Abstract: A team of curricular leadership pedagogues report the experience of studying their own classroom practice as they engaged educational leadership (EDL) students in sustained, reflective inquiry for the related purposes of clarifying their own meaning systems and experiencing self-empowerment. This descriptive, exploratory qualitative study encouraged students to inquire into and develop metaphorical images that reveal fundamental complexities and challenges of the theory–practice relationship. The areas of theory and practice, metaphor, and reflection are reviewed and workshop design and collaborative activities, including Blackboard and metaphoric displays, are described. Students defined theory and practice, used a binocular/integration metaphor to describe the theory–practice relationship, applied an architect/builder metaphor to accomplish this end, and created a metaphor of their own. Three patterns emerged from the data: (a) regarding the relationship between theory and practice, discourse connotes separation, interaction, or integration; (b) communication between practitioners and theorists is rooted in authority, distance, and difference; and (c) while power must be equal for focus and balance to occur, disequilibrium characterizes many teacher contexts.

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Abstract: This study investigated writing beliefs, self-regulatory behaviors, and epistemology beliefs of preservice teachers in academic writing tasks. Students completed self-report measures of self-regulation, epistemology, and beliefs about writing. Both knowledge and regulation of cognition were positively related to writing enjoyment, and knowledge of cognition was negatively related to beliefs of ability as a fixed entity. Enjoyment of writing was related to learnability and self-assessment. It may be that students who are more self-regulated during writing also believe they can learn to improve their writing skills. It may be, however, that students who believe writing is learnable will exert the effort to self-regulate during writing. Student beliefs and feelings about learning and writing play an important and complex role in their self-regulation behaviors. Suggestions for instruction are included, and continued research of students’ beliefs and self-regulation in naturalistic contexts is recommended.

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Abstract: Theorists in the area of academic motivation have distinguished between mastery goals (develop understanding) and performance goals (demonstrate ability). Numerous research studies have empirically examined the implications these “constructs” have for understanding students’ performance in the classroom. Traditionally, mastery goals have been associated with adaptive learning outcomes while performance goals have been associated with maladaptive learning outcomes. Recently, however, theorists have suggested that students might hold both mastery and performance goals and that both goals can be beneficial. This study compared the achievement patterns of students who held both goals simultaneously to students who held either mastery or performance goals only. Data was collected within a foundational teacher education course from 143 students, a portion of whom were found to hold high mastery goals (mastery oriented), high performance-approach goals (performance-approach oriented), and high mastery and high performance goals (multiple goal orientation). Using course grades as an indicator of achievement, a one-way ANOVA showed no significant difference between the multiple goal group and the single goal groups. However, a significant difference was found between the high mastery group and the high performance group.

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Abstract: The Internet has the potential to connect global communities of learners who share a common interest and yet who have diverse cultural backgrounds and experiences, which shape their current understandings. This paper describes and reflects upon the ways these individual differences in experience and understandings are valued and placed at the centre of the student learning experience in an online module of a Professional Doctorate in Teacher Education program. It explores how the online learning experience has been developed to leverage from successful face-to-face implementation and identifies differences between the two modes, in particular the added value of working online. Issues related to the nature of the support mechanisms necessary for successful online learning are discussed. This development was part of collaboration between the University of Melbourne, Australia where the online technology was developed and the University of Nottingham, United Kingdom, where the course is offered. Parallels between the online collaborative work experiences of the international partner developers and students are highlighted.

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Abstract: An experiential program was performed in an undergraduate class of entrepreneurship during spring and fall 2004 consisting of three elements: Bugs, to generate ideas; (b) Networking, to connect with the local business community; and (c) Seed Money, to create a real-life startup exercise. The objective of this program was transferring the “load” of teaching from a conventional lecturing method to a series of practical assignments in which students had to generate business ideas, begin contacts with the local entrepreneurs, and actually start a business. These activities at the start appeared as detached and unrelated efforts. However, as the class progressed, these activities proved to be interconnected. Major results of this program were, (a) after three rounds of sieving and refining, students compiled an extended list of business ideas; (b) some of the local entrepreneurs, among whom many expressed their willingness to be guest speakers, established links with the students and the University; and (c) many students who had never experienced how a small proprietary business operates realized mechanics of starting and managing an enterprise.

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Abstract: Twelve potential sources of evidence to measure teaching effectiveness are critically reviewed: (a) student ratings, (b) peer ratings, (c) self-evaluation, (d) videos, (e) student interviews, (f) alumni ratings, (g) employer ratings, (h) administrator ratings, (i) teaching scholarship, (j) teaching awards, (k) learning outcome measures, and (l) teaching portfolios. National standards are presented to guide the definition and measurement of effective teaching. A unified conceptualization of teaching effectiveness is proposed to use multiple sources of evidence, such as student ratings, peer ratings, and self-evaluation, to provide an accurate and reliable base for formative and summative decisions. Multiple sources build on the strengths of all sources, while compensating for the weaknesses in any single source. This triangulation of sources is recommended in view of the complexity of measuring the act of teaching and the variety of direct and indirect sources and tools used to produce the evidence.

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Abstract: Pairs of first year master’s level students in the “Counseling Diverse Populations” course led discussion groups with international students about U.S. culture. The fundamental purpose of this assignment was to increase awareness of the counseling students’ culture, as called for in the Multicultural Counseling Competencies. Advance preparation resulted in a combined class list of questions. Each session was video taped and feedback was provided. In this paper, segments of a discussion group transcript, student reflection paper, and professor feedback are provided. Over three years, students have rated this assignment as one of the most valuable assignment of the semester.

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Abstract: In higher education, students are required to develop complex cognitive capabilities that they may not have needed in their undergraduate work. While a plethora of resources is available to students of research, it seems that many students struggle to understand how to read, understand, integrate, and apply research and theory to a research question or hypothesis. To help my own masters and doctoral students develop these vital skills, as part of our initial doctoral foundation course I have developed a semester-long project grounded in theory and research from cognitive instruction that explicitly teaches and supports the objectives of (a) mastery of a research-supported knowledge base, and (b) development of conceptual tools to foster understanding, integration, and effective application of research. The process of this semester-long student project follows two basic threads: (a) to build a research knowledge base in the content area and (b) to develop student skill in reading. I have used this developmental process for six years to help graduate students build both abstract and applied competencies in reading, understanding, and applying research. It has been extremely successful, based on the students’ ability to use their newly developed competencies in more advanced endeavors, and their stated confidence to do so.

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