The purpose of this study was to explore the extent that contingent faculty from Michigan's 15 public universities engage with on and off-campus professional development (PD) to improve their teaching practice. Addressing a spectrum of research questions, this study utilized an explanatory sequential mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative…

The education of bioinformatics, as an interdisciplinary science, can be negatively impacted by (1) incoming students attempting to negotiate complex concepts while lacking the educational scaffolding of the field's constituent disciplines while (2) taking breadth-first course requirements from (3) educators who may be lacking formal pedagogical…

The U.S. Department of Education believes it is important that all programs responsible for pre-service teacher training prepare all graduates to effectively select, evaluate, and use appropriate technologies and resources to create experiences that advance student engagement and learning. We call upon leaders of teacher preparation programs to…

This study examined the impact of a yearlong ambient professional development (PD) program-The Wayne Schools Global Geography Project (WSGG-project)-that focused on improving teacher quality through PD and classroom observations for in-service social studies teachers. The project targeted middle and high school social studies teachers and used…

Although performance technologists recognize the importance of transfer, there are few studies of this complex process from the perspective of the individual, autonomous professional. For these trainees, intention to apply an idea is a vital part of transfer. Thus we asked: How do autonomous professionals learning from a training program form…

The Michigan Department of Education defines professional development as a planned and organized effort to provide teachers and other educational workers with the knowledge and skills necessary to facilitate improved student learning and performance. The purpose of this paper is to provide a rationale and plan for professional development programs…

There is a rich history of researchers developing curricular materials aimed at enhancing student learning in American classrooms. Though many of these innovations have been successful on a small scale, institutionalizing them so they become part of a district's instructional culture has been a challenge. As large districts try to scale up and…

State mandates for teacher professional development and continuing education, and funding for those mandates are a high profile topic in the North Central region. Examination of specific state requirements for professional development, the relationship among professional development, teacher certification, and continued employment, and direct…

This report explores current thinking in professional development as it relates to strategies for reform. It begins with a discussion of the relationship between professional development and school reform and a description of recent efforts by the National Governors' Association to stimulate dialogue on the issue. The report then discusses the…

Adjunct faculty, that is, part-time instructors employed for a specific purpose who may not be teachers by profession, comprise more than 50% of the total teaching faculty in community colleges. This study investigated what selected community colleges identified as professional development needs of adjunct faculty, and what adjunct faculty…

Although there has been much debate about "what" teachers need to know about technology, less attention has been paid to "how" they are supposed to learn it. Teacher preparation programs need to go beyond merely training teachers in how to use specific software and hardware tools, and instead focus on developing an…

To provide coordination and technical assistance through a regional approach to local Michigan school districts, a career education implementation project was conducted based on the following nine sub-goals: (1-2) the development and infusion of career education activities into the existing curriculum by teachers and counselors; (3) staff…