Professional development and sustainable development goals

Professional development is defined as a consciously designed systematic process that helps professionals to attain, utilize, and retain knowledge, skills, and expertise. It is simply a process of obtaining skills, qualifications, and experience that help in advancement in one’s career. In the field of education, it is defined as the process of improving staff skills and competencies needed to produce outstanding performance of students. It also refers to a process of improving an organization’s staff capabilities through access to education and training opportunities for better output. Professional development can include a variety of approaches such as formal and informal education, vocational, specialized, or skill-based training, or advanced professional learning

Scaffolding in teacher-student interaction: a decade of Research

Although scaffolding is an important and frequently studied concept, much discussion exists with regard to its conceptualizations, appearances, and effectiveness. Departing from the last decade’s scaffolding literature, this review scrutinizes these three areas of scaffolding. First, contingency, fading, and transfer of responsibility are discerned in this review as the three key characteristics of scaffolding. Second, an overview is presented of the numerous descriptive studies that provided narratives on the appearances of scaffolding and classifications of scaffolding strategies. These strategies are synthesized into a framework for analysis, distinguishing between scaffolding means and intentions. Third, the small number of effectiveness studies available is discussed and the results suggest that scaffolding is effective. However, more research is needed. The main challenge in scaffolding research appears to be its measurement. Based on the encountered and described measurement problems, suggestions for future research are made

The Role of Audiovisual Translation in Mediating Foreign Language Learning

Part 5: Learning in Specific and Disciplinary ContextsInternational audienceThis is a case study of a specific learning environment in the Intensive English Language Program, characterised by technical, spatial, temporal, and motivational restrictions that impede students’ progress. Activity Theory was used to describe the situation, and to design an intervention in the form of a new activity system. A dubbing project was designed and implemented in the Listening and Speaking Course. It utilised students’ mobile devices in an anywhere, anytime type of learning, and their native language and cultural background as a starting point to engage them in a collaborative effort that led to the production of eight dubbed videos. The resulting videos were entered in an internally-organised video competition which added a further motivational element to the project. To evaluate the project’s effect on students’ perceptions and motivation, data were collected using 5 focus group interviews. Results show high levels of motivation, increased learning, increased confidence and sense of achievement and pride in the resulting work