a community of practice, and fostering collaborative professional learning.

A Model to Build Capacity through a Multi-Program Curriculum Review Process

Curriculum reviews are becoming more prevalent in higher educational institutions as a means to address quality assurance and improve program offerings. However, the review process can be structured so that instructors experience professional learning benefits as they work with program-level learning outcomes, map their courses, and analyze curriculum data with their colleagues. This paper shares an approach that was used to conduct a 1-year, complex, multi-program curriculum review in a faculty’s graduate unit. This approach enhanced the instructors’ continuing growth and their ability to carry out a curriculum review. To illustrate the dynamic nature of the curriculum review process, a three-level and three-phase curriculum review model has been developed.Based on our experience when implementing the model with an array of instructional teams, we identified four key recommendations for practice that promoted a professional learning environment while implementing a multi-program curriculum review: (1) mentoring and distributed leadership, (2) standardizing flexible structures and processes, (3) customizing the process for deep inquiry, and (4) collaborating. Curriculum reviews are becoming more prevalent in higher educational institutions as a means to address quality assurance and improve program offerings.

Investigating pre-service teachers’ inquiry into Indigenous perspectives

Within Australia and in many other nations, there is a mandate for teachers to embed Indigenous perspectives in the teaching of all curriculum areas. Indigenous populations have deep, rich and diverse traditional knowledge and ways of working linked to their identities and communities. In the past, the Queensland curriculum required Indigenous perspectives to be embedded in teaching and learning to increase the awareness by both students and teachers of Indigenous perspectives and to improve the learning outcomes of Indigenous students. The new Australian Curriculum includes Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island histories and cultures as a cross-curriculum priority. In particular, it focuses on identity ‘through the interconnected aspects of country/place, people and culture. Embracing these elements enhances all areas of the curriculum’ (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, n.d.).

Researching and extending developments in contemporary educational practice

The field of contemporary education abounds with multiple practices designed to enhance the effectiveness of teaching approaches and to maximise students’ learning outcomes. Yet we still know relatively little about what works in terms of teaching and learning in different educational contexts. In particular, if we are to advocate the wider application of particular kinds of educational developments, we need to conduct and evaluate research about the foundations of those developments and the factors that promote and/or inhibit their success. This chapter distils some key findings from current scholarship about educational developments and how they are practised in varied professional contexts. The analysis of these findings is informed by a number of conceptual frameworks gleaned from contemporary research into the elements of effective educational strategies in specific teaching and learning domains. Key concepts from these frameworks are in turn used to identify the central questions about educational developments and practices addressed by the authors of the subsequent chapters in this book. More broadly, this chapter contributes to continuing debates about both the pre-requisites and the effects of effective teaching and learning approaches and strategies in widely varying educational contexts.

Interrogating Contemporary Research in Educational Innovation

Contemporary educational issues are abundant and diverse. These issues include claims and counter-claims, debates and questions about matters ranging from national curricula (Oates, 2011; Tani, 2011) and standardised assessment of students’ learning (Au, 2009; Richards, Vining, & Weimer, 2010) to parental involvement in school governance (Addi-Raccah & Ronit, 2009; Blackmore & Hutchison, 2010) and government funding of public education (Tandberg, 2010; White & Friendly, 2012) to the empowerment of so-called marginalised communities (Chilisa & Ntseane, 2010; Morton & Montgomery, 2012) and the ethics and politics of education research (Sikes & Piper, 2010; Basit, 2013).

From Student to Coach: Experiences of the D2L Coaches in the School of Education

Triggered by the implementation of a new learning management system, a graduate student coaching team, led by the Associate Dean of Teaching and Learning, was created to provide instructional and technical support to academic staff and sessional instructors in the Werklund School of Education. Drawing on their background as teachers, as well as, on their knowledge developed as educational technology students, these coaches share insights into their experiences as members of a coaching team within a larger technology support network. Further, recommendations are identified in how student coaches can play a key role during new technology implementation.