Purpose: As university faculty faced new challenges, such as rapid digital social and the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) response, this study aimed to identify the daily changes in the interaction between the faculty and the organizational environment (colleague, policy and new issue) by exploring their recent dynamic educational efforts and…

The research question studied in this paper is how teachers' task designing can be enhanced in professional development. We show that this can be done by scaffolding. Scaffolding is used in problem solving and we apply it by considering designing a task as a problem. In the paper, we describe a professional development of four teachers led by a…

Professional development programs for teachers in higher education are often characterized by top-down approaches, which fail to make appreciable differences in teaching practices. This study uses a qualitative approach to explore activity-oriented design (AOD) as an instrument for collaborative learning in higher education teacher professional…

As the technologies in the field of education are becoming more and more sophisticated, continuous professional development for teachers is gaining increasing importance. Therefore, teachers need to improve themselves to grow more competent professionally, to adapt to innovations in their field and to be aware of their competencies throughout…

This qualitative study examined how seven graduate students became prepared to teach in an unfamiliar online PBL environment through an experiential professional development program. During the 75-hour preparation program, graduate instructors completed readings and practice activities, immersed themselves in the student perspective, and completed…

As instructional leaders who work closely with teachers within and across schools, elementary mathematics specialists (EMS) are positioned well to promote cohesive implementation of impactful pedagogy throughout school districts. However, EMS's work can be impeded if they do not have structured opportunities to collectively grapple with the…

Graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) hold a unique positionality as instructors and research mentors to undergraduate students, research mentees to faculty members, and employees to an institution. With limited pedagogical training and teaching resources, the enactment of planned teaching activities and learning resources may be influenced by how…

Pedagogical reforms in sub-Saharan Africa have often been unsuccessful, arguably because they fail to account for the social and cultural context of teachers' choices. Two studies in rural Tanzania examined the pedagogical decisions of teachers taking part in a programme of teacher professional development. Teachers reflected on their own…

In the present study, we were interested in the appraisal by teachers who have had experience with an individual form of differentiation of the efficiency of grouping learners into homogenous or heterogeneous groups. In the study, seven aspects were thus considered: (1) the learning performance and motivation of learners, (2) the learners'…

Makerspaces are collaborative workplaces equipped with a variety of high- and low-tech tools and materials that individuals can use to create physical and digital products. In this article the authors take the perspective that integrating a makerspace into a school is a proactive, thoughtful, and time-consuming process. To help meaningfully…

As states review, refine, and implement new academic standards, professional learning activities,also known as professional development (PD), should be scheduled in order to support educators. At the request of a state education agency, the Center on Standards and Assessments Implementation (CSAI) conducted a scan of six states' PD opportunities…

Smartphone clicker apps are increasingly used in university classrooms to facilitate teacher--student interaction and collaborative learning. This study aimed to identify the factors that influence teachers' decisions to adopt smartphone clicker app technology to enhance teacher--student interactions in university classrooms in Saudi Arabia. A…

Primary/elementary teachers are uniquely positioned in terms of their need for ongoing, science-focused professional development. They are usually generalists, having limited preparation for teaching science, and often do not feel prepared or comfortable in teaching science. In this case study, CHAT or cultural-historical activity theory is used…

In this article we present an embedded case study focused on the learning activities provided for and by us through our involvement in an international forum focused on the professional development of teacher educators. The aim of this research was to gain more insight into the complicated processes of professional learning across national…

Collaborative learning provides students with vital opportunities to create and build knowledge. Existing technologies can facilitate collaborative learning. However, barriers exist to enacting collaborative practices related to the coverage of material for assessments and classroom management concerns, among others. Teachers can overcome these…