Knowledge-making in universities is shaped by conventions that neglect and/or suppress less conventional kinds of knowledge that may hold viable solutions to society's problems. Knowledge always has political interests, and close-up research on knowledge-making can liberate marginalized ideas, by exposing how they push against and beyond…

In more fluid higher education environments, the concept of third space has been developed to explore the activities of groups of staff who do not necessarily fit formal institutional descriptors. This paper draws on qualitative data from 26 respondents, in eight UK universities, who described significant elements of their work as occurring…

Using qualitative data from 22 early-career-student-affairs professionals, this study examines the relationship between social and professional identity and professional practice. Guided by the R-MMDI and a criticalist perspective (Freire, 1970), we find that race, gender, age, and first-generation status are the most salient identities in the…

Prior research has established principal leadership as a key factor in enhancing professional learning communities. However, researchers are only beginning to make progress in identifying the means and 'paths' through which school leaders contribute to professional learning communities. This study tested a multilevel, moderated mediation model of…

The Mathematical Sciences Department at Shenandoah University focused on increasing the participation of women in the mathematics program by fostering a welcoming learning community and promoting double majors. Data from the past decade is presented. During this time, the program saw an increase in women undergraduate mathematics majors from 11%…

This paper presents a bibliometric analysis of the community of inquiry model in online learning. The study focuses on identifying the most trending topics, most impact authors, most relevant sources, most relevant countries and most cited articles in the community of inquiry online learning model. Another aim is to understand the literature's…

Physical education teacher communities have been studied and implemented as a successful approach to teacher professional development. Despite a wealth of literature, less is known about three aspects: sustained nature of a community over time, power relations among community members, and a comprehensive case study. This study aimed to address…

In this brief, the authors argue that creating avenues to support VITAL faculty is an essential role for leaders within academic affairs, and particularly those in faculty affairs. While the authors review a host of supports needed, they argue for the importance of sustained professional development opportunities like faculty learning communities…

In 2019 the world experienced a medical emergency that impacted education across the world. Several states in the United States had professional learning communities introduced into their schools as a means to enhance academic achievement prior to COVID 19. In order to show support to the schools and increase student achievement, a state…

This study explored how Malawian teachers who participated in an adapted lesson study (LS) professional development (PD) for the first time understood teacher collaboration, and the lessons learnt by the inexperienced knowledgeable other (KOs) through facilitating the new practice. The study was conducted qualitatively using data from lesson…

Social presence is one key factor for successful learning in socio-constructivist learning environments, such as in online-courses based on the Community of Inquiry Framework. Teachers need easily interpretable and pedagogically relevant information to monitor social presence and to intervene if needed while a course is running. Social network…

This study identified the experiences of middle school teachers in the Southeastern Louisiana participating in professional learning communities, using the social constructivism theory. The study uncovers the various factors that are present that influence instructional practices and student learning outcomes. Ten middle school teachers engage in…

Although scholarship has shown that new teachers struggle to make the transition to in-service teaching and enact the progressive practices that they learned during pre-service preparation, little research has explored how first-year teachers develop a justice-oriented practice during this transition. This project centers on a critical learning…

This qualitative phenomenological study aims to explore teachers' perceptions of professional learning communities and how they feel it impacts their effectiveness as secondary mathematics teachers in two instructional domains--content knowledge and pedagogy. Teachers spend a substantial amount of their time engaged in Professional Learning…

The assessment of workplace learning by educators at the workplace is a complex and inherently social process, as the workplace is a participatory learning environment. We therefore propose seeing assessment as a process of judgment embedded in a community of practice and to this purpose use the philosophy of inferentialism to unravel the judgment…