The need to identify student cognitive engagement in online-learning settings has increased with our use of online learning approaches because engagement plays an important role in ensuring student success in these environments. Engaged students are more likely to complete online courses successfully, but this setting makes it more difficult for…

By participating in asynchronous course discussion forums, students can work together to refine their ideas and construct knowledge collaboratively. Typically, some messages simply repeat or paraphrase course content, while others bring in new material, demonstrate reasoning, integrate concepts, and develop solutions. Through the messages they…

A group facilitation technique called World Café usually involves dividing a large number of people into smaller groups at tables, exploring a variety of topics around a key focus, and collecting ideas from the discussions to debrief later as a large group. We used a modified version of World Café during the new Cracker Barrel session format at…

This case study focuses on the groundwork aiming at developing school-family-community collaboration in the deployment of the HSA in a low socio-economic status elementary school. Two theoretical models--the HSA and Hoover-Dempsey et al. (1997, 2010) models--guided the analysis of five discussion groups (N = 31) regarding their perceptions of the…

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the activities of collective learning structures. Drawing from ecological-complexity theory it elaborates on a theoretical framework for observing and acting upon collective learning. To interpret the relation between individual action, social interaction and the collective cognitive domain we adopt the…

One in a series of resources for community groups, this paper provides a theoretical model of community development and relates it to the history, needs, and characteristics of native communities. The introductory section discusses the philosophy and goals of the series, which promotes the development of "core groups"--small community…

Technology offers promising opportunities for creating new types of classroom learning environments. This paper describes three technology models used by teacher education interns: electronic portfolios, negotiative concept mapping, cognote-supported electronic discussions. As implemented in the current study, these models invoke graduated…