Using Mezirow's Transformative Learning Theory to understand online instructors' construction of the virtual teaching experience

This qualitative study examines expert instructors’ lived experienced with online pedagogy in order to (1) understand how teaching in a virtual environment influences pedagogical style, academic identity and student-instructor interactions and (2) to explore how the virtual teaching experience evolves as faculty continue to teach online. None of the existing empirical research has focused on accomplished instructors’ online teaching experiences and, as a result, there is very little information concerning how to sustain faculty approval, retain skilled instructors, provide adequate online teaching support and maintain a successful online learning enterprise over time (Coppola, et al., 2002; Bolliger & Wasilik, 2009; Betts, 2014). Using a constructivist design, this study employed interviews and content analysis techniques to explore the following research questions: 1) What challenges do experienced online faculty face when they teach in the virtual learning environment? 2) What new challenges have emerged as a result of their continued online teaching experience? 3) How do experienced instructors approach and address these challenges? Thirty-one self-identified experienced online instructors from across the nation and a variety of institutions participated. Findings show that continued online teaching experience has a profound impact on the way instructors perceive their pedagogical practice, their place in the academy and their role in students’ online learning experiences. The online environment presents instructors with a multitude of challenges. These challenges are complex and involve pedagogical issues as well as philosophical dilemmas that force instructors to reconsider their assumptions about teaching, learning and authority in the classroom. Wrestling with these issues puts instructors in a vulnerable position as they search for pragmatic solutions and simultaneously renegotiate their long-held academic assumptions and beliefs. The practical and philosophical challenges instructors experience in regards to their developing digital pedagogical practice, their changing relationship with students, and their evolving online academic identity are discussed as well as findings related to vulnerability in the online environment. Implications for online faculty development, limitations and areas for improvement are also considered

Fairness, Copyright, and Video Games: Hate the Game, Not the Player

Creative communities often rely on social norms to regulate the production of creative content. Yet while an emerging body of literature has focused on isolated accounts of social norms operating in discrete, small-scale creative industries, no research to date has explored the social norms that pervade the world’s largest content microcosm—the sprawling video game community. Now a veritable global phenomenon, the video game industry has recently grown to eclipse the music and motion picture industries. But despite its meteoric rise, the video game industry has provoked little attention from copyright scholars. This Article is the first to explore the shifting role of copyright law in the gaming community, where game developers are increasingly using a complex amalgam of legal and nonlegal tools to regulate creative output. Based on an in-depth analysis of the extralegal norms that govern creative content in the video game industry, this Article distills a richly detailed account of the relationship between video game creators and consumers. It maps the intricate web of interests underpinning the relationship between game developers and consumers; identifies a rich cadre of fairness-driven social norms that permeate the gaming community; and considers the implications of these findings for copyright law. The Article ultimately concludes that strong copyright protection is largely (though not entirely) inessential in areas where norms of fairness drive the production of creative content

Learning to Assess and Assessing to Learn: A Descriptive Study of a District-Wide Mathematics Assessment Implementation

In today's mathematics education, there is an increasing emphasis on students' understanding of the mathematics set forth in standards documents such as the Principles and Standards for School Mathematics (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 2000) and, most recently, the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (National Governors Association for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010). Widespread adoption of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM) within the United States establishes, for the first time, a common set of coherent, focused standards built on research-based learning progressions detailing what is known today about how students' mathematical knowledge, skill, and understanding develop over time (NGA Center & CCSSO, 2010, p. 4). The CCSSM sets grade-specific standards for the majority of the nation's teachers and students, standards that students are expected to achieve with understanding. This requires that teachers assess whether students have developed an understanding of the mathematics set forth in these standards. Although the standards are well defined within the CCSSM, methods of identifying and meeting the needs of students who do not meet or who exceed these grade-specific expectations are not defined, and therefore it is left for individual teachers to identify ways to do so. This embedded multiple-case study explores the individual and collective experiences of a group of third-grade teachers as they worked to implement a district-initiated mathematics formative assessment and intervention process. The yearlong investigation focused on third-grade teams in two schools, their implementation of the process, and its impact on student learning. This study was designed within the context of engaged scholarship, a participative form of research that leverages the different kinds of knowledge of key stakeholders in studying complex problems. Teacher and administrator interviews, student assessment results, and professional development documents were analyzed to better understand experiences of the implementation process, influences on instructional practice, and impact on student understanding. Findings from this study suggest that these teachers faced at least eight challenges as they implemented the formative assessment practices. These challenges are described with reference to barriers identified by Cizek (2010) and clearly must be addressed in order for teachers to embrace the type of formative assessment increasingly called for in research, policy, and practice. Study findings have several implications for efforts to support teachers' implementation of a formative assessment and intervention process. These findings are discussed along with directions for future research.Doctor of Philosoph

Adding some TEC-variety: 100+ activities for motivating and retaining learners online

The TEC-VARIETY framework purposely takes into account current technology trends and attempts to stimulate their use in pedagogically effective ways. As such, it rests at the intersection of such exciting educational affordances brought about by emerging learning technologies, intrinsic as well as extrinsic motivation-related theories, and the rapidly shifting perspectives on teaching and learning philosophies and approaches. For online educators who are frustrated with never-ending waves of technology and the lack of training on how to effectively use them in their courses, we hope that the TEC-VARIETY framework can offer a ray of sunshine and a new beginning for online educators worldwide. As part of that hope, such educators might find activities and strategies that they can make use of to nurture engagement and success online. These strategies can breathe life into current classes and programs that are failing to engage their learners. They tap into learners’ inner resources and desires to learn and grow toward a better future. At the same time, they can invite the global sharing of ideas and knowledge as part of a worldwide community or family of learners

An investigation into supporting the teaching of calculus-based senior mathematics in Queensland

David Chinofunga investigated student participation in calculus-based senior secondary mathematics in Queensland and pedagogical resources that enhance teaching of mathematics. Trend analysis reveal a high dropout rate. David also found that pedagogical resources that comprise procedural flowcharts and concept maps can enrich mathematics teaching and promote student participation and engagement

A study of Scottish teachers' beliefs about the interplay of problem solving and problem posing in mathematics education

The Scottish Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) advocates that the learning and teaching of mathematical problem solving is no longer compartmentalised but is an overarching feature designed to improve higher order thinking skills at all levels by focusing on conceptual understanding. Comitantly, a growing body of literature acknowledges the interrelated educational benefits of mathematical problem posing within classrooms. Teachers’ beliefs are considered powerful indicators of professional practice and can articulate the positionality of teachers with regards to curricula reform. Despite their significance, research into the implementation of mathematical problem solving and mathematical problem posing is, as yet, under-researched particularly in Scotland. The main purpose of this study was to investigate Scottish teachers’ beliefs and espoused instructional practices of mathematical problem solving and mathematical problem posing. More prosaically, it explored beliefs regarding the nature of mathematics, the learning of mathematics and the teaching of mathematics. A mixed methods explanatory design consisting of an online questionnaire followed by semi-structured interviews was selected as the instruments to measure and capture espoused beliefs and reported practices. This study involved a representative sample of 478 participants (229 primary and 249 secondary mathematics practitioners respectively) generated from 21 local education authorities in Scotland. A supplementary feature of the online questionnaire, which harvested 87 volunteered comments, augmented the data collection process. Descriptive and inferential statistics were employed to analyse quantitative data with thematic coding used to organise and interrogate qualitative data. Factor analysis identified three distinct belief systems consistent with a dominant learner-centred approach (i.e. social constructivist, problem solving and collaborative orientation), mainly learner-centred approach (i.e. social constructivist, problem solving and static transmission orientation) and dominant teacher-centred approach (i.e. static and mechanistic transmission orientation). In other words, teachers’ deep-rooted beliefs do not align to one particular group of belief systems but are embedded mutually within a cluster. A mixture of positive, negative and inconsistent beliefs is reported. Significant dissonance exists between the sectors. Characteristics impacting on beliefs include grade and highest level of qualification in the field of education. This study suggests that the conceptualisation and operationalisation of mathematical problem solving and problem posing may be circumscribed in practice and that primary teachers hold stronger mathematical beliefs than secondary mathematics teachers. Several reasons help to illuminate these findings including a lack of pedagogical content knowledge, ineffective manifestations of mathematical creativity, low mathematics teaching self-efficacy and an over dominant national assessment culture. Implications and recommendations for policy and ITE are discussed