Principles of Equitable Learning After the Pandemic

This article presents six principles of equitable learning. The principles were created by a group of researchers and teachers this past spring, brought together by the Spencer Foundation and the Learning Policy Institute, to guide educators in a vision of education after the pandemic The six design principles are: (1) center relationships; (2) create a culture of affirmation and belonging; (3) build from students&rsquo; interests and take a whole child approach to their development; (4) engage students&rsquo; and families&rsquo; knowledge in disciplinary learning; (5) provide creative, inquiry-based forms of learning; and (6) address educator needs and learning. The article elaborates on these principles through the presentation of three examples that illustrate how to create equitable post-pandemic learning environments. &nbsp; En este art&iacute;culo se introducen e ilustran seis principios acordes con el aprendizaje equitativo. Dichos principios fueron sugeridos por un grupo de investigadores y profesores durante la primavera del a&ntilde;o 2020, reunidos por la Fundaci&oacute;n Spencer y el Learning Policy Institute, con el objetivo de orientar al cuerpo docente en relaci&oacute;n a una visi&oacute;n propositiva de lo que podr&iacute;amos llamar &ldquo;educaci&oacute;n post-pandemia&rdquo;. Los principios son: (1) centrarse en las relaciones; (2) cultivar una cultura de la afirmaci&oacute;n y la pertenencia; (3) construir aprendizajes a partir de los intereses de los y las aprendices, y centrarse en el desarrollo integral de los ni&ntilde;os y ni&ntilde;as; (4) vincular el conocimiento de estudiantes y familias con el aprendizaje curricular-acad&eacute;mico-disciplinar; (5) promover formas creativas de aprendizaje basadas en la investigaci&oacute;n; y (6) abordar las necesidades de aprendizaje de los y las docentes. El art&iacute;culo elabora estos principios a trav&eacute;s de tres ejemplos que permiten ilustrar c&oacute;mo generar y crear ambientes de aprendizaje equitativos post-pandemia.</p

Learning across Settings and Time in the Digital Age

Recent scholarship in the interdisciplinary field of the learning sciences has focused on the ways that young people use digital tools to connect learning experiences across different settings and over time. Two aspects stand out in this research: (i) the potency of youth agency in creating new activities, communities, and pathways for interest-related pursuits and (ii) the ways that peers, adults, and different sociocultural contexts afford and constrain opportunity. These contexts, or settings, include peer groups and families; schools, neighbourhoods and cities, and also nationwide infrastructures that foster connections between school-based and out-of-school learning. The articles in this special issue of Digital Education Review shed light on these topics and advance our understanding of the theories that deal with learning across various settings and times, and how to promote more equitable youth learning across these settings

BEE can and must be transformative

Abstract: Please refer to full text to view abstract

Teachers, Tasks, and Tensions: Lessons From a Research-Practice Partnership

How teachers make sense of new academic standards significantly shapes the implementation of those standards. Professional development organized around the analysis of mathematical tasks has potential to prepare teachers for standards implementation by helping them develop common understandings of standards and how to help students meet ambitious new learning goals. In practice, however, designers and participants bring different goals to the professional development context, which becomes evident when teachers engage in task analysis. In this article, we use the design tensions framework (Tatar, 2007) to analyze these tensions within a research-practice partnership comprised of five university researchers, three district curriculum leaders from a large urban school district, 12 high school Algebra 1 teachers from nine schools in the district, and a small team of Web engineers. Primary data for the study consist of participant observation and field notes of meetings in which project stakeholders negotiated the design of the professional development, as well as interview and survey data. An analysis based on the design tensions framework helped our partnership surface, both in the moment and retrospectively, the need for designers of professional development focused on standards implementation to be adaptive and willing to evolve activities to satisfy multiple stakeholders\u27 goals for participation

The impact of performance management appraisal on the employee’s morale and job satisfaction in the city of uMhlathuze.

Master’s Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.The study investigated the impact of performance appraisal on employee morale and job satisfaction at the City of uMhlathuze. The objective was to identify, investigate and determine performance appraisal system in relation to job satisfaction and employee morale. The study was designed to focus on the accessible population (N=251) of the staff housed at Head Office. The research followed a quantitative structured research design using a positivistic paradigm or worldview. A proportional stratified probability sampling was used to randomly select 132 respondents. A survey method and questionnaire were used to gather data. Inferential and descriptive statistics were used to analyze and present data. Internal validity was ensured by piloting the data collecting instrument and the Cronbach’s alpha internal consistency evaluation. Item analysis was used to determine the reliability constructs in relation to the measuring instrument. Summarily, the study has found that City of uMhlathuze implements a performance appraisal system by rewarding performance and correcting unsatisfactory performance. The study further uncovered a significant correlation between performance appraisal methods with employee morale. The performance appraisal’s fairness and purpose was significantly correlated with employee morale (correlation=0.603, p-value<0.001). In terms of correlation analysis of the relationship between the appraiser’s competence and employee’s morale and job satisfaction, the study indicates that there is significant correlation between the appraiser’s competence, as far as his/her conduct is concerned, and employee morale (correlation=0.592, p-value<0.001). Furthermore, there is a significant correlation between appraiser’s competence, as far as his use of the appraisal system is concerned, and employee morale (correlation=0.542, p-value<0.001). The study safely concludes that the City of uMhlathuze is implementing its performance appraisal system which focuses on various aspects such as employee rewards programme. The study has shown that employee’s morale and job satisfaction is significantly impacted on by the way the appraisal system is run, both from the conduct of the appraiser and the way the system is structured. The appraisal system’s fairness and purpose, employee focus, performance enhancement, loyalty enhancement and skills development aspects were found to impact positively on employee morale. The only aspect of the appraisal system that was found not to have any bearing on employee morale was appraisal frequency. Generally, it was found that most of the employees of COU were not happy with the way the system is implemented. This means that if improvements are made in the implementation of the system, then the positive outcomes in the form of employee morale and job satisfaction will be realized. The positive relationship between good implementation of the system and the morale cannot be overstated and a fair implementation will be expected to yield positive results. This relationship is also confirmed by other studies on the relationship between performance appraisal Moreover, the study concludes that appraiser’s competence has impact on the employee’s morale. This means the appraiser’s competence can either motivate or demotivate the employees. It is therefore crucial for proper training to be offered to appraisers before undertaking employee assessments The study recommends future studies on performance appraisal with a focus on a different context or set-up. The study further recommends more studies, with the focus on mixed methods (i.e. combination of qualitative and quantitative). The study is generalized, and management of City of uMhlathuze should note the findings which should inform future decision making processes at the organization

Learning across settings and time in the digital age.

Recent scholarship in the interdisciplinary field of the learning sciences has focused on the ways that young people use digital tools to connect learning experiences across different settings and over time. Two aspects stand out in this research: (i) the potency of youth agency in creating new activities, communities, and pathways for interest-related pursuits and (ii) the ways that peers, adults, and different sociocultural contexts afford and constrain opportunity. These contexts, or settings, include peer groups and families; schools, neighbourhoods and cities, and also nationwide infrastructures that foster connections between school-based and out-of-school learning. The articles in this special issue of Digital Education Review shed light on these topics and advance our understanding of the theories that deal with learning across various settings and times, and how to promote more equitable youth learning across these settings

Fathers' Attitudes Concerning Father-Son Interaction

Family Relations and Child Developmen

A social practice theory of learning and becoming across contexts and time

This paper presents a social practice theory of learning and becoming across contexts and time. Our perspective is rooted in the Danish tradition of critical psychology (Dreier, 1997; Mørck &amp; Huniche, 2006; Nissen, 2005), and we use social practice theory to interpret the pathway of one adolescent whom we followed as part of a longitudinal study of interest-related learning. A social practice theory calls out the ways people pursue diverse concerns, become aware of new possibilities for action as they move across settings of practice, and learn as they adjust contributions to the flow of ongoing activity and to fit demands and structures of local institutions. It also highlights the ways that existing institutional structures of practice frame the choices people make about how and where to participate in activities. This perspective on learning is potentially transformative, in that it provides a way to promote equity by surfacing issues associated with linkages among settings of practice, networks of actors who support persons’ movement across settings, and diversities in structures of practices that shape opportunities to learn and become

Testing a student generated hypothesis using student data

We describe an activity that allows students to experience the full process of a statistical investigation, from generating the research question, to collecting data and testing a hypothesis. Implementation of the activity is described both with and without use of clickers, handheld remotes that allow instant data collection.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/91094/1/j.1467-9639.2010.00452.x.pd

Pursuing interests and getting involved: Exploring the conditions of sponsorship in youth learning

The phenomenon of “brokering”—or connecting youth to present or future opportunities—is now well known in the field of learning and youth development as an integral part of how and why youth pursue and remain in particular interest-related learning opportunities. More recently, the related term sponsorship refers to the multiple ways in which youth experience brokering-like moments related to their interests. This article aims to better understand how sponsorship functions in the everyday conduct of youths’ lives, as well as if and how sponsorship mediates young people’s sustained participation and planned future in relation to their interest(s). We leverage a longitudinal data set collected over three years of youth participation in interest-related activities to retrospectively understand sponsorship within the existing conditions of young people’s lives, including youth interest and access to program resources. Findings suggest that interest was often not the initial driver for youth entering an activity, but that youth joined activities based on other perceived benefits. Once involved, however, they found themselves developing skills, making friends, and seeing a possible future in the activity. We conclude with design principles intended to support young people in joining an activity, sustaining their participation, and seeing new possibilities for their futures.