How Educators Use Policy Documents: A Misunderstood Relationship

As an English educator and co-director of a National Writing Project site, I have had many conversations with colleagues and educators who are anxious about the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) being adopted in so many states throughout the nation. The anxiety comes in many forms, ranging from What do the CCSS mean for what and how I have to teach? to What does the drafting and implementation processes of the CCSS suggest for how people view me as a professional? to Are the CCSS really any good? and so on. As I listen to all the people I work with - preservice teachers, experienced teachers, teacher educators, curriculum coordinators, writing project directors and fellows - I keep returning to one major issue that I think is behind a lot of the concern. More specifically, I continue to wonder how educators actually use and develop policy documents (e.g., standards) in their day-to-day work. The assumption seems to be that teachers read the policies and then implement them; however, any teacher who has worked with standards documents knows that this process isn\u27t quite as clear-cut as the above assumption. It is this gap between how assumptions about educators use policy documents and how teachers actually use those policy documents. I sense this is the source for a lot of the anxiety I hear in the voices of the many educators I respect and work with

Freedom to Learn – Independent Campus (MBKM) Curriculum Management at the Indonesian Language Tadris Degree Program (TBI) of Islamic Religious Higher Education Institutions (PTKI)

Purpose – This study aims to explain the management of the MBKM curriculum in the TBI Degree Program at PTKI and the implementation of forms of collaboration with partners who support the MBKM program’s implementation. The data was gathered from the TBI Degree Program at UIN Raden Mas Said (RMS) Surakarta. Design/methods/approach – This study employs a qualitative explanatory method. Documents, informants, and events serve as data sources. Data collection methods included content/document analysis, in-depth interviews, and observation. The data analysis technique employs an interactive model. The triangulation technique is used in the data validity technique. Findings – The results show that the MBKM Degree Program curriculum design at UIN RMS Surakarta has incorporated 21st-century skills. Several courses will require digital skills, such as Digital Literacy, Monetization of Digital Products, and Development of Indonesian Language Learning Media starting in 2019. TBI’s Degree Program, Starting in 2019 in support of MBKM, has also implemented collaboration with various partners, including the Industrial World Business World (DUDI). Research implications/limitations – This research contributes to understanding the importance of implementing MBKM in the TBI Degree Program at PTKI, with the data source being the TBI Degree Program Faculty of Adab and Language at UIN Raden Mas Said Surakarta. It can be used as a model for other TBI Degree Programs at PTKI that have not implemented MBKM much. in designing the curriculum. Practical implications – This research can provide practical training in the Indonesian Tadris curriculum and a curriculum review for MBKM design

3D virtual worlds as environments for literacy learning

Background: Although much has been written about the ways in which new technology might transform educational practice, particularly in the area of literacy learning, there is relatively little empirical work that explores the possibilities and problems - or even what such a transformation might look like in the classroom. 3D virtual worlds offer a range of opportunities for children to use digital literacies in school, and suggest one way in which we might explore changing literacy practices in a playful, yet meaningful context. Purpose: This paper identifies some of the key issues that emerged in designing and implementing virtual world work in a small number of primary schools in the UK. It examines the tensions between different discourses about literacy and literacy learning and shows how these were played out by teachers and pupils in classroom settings.Sources of evidence: Case study data are used as a basis for exploring and illustrating key aspects of design and implementation. The case study material includes views from a number of perspectives including classroom observations, chatlogs, in-world avatar interviews with teachers and also pupils, as well as the author’s field notes of the planning process with accompanying minutes and meeting documents.Main argument: From a Foucauldian perspective, the article suggests that social control of pedagogical practice through the regulation of curriculum time, the normalisation of teaching routines and the regimes of individual assessment restricts teachers’ and pupils’ conceptions of what constitutes literacy. The counternarrative, found in recent work in new litearcies (Lankshear & Knobel, 2006) provides an attractive alternative, but a movement in this direction requires a fundamental shift of emphasis and a re-conceptualisation of what counts as learning.Conclusions: This work on 3D virtual worlds questions the notion of how transformative practice can be achieved with the use of new technologies. It suggests that changes in teacher preparation, continuing professional development as well as wider educational reform may be needed

Strengthening High School Teaching and Learning in New Hampshire's Competency-Based System

For a century, most students have advanced from grade to grade based on the number of days they spend in class, but in New Hampshire, schools have moved away from "seat time" and toward "competency-based learning," which advances students when they have mastered course content. This report profiles how two high schools in New Hampshire made this shift and examines the changes that were necessary to make competency-based advancement an important part of New Hampshire's strategy for implementing the Common Core State Standards and ensuring that students graduate ready for college and a career

Primary Sources in K–12 Education: Opportunities for Archives

Recent developments in the field of K–12 (kindergarten through twelfth grade) education have made archival resources essential tools for many teachers. Inquiry-based learning, document-based questions, and high stakes standardized testing have converged to make primary resources an important teaching tool in elementary and secondary education. Teaching and testing K–12 students require analysis of primary documents, so that archival records take their place alongside the test tube and the textbook in many American classrooms. These trends represent an opportunity for archives to expand their patron base, establish contacts in the community, contribute to the vitality of public education in their communities, and cultivate the next generation of archives’ users, donors, and supporters. This paper encourages archivists to consider K–12 students and their teachers when planning programs, digital products, and services

Hiding in Plain Sight: Identifying Computational Thinking in the Ontario Elementary School Curriculum

Given a growing digital economy with complex problems, demands are being made for education to address computational thinking (CT) – an approach to problem solving that draws on the tenets of computer science. We conducted a comprehensive content analysis of the Ontario elementary school curriculum documents for 44 CT-related terms to examine the extent to which CT may already be considered within the curriculum. The quantitative analysis strategy provided frequencies of terms, and a qualitative analysis provided information about how and where terms were being used. As predicted, results showed that while CT terms appeared mostly in Mathematics, and concepts and perspectives were more frequently cited than practices, related terms appeared across almost all disciplines and grades. Findings suggest that CT is already a relevant consideration for educators in terms of concepts and perspectives; however, CT practices should be more widely incorporated to promote 21st century skills across disciplines. Future research would benefit from continued examination of the implementation and assessment of CT and its related concepts, practices, and perspectives

Reflecting on Open Educational Practices in Scotland

This paper reflects on the work of Open Educational Practices Scotland (OEPS) a Scottish Funding Councils (SFC) programme to promote the development and use of free and open online educational resources within the informal and formal education sectors in Scotland. Hosted by the Open University (OU) in Scotland (OUiS) it leverages OU experience of Open Educational Resources (OER) in relation to the OUiS long history of working in partnership. OEPS joins two distinct but overlapping open traditions. Work on OER on the affordances of free and open online content, considerations of licence, platform functionality and the designing digital learning objects in for and through Open Educational Practices (OEP). With approaches from older traditions of open education, based on education as a common good and narratives on equity and social justice. For OEPS the merging of these discourses is based on a decade of OUiS work engaging in a series of diverse partnerships with employers, formal and informal education providers to support those diverse needs. The paper introduces examples of what this means in for and through practice. Exploring work we have done with Parkinsons UK to develop a series of OER focused on neglected area of curriculum Then looks at the work have done with the Scottish Union Learn (SUL) to promote use of free and open resources by learners in the workplace. Through these examples we explore possibilities of partnerships to bring new voices into the academy, to create supportive structures based on shared values and trust to support uncertain learners. It is our sense this approach allow the benefits of openness to be shared in a just and equitable manner. It then reflects on the issues that arise when you work in-between two senses of open