Supporting Professional Development Through Digital Principal Leadership

A core role of the K-12 school leader is to support and nurther the growth of others. That growth is commonly thought to be at the student level. However, school leaders must also focus on the growth of their teachers. School leaders are adjusting to a world where technology has crept into many aspects of the profession. And sometimes, technology innovation comes during a time of sudden disruption, such as the COVID-19 pandemic in Spring 2020 where digital learning and leadership become the new norm, even when uncertainty and change were omnipresent. As such, while it is clear that principals must be collaborative instructional leaders, and that principals must develop their faculty and staff, what is left to be known is how principals use technology to engage in such activities. This study is guided by the question, How do principals leverage digital leadership to transform their school into a professional learning organization? The findings are organized into three themes of how these principals lead in this work

Redefining Technology in Development Work: A Need for Learning Outcomes in ICT Projects

Redefining Technology in Development Work: A Need for Learning Outcomes in ICT Projects Jayson W. Richardson Gregory C. Sales Technology has redefined, and will likely continue to redefine, educational processes and procedures around the world. In many development efforts, however, the focus is on the hardware, software, or professional development. Rare is the international development project focused on teaching and learning. In this special issue of the Forum for International Research in Education (FIRE), we propose a reframing of ICT by shifting the paradigm to focus on Instructional quality, Curriculum development, and Teaching pedagogy. Thinking of ICTs in this I-C-T context moves the discussion away from the technology itself, and spotlights changing and improving teaching and learning. In this special issue the Information and Communication Technology for Development Special Interest Group (ICT4D SIG) of the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES), solicited articles that focus on improving and measuring teaching and learning outcomes in technology-focused development projects

Perceptions of Educational Leadership Faculty Regarding Open Access Publishing

There is a dearth of research on the perceptions of faculty members in educational leadership regarding open access publications. This reality may exist because of a lack of funding for educational leadership research, financial obstacles, tenure demands, or reputation concerns. It may be that there are simply fewer established open access publishers with reputable impact factors to encourage publication by members in the field. The current study seeks to answer the following question: “What are the perceptions of educational leadership faculty members in UCEA about open access publishing?” The results are based on responses from 180 faculty members in the field of educational leadership

Plans for Embedding ICTs into Teaching and Learning through a Large-Scale Secondary Education Reform in the Country of Georgia

Integrating ICTs into international development projects is common. However, focusing on how ICTs support leading, teaching, and learning is often overlooked. This article describes a team’s approach to technology integration into the design of a large-scale, five year, teacher and leader professional development project in the country of Georgia. The main goal of this project was to improve student outcomes via changing core pedagogical practices such as formative assessment, higher order thinking, and student-centered learning. In this article, we describe the background of the project, detail the country and sector context, the project team composition, the technological approach used in the development plan, and offer an analysis of how the proposed technology interventions push teachers and leaders to use technology to improve tasks and improve the teaching and learning experience

What Do Mobile-Connected Cambodians Do Online?

Considering recent developments related to government monitoring of the internet in Cambodia and a renewed push in civil society to improve access to information for Cambodian citizens, we wondered: what do Cambodian owners of smartphones do on the internet?  This article reports how respondents use the Internet, smartphone use, perceive benefits of the Internet, and social media use. A survey was developed iteratively by the research team, with ongoing support from members of the in-country team located in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. A planned missing data design was utilized. The survey was disseminated to 35,000 Cambodia smart phone users. 429 responses were gathered on questions focusing on the personal, political, social media activities on the internet. This study adds to the growing body of knowledge on how various societies are getting access to the internet and what they do when they are on the internet

Job Attainment and Perceived Role Differences of Cyberschool Leaders

As cyberschooling options expand, it is vital that we understand the nuances of these particular learning opportunities. Because little research exists on leaders of K-12 cyberschools, this exploratory case study had two purposes. We first examined how 18 cyberschool leaders in the United States obtained their position. Second, we explored the perceptions of cyberschool leaders regarding the differences between their job and that of a traditional brick-and-mortar school leader. We found that cyberschool leaders tend to be predominantly new, technology savvy administrators who have some background in online learning. Main differences between cyberschool leadership and brick-and-mortar school leadership included interactions with students, teacher supervision, provision of professional development, and management of the day-to-day operations

Shifting Teaching and Learning in Online Learning Spaces: An Investigation of a Faculty Online Teaching and Learning Initiative

We examined the adoption of online teaching strategies by faculty members at a large midwestern research university who participated in a year-long learning community. The purpose of this study was twofold: 1) to investigate changes in teaching approaches resulting from a year-long e-learning professional development initiative; and 2) to understand the perceptions of factors that influenced faculty members’ decision to adopt online or hybrid teaching approaches. The analysis was based on survey data and semi-structured interviews. Barriers, challenges, and successes to the adoption of online teaching strategies are also described in this article.

r84, a Novel Therapeutic Antibody against Mouse and Human VEGF with Potent Anti-Tumor Activity and Limited Toxicity Induction

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is critical for physiological and pathological angiogenesis. Within the tumor microenvironment, VEGF functions as an endothelial cell survival factor, permeability factor, mitogen, and chemotactic agent. The majority of these functions are mediated by VEGF-induced activation of VEGF receptor 2 (VEGFR2), a high affinity receptor tyrosine kinase expressed by endothelial cells and other cell types in the tumor microenvironment. VEGF can also ligate other cell surface receptors including VEGFR1 and neuropilin-1 and -2. However, the importance of VEGF-induced activation of these receptors in tumorigenesis is still unclear. We report the development and characterization of r84, a fully human monoclonal antibody that binds human and mouse VEGF and selectively blocks VEGF from interacting with VEGFR2 but does not interfere with VEGF∶VEGFR1 interaction. Selective blockade of VEGF binding to VEGFR2 by r84 is shown through ELISA, receptor binding assays, receptor activation assays, and cell-based functional assays. Furthermore, we show that r84 has potent anti-tumor activity and does not alter tissue histology or blood and urine chemistry after chronic high dose therapy in mice. In addition, chronic r84 therapy does not induce elevated blood pressure levels in some models. The ability of r84 to specifically block VEGF∶VEGFR2 binding provides a valuable tool for the characterization of VEGF receptor pathway activation during tumor progression and highlights the utility and safety of selective blockade of VEGF-induced VEGFR2 signaling in tumors

Diving into the vertical dimension of elasmobranch movement ecology

Knowledge of the three-dimensional movement patterns of elasmobranchs is vital to understand their ecological roles and exposure to anthropogenic pressures. To date, comparative studies among species at global scales have mostly focused on horizontal movements. Our study addresses the knowledge gap of vertical movements by compiling the first global synthesis of vertical habitat use by elasmobranchs from data obtained by deployment of 989 biotelemetry tags on 38 elasmobranch species. Elasmobranchs displayed high intra- and interspecific variability in vertical movement patterns. Substantial vertical overlap was observed for many epipelagic elasmobranchs, indicating an increased likelihood to display spatial overlap, biologically interact, and share similar risk to anthropogenic threats that vary on a vertical gradient. We highlight the critical next steps toward incorporating vertical movement into global management and monitoring strategies for elasmobranchs, emphasizing the need to address geographic and taxonomic biases in deployments and to concurrently consider both horizontal and vertical movements

Diving into the vertical dimension of elasmobranch movement ecology

Knowledge of the three-dimensional movement patterns of elasmobranchs is vital to understand their ecological roles and exposure to anthropogenic pressures. To date, comparative studies among species at global scales have mostly focused on horizontal movements. Our study addresses the knowledge gap of vertical movements by compiling the first global synthesis of vertical habitat use by elasmobranchs from data obtained by deployment of 989 biotelemetry tags on 38 elasmobranch species. Elasmobranchs displayed high intra- and interspecific variability in vertical movement patterns. Substantial vertical overlap was observed for many epipelagic elasmobranchs, indicating an increased likelihood to display spatial overlap, biologically interact, and share similar risk to anthropogenic threats that vary on a vertical gradient. We highlight the critical next steps toward incorporating vertical movement into global management and monitoring strategies for elasmobranchs, emphasizing the need to address geographic and taxonomic biases in deployments and to concurrently consider both horizontal and vertical movements