Community Learning Process: A Model of Solid Waste Reduction and Separation

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Jittree Pothimamaka

2008-07-01

Full Text Available The main purpose of this research was to study and develop an appropriate model of waste reduction and separation in the community under the community learning process. This is a research and development (R&D study with mixed methodology consisting of four steps. Step One: Research was conducted to obtain information on solid waste disposal in Bang Sue District, Bangkok Metropolis, Thailand, employing group discussions with community members and data collection from the field. Step Two: The activities for development of the model consisted of group discussions, workshops, and development of a test of knowledge and behaviors concerning solid waste disposal using the 1A3R practice concept. Step Three : Experimentation with the model consisting of pre testing and post testing of knowledge and behaviors concerning solid waste disposal ; door to door imparting of appropriate knowledge and behaviors concerning solid waste disposal ; and collecting of data on the rate and amount of generated waste, and waste separation. Step Four: Evaluation of the developed model consisting of assessments based on physical indicators of the waste, opinions of experts, and impacts on participating communities. The findings revealed that (1 the post experiment knowledge and behavior mean scores of community members in the sample significantly increased over their pre experiment counterparts; and (2 the rate of waste generation decreased while waste separation increased. The proposed model of solid waste reduction and separation was accepted, and has four main components:(1 Community Practice: solid waste should be separated in the household into three types: food waste, marketable waste and non marketable waste must be clearly separated from household waste.(2 Knowledge sharing: door to door imparting of knowledge and behaviors on solid waste reduction and separation based on the 1A3R practice concept should be promoted.(3 Community mastery: the community organization

What's the VALUE of Information Literacy? Comparing Learning Community and Non-Learning Community Student Learning Outcomes

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Rapchak, Marcia E.; Brungard, Allison B.; Bergfelt, Theodore W.

2016-01-01

Using the Information Literacy VALUE Rubric provided by the AAC&U, this study compares thirty final capstone assignments in a research course in a learning community with thirty final assignments in from students not in learning communities. Results indicated higher performance of the non-learning community students; however, transfer skills…

COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE DEVELOPMENT OF INTENDING TEACHERS BY MEANS OF LEARNING COMMUNITIES

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Irina Evgenyevna Krasilova

2014-07-01

Full Text Available In the information society the role of learning communities in professional training of an individual specialist is growing. Ideas of social constructivism determine the development of the Internet, on which the modern information and learning environment is mainly based.  The article contains definitions of a university learning community and learning community means; a model of communicative competence development of intending teachers of foreign languages by means of a learning community (informational and educational, technical, organizational and methodological; criteria for evaluating the level of communicative competence development. The author considers the communicative competence of intending teachers a part of their professional competence. The model has been tested at a teacher training university. The article presents some results of the experiment and the main conclusions that allow experts to judge the effectiveness of the model and its applicability in vocational education.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12731/2218-7405-2014-3-8

Accelerated Schools as Professional Learning Communities.

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Biddle, Julie K.

The goal of the Accelerated Schools Project (ASP) is to develop schools in which all children achieve at high levels and all members of the school community engage in developing and fulfilling the school's vision. But to fully implement the ASP model, a school must become a learning community that stresses relationships, shared values, and a…

Community as Teacher Model: Health Profession Students Learn Cultural Safety from an Aboriginal Community

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Kline, Cathy C.; Godolphin, William J.; Chhina, Gagun S.; Towle, Angela

2013-01-01

Communication between health care professionals and Aboriginal patients is complicated by cultural differences and the enduring effects of colonization. Health care providers need better training to meet the needs of Aboriginal patients and communities. We describe the development and outcomes of a community-driven service-learning program in…

Determinants of medication incident reporting, recovery, and learning in community pharmacies: a conceptual model.

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Boyle, Todd A; Mahaffey, Thomas; Mackinnon, Neil J; Deal, Heidi; Hallstrom, Lars K; Morgan, Holly

2011-03-01

Evidence suggests that the underreporting of medication errors and near misses, collectively referred to as medication incidents (MIs), in the community pharmacy setting, is high. Despite the obvious negative implications, MIs present opportunities for pharmacy staff and regulatory authorities to learn from these mistakes and take steps to reduce the likelihood that they reoccur. However, these activities can only take place if such errors are reported and openly discussed. This research proposes a model of factors influencing the reporting, service recovery, and organizational learning resulting from MIs within Canadian community pharmacies. The conceptual model is based on a synthesis of the literature and findings from a pilot study conducted among pharmacy management, pharmacists, and pharmacy technicians from 13 community pharmacies in Nova Scotia, Canada. The purpose of the pilot study was to identify various actions that should be taken to improve MI reporting and included staff perceptions of the strengths and weaknesses of their current MI-reporting process, desired characteristics of a new process, and broader external and internal activities that would likely improve reporting. Out of the 109 surveys sent, 72 usable surveys were returned (66.1% response rate). Multivariate analysis of variance found no significant differences among staff type in their perceptions of the current or new desired system but were found for broader initiatives to improve MI reporting. These findings were used for a proposed structural equation model (SEM). The SEM proposes that individual-perceived self-efficacy, MI process capability, MI process support, organizational culture, management support, and regulatory authority all influence the completeness of MI reporting, which, in turn, influences MI service recovery and learning. This model may eventually be used to enable pharmacy managers to make better decisions. By identifying risk factors that contribute to low MI

Innovating a constructivist learning model to instill cultural diversity respect into youths in a Thai tourism community

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Paranee Srisawad

2016-05-01

The results of the study revealed that, prior to their participation in the study, the youths had low level of cultural diversity respect. In nine months of their learning action, the youths cultivated their respect to the level that they pre-determined. From their learning action, a constructivist learning model was innovated. In the L-CULTURA or the Learn-to-Cultivate Cultures Model, the youths engaged in nine spiraling steps of taking up challenges, checking stocks, planning self-study, searching for new information, sorting the information, conveying the information, getting feedbacks, reflecting on learning experience and creating habits. Community experts and the researchers played roles in scaffolding their learning process as motivators, stimulators, challengers, advisors, resource persons and facilitators.

Collaborative distance learning: Developing an online learning community

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Stoytcheva, Maria

2017-12-01

The method of collaborative distance learning has been applied for years in a number of distance learning courses, but they are relatively few in foreign language learning. The context of this research is a hybrid distance learning of French for specific purposes, delivered through the platform UNIV-RcT (Strasbourg University), which combines collaborative activities for the realization of a common problem-solving task online. The study focuses on a couple of aspects: on-line interactions carried out in small, tutored groups and the process of community building online. By analyzing the learner's perceptions of community and collaborative learning, we have tried to understand the process of building and maintenance of online learning community and to see to what extent the collaborative distance learning contribute to the development of the competence expectations at the end of the course. The analysis of the results allows us to distinguish the advantages and limitations of this type of e-learning and thus evaluate their pertinence.

Experience Learning and Community Development

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Nena Mijoč

1996-12-01

Full Text Available Research in the field of education, carried out in living and working environment, which has undergone so profound changes recently, is of extreme importance. In schools, courses and seminars, one cannot prepare him/herself for the changes as these are often so rapid that it is impossible to foresee them. Therefore, one can only learn by experience. In defining the term 'experience learning', the teoreticians vary greatly. In this paper, experience learning is understood as a process of learning taking part mainly outside the planned educational process and including an active and participative attitude towards environment and people. Original and direct experience can thus serve as a basis for gaining new comprehensions, for planning future activities as well as for a reinterpretation of the past experiences. Let us first mention the basic factors of successful experience learning, such as an individual's character features, possibilities for learning, learning atmosphere and positive stimulations. It has been estimated that local community can increase or decrease the possibilities for experience learning. However, the relation is active in other direction too: the more experience learning bas been asserted in a community, the greater its influence on social and cultural development of the community. On has to bear in mind that well-planned education for local community and stimulating sociocultural animation can facilitate the development of local community.

Building global learning communities

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Averill Gordon

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Within the background where education is increasingly driven by the economies of scale and research funding, we propose an alternative online open and connected framework (OOC for building global learning communities using mobile social media. We critique a three year action research case study involving building collaborative global learning communities around a community of practice of learning researchers and practitioners. The results include the development of a framework for utilising mobile social media to support collaborative curriculum development across international boundaries. We conclude that this framework is potentially transferrable to a range of educational contexts where the focus is upon student-generated mobile social media projects.

Community-based medical education: is success a result of meaningful personal learning experiences?

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Kelly, Len; Walters, Lucie; Rosenthal, David

2014-01-01

Community-based medical education (CBME) is the delivery of medical education in a specific social context. Learners become a part of social and medical communities where their learning occurs. Longitudinal integrated clerkships (LICs) are year-long community-based placements where the curriculum and clinical experience is typically delivered by primary care physicians. These programs have proven to be robust learning environments, where learners develop strong communication skills and excellent clinical reasoning. To date, no learning model has been offered to describe CBME. The characteristics of CBME are explored by the authors who suggest that the social and professional context provided in small communities enhances medical education. The authors postulate that meaningfulness is engendered by the authentic context, which develops over time. These relationships with preceptors, patients and the community provide meaningfulness, which in turn enhances learning. The authors develop a novel learning model. They propose that the context-rich environment of CBME allows for meaningful relationships and experiences for students and that such meaningfulness enhances learning.

Pedagogical innovation from the perspective of professional learning communities

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Sánchez-Cortés, Ana María

2016-12-01

Full Text Available This study aimed to verify the relationship between the participation of teachers in professional learning communities and the teaching practices related to the socio-constructivist model. For this purpose, a quantitative non-experimental model with a cross-sectional design was implemented, using the results of the survey entitled "Teaching and learning international survey", which was applied by the OECD in 2008 in 24 countries. The results of the conducted study determined that the dimensions of professional learning communities have a weak positive relationship with the categories of teaching practices. Additionally, the investigation addressed the differences in the responses of teachers according to variables, such as age, gender, teaching experience, and level of education.

Toward a Social Approach to Learning in Community Service Learning

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Cooks, Leda; Scharrer, Erica; Paredes, Mari Castaneda

2004-01-01

The authors describe a social approach to learning in community service learning that extends the contributions of three theoretical bodies of scholarship on learning: social constructionism, critical pedagogy, and community service learning. Building on the assumptions about learning described in each of these areas, engagement, identity, and…

The Learning Community.

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Boo, Mary Richardson; Decker, Larry E.

This guide to community education offers strategies and suggestions for responding to the call for more community involvement in partnership efforts that will benefit education and society. First, a brief introduction summarizes the philosophy of community education, defining it as a belief that learning is lifelong and that self-help efforts…

Applications of Situated Learning to Foster Communities of Practice

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Edmonds-Cady, Cynthia; Sosulski, Marya R.

2012-01-01

The authors discuss 2 macro-level community practice courses, examining how each applies the concepts of situated learning to foster the development of communities of practice through use of a unique model for antioppressive practice. The theoretical underpinnings and a discussion of the implementation of each stage of the model is provided. The…

A Professional Learning Community Journey

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Diana Maliszewski

2008-06-01

Full Text Available Four teachers (three classroom teachers and a teacher-librarian explain how their school applied a professional learning community framework to its operational practices. They discuss the process, the benefits, and the challenges of professional learning communities.

Developing a Professional Learning Community among Preservice Teachers

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Bond, Nathan

2013-01-01

This action research study examined the development of a professional learning community (PLC) among 20 preservice secondary teachers as they met regularly during a semester-long, field-based education course to share artifacts of learning from their professional portfolios. The PLC model described by Hord and Tobia (2012) served as a framework…

A New Mobile Learning Adaptation Model

OpenAIRE

Mohamd Hassan Hassan; Jehad Al-Sadi

2009-01-01

This paper introduces a new model for m- Learning context adaptation due to the need of utilizing mobile technology in education. Mobile learning; m-Learning for short; in considered to be one of the hottest topics in the educational community, many researches had been done to conceptualize this new form of learning. We are presenting a promising design for a model to adapt the learning content in mobile learning applications in order to match the learner context, preferences and the educatio...

Student Reported Growth: Success Story of a Master of Science in Education Learning Community Program

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Sharon Kabes, EdD

2010-08-01

Full Text Available Quantitative and qualitative data collected from students who have completed a Master of Science in Education Learning Community Program support the effectiveness of the learning community model in facilitating professional growth and transformation. Instructors model constructivist theory. Peer review, collaboration, and reflective analysis of theory and practice are essential components of the model. The program facilitates growth as educators build their understanding about teaching and learning, transfer their ideas and processes into the classroom, and take an active leadership role in promoting change in classrooms, school, and larger community.

Learning Nursing in the Workplace Community: The Generation of Professional Capital

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Gobbi, Mary

This chapter explores the connections between learning, working and professional communities in nursing. It draws on experiences and research in nursing practice and education, where not only do isolated professionals learn as a result of their actions for patients and others, but those professionals are part of a community whose associated networks enable learning to occur. Several characteristics of this professional community are shared with those found in Communities of Practice (CoPs) (Lave and Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1998), but the balance and importance of many elements can differ. For instance, whilst Lave and Wenger (1991) describe many aspects of situated learning in CoPs that apply to nurses, their model is of little help in understanding the ways in which other professions as well as patients/clients and carers influence the development of nursing practice. Therefore, I shall argue that it is not just the Community of Practice that we need to consider

Together We Can Live and Learn. Living-Learning Communities as Integrated Curricular Experiences

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Dunn, Merrily S.; Dean, Laura A.

2013-01-01

This article briefly outlines the history of living-learning communities (LLC) in colleges and universities. It details conceptualization, design, implementation and assessment of such programs. Model recreation and leisure LLC are highlighted and discussed.

Social Entrepreneurship and Community Leadership: A Service-Learning Model for Management Education

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Litzky, Barrie E.; Godshalk, Veronica M.; Walton-Bongers, Cynthia

2010-01-01

This article provides a "how to" guide for developing and teaching a service-learning course in social entrepreneurship and community leadership. As the framework of the course, service-learning operates through faculty to student, student to student, and student to client interactions. The discussion articulates the planning and faculty…

Learning and Best Practices for Learning in Open-Source Software Communities

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Singh, Vandana; Holt, Lila

2013-01-01

This research is about participants who use open-source software (OSS) discussion forums for learning. Learning in online communities of education as well as non-education-related online communities has been studied under the lens of social learning theory and situated learning for a long time. In this research, we draw parallels among these two…

THE SCHOOL AS A LEARNING COMMUNITY

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Cintya Arely Hernández-López

2015-07-01

Full Text Available In the present study is to weight the learning communities, starting to know the approach that has a school in the Chihuahua state to become a learning community, expecting describe how the school gathers the elements to operate as such. The method that was in use was the study of case, resting on the technologies of observation, interview and survey, same that complemented each other with the information that came from the survey and from the analysis of the “portafolio”. The case of study though it presents characteristics that demonstrate inside a community of learning as quality, collaborative work however the institution does not possess the opening and the participation of the involved ones, being an obstacle for the consolidation and benefit of the educational community; ith what there meets distant the possibility that this politics to turn to the school in a community of learning could be consolidate.

A Comparative Analysis of a Game-Based Mobile Learning Model in Low-Socioeconomic Communities of India

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Kim, Paul; Buckner, Elizabeth; Kim, Hyunkyung; Makany, Tamas; Taleja, Neha; Parikh, Vallabhi

2012-01-01

This study explores the effectiveness of a game-based mobile learning model for children living in underdeveloped regions with significant contextual variations. Data for this study came from a total of 210 children between the ages of 6-14 years old from six marginalized communities in India. The findings reveal that children with little or no…

New models to support the professional education of health visitors: A qualitative study of the role of space and place in creating 'community of learning hubs'.

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Donetto, Sara; Malone, Mary; Sayer, Lynn; Robert, Glenn

2017-07-01

In response to a policy-driven workforce expansion in England new models of preparing health visitors for practice have been implemented. 'Community of Learning hubs' (COLHs) are one such model, involving different possible approaches to student support in clinical practice placements (for example, 'long arm mentoring' or 'action learning set' sessions). Such models present opportunities for studying the possible effects of spatiality on the learning experiences of students and newly qualified health visitors, and on team relationships more broadly. To explore a 'community of learning hub' model in health visitor education and reflect on the role of space and place in the learning experience and professional identity development of student health visitors. Qualitative research conducted during first year of implementation. Three 'community of learning hub' projects based in two NHS community Trusts in London during the period 2013-2015. Managers and leads (n=7), practice teachers and mentors (n=6) and newly qualified and student health visitors (n=16). Semi-structured, audio-recorded interviews analysed thematically. Participants had differing views as to what constituted a 'hub' in their projects. Two themes emerged around the spaces that shape the learning experience of student and newly qualified health visitors. Firstly, a generalised need for a 'quiet place' which allows pause for reflection but also for sharing experiences and relieving common anxieties. Secondly, the role of physical arrangements in open-plan spaces to promote access to support from more experienced practitioners. Attention to spatiality can shed light on important aspects of teaching and learning practices, and on the professional identities these practices shape and support. New configurations of time and space as part of educational initiatives can surface new insights into existing practices and learning models. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Analyzing Learning in Professional Learning Communities: A Conceptual Framework

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Van Lare, Michelle D.; Brazer, S. David

2013-01-01

The purpose of this article is to build a conceptual framework that informs current understanding of how professional learning communities (PLCs) function in conjunction with organizational learning. The combination of sociocultural learning theories and organizational learning theories presents a more complete picture of PLC processes that has…

Learning in a Physics Classroom Community: Physics Learning Identity Construct Development, Measurement and Validation

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Li, Sissi L.

introductory physics. The responses were analyzed using principal component exploratory factor analysis. The emergent factors were analyzed to create reliable subscales to measure PLI in terms of physics learning self-efficacy and social expectations about learning. Using these subscales, I present a case study of a student who performed well in the course but resisted the identity learning goals of the curriculum. These findings are used to support the factors that emerged from the statistical analysis and suggest a potential model of the relationships between the factors describing science learning and learning identity in large enrollment college science classes. This study offers an instrument with which to measure aspects of physics learning identity and insights on how PLI might develop in a classroom community of practice.

Building Learning Communities: Foundations for Good Practice

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Davies, Alison; Ramsay, Jill; Lindfield, Helen; Couperthwaite, John

2005-01-01

The School of Health Sciences at the University of Birmingham provided opportunities for the development of student learning communities and online resources within the neurological module of the BSc Physiotherapy degree programme. These learning communities were designed to facilitate peer and independent learning in core aspects underpinning…

Twenty-First Century Learning: Communities, Interaction and Ubiquitous Computing

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Leh, Amy S.C.; Kouba, Barbara; Davis, Dirk

2005-01-01

Advanced technology makes 21st century learning, communities and interactions unique and leads people to an era of ubiquitous computing. The purpose of this article is to contribute to the discussion of learning in the 21st century. The paper will review literature on learning community, community learning, interaction, 21st century learning and…

The Model of Community Learning Center Development: A Case Study of PKBM Assolahiyah in West Java

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Ferdinal Asmin

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Sustaining community learning center (CLC as a community activity centerby increasing the community capacity and skill to deal with socio-economics challenges is an important focus to ensure the success of CLC. This study was aimed to describe the sustainability elements of CLC development and analyze the policy elements that influence the sustainability of CLC program, particularly in related to CSR program. This study approach was combining a qualitative approach and quantitative approach with analytic decision method which is never conducted in the previous studies on CLC. Data and information were collected through document studies, observations and structured interviews through questionnaires, then they were analyzed using descriptive analysis and interpretive structural modeling (ISM analysis. From ten elements of CLC sustainability were analyzed, the result of study emphasized to the importance of CLC management capacity enhancement in PKBM Assolahiyah. The result was synthesized into a policy model of CLC development through CSR program. The policy model should involve the roles of government, scientist, and non-governmental organization (NGO to strengthen the CLC development

Learning to Learn: A Hidden Dimension within Community Dance Practice

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Barr, Sherrie

2013-01-01

This article explores ways of learning experienced by university dance students participating in a community dance project. The students were unfamiliar with community-based practices and found themselves needing to remediate held attitudes about dance. How the students came to approach their learning within the dance-making process drew on…

Reflective learning in community-based dental education.

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Deogade, Suryakant C; Naitam, Dinesh

2016-01-01

Community-based dental education (CBDE) is the implementation of dental education in a specific social context, which shifts a substantial part of dental clinical education from dental teaching institutional clinics to mainly public health settings. Dental students gain additional value from CBDE when they are guided through a reflective process of learning. We propose some key elements to the existing CBDE program that support meaningful personal learning experiences. Dental rotations of 'externships' in community-based clinical settings (CBCS) are year-long community-based placements and have proven to be strong learning environments where students develop good communication skills and better clinical reasoning and management skills. We look at the characteristics of CBDE and how the social and personal context provided in communities enhances dental education. Meaningfulness is created by the authentic context, which develops over a period of time. Structured reflection assignments and methods are suggested as key elements in the existing CBDE program. Strategies to enrich community-based learning experiences for dental students include: Photographic documentation; written narratives; critical incident reports; and mentored post-experiential small group discussions. A directed process of reflection is suggested as a way to increase the impact of the community learning experiences. We suggest key elements to the existing CBDE module so that the context-rich environment of CBDE allows for meaningful relations and experiences for dental students and enhanced learning.

Developing learning community model with soft skill integration for the building engineering apprenticeship programme in vocational high school

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Sutrisno, Dardiri, Ahmad; Sugandi, R. Machmud

2017-09-01

This study aimed to address the procedure, effectiveness, and problems in the implementation of learning model for Building Engineering Apprenticeship Training Programme. This study was carried out through survey method and experiment. The data were collected using questionnaire, test, and assessment sheet. The collected data were examined through description, t-test, and covariance analysis. The results of the study showed that (1) the model's procedure covered preparation course, readiness assessment, assignment distribution, handing over students to apprenticeship instructors, task completion, assisting, field assessment, report writing, and follow-up examination, (2) the Learning Community model could significantly improve students' active learning, but not improve students' hard skills and soft skills, and (3) the problems emerging in the implementation of the model were (1) students' difficulties in finding apprenticeship places and qualified instructors, and asking for relevant tasks, (2) teachers' difficulties in determining relevant tasks and monitoring students, and (3) apprenticeship instructors' difficulties in assigning, monitoring, and assessing students.

Experiencing community psychology through community-based learning class projects: reflections from an American University in the Middle East.

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Amer, Mona M; Mohamed, Salma N; Ganzon, Vincent

2013-01-01

Many introductory community psychology courses do not incorporate community-based learning (CBL), and when they do, it is most often in the form of individualized volunteer hours. We present an alternative model for CBL in which the entire class collaborates on an experiential project that promotes community action. We believe that such an approach better embodies the values and methods of the discipline and has a more powerful impact on the students and stakeholders. It may be especially effective in developing countries that do not have an established network of service infrastructures; in such nations the onus is on the teachers and learners of community psychology to contribute to transformative change. In this article practical guidelines are provided by the instructor regarding how to structure and implement this CBL model. Additionally, two students describe how the CBL experience solidified their learning of course concepts and significantly impacted them personally.

Teaching & Learning for International Students in a 'Learning Community': Creating, Sharing and Building Knowledge

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Linzi Kemp, PhD

2010-08-01

Full Text Available This article considers the culture of learning communities for effective teaching. A learning community is defined here as an environment where learners are brought together to share information, to learn from each other, and to create new knowledge. The individual student develops her/his own learning by building on learning from others. In a learning community approach to teaching, educators can ensure that students gain workplace skills such as collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, and problem solving. In this case study, it is shown how an active learning community, introduced into a blended teaching environment (face-to-face and virtual, effectively supported international undergraduates in the building of knowledge and workplace skills.

Promoting Community Conversations About Research to End Suicide: learning and behavioural outcomes of a training-of-trainers model to facilitate grassroots community health education to address Indigenous youth suicide prevention.

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Wexler, Lisa; Trout, Lucas; Rataj, Suzanne; Kirk, Tanya; Moto, Roberta; McEachern, Diane

2017-01-01

Alaska Native (AN) youth suicide remains a substantial and recalcitrant health disparity, especially in rural/remote communities. Promoting Community Conversations About Research to End Suicide (PC CARES) is a community health intervention that responds to the need for culturally responsive and evidence-supported prevention practice, using a grassroots approach to spark multilevel and community-based efforts for suicide prevention. This paper describes theoretical and practical considerations of the approach, and assesses the feasibility and preliminary learning and behavioural outcomes of the training-of-trainers model. It details the training of a first cohort of intervention facilitators in Northwest Alaska (NWA). Thirty-two people from 11 NWA village communities completed the PC CARES facilitator training, preparing them to implement the intervention in their home communities. Facilitator pre-post surveys focused on readiness to facilitate, a group quiz assessed participants' understanding of relevant research evidence, and practice facilitation exercises demonstrated competency. Curriculum fidelity and accuracy scores were calculated using audio recordings from learning circles conducted by facilitators in their home communities. Facilitator reflections describe the successes of the model and identify several areas for improvement. As of March 2017, 20 of the 32 trained facilitators in 10 of the 11 participating villages have hosted 54 LCs, with a total of 309 unique community members. Coding of these LCs by 2 independent raters indicate acceptable levels of fidelity and accurate dissemination of research evidence by facilitators. Facilitator reflections were positive overall, suggesting PC CARES is feasible, acceptable and potentially impactful as a way to translate research to practice in under-resourced, rural AN communities. PC CARES represents a practical community education and mobilisation approach to Indigenous youth suicide prevention that displays

Community as classroom: teaching and learning public health in rural Appalachia.

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Florence, James; Behringer, Bruce

2011-01-01

Traditional models for public health professional education tend to be didactic, with brief, discrete practica appended. National reports of both practitioners and academicians have called for more competency-driven, interdisciplinary-focused, community-based, service-oriented, and experientially-guided learning for students across the curriculum. East Tennessee State University began its own curricular revisioning in health professions education nearly 2 decades ago with a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, emphasizing competencies development through community-based learning in community-academic partnerships. This article describes 3 examples that grew from that initiative. In the first example, students in multiple classes delivered a longitudinal community-based employee wellness intervention for a rural county school district. BS public health students conducted needs assessments and prepared health education materials; MPH students conducted health assessments and worked with school wellness councils to deliver client-centered interventions; DrPH students supervised the project and provided feedback to the schools using participatory methods. In the second example, MPH students in a social-behavioral foundations course used experiential learning to investigate the region's elevated cancer mortality ranking. Following meetings with multiple community groups, students employed theoretical constructs to frame regional beliefs about cancer and presented findings to community leaders. One outcome was a 5-year community-based participatory research study of cancer in rural Appalachia. In the third example, MPH students in a health-consulting course assessed local African Americans' awareness of the university's health and education programs and perceptions of their community health issues. Students learned consultation methods by assisting at multiple regional African American community meetings to discover issues and interest that resulted in the

Virtual Communities of Collaborative Learning for Higher Education

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Gilda E. Sotomayor

2014-11-01

Full Text Available This article aims to outline and project three new learning scenarios for Higher Education that, after the emergence of ICT and communication through the Network-lnternet, have come under the generic name of virtual communities. To that end, we start from a previous conceptual analysis on collaborative learning, cooperative learning and related concepts taking place in these communities and serving as a basis for sorting them into three types in particular: communities of educational work of professional practice and scientific knowledge. Virtual communities where the activities undertaken and skills acquired are set as important parts of our personal learning development, wich are necessary to build the Knowledge Society.

Why STEM Learning Communities Work: The Development of Psychosocial Learning Factors through Social Interaction

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Carrino, Stephanie Sedberry; Gerace, William J.

2016-01-01

STEM learning communities facilitate student academic success and persistence in science disciplines. This prompted us to explore the underlying factors that make learning communities successful. In this paper, we report findings from an illustrative case study of a 2-year STEM-based learning community designed to identify and describe these…

Designing Professional Learning Communities through Understanding the Beliefs of Learning

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Ke, Jie; Kang, Rui; Liu, Di

2016-01-01

This study was designed to initiate the process of building professional development learning communities for pre-service math teachers through revealing those teachers' conceptions/beliefs of students' learning and their own learning in China. It examines Chinese pre-service math teachers' conceptions of student learning and their related…

75 FR 35881 - Smaller Learning Communities Program

Science.gov (United States)

2010-06-23

... Part II Department of Education Smaller Learning Communities Program; Notice #0;#0;Federal... EDUCATION Smaller Learning Communities Program Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: 84.215L. AGENCY: Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Department of Education. ACTION: Notice of final...

Design of environmental education module towards the needs of aboriginal community learning

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Dasman, Siti Mariam; Yasin, Ruhizan Mohammad

2017-05-01

Non-formal education (NFE) refers to a program that is designed for personal and social education for learners to improve the level of skills and competencies outside formal educational curriculum. Issues related to geography and environment of different Aboriginal communities with other communities play an important role in determining the types and methods that should be made available to the minority community groups. Thus, this concept paper is intended to cater for educational environment through the design and development of learning modules based on non-formal education to the learning of Aboriginal community. Methods and techniques in the design and construction of the modules is based on the Design and Development Research (DDR) that was based on instructional design model of Morrison, Kemp and Ross which is more flexible and prioritizes the needs and characteristics of learners who were involved in the learning modules of the future. The discussion is related to the module development which is suitable to the learning needs of the community and there are several recommendations which may be applied in the implementation of this approach. In conclusion, the community of Orang Asli should be offered the same education as other communities but it is important to distinguish acceptance of learning techniques or approaches used in the education system to meet their standards. The implications of this concept paper is to meet the educational needs of the environment which includes a few aspects of science and some learning activities using effective approaches such as playing and building their own knowledge of meaning.

Service-learning and learning communities: two innovative school projects that are mutually enriched

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carmen ÁLVAREZ ÁLVAREZ

2015-12-01

Full Text Available This article reflects on the interrelationships that exist between two educational projects of today: service-learning (ApS and learning communities (CdA. The ApS is an educational methodology applied worldwide where a single project combines a learning based on experience with the implementation of a service to the community. CdA is a school transformation project to achieve that the information society does not exclude any person, constituting a reality in more than one hundred and ninety schools in Spain and Latin America. Between the two, it is possible to show differences, especially in what refers to its theoretical substrates, but in actual teaching practice in schools there is some harmony, particularly in the so closely that they cultivate both projects with the school community. Therefore, we conclude that service-learning and learning communities can occur as two innovative and relevant today projects which can be mutually enriching: because for both the approach school-community-environment and volunteering is essential.

Epistemic Communities, Situated Learning and Open Source Software Development

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Edwards, Kasper

2001-01-01

This paper analyses open source software (OSS) development as an epistemic community where each individual project is perceived as a single epistemic community. OSS development is a learning process where the involved parties contribute to, and learn from the community. It is discovered that theory...... of epistemic communities does indeed contribute to the understanding of open source software development. But, the important learning process of open source software development is not readily explained. The paper then introduces situated learning and legitimate peripheral participation as theoretical...

International learning communities for global and localcitizenship

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Hana Cervinkova

2011-10-01

Full Text Available In this paper, I describe our ongoing international project in engaged educationalethnography and participatory action research with young adults and consider itsrelevance for a discussion on the community-building role of adult education in aglobalized context. I use the example of our case study to suggest that adult educatorscan generate viable communities by creating learning spaces that nurture criticalconsciousness, a sense of agency, participation and social solidarity amonginternationally and culturally diverse young adult learners. Furthermore, I argue thatparticipation in international learning communities formed through this educationalprocess can potentially help young adults become locally and globally engaged citizens.International learning communities for global citizenship thus present a proposition forconceptualizing the vital role of adult community education in supporting democraticglobal and local citizenship in a world defined in terms of cross-cultural and longdistanceencounters in the formation of culture.

Preservice Teacher Institute: Developing a Model Learning Community for Student Teachers

Science.gov (United States)

Kent, Andrea M.; Simpson, Jennifer L.

2009-01-01

The Preservice Teacher Institute (PTI) is a budding learning community designed to provide mentoring and support for senior elementary education undergraduate candidates. This program is an effective paradigm for mentoring and inducting new teachers into the profession. PTI is a two-semester program. The first semester is restricted to candidates…

Learning from Community: Agenda for Citizenship Education

Science.gov (United States)

Ghosh, Sujay

2015-01-01

Citizenship is about individual's membership in the socio-political community. Education for citizenship conceives issues such as quality education, learning society and inclusion. Educational thinking in India has long valued community as a learning resource. With empirical experiences drawn from the programme of "Ecology and Natural…

Bullying in Virtual Learning Communities.

Science.gov (United States)

Nikiforos, Stefanos; Tzanavaris, Spyros; Kermanidis, Katia Lida

2017-01-01

Bullying through the internet has been investigated and analyzed mainly in the field of social media. In this paper, it is attempted to analyze bullying in the Virtual Learning Communities using Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques, mainly in the context of sociocultural learning theories. Therefore four case studies took place. We aim to apply NLP techniques to speech analysis on communication data of online communities. Emphasis is given on qualitative data, taking into account the subjectivity of the collaborative activity. Finally, this is the first time such type of analysis is attempted on Greek data.

Investigating student communities with network analysis of interactions in a physics learning center

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Eric Brewe

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Developing a sense of community among students is one of the three pillars of an overall reform effort to increase participation in physics, and the sciences more broadly, at Florida International University. The emergence of a research and learning community, embedded within a course reform effort, has contributed to increased recruitment and retention of physics majors. We utilize social network analysis to quantify interactions in Florida International University’s Physics Learning Center (PLC that support the development of academic and social integration. The tools of social network analysis allow us to visualize and quantify student interactions and characterize the roles of students within a social network. After providing a brief introduction to social network analysis, we use sequential multiple regression modeling to evaluate factors that contribute to participation in the learning community. Results of the sequential multiple regression indicate that the PLC learning community is an equitable environment as we find that gender and ethnicity are not significant predictors of participation in the PLC. We find that providing students space for collaboration provides a vital element in the formation of a supportive learning community.

Investigating student communities with network analysis of interactions in a physics learning center

Science.gov (United States)

Brewe, Eric; Kramer, Laird; Sawtelle, Vashti

2012-06-01

Developing a sense of community among students is one of the three pillars of an overall reform effort to increase participation in physics, and the sciences more broadly, at Florida International University. The emergence of a research and learning community, embedded within a course reform effort, has contributed to increased recruitment and retention of physics majors. We utilize social network analysis to quantify interactions in Florida International University’s Physics Learning Center (PLC) that support the development of academic and social integration. The tools of social network analysis allow us to visualize and quantify student interactions and characterize the roles of students within a social network. After providing a brief introduction to social network analysis, we use sequential multiple regression modeling to evaluate factors that contribute to participation in the learning community. Results of the sequential multiple regression indicate that the PLC learning community is an equitable environment as we find that gender and ethnicity are not significant predictors of participation in the PLC. We find that providing students space for collaboration provides a vital element in the formation of a supportive learning community.

Aggregate-then-Curate: how digital learning champions help communities nurture online content

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrew Whitworth

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Informational resources are essential for communities, rooting them in their own history, helping them learn and solve problems, giving them a voice in decision-making and so on. For digital inclusion – and inclusion in the informational and democratic processes of society more generally – it is essential that communities retain the skills, awareness and motivation to create and manage their own informational resources.This article explores a model for the creation of online content that incorporates the different ways in which the quality and relevance of information can be assured. This model, “Aggregate-then-Curate” (A/C, was developed from earlier work concerning digital inclusion in UK online centres, models of informal e-learning and ecologies of resources. A/C shows how creating online content can be viewed as a 7-step process, initiated by individuals but bringing in “digital learning champions”, other community members and formal educational institutions at different stages. A/C can be used to design training to help build the capacity to manage community informational resources in an inclusive way. The article then discusses and evaluates MOSI-ALONG, a Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC funded project founded on these ideas, which illustrates how A/C can be used to design training to help build the capacity to manage community informational resources in an inclusive way. This conclusion is supported by evaluations of the work done so far in MOSI-ALONG.

Computer-facilitated community building for E-learning

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nijholt, Antinus; Petrushin, V.; Kommers, Petrus A.M.; Kinshuk, X.; Galeev, I.

2002-01-01

This is a short survey of tools and ideas that are helpful for community building for E-learning. The underlying assumption in the survey is that community building for students and teachers in a joint learning and teaching situation is useful. Especially student-student interaction in student life

Proposing Community-Based Learning in the Marketing Curriculum

Science.gov (United States)

Cadwallader, Susan; Atwong, Catherine; Lebard, Aubrey

2013-01-01

Community service and service learning (CS&SL) exposes students to the business practice of giving back to society while reinforcing classroom learning in an applied real-world setting. However, does the CS&SL format provide a better means of instilling the benefits of community service among marketing students than community-based…

Holding the Reins of the Professional Learning Community: Eight Themes from Research on Principals' Perceptions of Professional Learning Communities

Science.gov (United States)

Cranston, Jerome

2009-01-01

Using a naturalistic inquiry approach and thematic analysis, this paper outlines the findings of a research study that examined 12 Manitoba principals' conceptions of professional learning communities. The study found that these principals consider the development of professional learning communities to be a normative imperative within the…

Community Learning and University Policy: An Inner-City University Goes Back to School

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lloyd Axworthy

2016-05-01

Full Text Available For at least a decade now, the University of Winnipeg (U of W, an urban institution on Treaty One land in the heart of the Métis Nation, has challenged existing academic models and practices, and has incorporated strategies that address the social divide between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in order to more effectively serve the learning needs of its surrounding community. This article demonstrates how an inner-city university has used internal policies and programs to help support the self-determination of Indigenous peoples. Six community learning initiatives were recently evaluated for impact. This article will provide an overview of the positive outcomes of these learning initiatives on a community of underrepresented learners.

Integrative and Deep Learning through a Learning Community: A Process View of Self

Science.gov (United States)

Mahoney, Sandra; Schamber, Jon

2011-01-01

This study investigated deep learning produced in a community of general education courses. Student speeches on liberal education were analyzed for discovering a grounded theory of ideas about self. The study found that learning communities cultivate deep, integrative learning that makes the value of a liberal education relevant to students.…

Developing leadership practices in hospital-based nurse educators in an online learning community.

Science.gov (United States)

Stutsky, Brenda J; Spence Laschinger, Heather K

2014-01-01

Hospital-based nurse educators are in a prime position to mentor future nurse leaders; however, they need to first develop their own leadership practices. The goal was to establish a learning community where hospital-based nurse educators could develop their own nursing leadership practices within an online environment that included teaching, cognitive, and social presence. Using a pretest/posttest-only nonexperimental design, 35 nurse educators from three Canadian provinces engaged in a 12-week online learning community via a wiki where they learned about exemplary leadership practices and then shared stories about their own leadership practices. Nurse educators significantly increased their own perceived leadership practices after participation in the online community, and teaching, cognitive, and social presence was determined to be present in the online community. It was concluded that leadership development can be enhanced in an online learning community using a structured curriculum, multimedia presentations, and the sharing and analysis of leadership stories. Educators who participated should now be better equipped to role model exemplary leadership practices and mentor our nurse leaders of the future.

Pedagogy of the logic model: teaching undergraduates to work together to change their communities.

Science.gov (United States)

Zimmerman, Lindsey; Kamal, Zohra; Kim, Hannah

2013-01-01

Undergraduate community psychology courses can empower students to address challenging problems in their local communities. Creating a logic model is an experiential way to learn course concepts by "doing." Throughout the semester, students work with peers to define a problem, develop an intervention, and plan an evaluation focused on an issue of concern to them. This report provides an overview of how to organize a community psychology course around the creation of a logic model in order for students to develop this applied skill. Two undergraduate student authors report on their experience with the logic model assignment, describing the community problem they chose to address, what they learned from the assignment, what they found challenging, and what they are doing now in their communities based on what they learned.

Healthcare Learning Community and Student Retention

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, Sherryl W.

2014-01-01

Teaching, learning, and retention processes have evolved historically to include multifaceted techniques beyond the traditional lecture. This article presents related results of a study using a healthcare learning community in a southwest Georgia university. The value of novel techniques and tools in promoting student learning and retention…

A Professional Learning Community Approach

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This paper provides insights into how Life Sciences teachers in the Eastern Cape can be supported through professional learning communities (PLCs) as a potential approach to enhancing their biodiversity knowledge. PLCs are communities that provide the setting and necessary support for groups of classroom teachers to ...

Learning to walk the community of practice tightrope

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Denise Edgar

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Background: The Community of Practice Research was established as a new local health district service initiative. The community comprises novice and experienced multidisciplinary health researchers. Aims: This paper reflects our experience of being Community of Practice Research members and aims to explore the practice development principles aligned to the purpose, progress and outcomes of this community. Conclusions: The journey is compared to walking a tightrope from the beginning to the end. Success in moving forward is attributed to positive leadership and group dynamics enabling a supportive environment. This environment allowed for different types of learning: new research skills and new understandings about oneself. Competing demands such as fluctuating membership and leadership, and the selection of a large initial project were identified as barriers to the Community of Practice Research. Implications for practice: As well as contributing to communities’ shared goals members should identify and make explicit their own learning goals to themselves, the community and their managers Community of practice meetings should include regular facilitated reflection about the learning that is occurring, the challenges and assumptions being made by the group, and the way forward A community of practice uses social processes to aid learning and collaboration across disciplines and organisations and therefore has potential to promote local culture change

Informal learning processes in support of clinical service delivery in a service-oriented community pharmacy.

Science.gov (United States)

Patterson, Brandon J; Bakken, Brianne K; Doucette, William R; Urmie, Julie M; McDonough, Randal P

The evolving health care system necessitates pharmacy organizations' adjustments by delivering new services and establishing inter-organizational relationships. One approach supporting pharmacy organizations in making changes may be informal learning by technicians, pharmacists, and pharmacy owners. Informal learning is characterized by a four-step cycle including intent to learn, action, feedback, and reflection. This framework helps explain individual and organizational factors that influence learning processes within an organization as well as the individual and organizational outcomes of those learning processes. A case study of an Iowa independent community pharmacy with years of experience in offering patient care services was made. Nine semi-structured interviews with pharmacy personnel revealed initial evidence in support of the informal learning model in practice. Future research could investigate more fully the informal learning model in delivery of patient care services in community pharmacies. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Effects of Situated Learning Through a Community Partnership in a Teacher Preparation Program

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shelly Meyers

2013-08-01

Full Text Available This article examines the value of using an alternative approach to college course instruction in an off-campus location, an agency for individuals with developmental disabilities. The situated learning model is an alternative to the traditional college course instructional approach for preservice teachers. This model immerses students in the actual setting where they can practice the skills and apply the concepts emphasized in the curriculum. Through a partnership between the college, the community agency, and a public school, graduate students in the special education program developed and implemented a life-skills curriculum for individuals with developmental disabilities, at the same time learning essential principles of delivering instruction. The school-aged students who participated in the study were from a racially mixed urban school district, while the adult clients from the community agency attended the program at the end of their community-based workday. Based on the results of surveys and focus group discussions, participants in the study indicated that the situated learning model of instruction in a community setting better prepared them in the acquisition and application of their teaching skills, and built their competence in developing educational programs for individuals with disabilities.

Distance Learning for Community Education

Science.gov (United States)

Cook, Anthony A.

2010-01-01

This article takes a look at the influence of technology on curriculum and teaching. It specifically examines the new wave of available technology and the opportunity for schools to make inroads into community outreach by engaging new, technological learning methods. The relationship among community education, public school relations, and distance…

Perceptions of School Principals on Participation in Professional Learning Communities as Job-Embedded Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Gaudioso, Jennifer A.

2017-01-01

Perceptions of School Principals on Participation in Professional Learning Communities as Job-Embedded Learning Jennifer Gaudioso Principal Professional Learning Communities (PPLCs) have emerged as a vehicle for professional development of principals, but there is little research on how principals experience PPLCs or how districts can support…

An Examination of the Impact of Learning Communities on Job

Science.gov (United States)

Wilmes, David M.

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between learning community participation and job/major congruence. Previous research has demonstrated that learning communities are effective vehicles for promoting student and institutional outcomes. However, few studies have examined the impact of learning communities on alumni or career…

Engaging students in a community of learning: Renegotiating the learning environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Theobald, Karen A; Windsor, Carol A; Forster, Elizabeth M

2018-03-01

Promoting student engagement in a student led environment can be challenging. This article reports on the process of design, implementation and evaluation of a student led learning approach in a small group tutorial environment in a three year Bachelor of Nursing program at an Australian university. The research employed three phases of data collection. The first phase explored student perceptions of learning and engagement in tutorials. The results informed the development of a web based learning resource. Phase two centred on implementation of a community of learning approach where students were supported to lead tutorial learning with peers. The final phase constituted an evaluation of the new approach. Findings suggest that students have the capacity to lead and engage in a community of learning and to assume greater ownership and responsibility where scaffolding is provided. Nonetheless, an ongoing whole of course approach to pedagogical change would better support this form of teaching and learning innovation. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Engaging Students in Mathematical Modeling through Service-Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Carducci, Olivia M.

2014-01-01

I have included a service-learning project in my mathematical modeling course for the last 6 years. This article describes my experience with service-learning in this course. The article includes a description of the course and the service-learning projects. There is a discussion of how to connect with community partners and identify…

Addressing Cultural Competency in Pharmacy Education through International Service Learning and Community Engagement

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rosemin Kassam

2013-08-01

Full Text Available This paper describes the design, implementation and evaluation of a course in international service learning and community engagement for pharmacy undergraduate students. The course offered students opportunities to cultivate cultural competency in an international setting foreign to their own—Sub-Saharan Africa. The experience consisted of pre-departure preparation seminars followed by subsequent community immersion to experience, explore and confront personal attitudes and perceptions. A key feature of this course was its emphasis on a continuing cycle of learning, community engagement and reflection. Three students participated, a near-maximum cohort. Their daily self-reflections were qualitatively analyzed to document the impact of their cultural learning and experiences and revealed meaningful learning in the domains of self-assessment and awareness of their personal and professional culture, exposure to a participatory health delivery model involving the patient, the community and a multidisciplinary team and opportunities to engage in patient care in a different cultural setting. This proof-of-concept course provided students with experiences that were life-changing on both personal and professional levels and confirmed the viability and relevance of international service learning for the pharmacy field within its university-wide mandate.

The Community of Inquiry Framework Meets the SOLO Taxonomy: A Process-Product Model of Online Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Shea, Peter; Gozza-Cohen, Mary; Uzuner, Sedef; Mehta, Ruchi; Valtcheva, Anna Valentinova; Hayes, Suzanne; Vickers, Jason

2011-01-01

This paper presents both a conceptual and empirical investigation of teaching and learning in online courses. Employing both the Community of Inquiry framework (CoI) and the Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes (SOLO) taxonomy, two complete online courses were examined for the quality of both collaborative learning processes and learning…

Community action research track: Community-based participatory research and service-learning experiences for medical students.

Science.gov (United States)

Gimpel, Nora; Kindratt, Tiffany; Dawson, Alvin; Pagels, Patti

2018-04-01

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) and service-learning are unique experiential approaches designed to train medical students how to provide individualized patient care from a population perspective. Medical schools in the US are required to provide support for service-learning and community projects. Despite this requirement, few medical schools offer structured service-learning. We developed the Community Action Research Track (CART) to integrate population medicine, health promotion/disease prevention and the social determinants of health into the medical school curriculum through CBPR and service-learning experiences. This article provides an overview of CART and reports the program impact based on students' participation, preliminary evaluations and accomplishments. CART is an optional 4‑year service-learning experience for medical students interested in community health. The curriculum includes a coordinated longitudinal program of electives, community service-learning and lecture-based instruction. From 2009-2015, 146 CART students participated. Interests in public health (93%), community service (73%), primary care (73%), CBPR (60%) and community medicine (60%) were the top reasons for enrolment. Significant improvements in mean knowledge were found when measuring the principles of CBPR, levels of prevention, determining health literacy and patient communication strategies (all p's Projects were disseminated by at least 65 posters and four oral presentations at local, national and international professional meetings. Six manuscripts were published in peer-reviewed journals. CART is an innovative curriculum for training future physicians to be community-responsive physicians. CART can be replicated by other medical schools interested in offering a longitudinal CBPR and service-learning track in an urban metropolitan setting.

21st Century Community Learning Centers: Providing Afterschool and Summer Learning Support to Communities Nationwide

Science.gov (United States)

Afterschool Alliance, 2014

2014-01-01

The 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) initiative is the only federal funding source dedicated exclusively to before-school, afterschool, and summer learning programs. Each state education agency receives funds based on its share of Title I funding for low-income students at high-poverty, low performing schools. Funds are also…

Community garden: A bridging program between formal and informal learning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ranjan Datta

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Community garden activities can play a significant role in bridging formal and informal learning, particularly in urban children’s science and environmental education. It promotes relational methods of learning, discussing, and practicing that will integrate food security, social interactions, community development, environmental activism, and cultural integration. Throughout the last five years of my community garden activities, I have learned that community garden-based practices adhere to particular forms of agency: embracing diversity, sharing power, and trust building as a part of everyday learning. My auto-ethnographic study provides valuable insights for environmental educators whose goals include, incorporating ethnic diversity as well as engaging children in research, ultimately leading to community action.

Effective Strategies for Sustaining Professional Learning Communities

Science.gov (United States)

Bennett, Patricia R.

2010-01-01

Professional Learning Communities (PLCs), in which educators work collaboratively to improve learning for students, need effective strategies to sustain them. PLCs promote continuous improvement in student learning and build academic success with increased teacher expertise. Grounded in organizational systems theory, participative leadership…

Guidelines for Lifelong Education Management to Mobilize Learning Community

Science.gov (United States)

Charungkaittikul, Suwithida

2018-01-01

This article is a study of the guidelines for lifelong education management to mobilize learning communities in the social-cultural context of Thailand is intended to 1) analyze and synthesize the management of lifelong learning to mobilize learning community in the social-cultural context of Thailand; and 2) propose guidelines for lifelong…

Social networks and performance in distributed learning communities

OpenAIRE

Cadima, Rita; Ojeda Rodríguez, Jordi; Monguet Fierro, José María

2012-01-01

Social networks play an essential role in learning environments as a key channel for knowledge sharing and students' support. In distributed learning communities, knowledge sharing does not occur as spontaneously as when a working group shares the same physical space; knowledge sharing depends even more on student informal connections. In this study we analyse two distributed learning communities' social networks in order to understand how characteristics of the social structure can enhance s...

Engaging Karen refugee students in science learning through a cross-cultural learning community

Science.gov (United States)

Harper, Susan G.

2017-02-01

This research explored how Karen (first-generation refugees from Burma) elementary students engaged with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) practice of constructing scientific explanations based on evidence within the context of a cross-cultural learning community. In this action research, the researcher and a Karen parent served as co-teachers for fourth- and fifth-grade Karen and non-Karen students in a science and culture after-school programme in a public elementary school in the rural southeastern United States. Photovoice provided a critical platform for students to create their own cultural discourses for the learning community. The theoretical framework of critical pedagogy of place provided a way for the learning community to decolonise and re-inhabit the learning spaces with knowledge they co-constructed. Narrative analysis of video transcripts of the after-school programme, ethnographic interviews, and focus group discussions from Photovoice revealed a pattern of emerging agency by Karen students in the scientific practice of constructing scientific explanations based on evidence and in Karen language lessons. This evidence suggests that science learning embedded within a cross-cultural learning community can empower refugee students to construct their own hybrid cultural knowledge and leverage that knowledge to engage in a meaningful way with the epistemology of science.

The community health clinics as a learning context for student nurses.

Science.gov (United States)

Makupu, M B; Botes, A

2000-09-01

The purpose of the research study was to describe guidelines to improve the community health clinics as a learning context conductive to learning. The objectives of the study commenced by getting the perception of student nurses from a nursing college in Gauteng; community sisters from ten community health clinics in the Southern Metropolitan Local Council and college tutors from a college in Gauteng. The research design and method used, consisting of a qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual approach and the design was divided into two phases. Phase one consisted of a field/empirical study and phase two of conceptualization. In all the samples follow-up focus group interviews were conducted to confirm the findings. To ensure trustworthiness, Lincoln and Guba's model (1985) was implemented and data analysis was according to Tesch's model (1990 in Creswell 1994:155) based on a qualitative approach. The conceptual framework discussed, indicating a body of knowledge, was based on the study and empirical findings from phase one to give clear meaning and understanding regarding the research study.

A general picture of the learning communities: characteristics, similarities and differences.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Verkleij, K.A.M.; Francke, A.L.; Voordouw, I.; Albers, M.; Gobbens, R.J.J.

2016-01-01

Background: Because learning communities of community care nurses and nursing lectures are a new phenomenon, it is of interest to evaluate en monitor the learning communities. the Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research, NIVEL, was commissioned to monitor the realization of the learning

Whole School Improvement and Restructuring as Prevention and Promotion: Lessons from STEP and the Project on High Performance Learning Communities.

Science.gov (United States)

Felner, Robert D.; Favazza, Antoinette; Shim, Minsuk; Brand, Stephen; Gu, Kenneth; Noonan, Nancy

2001-01-01

Describes the School Transitional Environment Project and its successor, the Project on High Performance Learning Communities, that have contributed to building a model for school improvement called the High Performance Learning Communities. The model seeks to build the principles of prevention into whole school change. Presents findings from…

Testing the Community-Based Learning Collaborative (CBLC) implementation model: a study protocol.

Science.gov (United States)

Hanson, Rochelle F; Schoenwald, Sonja; Saunders, Benjamin E; Chapman, Jason; Palinkas, Lawrence A; Moreland, Angela D; Dopp, Alex

2016-01-01

High rates of youth exposure to violence, either through direct victimization or witnessing, result in significant health/mental health consequences and high associated lifetime costs. Evidence-based treatments (EBTs), such as Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), can prevent and/or reduce these negative effects, yet these treatments are not standard practice for therapists working with children identified by child welfare or mental health systems as needing services. While research indicates that collaboration among child welfare and mental health services sectors improves availability and sustainment of EBTs for children, few implementation strategies designed specifically to promote and sustain inter-professional collaboration (IC) and inter-organizational relationships (IOR) have undergone empirical investigation. A potential candidate for evaluation is the Community-Based Learning Collaborative (CBLC) implementation model, an adaptation of the Learning Collaborative which includes strategies designed to develop and strengthen inter-professional relationships between brokers and providers of mental health services to promote IC and IOR and achieve sustained implementation of EBTs for children within a community. This non-experimental, mixed methods study involves two phases: (1) analysis of existing prospective quantitative and qualitative quality improvement and project evaluation data collected pre and post, weekly, and monthly from 998 participants in one of seven CBLCs conducted as part of a statewide initiative; and (2) Phase 2 collection of new quantitative and qualitative (key informant interviews) data during the funded study period to evaluate changes in relations among IC, IOR, social networks and the penetration and sustainment of TF-CBT in targeted communities. Recruitment for Phase 2 is from the pool of 998 CBLC participants to achieve a targeted enrollment of n = 150. Study aims include: (1) Use existing quality improvement

Investigating Mathematics Teacher Learning within an In-Service Community of Practice: The Centrality of Confidence

Science.gov (United States)

Graven, Mellony

2004-01-01

This paper is part of a broader study that draws on Wenger's (Wenger, E.: 1998, "Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity", Cambridge University Press, New Work) social practice perspective to investigate teacher learning. The study extends Wenger's complex model of interrelated components of learning (as meaning, practice,…

Mentoring: A Natural Role for Learning Community Faculty

Science.gov (United States)

Hessenauer, Sarah L.; Law, Kristi

2017-01-01

The purpose of this article is to highlight mentoring as an important piece of leading a learning community. The authors will share a definition of mentoring which is applicable to the learning community experience. Characteristics of mentoring will be described, including types of mentoring and mentor-mentee relationships. The authors will apply…

Learning communities and overcoming poverty in Brazil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tatiana Santos Pitanga

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Object: Brazil has implemented social programs to meet the Millennium Development Goals of reducing poverty and inequality. Despite the good results still there are ghettos and educational and social inequalities. Moreover Learning Communities are responding to these needs by promoting education based on successful actions scientifically proven of which promote educational change and social inclusion. The aim of this article is to highlight the characteristics of Learning Communities that allow overcoming poverty, and in this perspective, explain the implementation of the Learning Communities in Brazil and how, in this way, it is creating the conditions for effective overcoming give poverty and inequality in this country.Design / methodology: This article is based on documentary analysis of reports of the INCLUD-ED - the project on school education more scientific resources has been funded by the European Union, United Nations / ECLAC, Brazilian public agencies and websites of official institutions that promote Learning Communities in Brazil. Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics are also collected.Contributions and results: It highlights successful actions that contribute to overcoming poverty and social exclusion. Such actions are based on dialogic learning, democratic management and the formation of heterogeneous groups. It is observed that in Brazil are carrying out such actions and the ongoing expansion of the project in the country is creating the conditions for effective poverty reduction.Added value: This article reveals specific elements of overcoming poverty through education.

 e-Learning in Virtual Communities of Practice - And Beyond?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Petersen, Karen Bjerg

2007-01-01

The work of Lave and Wenger on learning in 'communities of practice' has evoked a considerable response in e-learning environments through-out the world including Denmark in the last few decades. Within the development of web-based second language learning, the ideas of learning in communities...... interaction and case studies of e-learning language platforms within the area of teaching Danish as a second language for adult foreigners. The concepts of communities of practice are also discussed and developed....... individual process. The aim of this paper is to investigate aspects of the Danish development of e-learning platforms and, especially students' and teachers' very differing perceptions of e-learning and the concepts behind it. The analysis is based on student and teacher interviews, research on language...

On-line Professional Learning Communities: Increasing Teacher Learning and Productivity in Isolated Rural Communities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dora Salazar

2010-08-01

Full Text Available On-line and distance professional learning communities provides teachers with increased access and flexibility as well as the combination of work and education. It also provides a more learner-centered approach, enrichment and new ways of interacting with teachers in isolated rural areas. For educational administrators, on-line learning offers high quality and usually cost-effective professional development for teachers. It allows upgrading of skills, increased productivity and development of a new learning culture. At the same time, it means sharing of costs, of training time, increased portability of training, and the exchange of creativity, information, and dialogue.

A History of Learning Communities within American Higher Education

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Fink, John E.; Inkelas, Karen Kurotsuchi

2015-01-01

This chapter describes the historical development of learning communities within American higher education. We examine the forces both internal and external to higher education that contributed to and stalled the emergence of learning communities in their contemporary form.

A Coterminous Collaborative Learning Model: Interconnectivity of Leadership and Learning

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Ilana Margolin

2012-05-01

Full Text Available This qualitative ethnographic study examines a collaborative leadership model focused on learning and socially just practices within a change context of a wide educational partnership. The study analyzes a range of perspectives of novice teachers, mentor teachers, teacher educators and district superintendents on leadership and learning. The findings reveal the emergence of a coalition of leaders crossing borders at all levels of the educational system: local school level, district level and teacher education level who were involved in coterminous collaborative learning. Four categories of learning were identified as critical to leading a change in the educational system: learning in professional communities, learning from practice, learning through theory and research and learning from and with leaders. The implications of the study for policy makers as well as for practitioners are to adopt a holistic approach to the educational environment and plan a collaborative learning continuum from initial pre-service programs through professional development learning at all levels.

Teacher Collaboration and Student Learning in a Professional Learning Community

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Vaughan, Mary Elaine

2013-01-01

Researchers have endorsed teacher collaboration within a professional learning community (PLC) that is focused on student learning. Despite these research-based endorsements, several Algebra 1 teachers in a southeastern high school implemented components of a PLC with little or no results in student achievement. The purpose of this study was to…

Moving Into Communities: Developing Cultural Competence with Pre-service Educators through Community Service-Learning Experiences

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Heather Coffey

2012-04-01

Full Text Available Research in teacher education suggests that field experiences in community settings can offer pre-service teachers a context for understanding the link between theory and practice. This paper documents the experiences of pre-service educators who participated in service-learning partnerships for thirty hours in multiple community settings in the southeast United States. Pre-service teachers not only volunteered in the community, but they also engaged in critically reflective journal writing and participated in evaluative class discussions. Students praised the benefits of a service experience in both school and community placements and discussed how interactions with the community agencies gave them the insight into how community organizations often play a significant role in the lives of the underserved students they will eventually teach. The author argues that the inclusion of a service-learning component in early pre-service teacher education field experiences has the potential to facilitate the examination of the relationships between community organizations and schools and encourage development of cultural competence among pre-service teachers. KEYWORDSservice-learning, pre-service teacher preparation, community partnerships

Building Global Learning Communities

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Cochrane, Thomas; Buchem, Ilona; Camacho, Mar; Cronin, Catherine; Gordon, Averill; Keegan, Helen

2013-01-01

Within the background where education is increasingly driven by the economies of scale and research funding, we propose an alternative online open and connected framework (OOC) for building global learning communities using mobile social media. We critique a three year action research case study involving building collaborative global learning…

Collaborating on Climate: The Signs of the Land Camp as a Model for Meaningful Learning Between Indigenous Communities and Western Climate Scientists

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Chase, M.; Brunacini, J.; Sparrow, E. B.

2016-12-01

As interest in Indigenous Knowledge (IK) grows, how can researchers ensure that collaboration is meaningful, relevant, and valuable for those involved? The Signs of the Land: Reaching Arctic Communities Facing Climate Change Camp is a collaborative project developed by the Association for Interior Native Educators (AINE), the International Arctic Research Center (IARC), and the PoLAR Partnership. Modeled on AINE's Elder Academy and supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation, the camp facilitates in-depth dialogue about climate change and explores causes, impacts, and solutions through the cultural lens of Alaska Native communities. The project integrates local observations, IK, and western climate science. Participants engage with Alaska Native Elders, local climate researchers, and learn about climate communication tools and resources for responding. Following camps in 2014 and 2016, project partners identified a variety of questions about the challenges and opportunities of the collaboration that will be discussed in this presentation. For instance, what does it mean to equitably integrate IK, and in what ways are Native communities able to participate in research project design, delivery, and evaluation? How are decisions made and consensus built within cultural practices, project goals, and funding expectations? How do opportunities available to Indigenous communities to engage with western climate science broaden understanding and response? And, how does the ability to connect with and learn from Alaska Native Elders affect motivation, engagement, and community action? Finally, what is the effect of learning about climate change in a cultural camp setting?

Community-based research in action: tales from the Ktunaxa community learning centres project.

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Stacy, Elizabeth; Wisener, Katherine; Liman, Yolanda; Beznosova, Olga; Lauscher, Helen Novak; Ho, Kendall; Jarvis-Selinger, Sandra

2014-01-01

Rural communities, particularly Aboriginal communities, often have limited access to health information, a situation that can have significant negative consequences. To address the lack of culturally and geographically relevant health information, a community-university partnership was formed to develop, implement, and evaluate Aboriginal Community Learning Centres (CLCs). The objective of this paper is to evaluate the community-based research process used in the development of the CLCs. It focuses on the process of building relationships among partners and the CLC's value and sustainability. Semistructured interviews were conducted with key stakeholders, including principal investigators, community research leads, and supervisors. The interview transcripts were analyzed using an open-coding process to identify themes. Key challenges included enacting shared project governance, negotiating different working styles, and hiring practices based on commitment to project objectives rather than skill set. Technological access provided by the CLCs increased capacity for learning and collective community initiatives, as well as building community leads' skills, knowledge, and self-efficacy. An important lesson was to meet all partners "where they are" in building trusting relationships and adapting research methods to fit the project's context and strengths. Successful results were dependent upon persistence and patience in working through differences, and breaking the project into achievable goals, which collectively contributed to trust and capacity building. The process of building these partnerships resulted in increased capacity of communities to facilitate learning and change initiatives, and the capacity of the university to engage in successful research partnerships with Aboriginal communities in the future.

Pragmatism, Pedagogy, and Community Service Learning

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Yoder, Scot D.

2016-01-01

In this paper I explore Goodwin Liu's proposal to ground the pedagogy of service-learning in the epistemology of pragmatism from the perspective of a reflective practitioner. I review Liu's epistemology and his claim that from within it three features common to service-learning--community, diversity, and engagement--become pedagogical virtues. I…

Cultural Narratives: Developing a Three-Dimensional Learning Community through Braided Understanding

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Heck, Marsha L.

2004-01-01

Paula Underwood's "Learning Stories" braid together body, mind, and spirit to enable understanding that does not easily unravel. They tell of relationships among individual and community learning that parallel other ancient and contemporary ideas about learning in caring communities. Underwood's tradition considers learning sacred; everyone's…

A Review of the Instructional Practices for Promoting Online Learning Communities

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Hung, Woei; Flom, Elicia; Manu, Jacob; Mahmoud, Enaz

2015-01-01

An effective learning community helps foster positive student learning experiences and outcomes. However, in distance learning environments, the communication barriers inevitably hinder the interaction among the students because of the lower levels of social presence. These barriers present challenges in building learning communities in an online…

Bridging Learning Communities Through Experiential Learning with GIST: 2Y College Experience

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Sorey, N.; Phillips, C. D.

2017-12-01

This study reviews successes of community engagement through experiential learning with GIST across academic disciplines that leverage topics with technology and community relationships throughout a two-year campus and the community at large. This approach allowed for a diversification of populations reached through college student engagement and community outreach efforts. Technological frameworks and development of best practice resources to support students and faculty were shown to increase the capacity for undergraduate research experiences, K12 short course offerings during the summer, and the formation of a STEM-focused student organization. The RSO has participated in activities that include educational technology development, participating in the growth and development of the area's maker movement community, and geoscience outreach and education. Development of the program thus far and lessons learned have resulted in a proposal for an areal-based informal pathway linking the K12 community to area colleges by integrating geoscience outreach with GIST through the maker movement.

Increasing Student Metacognition and Learning through Classroom-Based Learning Communities and Self-Assessment

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Amy Siegesmund

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Student overconfidence challenges success in introductory biology. This study examined the impact of classroom learning communities and self-assessment on student metacognition and subsequent impact on student epistemological beliefs, behaviors, and learning. Students wrote weekly self-assessments reflecting on the process of learning and received individual feedback. Students completed a learning strategies inventory focused on metacognition and study behaviors at the beginning and end of the semester and a Student Assessment of their Learning Gains (SALG at the end of the semester. Results indicated significant changes in both metacognition and study behaviors over the course of the semester, with a positive impact on learning as determined by broad and singular measures. Self-assessments and SALG data demonstrated a change in student beliefs and behaviors. Taken together, these findings argue that classroom learning communities and self-assessment can increase student metacognition and change student epistemological beliefs and behaviors.

Planning for Technology Integration in a Professional Learning Community

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Thoma, Jennifer; Hutchison, Amy; Johnson, Debra; Johnson, Kurt; Stromer, Elizabeth

2017-01-01

Barriers to technology integration in instruction include a lack of time, resources, and professional development. One potential approach to overcoming these barriers is through collaborative work, or professional learning communities. This article focuses on one group of teachers who leveraged their professional learning community to focus on…

The impact of learning communities on interpersonal relationships among medical students.

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Champaloux, Eve Privman; Keeley, Meg G

2016-01-01

Medical students at the University of Virginia (UVA) are mentored and learn within the framework of a four college learning community. Uniquely, these learning communities are used to organize the third-year clerkship rotations. Students were surveyed after their first pre-clinical year and after their clerkship year to determine what the effect of the learning community was on their social and educational interpersonal relationships. Students knew a higher percentage of their college mates after completing their third-year clerkships within the framework of the college system. Students chose peers from within the college system for social and educational interpersonal scenarios statistically more often than what would be expected at random. Small group learning environments that were not formed within the framework of the college system at UVA did not have the same effect on interpersonal relationships, indicating that learning communities are uniquely able to provide a context for relationship building. Students felt more positively about the social and educational effects of the college system after the clerkship year, with a corresponding increase in the strength of their interpersonal bonds with their college peers. This work is the first to investigate the effects of learning communities on interpersonal relationships among medical students and finds that learning communities positively impact both social and educational medical student bonds.

Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning. Volume 13, Number 1, Fall 2006

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Howard, Jeffrey, Ed.

2006-01-01

The "Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning" ("MJCSL") is a national, peer-reviewed journal consisting of articles written by faculty and service-learning educators on research, theory, pedagogy, and issues pertinent to the service-learning community. The "MJCSL" aims to: (1) widen the community of…

Community Agency Voice and Benefit in Service-Learning

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Miron, Devi; Moely, Barbara E.

2006-01-01

Supervisors from 40 community agencies working with a university-based service-learning program were interviewed regarding the extent of their input in service-learning program planning and implementation "(Agency Voice), Interpersonal Relations" with service-learning students, "Perceived Benefit" of the service-learning…

A Community-University Exchange Project Modeled after Europe's Science Shops

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Tryon, Elizabeth; Ross, J. Ashleigh

2012-01-01

This article describes a pilot project of the Morgridge Center for Public Service at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for a new structure for community-based learning and research. It is based on the European-derived science shop model for democratizing campus-community partnerships using shared values of mutual respect and validation of…

Editorial: Creating, Supporting, Sustaining and Evaluating Virtual Learning Communities

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Xun Ge

2011-12-01

Full Text Available This special issue is dedicated to creating, building, supporting, sustaining and evaluating virtual learning communities (VLCs using emerging technologies. The contributors from diverse disciplines have come together to share their valuable experiences and findings through their research in the following themes: (a instructional models, strategies, approaches for building, supporting and evaluating VLCs, (b designing effective use of tools to promote discourse and scaffold peer interactions among members, (c iterative processes and models of designing and evaluating VLCs; and (d various variables concerning VLCs, such as virtual community behaviors, cultural factors, adoption patterns of tools. It is hoped that these articles will provide practical guidance and offer valuable experience to both educators and researchers who are interested in designing effective VLCs and examining various aspects of VLCs to advance our understanding of VLCs.

Translation of an Action Learning Collaborative Model Into a Community-Based Intervention to Promote Physical Activity and Healthy Eating.

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Schifferdecker, Karen E; Adachi-Mejia, Anna M; Butcher, Rebecca L; O'Connor, Sharon; Li, Zhigang; Bazos, Dorothy A

2016-01-01

Action Learning Collaboratives (ALCs), whereby teams apply quality improvement (QI) tools and methods, have successfully improved patient care delivery and outcomes. We adapted and tested the ALC model as a community-based obesity prevention intervention focused on physical activity and healthy eating. The intervention used QI tools (e.g., progress monitoring) and team-based activities and was implemented in three communities through nine monthly meetings. To assess process and outcomes, we used a longitudinal repeated-measures and mixed-methods triangulation approach with a quasi-experimental design including objective measures at three time points. Most of the 97 participants were female (85.4%), White (93.8%), and non-Hispanic/Latino (95.9%). Average age was 52 years; 28.0% had annual household income of $20,000 or less; and mean body mass index was 35. Through mixed-effects models, we found some physical activity outcomes improved. Other outcomes did not significantly change. Although participants favorably viewed the QI tools, components of the QI process such as sharing goals and data on progress in teams and during meetings were limited. Participants' requests for more education or activities around physical activity and healthy eating, rather than progress monitoring and data sharing required for QI activities, challenged ALC model implementation. An ALC model for community-based obesity prevention may be more effective when applied to preexisting teams in community-based organizations. © 2015 Society for Public Health Education.

Recommendations from the Field: Creating an LGBTQ Learning Community

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Jaekel, Kathryn S.

2015-01-01

This article details the creation of a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) learning community. Created because of research that indicates chilly campus climates (Rankin, 2005), as well as particular needs of LGBTQ students in the classroom, this learning community focused upon LGBTQ topics in and out of the classroom. While…

Communities of clinical practice: the social organization of clinical learning.

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Egan, Tony; Jaye, Chrystal

2009-01-01

The social organization of clinical learning is under-theorized in the sociological literature on the social organization of health care. Professional scopes of practice and jurisdictions are formally defined by professional principles and standards and reflected in legislation; however, these are mediated through the day-to-day clinical activities of social groupings of clinical teams. The activities of health service providers typically occur within communities of clinical practice. These are also major sites for clinical curriculum delivery, where clinical students learn not only clinical skills but also how to be health professionals. In this article, we apply Wenger's model of social learning within organizations to curriculum delivery within a health service setting. Here, social participation is the basis of learning. We suggest that it offers a powerful framework for recognizing and explaining paradox and incongruence in clinical teaching and learning, and also for recognizing opportunities, and devising means, to add value to students' learning experiences.

Teaching and learning about community development online: Insights and lessons learned

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Judith Kulig

2007-06-01

Full Text Available This paper discusses the development, delivery, and evaluation of a successful graduate course in community development offered to students across Canada via the Internet. The review of literature points to common themes in distance education, community development and health promotion. The course, "Health Promotion: Community Development Approaches", is presented as a case example with descriptions of the curriculum, delivery methods, learning resources, activities and recommendations for future offerings of the course and for distance education in general. Although web-based distance education is challenging and requires instructors and learners to adapt, it can be an effective way to learn about concepts, and model the principles and ideology that are at the core of community development. Résumé : Le présent article aborde l’élaboration, la prestation et l’évaluation d’un cours de niveau supérieur traitant du développement communautaire offert aux étudiants de l’ensemble du Canada par Internet. L’examen de la documentation souligne les sujets communs dans l’éducation à distance, le développement communautaire et la promotion de la santé. Le cours « Health Promotion: Community Development Approaches » est présenté à titre d’exemple avec les descriptions du plan de cours, des modes de prestation, des ressources d’apprentissage, des activités et des recommandations pour les cours qui seront donnés ultérieurement et pour l’éducation à distance en général. Bien que l’éducation à distance effectuée au moyen du Web présente des défis et qu’elle exige des instructeurs et des apprenants qu’ils s’adaptent, il peut s’agir d’une méthode efficace pour en apprendre sur les concepts et pour présenter les principes et idées à la base du développement communautaire.

Modeling learning and memory using verbal learning tests: results from ACTIVE.

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Gross, Alden L; Rebok, George W; Brandt, Jason; Tommet, Doug; Marsiske, Michael; Jones, Richard N

2013-03-01

To investigate the influence of memory training on initial recall and learning. The Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly study of community-dwelling adults older than age 65 (n = 1,401). We decomposed trial-level recall in the Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT) and Hopkins Verbal Learning Test (HVLT) into initial recall and learning across trials using latent growth models. Trial-level increases in words recalled in the AVLT and HVLT at each follow-up visit followed an approximately logarithmic shape. Over the 5-year study period, memory training was associated with slower decline in Trial 1 AVLT recall (Cohen's d = 0.35, p = .03) and steep pre- and posttraining acceleration in learning (d = 1.56, p learning, d = 3.10, p memory-trained group had a higher level of recall than the control group through the end of the 5-year study period despite faster decline in learning. This study contributes to the understanding of the mechanisms by which training benefits memory and expands current knowledge by reporting long-term changes in initial recall and learning, as measured from growth models and by characterization of the impact of memory training on these components. Results reveal that memory training delays the worsening of memory span and boosts learning.

Engaging Community College Students Using an Engineering Learning Community

Science.gov (United States)

Maccariella, James, Jr.

The study investigated whether community college engineering student success was tied to a learning community. Three separate data collection sources were utilized: surveys, interviews, and existing student records. Mann-Whitney tests were used to assess survey data, independent t-tests were used to examine pre-test data, and independent t-tests, analyses of covariance (ANCOVA), chi-square tests, and logistic regression were used to examine post-test data. The study found students that participated in the Engineering TLC program experienced a significant improvement in grade point values for one of the three post-test courses studied. In addition, the analysis revealed the odds of fall-to-spring retention were 5.02 times higher for students that participated in the Engineering TLC program, and the odds of graduating or transferring were 4.9 times higher for students that participated in the Engineering TLC program. However, when confounding variables were considered in the study (engineering major, age, Pell Grant participation, gender, ethnicity, and full-time/part-time status), the analyses revealed no significant relationship between participation in the Engineering TLC program and course success, fall-to-spring retention, and graduation/transfer. Thus, the confounding variables provided alternative explanations for results. The Engineering TLC program was also found to be effective in providing mentoring opportunities, engagement and motivation opportunities, improved self confidence, and a sense of community. It is believed the Engineering TLC program can serve as a model for other community college engineering programs, by striving to build a supportive environment, and provide guidance and encouragement throughout an engineering student's program of study.

Informal Learning in Online Knowledge Communities: Predicting Community Response to Visitor Inquiries

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nistor, Nicolae; Dascalu, Mihai; Stavarache, Lucia Larise; Serafin, Yvonne; Trausan-Matu, Stefan

2016-01-01

Nistor, N., Dascalu, M., Stavarache, L.L., Serafin, Y., & Trausan-Matu, S. (2015). Informal Learning in Online Knowledge Communities: Predicting Community Response to Visitor Inquiries. In G. Conole, T. Klobucar, C. Rensing, J. Konert & É. Lavoué (Eds.), 10th European Conf. on Technology Enhanced

A model of using social media for collaborative learning to enhance learners’ performance on learning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Waleed Mugahed Al-Rahmi

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Social media has been always described as the channel through which knowledge is transmitted between communities and learners. This social media has been utilized by colleges in a way to encourage collaborative learning and social interaction. This study explores the use of social media in the process of collaborative learning through learning Quran and Hadith. Through this investigation, different factors enhancing collaborative learning in learning Quran and Hadith in the context of using social media are going to be examined. 340 respondents participated in this study. The structural equation modeling (SEM was used to analyze the data obtained. Upon analysis and structural model validities, the study resulted in a model used for measuring the influences of the different variables. The study reported direct and indirect significant impacts of these variables on collaborative learning through the use of social media which might lead to a better performance by learners.

Creating Small Learning Communities: Lessons from the Project on High-Performing Learning Communities about "What Works" in Creating Productive, Developmentally Enhancing, Learning Contexts

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Felner, Robert D.; Seitsinger, Anne M.; Brand, Stephen; Burns, Amy; Bolton, Natalie

2007-01-01

Personalizing the school environment is a central goal of efforts to transform America's schools. Three decades of work by the Project on High Performance Learning Communities are considered that demonstrate the potential impact and importance of the creation of "small learning environments" on student motivation, adjustment, and well-being.…

Re-Structuring Preservice Teacher Education: Introducing the School-Community Integrated Learning (SCIL) Pathway

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Hudson, Sue; Hudson, Peter

2013-01-01

Reviews into teacher education call for new models that develop preservice teachers' practical knowledge and skills. The study involved 9 mentor teachers and 14 mentees (final-year preservice teachers) working in a new teacher education model, the School-Community Integrated Learning (SCIL) pathway, and analysed data from a Likert survey with…

Formation of community-based hypertension practice networks: success, obstacles, and lessons learned.

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Dart, Richard A; Egan, Brent M

2014-06-01

Community-based practice networks for research and improving the quality of care are growing in size and number but have variable success rates. In this paper, the authors review recent efforts to initiate a community-based hypertension network modeled after the successful Outpatient Quality Improvement Network (O'QUIN) project, located at the Medical University of South Carolina. Key lessons learned and new directions to be explored are highlighted. ©2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Community Garden: A Bridging Program between Formal and Informal Learning

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Datta, Ranjan

2016-01-01

Community garden activities can play a significant role in bridging formal and informal learning, particularly in urban children's science and environmental education. It promotes relational methods of learning, discussing, and practicing that will integrate food security, social interactions, community development, environmental activism, and…

Volunteering as a community mother--a pathway to lifelong learning.

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Molloy, Mary

2007-05-01

This paper describes a study that was undertaken to investigate the effects of participating in a community volunteering programme (the Community Mothers Programme) on volunteers (Community Mothers). The aim of the study was to investigate if volunteering in this programme acted as a pathway to lifelong learning; did the volunteers recognise the learning of new knowledge and/or skills, and did their participation in the programme trigger them to progress to further education in other settings? A self-administered questionnaire method was used for data collection: 115 questionnaires being distributed to volunteers, with a response rate of eighty-two (71 per cent). Findings show that the majority of the respondents cited the learning of new knowledge and/or skills as a result of their participation in the Community Mothers Programme. Learning appeared to stem from the various training and activities, suggesting an educational process within the volunteer setting. Findings also show that the majority of respondents had progressed to further education. In this instance, therefore, volunteering did appear to act as a pathway to lifelong learning.

Virtual Communities of Collaborative Learning for Higher Education

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Sotomayor, Gilda E.

2014-01-01

This article aims to outline and project three new learning scenarios for Higher Education that, after the emergence of ICT and communication through the Network-lnternet, have appeared under the generic name of virtual communities. To that end, we start from a previous conceptual analysis on collaborative learning, cooperative learning and…

Service-Learning from the Perspective of Community Organizations

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Petri, Alexis

2015-01-01

As a central construct in the theory of service-learning, reciprocity for community partners is not often the subject of scholarship, especially scholarship that seeks to understand the benefits and opportunity costs of service-learning. This article explores how reciprocity works in higher education service-learning from the perspective of…

The Research on Informal Learning Model of College Students Based on SNS and Case Study

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Peng; Cong, Xiao; Bi, Fangyan; Zhou, Dongdai

2017-03-01

With the rapid development of network technology, informal learning based on online become the main way for college students to learn a variety of subject knowledge. The favor to the SNS community of students and the characteristics of SNS itself provide a good opportunity for the informal learning of college students. This research first analyzes the related research of the informal learning and SNS, next, discusses the characteristics of informal learning and theoretical basis. Then, it proposed an informal learning model of college students based on SNS according to the support role of SNS to the informal learning of students. Finally, according to the theoretical model and the principles proposed in this study, using the Elgg and related tools which is the open source SNS program to achieve the informal learning community. This research is trying to overcome issues such as the lack of social realism, interactivity, resource transfer mode in the current network informal learning communities, so as to provide a new way of informal learning for college students.

Learning-style preferences of Latino/Hispanic community college students enrolled in an introductory biology course

Science.gov (United States)

Sarantopoulos, Helen D.

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to identify, according to the Productivity Environment Preference Survey (PEPS) instrument, which learning-style domains (environmental, emotional, sociological, and physiological) were favored among Latino/Hispanic community college students enrolled in introductory biology classes in a large, urban community college. An additional purpose of this study was to determine whether statistically significant differences existed between the learning-style preferences and the demographic variables of age, gender, number of prior science courses, second language learner status, and earlier exposure to scientific information. Methodology. The study design was descriptive and ex post facto. The sample consisted of a total of 332 Latino/Hispanic students enrolled in General Biology 3. Major findings. The study revealed that Latino/Hispanic students enrolled in introductory biology at a large urban community college scored higher for the learning preference element of structure. Students twenty-five years and older scored higher for the learning preference elements of light, design, persistence, responsibility, and morning time (p learning-style preferences were found between second English language learners and those who learned English as their primary language (p tactile (p learning-style model and instruments and on recent learning-style research articles on ethnically diverse groups of adult learners; and (2) Instructors should plan their instruction to incorporate the learning-style preferences of their students.

Home-School Links: Networking the Learning Community.

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1996

The topic of networking the learning community with home-school links is addressed in four papers: "Internet Access via School: Expectations of Students and Parents" (Roy Crotty); "The School Library as Community Information Gateway" (Megan Perry); "Rural Access to the Internet" (Ken Eustace); and "NetDay '96:…

Change Management in Dental Education: A Professional Learning Community.

Science.gov (United States)

Palatta, Anthony M

2018-06-01

Professional learning communities (PLCs) are defined as "a group of people sharing and critically interrogating their practice in an ongoing, reflective, collaborative, inclusive, learning-oriented, growth-promoting way." PLCs have been found to be an effective change management strategy in business and education when confronted by rapid change. The American Dental Education Association's Commission on Change and Innovation in Dental Education new national program-ADEA CCI 2.0-includes the development of a PLC. By employing an "engage and learn" model PLC centered on continuous quality improvement and systems thinking, dental faculty can identify internal and external barriers to change that could lead to innovative solutions to complex issues. This article argues that a PLC is a viable change management strategy to counteract the effect of multiple external forces impacting dental education and thus to develop future-ready faculty.

Extending a configuration model to find communities in complex networks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jin, Di; Hu, Qinghua; He, Dongxiao; Yang, Bo; Baquero, Carlos

2013-01-01

Discovery of communities in complex networks is a fundamental data analysis task in various domains. Generative models are a promising class of techniques for identifying modular properties from networks, which has been actively discussed recently. However, most of them cannot preserve the degree sequence of networks, which will distort the community detection results. Rather than using a blockmodel as most current works do, here we generalize a configuration model, namely, a null model of modularity, to solve this problem. Towards decomposing and combining sub-graphs according to the soft community memberships, our model incorporates the ability to describe community structures, something the original model does not have. Also, it has the property, as with the original model, that it fixes the expected degree sequence to be the same as that of the observed network. We combine both the community property and degree sequence preserving into a single unified model, which gives better community results compared with other models. Thereafter, we learn the model using a technique of nonnegative matrix factorization and determine the number of communities by applying consensus clustering. We test this approach both on synthetic benchmarks and on real-world networks, and compare it with two similar methods. The experimental results demonstrate the superior performance of our method over competing methods in detecting both disjoint and overlapping communities. (paper)

Distributed Collaborative Learning Communities Enabled by Information Communication Technology

NARCIS (Netherlands)

H.L. Alvarez (Heidi Lee)

2006-01-01

textabstractHow and why can Information Communication Technology (ICT) contribute to enhancing learning in distributed Collaborative Learning Communities (CLCs)? Drawing from relevant theories concerned with phenomenon of ICT enabled distributed collaborative learning, this book identifies gaps in

A model for evolution of overlapping community networks

Science.gov (United States)

Karan, Rituraj; Biswal, Bibhu

2017-05-01

A model is proposed for the evolution of network topology in social networks with overlapping community structure. Starting from an initial community structure that is defined in terms of group affiliations, the model postulates that the subsequent growth and loss of connections is similar to the Hebbian learning and unlearning in the brain and is governed by two dominant factors: the strength and frequency of interaction between the members, and the degree of overlap between different communities. The temporal evolution from an initial community structure to the current network topology can be described based on these two parameters. It is possible to quantify the growth occurred so far and predict the final stationary state to which the network is likely to evolve. Applications in epidemiology or the spread of email virus in a computer network as well as finding specific target nodes to control it are envisaged. While facing the challenge of collecting and analyzing large-scale time-resolved data on social groups and communities one faces the most basic questions: how do communities evolve in time? This work aims to address this issue by developing a mathematical model for the evolution of community networks and studying it through computer simulation.

Community of Practice: A Path to Strategic Learning

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nancy M. Carlson

2003-04-01

To explore the concept of community of practice, the research initially concentrates on a strategic business process in a research and applied engineering laboratory discovering essential communication tools and processes needed to cultivate a high functioning cross-disciplinary team engaged in proposal preparation. Qualitative research in the human ecology of the proposal process blends topic-oriented ethnography and grounded theory and includes an innovative addition to qualitative interviewing, called meta-inquiry. Meta-inquiry uses an initial interview protocol with a homogeneous pool of informants to enhance the researcher's sensitivity to the unique cultures involved in the proposal process before developing a formal interview protocol. In this study the preanalysis process uses data from editors, graphic artists, text processors, and production coordinators to assess, modify, enhance, and focus the formal interview protocol with scientists, engineers, and technical managers-the heterogeneous informants. Thus this human ecology-based interview protocol values homogeneous and heterogeneous informant data and acquires data from which concepts, categories, properties, and both substantive and formal theory emerges. The research discovers the five essential processes of owning, visioning, reviewing, producing, and contributing for strategic learning to occur in a proposal community of practice. The apprenticeship, developmental, and nurturing perspectives of adult learning provide the proposal community of practice with cohesion, interdependence, and caring, while core and boundary practices provide insight into the tacit and explicit dimensions of the proposal process. By making these dimensions explicit, the necessary competencies, absorptive capacity, and capabilities needed for strategic learning are discovered. Substantive theory emerges and provides insight into the ability of the proposal community of practice to evolve, flourish, and adapt to the

A Study on College EFL Learning Community Based on QQ International

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

WEI Li

2013-03-01

Full Text Available An EFL Learning Community has been set up online via a free messaging tool QQ International to consolidate and apply the knowledge learnt in class. One sub-community aims at developing multicultural awareness while the other focuses on expertise training in English for the undergraduates in several universities. Our innovative approach is that the trainees interact with other participants with virtual icons, virtual roles and specific achievement goals according to curriculum-related scenarios. The project team utilized surveys and observations to analyze the advantages and disadvantages from different perspectives and gain further insight into the nature of member participation, knowledge application and learning interests. Results revealed that EFL Learning Community promoted learning interests and training efficiency, contributed to interprofessional collaboration and interpersonal cooperation, with the implication that levels of moderate anonymity are the most optimal for role-plays in a learning community both online and in real life.

Building online learning communities in a graduate dental hygiene program.

Science.gov (United States)

Rogo, Ellen J; Portillo, Karen M

2014-08-01

The literature abounds with research related to building online communities in a single course; however, limited evidence is available on this phenomenon from a program perspective. The intent of this qualitative case study inquiry was to explore student experiences in a graduate dental hygiene program contributing or impeding the development and sustainability of online learning communities. Approval from the IRB was received. A purposive sampling technique was used to recruit participants from a stratification of students and graduates. A total of 17 participants completed semi-structured interviews. Data analysis was completed through 2 rounds - 1 for coding responses and 1 to construct categories of experiences. The participants' collective definition of an online learning community was a complex synergistic network of interconnected people who create positive energy. The findings indicated the development of this network began during the program orientation and was beneficial for building a foundation for the community. Students felt socially connected and supported by the network. Course design was another important category for participation in weekly discussions and group activities. Instructors were viewed as active participants in the community, offering helpful feedback and being a facilitator in discussions. Experiences impeding the development of online learning communities related to the poor performance of peers and instructors. Specific categories of experiences supported and impeded the development of online learning communities related to the program itself, course design, students and faculty. These factors are important to consider in order to maximize student learning potential in this environment. Copyright © 2014 The American Dental Hygienists’ Association.

The Impact of a Psychology Learning Community on Academic Success, Retention, and Student Learning Outcomes

Science.gov (United States)

Buch, Kim; Spaulding, Sue

2011-01-01

Learning communities have become an integral part of the educational reform movement of the past two decades and have been heralded as a promising strategy for restructuring undergraduate education. This study used a matched control group design to examine the impact of participation in a psychology learning community (PLC) on a range of student…

Internet Relationships: Building Learning Communities through Friendship

Science.gov (United States)

Bikowski, Dawn

2007-01-01

The experiences of students in an online learning community were explored in this qualitative case study using social presence theory as an interpretive lens. Participants included five undergraduate students in a certificate program at a large Midwestern university. Students who felt a sense of community online most highly valued the friendship…

Value Added: Learning Communities, Experiential Process and Student Engagement in Life Long Learning in the Culinary Arts

Science.gov (United States)

Smyth, Thomas J.

2016-01-01

Culinary Arts training at the associates level presents a set of challenges to the instructor. It has been my experience that as the work environment is changing, students face new challenges in the kitchen, including a new mix of skills, both technical and social in nature. In this piece, I reflect on a promising learning community model at our…

Opening the black box of energy modelling: Strategies and lessons learned

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pfenninger, Stefan; Hirth, Lion; Schlecht, Ingmar

2018-01-01

and appropriate modelling languages, distributing code and data, and providing support and building communities. After illustrating these decisions with examples and lessons learned from the community, we conclude that even though individual researchers' choices are important, institutional changes are still also...

Learning in later life: Universities, teaching, intergenerational learning and community cohesion

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Keith Percy

2013-07-01

Full Text Available There are no settled concepts in the field of learning in later life. The paper begins by suggesting that generalised statements about older people’s learning are suspect and that the way in which we talk about it shifts over time. In particular, there is a range of claims about methods of learning and teaching appropriate to older people but most have little support from empirical research. The paper then focuses on the evaluation of a small innovation project, funded by national government, at Lancaster University, 2009-10. The project sought to involve members of a local University of the Third age group in learning activity on the nearby university campus, partly using undergraduate teaching provision. It aimed to test ideological reservations within the U3A group about association with a public institution of higher education and about mixing the ‘purity’ of self-help learning for older adults, in the British U3A tradition, with more formal methods of learning. The outcomes of the project evaluation suggested that most older learners participating valued their opportunity to use university learning resources and that the British U3A ideology did not inhibit them from doing so. It also suggests that the University benefited from the presence of the older learners and that the surrounding community potentially might have done. A brief discussion of implications for intergenerational learning, community cohesion and marginalised older people follows. The paper concludes that British universities should and, perhaps, could relate more dynamically and emphatically with the provision of opportunities for learning in later life.

“He was learning to read, but he wasn’t learning to live”: Socially inclusive learning in a community setting

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Greg Marston

2015-05-01

Full Text Available People with mental health problems, learning difficulties and poor literacy and numeracy are at risk of social exclusion, including homelessness. They are often disconnected from the formal education systems, with few opportunities for education and employment. Academic research has demonstrated a link between literacy and numeracy and social connectedness, however the pathways to enact this are not well understood. This paper presents insights into how a community based adult literacy program in Brisbane, Australia provides a successful model of socially inclusive learning. The paper is based on a 12-month action research project conducted by the Queensland University of Technology in conjunction with Anglicare Southern Queensland 2013-2014. The methodology for the project was qualitative in nature, involving participant observation of lessons, and semi-structured interviews with former and present students, volunteer tutors and the teacher.  The central research focus was how literacy education can act as an instrument of social connection to the community.

45 CFR 2517.600 - How are funds for community-based service-learning programs distributed?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 45 Public Welfare 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false How are funds for community-based service-learning... (Continued) CORPORATION FOR NATIONAL AND COMMUNITY SERVICE COMMUNITY-BASED SERVICE-LEARNING PROGRAMS Distribution of Funds § 2517.600 How are funds for community-based service-learning programs distributed? All...

Part-Time Community College Instructors Teaching in Learning Communities: An Exploratory Multiple Case Study

Science.gov (United States)

Paterson, John W.

2017-01-01

Community colleges have a greater portion of students at-risk for college completion than four-year schools and faculty at these institutions are overwhelmingly and increasingly part-time. Learning communities have been identified as a high-impact practice with numerous benefits documented for community college instructors and students: a primary…

Developing an urban community-campus partnership: lessons learned in infrastructure development and communication.

Science.gov (United States)

Parker, Dorothy F; Dietz, Noella A; Hooper, Monica Webb; Byrne, Margaret M; Fernandez, Cristina A; Baker, Elizabeth A; Stevens, Marsha S; Messiah, Antoine; Lee, David J; Kobetz, Erin N

2012-01-01

A low-income, African American neighborhood in Miami, Florida, experiences health disparities including an excess burden of cancer. Many residents are disenfranchised from the healthcare system, and may not participate in cancer prevention and screening services. We sought to describe the development of a partnership between a university and this community and lessons learned in using a community-based participatory research (CBPR) model. To better understand the community's health behaviors and status, a randomized door-to-door survey was conducted in collaboration with a community partner. This collaboration helped foster a mutual understanding of the benefits of CBPR. We also describe challenges of adhering to study protocols, quality control, and sharing fiscal responsibility with organizations that do not have an established infrastructure. Understanding the organizational dynamics of a community is necessary for developing a CBPR model that will be effective in that community. Once established, it can help to inform future collaborations.

Users' Continuance Intention of Virtual Learning Community Services: The Moderating Role of Usage Experience

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Min; Liu, Yupei; Yan, Weiwei; Zhang, Yan

2017-01-01

Users' continuance intention plays a significant role in the process of information system (IS) service, especially virtual learning community (VLC) services. Following the IS success model and IS post-acceptance model, this study explores the determinants of users' intention to continue using VLCs' service from the perspective of quality,…

Professional Learning Communities Assessment: Adaptation, Internal Validity, and Multidimensional Model Testing in Turkish Context

Science.gov (United States)

Dogan, Selçuk; Tatik, R. Samil; Yurtseven, Nihal

2017-01-01

The main purpose of this study is to adapt and validate the Professional Learning Communities Assessment Revised (PLCA-R) by Olivier, Hipp, and Huffman within the context of Turkish schools. The instrument was translated and adapted to administer to teachers in Turkey. Internal structure of the Turkish version of PLCA-R was investigated by using…

Blueprint for Incorporating Service Learning: A Basic, Developmental, K-12 Service Learning Typology

Science.gov (United States)

Terry, Alice W.; Bohnenberger, Jann E.

2004-01-01

Citing the need for a basic, K-12 developmental framework for service learning, this article describes such a model. This model, an inclusive typology of service learning, distinguishes three levels of service learning: Community Service, Community Exploration, and Community Action. The authors correlate this typology to Piaget's cognitive…

Finding the community in sustainable online community engagement: Not-for-profit organisation websites, service-learning and research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alice Dodd

2017-06-01

Full Text Available This article explores the use of action research (2008–2014 based on a case study of the Sustainable Online Community Engagement (SOCE Project, a service-learning project in which University of South Australia students build websites for not-for-profit (NFP organisations, to demonstrate that effective teaching, public service and research are interdependent. A significant problem experienced in the SOCE project was that, despite some training and ongoing assistance, the community organisations reported that they found it difficult to make effective use of their websites. One of the proposed solutions was to develop an online community of the participating organisations that would be self-supporting, member-driven and collaborative, and enable the organisations to share information about web-based technology. The research reported here explored the usefulness of developing such an online community for the organisations involved and sought alternative ways to assist the organisations to maintain an effective and sustainable web presence. The research used a three-phase ethnographic action research approach. The first phase was a content analysis and review of the editing records of 135 organisational websites hosted by the SOCE project. The second phase was an online survey sent to 145 community organisation members responsible for the management of these websites, resulting in 48 responses. The third phase consisted of semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 18 of the website managers from 12 of these organisations. The research revealed the extent to which organisations were unable to manage their websites and found that the proposed solution of an online community would not be useful. More importantly, it suggested other useful strategies which have been implemented. In Furco’s (2010 model of the engaged campus, public engagement can be used to advance the public service, teaching and research components of higher education’s tripartite

Community Opinion and Satisfaction with the Leadership at an Urban Community Educational Learning Center during an Organizational Transformation Process: A Frontline Perspective from Community Stakeholders

Science.gov (United States)

Lewis, Joseph Lee

2013-01-01

This study examined selected community stakeholders' perception of the current leadership at their local community educational learning center during an organizational transformation and cultural change process. The transition from a community college to an educational learning center, mandated in 2006 by the Accredition Commission and agreed on…

Familia and Comunidad-Based Saberes: Learning in an Indigenous Heritage Community

Science.gov (United States)

Urrieta, Luis, Jr.

2013-01-01

This article explores how children and youth learned indigenous heritage "saberes" (knowings) through intent community participation in Nocutzepo, Mexico. The "familia" (family) and "comunidad" (community)-based saberes were valuable for skills acquisition, but most important for learning indigenous forms of…

"Learning" in a Transgressive Professional Community

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Carsten Juul; Drachmann, Merete; Jeppesen, Lise Kofoed

2015-01-01

to deal with overwhelming experiences concerning the naked bodies of patients and death, useful application of theoretical knowledge, the path from novice to advanced beginner, and adjusting to the workplace community. The conclusion is that the learning of nursing students during their first clinical in......This material is a part of a longitudinal development project which seeks to comprehend learning experiences of nursing students during their first clinical in-service placement. The study has a qualitative methodology, inspired by Michael Eraut’s thoughts on learning in the workplace. When...... the workplace perspective is applied, learning seems to be concentrated on actual situations which the learner is in, in contrast to employing constructed concepts. The nursing students’ learning seems to be oriented towards socialization in the clinic as a workplace. This means that the nursing students seek...

Musicians working in community contexts : perspectives of learning

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Smilde, Rineke

2012-01-01

This paper will explore types of learning, which takes place when musicians work in situations where they have to connect to community contexts. It will first address musicians’ changing professional roles in the changing sociocultural landscape and the need for lifelong learning and emergence of

Reciprocal Exchange: Understanding the Community Partner Perspective in Higher Education Service-Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Petri, Alexis Nicolle

2012-01-01

This study investigates service-learning from the community partners' perspective, especially in terms of reciprocity. As a central construct in the theory of service-learning, reciprocity for community partners is virtually unknown. Little scholarship exists that explains or explores the benefits and opportunity costs of service-learning. One…

Global Learning Communities: A Comparison of Online Domestic and International Science Class Partnerships

Science.gov (United States)

Kerlin, Steven C.; Carlsen, William S.; Kelly, Gregory J.; Goehring, Elizabeth

2013-08-01

The conception of Global Learning Communities (GLCs) was researched to discover potential benefits of the use of online technologies that facilitated communication and scientific data sharing outside of the normal classroom setting. 1,419 students in 635 student groups began the instructional unit. Students represented the classrooms of 33 teachers from the USA, 6 from Thailand, 7 from Australia, and 4 from Germany. Data from an international environmental education project were analyzed to describe grades 7-9 student scientific writing in domestic US versus international-US classroom online partnerships. The development of an argument analytic and a research model of exploratory data analysis followed by statistical testing were used to discover and highlight different ways students used evidence to support their scientific claims about temperature variation at school sites and deep-sea hydrothermal vents. Findings show modest gains in the use of some evidentiary discourse components by US students in international online class partnerships compared to their US counterparts in domestic US partnerships. The analytic, research model, and online collaborative learning tools may be used in other large-scale studies and learning communities. Results provide insights about the benefits of using online technologies and promote the establishment of GLCs.

The development of socially responsible life-sciences teachers through community service learning.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J.J. Rian de Villiers

2012-03-01

Full Text Available In South Africa, polices in higher education are urging tertiary institutions to produce graduates who are socially responsible citizens. One method of achieving this is through service-learning initiatives. Zoos as community partners can provide exciting educational opportunities for students to do animal behaviour studies and to develop their social responsibility. A sample of 58 preservice life-sciences teachers from a South African university completed a questionnaire on their animal behaviour studies. This study sought to determine how animal behaviour studies could successfully be incorporated as a community service-learning project in a zoo setting, what the educational value of these studies was and what the benefits were of incorporating this community service-learning component in the life-sciences course. The incorporation of the service-learning component into the zoology course led to the students’ personal and professional development, knowledge about themselves, sensitivity to cultural diversity, civic responsibility and insights into the ways in which communities operate. For a successful service-learning project, lectures, students and community partners should all have a sense of engagement. A number of suggestions are made to improve the incorporation of this service-learning component into the existing zoology course.

45 CFR 2517.300 - Who may participate in a community-based service-learning program?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

...-learning program? 2517.300 Section 2517.300 Public Welfare Regulations Relating to Public Welfare (Continued) CORPORATION FOR NATIONAL AND COMMUNITY SERVICE COMMUNITY-BASED SERVICE-LEARNING PROGRAMS Eligibility To Participate § 2517.300 Who may participate in a community-based service-learning program...

School to community: service learning in hospitaliy and tourism

Science.gov (United States)

Kimberly Monk; Jessica Bourdeau; Michele Capra

2007-01-01

In the effort to augment hospitality and tourism education beyond classroom instruction and internships, the added instructional methodology of community service learning is suggested. Service learning is an instructional method where students learn and develop through active participation in organized experiences that meet actual needs, increasing their sense of...

Beyond the ivory tower: service-learning for sustainable community ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Teaching, research and community service have since earliest times been regarded as the three core functions of the university. The concept and practice of service-learning has succeeded in uniting these core functions. Whereas the quality of student learning resulting from service-learning experiences is of crucial ...

Community and Social Network Sites as Technology Enhanced Learning Environments

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ryberg, Thomas; Christiansen, Ellen

2008-01-01

This paper examines the affordance of the Danish social networking site Mingler.dk for peer-to-peer learning and development. With inspiration from different theoretical frameworks, the authors argue how learning and development in such social online systems can be conceptualised and analysed....... Theoretically the paper defines development in accordance with Vygotsky's concept of the zone of proximal development, and learning in accordance with Wenger's concept of communities of practice. The authors suggest analysing the learning and development taking place on Mingler.dk by using these concepts...... supplemented by the notion of horizontal learning adopted from Engestrm and Wenger. Their analysis shows how horizontal learning happens by crossing boundaries between several sites of engagement, and how the actors' multiple membership enables the community members to draw on a vast amount of resources from...

Teaching and learning community work online: can e-learning promote competences for future practice?

OpenAIRE

Larsen, Anne Karin; Visser-Rotgans, Rina; Hole, Grete Oline

2011-01-01

This article presents a case study of an online course in Community Work and the learning outcomes for an international group of students participating in the course. Examples from the process of, and results from the development of virtual-learning material are presented. Finally, the students' learning experience and competences achieved by the use of innovative learning material and ICT communication tools are presented.

Professional Learning in Unlikely Spaces: Social Media and Virtual Communities as Professional Development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kathleen P. King

2011-12-01

Full Text Available In this case study, results demonstrate that an individual’s use of social media as professional learning spans understanding, networking, professional identity development, and transformative learning. Specifically, virtual online communities facilitated through social media provide professional networks, social relationships and learning beyond the scope of the individual’s usual experience. Case study method reveals strategies, extent, and impact of learning providing insight into this phenomenon. The significance of the research includes purposefully facilitating professional learning through informal learning contexts, including social media and online communities beyond technology-centric fields. Discussion and recommendations include using social media and virtual communities as instructional strategies for graduate studies and continued learning beyond formal education.

Structural analysis of factors that influence professional learning communities in Korean elementary schools

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kyoung-Oh Song

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Professional Learning Communities(PLCs arean important strategy for innovation in schools, and they arereceiving considerable attention from scholars and educators alike. The present study aimed to examine the effect of PLCson schools’ effectiveness and to investigate the social, organizational, and structural factors that can promote these learning communities. The survey for this study was completed by 375 teachers from 40 elementary schools in the Seoul Metropolitan Area of South Korea, and their responses were analyzed to test the hypothesized model. The results of the structural equationmodeling indicated that PLCswere strongly and directly related to elementary schools’ effectivenessand that principals’ leadership and supportive relationshipsamong teachers were the important factors that influenced PLCs. Based on the results of this study, several implications are discussed.

Learning Communities for Students in Developmental Math: Impact Studies at Queensborough and Houston Community Colleges

Science.gov (United States)

Weissman, Evan; Butcher, Kristin F.; Schneider, Emily; Teres, Jedediah; Collado, Herbert; Greenberg, David

2011-01-01

Queensborough Community College and Houston Community College are two large, urban institutions that offer learning communities for their developmental math students, with the goals of accelerating students' progress through the math sequence and of helping them to perform better in college and ultimately earn degrees or certificates. They are…

Developing an Understanding of Higher Education Science and Engineering Learning Communities

Science.gov (United States)

Coll, Richard K.; Eames, Chris

2008-01-01

This article sets the scene for this special issue of "Research in Science & Technological Education", dedicated to understanding higher education science and engineering learning communities. We examine what the literature has to say about the nature of, and factors influencing, higher education learning communities. A discussion of…

Teaching population health and community-based care across diverse clinical experiences: integration of conceptual pillars and constructivist learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Valentine-Maher, Sarah K; Van Dyk, Elizabeth J; Aktan, Nadine M; Bliss, Julie Beshore

2014-03-01

Nursing programs are challenged to prepare future nurses to provide care and affect determinants of health for individuals and populations. This article advances a pedagogical model for clinical education that builds concepts related to both population-level care and direct care in the community through a contextual learning approach. Because the conceptual pillars and hybrid constructivist approach allow for conceptual learning consistency across experiences, the model expands programmatic capacity to use diverse community clinical sites that accept only small numbers of students. The concept-based and hybrid constructivist learning approach is expected to contribute to the development of broad intellectual skills and lifelong learning. The pillar concepts include determinants of health and nursing care of population aggregates; direct care, based on evidence and best practices; appreciation of lived experience of health and illness; public health nursing roles and relationship to ethical and professional formation; and multidisciplinary collaboration. Copyright 2014, SLACK Incorporated.

Engineering Hybrid Learning Communities: The Case of a Regional Parent Community

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sven Strickroth

2014-09-01

Full Text Available We present an approach (and a corresponding system design for supporting regionally bound hybrid learning communities (i.e., communities which combine traditional face-to-face elements with web based media such as online community platforms, e-mail and SMS newsletters. The goal of the example community used to illustrate the approach was to support and motivate (especially hard-to-reach underprivileged parents in the education of their young children. The article describes the design process used and the challenges faced during the socio-technical system design. An analysis of the community over more than one year indicates that the hybrid approach works better than the two separated “traditional” approaches separately. Synergy effects like advertising effects from the offline trainings for the online platform and vice versa occurred and regular newsletters turned out to have a noticeable effect on the community.

Conceptualisation of knowledge construction in community service-learning programmes in nursing education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sindi Z. Mthembu

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Background: Practices in higher education have been criticised for not developing and preparing students for the expertise required in real environments. Literature reports that educational programmes tend to favour knowledge conformation rather than knowledge construction; however, community service learning (CSL is a powerful pedagogical strategy that encourages students to make meaningful connections between the content in the classroom and real-life experiences as manifested by the communities. Through CSL, learning is achieved by the active construction of knowledge supported by multiple perspectives within meaningful real contexts, and the social interactions amongst students are seen to play a critical role in the processes of learning and cognition. This article reflects facilitators’ perspective of the knowledge construction process as used with students doing community service learning in basic nursing programmes. Objectives: The aim of this article was to conceptualise the phenomenon of knowledge construction and thereby provide educators with a shared meaning and common understanding, and to analyse the interaction strategies utilised by nurse educators in the process of knowledge construction in community service-learning programmes in basic nursing education. Method: A qualitative research approach based on a grounded theory research design was used in this article. Two nursing education institutions were purposively selected. Structured interviews were conducted with 16 participants. Results: The results revealed that the knowledge construction in community service-learning programmes is conceptualised as having specific determinants, including the use of authentic health-related problems, academic coaching through scaffolding, academic discourse-dialogue, interactive learning in communities of learners, active learning, continuous reflection as well as collaborative and inquiry-based learning. Upon completion of an experience

Conceptualisation of knowledge construction in community service-learning programmes in nursing education.

Science.gov (United States)

Mthembu, Sindi Z; Mtshali, Fikile G

2013-01-01

Practices in higher education have been criticised for not developing and preparing students for the expertise required in real environments. Literature reports that educational programmes tend to favour knowledge conformation rather than knowledge construction; however, community service learning (CSL) is a powerful pedagogical strategy that encourages students to make meaningful connections between the content in the classroom and real-life experiences as manifested by the communities. Through CSL, learning is achieved by the active construction of knowledge supported by multiple perspectives within meaningful real contexts, and the social interactions amongst students are seen to play a critical role in the processes of learning and cognition. This article reflects facilitators’ perspective of the knowledge construction process as used with students doing community service learning in basic nursing programmes. The aim of this article was to conceptualise the phenomenon of knowledge construction and thereby provide educators with a shared meaning and common understanding, and to analyse the interaction strategies utilised by nurse educators in the process of knowledge construction in community service-learning programmes in basic nursing education. A qualitative research approach based on a grounded theory research design was used in this article. Two nursing education institutions were purposively selected. Structured interviews were conducted with 16 participants. The results revealed that the knowledge construction in community service-learning programmes is conceptualised as having specific determinants, including the use of authentic health-related problems, academic coaching through scaffolding, academic discourse-dialogue, interactive learning in communities of learners, active learning, continuous reflection as well as collaborative and inquiry-based learning. Upon completion of an experience, students create and test generated knowledge in different

A Convergent Participation Model for Evaluation of Learning Objects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John Nesbit

2002-10-01

Full Text Available The properties that distinguish learning objects from other forms of educational software - global accessibility, metadata standards, finer granularity and reusability - have implications for evaluation. This article proposes a convergent participation model for learning object evaluation in which representatives from stakeholder groups (e.g., students, instructors, subject matter experts, instructional designers, and media developers converge toward more similar descriptions and ratings through a two-stage process supported by online collaboration tools. The article reviews evaluation models that have been applied to educational software and media, considers models for gathering and meta-evaluating individual user reviews that have recently emerged on the Web, and describes the peer review model adopted for the MERLOT repository. The convergent participation model is assessed in relation to other models and with respect to its support for eight goals of learning object evaluation: (1 aid for searching and selecting, (2 guidance for use, (3 formative evaluation, (4 influence on design practices, (5 professional development and student learning, (6 community building, (7 social recognition, and (8 economic exchange.

Network Analysis of a Virtual Community of Learning of Economics Educators

Science.gov (United States)

Fontainha, Elsa; Martins, Jorge Tiago; Vasconcelos, Ana Cristina

2015-01-01

Introduction: This paper aims at understanding virtual communities of learning in terms of dynamics, types of knowledge shared by participants, and network characteristics such as size, relationships, density, and centrality of participants. It looks at the relationships between these aspects and the evolution of communities of learning. It…

Social Networks and Performance in Distributed Learning Communities

Science.gov (United States)

Cadima, Rita; Ojeda, Jordi; Monguet, Josep M.

2012-01-01

Social networks play an essential role in learning environments as a key channel for knowledge sharing and students' support. In distributed learning communities, knowledge sharing does not occur as spontaneously as when a working group shares the same physical space; knowledge sharing depends even more on student informal connections. In this…

Power and Privilege: Community Service Learning in Tijuana

Science.gov (United States)

Camacho, Michelle Madsen

2004-01-01

As social scientists engage their own subjectivity, there is greater awareness of their own touristic "gaze," or at least the power relations that are evoked in the researcher-subject interaction. In teaching students involved in community service learning, the challenge is to provide a learning experience that addresses power inequities…

Transforming community services through the use of a multidimensional model of clinical leadership.

Science.gov (United States)

Leigh, Jacqueline Anne; Wild, Jill; Hynes, Celia; Wells, Stuart; Kurien, Anish; Rutherford, June; Rosen, Lyn; Ashcroft, Tim; Hartley, Victoria

2015-03-01

To evaluate the application of a Multidimensional Model of Clinical Leadership on the community healthcare leader and on transforming community services. Healthcare policy advocates clinical leadership as the vehicle to transform community and healthcare services. Few studies have identified the key components of an effective clinical leadership development model. The first two stages of Kirkpatrick's (Personnel Administrator 28, 1983, 62) Four/Five Levels of Evaluation were used to evaluate the application of the multidimensional model of clinical leadership. Eighty community healthcare leaders were exposed to this multidimensional clinical leadership development model through attendance of a community clinical leadership development programme. Twenty five leaders participated in focus group interviews. Data from the interviews were analysed utilising thematic content analysis. Three key themes emerged that influenced the development of best practice principles for clinical leadership development: 1. Personal leadership development 2. Organisational leadership 3. The importance of multiprofessional action learning/reflective groups Emergent best practice principles for clinical leadership development include adopting a multidimensional development approach. This approach encompasses: preparing the individual leader in the role and seeking organisational leadership development that promotes the vision and corporate values of the organisation and delivers on service improvement and innovation. Moreover, application of the Multidimensional Model of Clinical Leadership could offer the best platform for embedding the Six C's of Nursing (Compassion in Practice - Our Culture of Compassionate Care, Department of Health, Crown Copyright, 2012) within the culture of the healthcare organisation: care, compassion, courage, commitment, communication, and competency. This is achieved in part through the application of emotional intelligence to understand self and to develop the

Implementing Quality Service-Learning Programs in Community Colleges

Science.gov (United States)

Vaknin, Lauren Weiner; Bresciani, Marilee J.

2013-01-01

This cross-case comparative study at Western Community College and the University of the Coast explored through a constructive lens the characteristics that lead to sustainable, high quality service-learning programs and how they are implemented at institutions of higher education. The researchers determined that both Western Community College and…

Building A Drought Science Learning Community: Education and Engagement in an NSF CAREER Grant

Science.gov (United States)

Quiring, S. M.

2011-12-01

This paper describes the education and engagement plan of the NSF CAREER award that I received in 2011 (Role of Soil Moisture in Seasonal to Interannual Climate Variability in the U.S. Great Plains; NSF Award #1056796). A key component of this plan is the development of a Drought Science Learning Community. A learning community is a program of courses and activities, which may include social and academic activities outside the classroom, that form a single program of instruction. Learning communities serve to increase faculty-student and student-student interaction, improve active and collaborative learning, and develop curricular coherence. The goal of a learning community is to encourage integration of learning across courses and to involve students with one of the grand challenges facing society. Students will be recruited from a Freshman Year Seminar (FYS) that I teach every Fall. Students who belong to the learning community will participate in the Water Management and Hydrological Sciences Seminar Series, relevant field trips, and monthly brown bag lunch meetings where students and faculty will discuss their current research projects and recently published scientific articles. Students who participate in learning community activities will benefit from a common intellectual experience that will help them to develop linkages between courses, regular interactions with faculty mentors, and the opportunity to contribute to faculty research. All students will be encouraged to complete an undergraduate thesis as the capstone experience of their participation in the learning community. In addition to describing the organization of the education and engagement plan, I will also discuss expected outcomes, best practices and lessons learned.

Model Youth Programs: A Key Strategy for Developing Community-University Partnerships Using a Community Youth Development Approach

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Yolanda Anyon

2008-06-01

Full Text Available Universities across the nation face the charge of enhancing their intellectual capital as a learning institution while also contributing to the greater social good. While there is great potential for university-community partnerships to generate lessons for youth workers and policy makers, create powerful new knowledge for the academic field, and provide transformative experiences for community members, partnerships often fail to produce such meaningful results. In the San Francisco Bay Area, community residents who have been involved in such unsuccessful initiatives frequently perceived that university partners spent insufficient time learning about the community context, prioritized research objectives over community needs and did not make long-term commitments. Despite these challenges, community-university partnerships can be useful strategies for advancing the field of youth development by strengthening research and practice in local contexts. This paper presents how the design and implementation of model youth programs served as an effective strategy in developing a partnership between a university-based center and two local communities over a 5-year period. It also describes essential lessons that other communities, research institutions or universities may use to launch, implement, expand and sustain their own successful partnerships to build local capacity to implement youth development practices, promote positive outcomes for young people, and generate knowledge about the impact of youth development approaches.

Challenging the empowerment expectation: Learning, alienation and design possibilities in community-university research

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Joe Curnow

2017-06-01

Full Text Available As community-university partnerships have become mainstream, researchers have argued that these approaches have the potential to be transformative, supporting community learning and creating capacity for community development. While this remains the dominant narrative of community research, some researchers have questioned the impacts of community research on frontline community, or peer, researchers who represent partnerships in their communities. These studies complicate the narrative, suggesting that learning and capacity building are not straightforward processes. While on the whole community-university partnerships tend to be empowering for community researchers, research is needed to understand the experiences of community researchers for whom this is not the case. My research examines a Toronto-based community-university participatory action research partnership, asking what community researchers learnt through their participation. I argue that, while community researchers learnt a great deal from their participation, the overall impact was not empowerment, but alienation. They did have their knowledge of community validated, and they built research skills, developed grievances through their conversations with neighbours and interrogated the links between grievances, all of which were important aspects of their participation. However, through the process they developed, or entrenched, a sense of powerlessness and dependence on the university researchers to take up their cause politically. This contradicts the aspirations of community-university partnership models, especially participatory action research, and raises questions about the inevitability of empowering social action stemming from these research projects. I argue that the disempowerment that the community researchers reported points to the need for community research to be embedded within existing social action organisations and infrastructure to provide clearer pathways to

The community health clinics as a learning context for student nurses

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MB Makupu

2000-09-01

Full Text Available The purpose of the research study was to describe guidelines to improve the community health clinics as a learning context conducive to learning. The objectives of the study commenced by getting the perception of student nurses from a nursing college in Gauteng; community sisters from ten community health clinics in the Southern Metropolitan Local Council and college tutors from a college in Gauteng. The research design and method used, consisting of a qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual approach and the design was divided into two phases. Phase one consisted of a field/empirical study and phase two of conceptualization. In all the samples follow-up focus group interviews were conducted to confirm the findings. To ensure trustworthiness, Lincoln and Guba’s model (1985 was implemented and data analysis was according to Tesch’s model (1990 in Creswell 1994:155 based on a qualitative approach. The conceptual framework discussed, indicating a body of knowledge, was based on the study and empirical findings from phase one to give clear meaning and understanding regarding the research study. The research findings were then compared with existing literature within the framework, to determine similarities and differences as literature control method. Guidelines were then formulated from phase one and two to solve the indicated problems based on the three different sample groups. Ethical consideration was maintained throughout the research study. Recommendations related to nursing education, nursing practice and nursing research were indicated accordingly.

Is the Learning Community of Economics and Accounting Effective? Empirical Assessment of Class Achievements

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Stumph, Carolyn Fabian; Kim, Myeong Hwan; Han, Yongseung; Minke, Susan

2017-01-01

Learning communities are increasingly used at colleges and universities, as one of the goals of a learning community is to increase interaction among students and teach them how to apply knowledge. The goal of this research is to assess the learning community of the economics and accounting students in their class performance measured by class…

Technology Integration through Professional Learning Community

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Cifuentes, Lauren; Maxwell, Gerri; Bulu, Sanser

2011-01-01

We describe efforts to build a learning community to support technology integration in three rural school districts and the contributions of various program strategies toward teacher growth. The Stages of Adoption Inventory, classroom observations, the Questionnaire for Technology Integration, interviews, STAR evaluation surveys, a survey of…

Sustainable school development: professional learning communities

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Prof.Dr. E. Verbiest

2008-01-01

In this contribution we report about a project about Professional Learning Communities.This project combines development and research. In this contribution we pay attention to the effect of the organisational capacity of a school on the personal and interpersonal capacity and to the impact of a

Why Teach Social Entrepreneurship: Enhance Learning and University-Community Relations through Service-Learning Outreach

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Wessel, Stacy; Godshalk, Veronica M.

2004-01-01

This article focuses on providing a convincing argument for incorporating social entrepreneurship into the business professor's classroom. The outreach provided by social entrepreneurship enhances learning and promotes university-community relations. Service-learning engagement activities, in the form of social entrepreneurship, create a three-way…

Lifelong Learning for All in Asian Communities: ICT Based Initiatives

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Misra, Pradeep Kumar

2011-01-01

The necessity to adjust to the prerequisites of the knowledge based society and economy brought about the need for lifelong learning for all in Asian communities. The concept of lifelong learning stresses that learning and education are related to life as a whole - not just to work - and that learning throughout life is a continuum that should run…

Closer to Learning: Social Networks, Trust, and Professional Communities

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Liou, Yi-Hwa; Daly, Alan J.

2014-01-01

Researchers, educators, and policymakers suggest the use of professional learning communities as one important approach to the improvement of teaching and learning. However, relatively little research examines the interplay of professional interactions (structural social capital) around instructional practices and key elements of professional…

Teaching Community-Based Learning Course in Retailing Management

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Rhee, Eddie

2018-01-01

This study outlines the use of a community-based learning (CBL) applied to a Retailing Management course conducted in a 16-week semester in a private institution in the East Coast. The study addresses the case method of teaching and its potential weaknesses, and discusses experiential learning for a real-world application. It further addresses CBL…

From conditioning to learning communities: implications of fifty years of research in e-learning interaction design

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrew Ravenscroft

2003-12-01

Full Text Available This paper will consider e-learning in terms of the underlying learning processes and interactions that are stimulated, supported or favoured by new media and the contexts or communities in which it is used. We will review and critique a selection of research and development from the past fifty years that has linked pedagogical and learning theory to the design of innovative e-learning systems and activities, and discuss their implications. It will include approaches that are, essentially, behaviourist (Skinner and Gagné, cognitivist (Pask, Piaget and Papert, situated (Lave, Wenger and Seely-Brown, socioconstructivist (Vygotsky, socio-cultural (Nardi and Engestrom and community-based (Wenger and Preece. Emerging from this review is the argument that effective elearning usually requires, or involves, high-quality educational discourse, that leads to, at the least, improved knowledge, and at the best, conceptual development and improved understanding. To achieve this I argue that we need to adopt a more holistic approach to design that synthesizes features of the included approaches, leading to a framework that emphasizes the relationships between cognitive changes, dialogue processes and the communities, or contexts for e-learning.

Self-Driven Service Learning: Community-Student-Faculty Collaboratives Outside of the Classroom

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Veronica A. Segarra

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Service learning is a community engagement pedagogy often used in the context of the undergraduate classroom to synergize course-learning objectives with community needs.  We find that an effective way to catalyze student engagement in service learning is for student participation to occur outside the context of a graded course, driven by students’ own interests and initiative.  In this paper, we describe the creation and implementation of a self-driven service learning program and discuss its benefits from the community, student, and faculty points of view.  This experience allows students to explore careers in the sciences as well as identify skill strengths and weaknesses in an environment where mentoring is available but where student initiative and self-motivation are the driving forces behind the project’s success.  Self-driven service learning introduces young scientists to the idea that their careers serve a larger community that benefits not only from their discoveries but also from effective communication about how these discoveries are relevant to everyday life.

Adult Learning for Social Change in Museums: An Exploration of Sociocultural Learning Approaches to Community Engagement

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Kim, Junghwan; You, Jieun; Yeon Park, Soo

2016-01-01

This integrative literature review critically examined how scholars were articulating the work of museums to make a space for "adult learning for social change through community engagement". We applied sociocultural adult learning theories (situated learning and cultural-historical activity theory), to 25 theoretical and empirical…

Learning from lives together: medical and social work students' experiences of learning from people with disabilities in the community.

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Anderson, E S; Smith, R; Thorpe, L N

2010-05-01

The study aims to evaluate an interprofessional community-based learning event, focussing on disability. The learning opportunity was based on the Leicester Model of Interprofessional Education, organised around the experiences and perceptions of service users and their carers. Programme participants were drawn from medicine and social work education in Leicester, UK, bringing together diverse traditions in the care of people with disabilities. Small student groups (3-4 students) worked from one of the eight community rehabilitation hospitals through a programme of contact with people with disabilities in hospital, at home or in other community settings. The evaluation, in March 2005, used a mixed methods approach, incorporating questionnaire surveys, focus group interviews with students and feedback from service users. Responses were collated and analysed using quantitative and qualitative measures. Fifty social work and 100 medical students completed the first combined delivery of the module. The findings indicated that the merging of social work and medical perspectives appear to create some tensions, although overall the student experience was found to be beneficial. Service users (16 responses) valued the process. They were not concerned at the prospect of meeting a number of students at home or elsewhere and were pleased to think of themselves as educators. Problems and obstacles still anticipated include changing the mindset of clinicians and practising social workers to enable them to support students from each other's disciplines in practice learning. The generally positive outcomes highlight that disability focussed joint learning offers a meaningful platform for interprofessional education in a practice environment.

Seamless Language Learning: Second Language Learning with Social Media

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Wong, Lung-Hsiang; Chai, Ching Sing; Aw, Guat Poh

2017-01-01

This conceptual paper describes a language learning model that applies social media to foster contextualized and connected language learning in communities. The model emphasizes weaving together different forms of language learning activities that take place in different learning contexts to achieve seamless language learning. it promotes social…

Paradoxes of Social Networking in a Structured Web 2.0 Language Learning Community

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Loiseau, Mathieu; Zourou, Katerina

2012-01-01

This paper critically inquires into social networking as a set of mechanisms and associated practices developed in a structured Web 2.0 language learning community. This type of community can be roughly described as learning spaces featuring (more or less) structured language learning resources displaying at least some notions of language learning…

Utilizing Peer Mentor Roles in Learning Communities

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Rieske, Laura Jo; Benjamin, Mimi

2015-01-01

For a number of learning community programs, peer mentors provide an additional layer of staffing support. This chapter highlights peer mentor roles from a sample of programs and suggests important components for the construction of these roles.

Exhilarated Learning and the Scholarship of Engagement: From Here (the University) to the Horizon (the Community)

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Strean, William Ben

2012-01-01

In this paper, I explain the components of "exhilarated learning," a model for effective classroom environments, and show how this model can be applied to the broader context of community-university engagement. I describe the following three dimensions: human connection, whole body engagement, and linking content to context; and I…

Constructivism and Learning in the Age of Social Media: Changing Minds and Learning Communities

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Schrader, Dawn E.

2015-01-01

Social media provide new means and opportunities for learning that are consistent with major tenets of both social and cognitive constructivism, and extend the process of learning and meaning construction to more diverse communities and universally accessible shared activities that are jointly and concurrently engaged in by both peers and experts.

Community-Based Learning. Adding Value to Programs Involving Service Agencies and Schools.

Science.gov (United States)

Cumming, Jim

Community-based learning (CBL) is a structured approach to learning and teaching that connects meaningful community experience with intellectual development, personal growth, and active citizenship. Enthusiasm for CBL is emerging in Australia and elsewhere because it is seen as the following: strategy for whole-school reform, especially in…

Exploring body-anchored and experience-based learning in a community of practice

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Stelter, Reinhard

2008-01-01

which, in a second step, is presented as part of the social realm and as one of the prerequisites of learning in a community of practice. This integration is established and becomes visible through the following two concepts: 1. Reification as the outflow of co-ordinated action, and 2. narratives......The article aims to integrate body-anchored and experience-based learning in the theoretical concept of learning in a community of practice. Present moment, epoché, intentional orientation and meaning making are introduced as the four basic premises for body-anchored and experience-based learning...

A Model for an Open and Flexible E-Training Platform To Encourage Companies' Learning Culture and Meet Employees' Learning Needs.

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Bagnasco, Andrea; Chirico, Marco; Parodi, Giancarlo; Scapolla, A. Marina

2003-01-01

Distance education is an answer to the demand for flexibility in training. The aim is to build a virtual learning community on the basis of a knowledge model that meets different learning needs. This article analyzes possible innovations in corporate training, and proposes a framework that integrates all information sources and offers practice…

Combining forces. Distributed Leadership and a professional learning community in primary and secondary education

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hulsbos, Frank; Van Langevelde, Stefan; Evers, Arnoud

2018-01-01

This report describes an in depth case study of two good practice schools where a professional learning community and distributed leadership are highly developed. The goal of this study was to learn what conditions in the school support a professional learning community and distributed leadership.

Establishing community partnerships to support late-life anxiety research: lessons learned from the Calmer Life project.

Science.gov (United States)

Jameson, John Paul; Shrestha, Srijana; Escamilla, Monica; Clark, Sharonda; Wilson, Nancy; Kunik, Mark; Zeno, Darrell; Harris, Toi B; Peters, Alice; Varner, Ivory L; Scantlebury, Carolyn; Scott-Gurnell, Kathy; Stanley, Melinda

2012-01-01

This article outlines the development of the Calmer Life project, a partnership established between researchers and faith-based and social service organizations to examine the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) incorporating religious/spiritual components for older African Americans in low-income communities. The program was designed to bypass several barriers to delivery of CBT within the specified community; it allows multimodal delivery (in person or by telephone) that occurs outside traditional mental health settings through faith-based organizations and neighborhood community centers. It includes religion/spirituality as an element, dependent upon the preference of the participant, and is modular, so that people can select the skills they wish to learn. Established relationships within the community were built upon, and initial meetings were held in community settings, allowing feedback from community organizations. This ongoing program is functioning successfully and has strengthened relationships with community partners and facilitated increased availability of education and services in the community. The lessons learned in establishing these partnerships are outlined. The growth of effectiveness research for late-life anxiety treatments in underserved minority populations requires development of functional partnerships between academic institutions and community stakeholders, along with treatment modifications to effectively address barriers faced by these consumers. The Calmer Life project may serve as a model.

Myanmar: The Community Learning Centre Experience.

Science.gov (United States)

Middelborg, Jorn; Duvieusart, Baudouin, Ed.

A community learning centre (CLC) is a local educational institution outside the formal education system, usually set up and managed by local people. CLCs were first introduced in Myanmar in 1994, and by 2001 there were 71 CLCs in 11 townships. The townships are characterized by remoteness, landlessness, unemployment, dependency on one cash crop,…

Supporting Shared Resource Usage for a Diverse User Community: the OSG Experience and Lessons Learned

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Garzoglio, Gabriele; Levshina, Tanya; Sehgal, Chander; Slyz, Marko; Rynge, Mats

2012-01-01

The Open Science Grid (OSG) supports a diverse community of new and existing users in adopting and making effective use of the Distributed High Throughput Computing (DHTC) model. The LHC user community has deep local support within the experiments. For other smaller communities and individual users the OSG provides consulting and technical services through the User Support area. We describe these sometimes successful and sometimes not so successful experiences and analyze lessons learned that are helping us improve our services. The services offered include forums to enable shared learning and mutual support, tutorials and documentation for new technology, and troubleshooting of problematic or systemic failure modes. For new communities and users, we bootstrap their use of the distributed high throughput computing technologies and resources available on the OSG by following a phased approach. We first adapt the application and run a small production campaign on a subset of “friendly” sites. Only then do we move the user to run full production campaigns across the many remote sites on the OSG, adding to the community resources up to hundreds of thousands of CPU hours per day. This scaling up generates new challenges – like no determinism in the time to job completion, and diverse errors due to the heterogeneity of the configurations and environments – so some attention is needed to get good results. We cover recent experiences with image simulation for the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), small-file large volume data movement for the Dark Energy Survey (DES), civil engineering simulation with the Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES), and accelerator modeling with the Electron Ion Collider group at BNL. We will categorize and analyze the use cases and describe how our processes are evolving based on lessons learned.

A Logical Approach to Supporting Professional Learning Communities

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Ralph Seward

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Collaborative knowledge sharing requires that dialogues successfully cross organizational barriers and information silos. Successful communication in person or in a virtual community involves a willingness to share ideas and consider diverse viewpoints. This research examines a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM content management system called NASATalk, which offers public and private blog posts, file sharing, asynchronous discussion, and live chat services. The service is designed to provide a virtual environment where educators can share ideas, suggestions, successes, and innovations in STEM teaching and learning activities. This study features qualitative data from STEM education groups that helped extend the design of the NASATalk Web 2.0 collaborative tools and features. The analysis shows that the context, e-collaborative tools, integration strategies, and outcomes varied, but also contributed additional space, time, tools, integration strategies, and outcomes through the virtual collaborative learning environment. This study is designed to inform the STEM education community as well as those offering virtual community resources and tools of the added value of using virtual communities to help STEM educators work together in collaborative, virtual environments to discuss ways they can improve their instruction and student performance.

The Predictive Relationship among the Community of Inquiry Framework, Perceived Learning and Online, and Graduate Students' Course Grades in Online Synchronous and Asynchronous Courses

Science.gov (United States)

Rockinson-Szapkiw, Amanda J.; Wendt, Jillian; Wighting, Mervyn; Nisbet, Deanna

2016-01-01

The Community of Inquiry framework has been widely supported by research to provide a model of online learning that informs the design and implementation of distance learning courses. However, the relationship between elements of the CoI framework and perceived learning warrants further examination as a predictive model for online graduate student…

Enhancing and Transforming Global Learning Communities with Augmented Reality

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Frydenberg, Mark; Andone, Diana

2018-01-01

Augmented and virtual reality applications bring new insights to real world objects and scenarios. This paper shares research results of the TalkTech project, an ongoing study investigating the impact of learning about new technologies as members of global communities. This study shares results of a collaborative learning project about augmented…

Emergence of a learning community: a transforming experience at the boundaries

Science.gov (United States)

Raia, Federica

2013-03-01

I narrate a process of transformation, a professional and personal journey framed by an experience that captured my attention shaping my interpretation and reflections. From a critical complexity framework I discuss the emergence of a learning community from the cooperation among individuals of diverse social and cultural worlds sharing the need to change a traditional professional development program structure and develop a new science education Masters Degree/Certification program. I zoom into the continual redefinition of the community, its evolution and complex interrelations among its participants and the emergence of a learning community as a boundary space having an emancipatory role and allowing growth and learning. I analyze the dialectical relationship between agents' behavior either impeding growth or having an emancipatory function of a mindful RelationalAct in a complex adaptive system framework.

A Longitudinal Assessment of an Initial Cohort in a Psychology Learning Community

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Buch, Kim; Spaulding, Sue

2008-01-01

Discipline-based learning communities have become a popular strategy for improving student performance and satisfaction. This article describes the goals and features of a university-based, first-year psychology learning community (PLC) implemented in Fall 2003. We also report the results of a longitudinal assessment of the impact of the PLC on…

Attitude toward learning of community medicine: A cross-sectional study among medical school students

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Japhereena Murugavel

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Background: Community medicine strives to protect and promote the health and well-being of the community through primary health care approach. However the preference of community medicine as career among medical school students and curriculum of community medicine is pivotal. Aim: The study intended to find the attitude towards learning of community medicine and also to assess the preference of post graduation specialty among medical school students. Materials and Methods: A cross sectional study conducted at a teaching hospital located in Tamil Nadu, South India. The study questionnaire was administered to a total of 500 study participants and the data collected were analyzed using SPSS IBM version 21.0. Results: Almost 97% were of the opinion that community medicine subject is mandatory. Eighty three percent were interested in learning the principles. Only 21.8% students wanted to pursue post graduation in community medicine. Lack of attraction in terms of scientific technical interest, workplace conditions, and research potential has been reported for being not interested. Conclusion: Majority enjoyed to learn principles of community medicine at undergraduate curriculum but only few preferred to opt community medicine as post graduate specialty. Therefore there is a room to influence the medical students positively towards learning community medicine in curriculum.

Facilitators' perceptions of problem-based learning and community-based education

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Annali E Fichardt

2000-10-01

Full Text Available In 1997 the School for Nursing, University of the Orange Free State, changed from the traditional lecture method of teaching to problem-based learning and from a curative to a community-based approach. Lecturers from a traditional environment became facilitators and new skills such as listening, dialogue, negotiation, counselling and problemsolving were expected from them. Besides the role change, the environment changed from a structural classroom to an unstructured community. The aim of this research was to determine the perceptions and experiences of facilitators in problem-based learning and community-base education. *Please note: This is a reduced version of the abstract. Please refer to PDF for full text.

Field visit placements: An integrated and community approach to learning in children's nursing.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Cummins, Ann

2010-03-01

This paper reports on the development of a new initiative, field visit placements towards and integrated and community approach to learning for nursing students. To date, limited literature exists on the potential of community field visits as meaningful learning opportunities for nursing students. Drawing on our experiences, the structure and processes involved in implementing field visits are described in this paper. Students evaluated the field visits positively indicating that they provided a wealth of learning opportunities that enhanced their knowledge and awareness of services available to children and their families in the community. The potential of field visits to promote an integrated and community approach to placements in children\\'s nursing is discussed.

Using a critical reflection process to create an effective learning community in the workplace.

Science.gov (United States)

Walker, Rachel; Cooke, Marie; Henderson, Amanda; Creedy, Debra K

2013-05-01

Learning circles are an enabling process to critically examine and reflect on practices with the purpose of promoting individual and organizational growth and change. The authors adapted and developed a learning circle strategy to facilitate open discourse between registered nurses, clinical leaders, clinical facilitators and students, to critically reflect on practice experiences to promote a positive learning environment. This paper reports on an analysis of field notes taken during a critical reflection process used to create an effective learning community in the workplace. A total of 19 learning circles were conducted during in-service periods (that is, the time allocated for professional education between morning and afternoon shifts) over a 3 month period with 56 nurses, 33 students and 1 university-employed clinical supervisor. Participation rates ranged from 3 to 12 individuals per discussion. Ten themes emerged from content analysis of the clinical learning issues identified through the four-step model of critical reflection used in learning circle discussions. The four-step model of critical reflection allowed participants to reflect on clinical learning issues, and raise them in a safe environment that enabled topics to be challenged and explored in a shared and cooperative manner. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Professional Learning Communities: Teachers Working Collaboratively for Continuous Improvement

Science.gov (United States)

Griffith, Louise Ann

2009-01-01

Current research indicates that a professional learning community (PLC) is an effective means for helping teachers to bridge the gap between research and practice. A PLC is a team of educators systematically working together to improve teaching practice and student learning. This study evaluated the PLC formed by teachers at a public elementary…

Factors that contribute to social media influence within an Internal Medicine Twitter learning community.

Science.gov (United States)

Desai, Tejas; Patwardhan, Manish; Coore, Hunter

2014-01-01

Medical societies, faculty, and trainees use Twitter to learn from and educate other social media users. These social media communities bring together individuals with various levels of experience. It is not known if experienced individuals are also the most influential members. We hypothesize that participants with the greatest experience would be the most influential members of a Twitter community. We analyzed the 2013 Association of Program Directors in Internal Medicine Twitter community. We measured the number of tweets authored by each participant and the number of amplified tweets (re-tweets). We developed a multivariate linear regression model to identify any relationship to social media influence, measured by the PageRank. Faculty (from academic institutions) comprised 19% of the 132 participants in the learning community (p influence amongst all participants (mean 1.99, p influence (β = 0.068, p = 0.6). The only factors that predicted influence (higher PageRank) were the number of tweets authored (p influence. Any participant who was able to author the greatest number of tweets or have more of his/her tweets amplified could wield a greater influence on the participants, regardless of his/her authority.

Service Learning In Physics: The Consultant Model

Science.gov (United States)

Guerra, David

2005-04-01

Each year thousands of students across the country and across the academic disciplines participate in service learning. Unfortunately, with no clear model for integrating community service into the physics curriculum, there are very few physics students engaged in service learning. To overcome this shortfall, a consultant based service-learning program has been developed and successfully implemented at Saint Anselm College (SAC). As consultants, students in upper level physics courses apply their problem solving skills in the service of others. Most recently, SAC students provided technical and managerial support to a group from Girl's Inc., a national empowerment program for girls in high-risk, underserved areas, who were participating in the national FIRST Lego League Robotics competition. In their role as consultants the SAC students provided technical information through brainstorming sessions and helped the girls stay on task with project management techniques, like milestone charting. This consultant model of service-learning, provides technical support to groups that may not have a great deal of resources and gives physics students a way to improve their interpersonal skills, test their technical expertise, and better define the marketable skill set they are developing through the physics curriculum.

STAR Library Education Network: a hands-on learning program for libraries and their communities

Science.gov (United States)

Dusenbery, P.

2010-12-01

Science and technology are widely recognized as major drivers of innovation and industry (e.g. Rising above the Gathering Storm, 2006). While the focus for education reform is on school improvement, there is considerable research that supports the role that out-of-school experiences can play in student achievement and public understanding of STEM disciplines. Libraries provide an untapped resource for engaging underserved youth and their families in fostering an appreciation and deeper understanding of science and technology topics. Designed spaces, like libraries, allow lifelong, life-wide, and life-deep learning to take place though the research basis for learning in libraries is not as developed as other informal settings like science centers. The Space Science Institute’s National Center for Interactive Learning (NCIL) in partnership with the American Library Association (ALA), the Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI), and the National Girls Collaborative Project (NGCP) have received funding from NSF to develop a national education project called the STAR Library Education Network: a hands-on learning program for libraries and their communities (or STAR-Net for short). STAR stands for Science-Technology, Activities and Resources. The overarching goal of the project is to reach underserved youth and their families with informal STEM learning experiences. This project will deepen our knowledge of informal/lifelong learning that takes place in libraries and establish a learning model that can be compared to the more established free-choice learning model for science centers and museums. The project includes the development of two STEM hands-on exhibits on topics that are of interest to library staff and their patrons: Discover Earth and Discover Tech. In addition, the project will produce resources and inquiry-based activities that libraries can use to enrich the exhibit experience. Additional resources will be provided through partnerships with relevant

Moving Beyond Misconceptions: A New Model for Learning Challenges in Cognition

Science.gov (United States)

Slater, T. F.; Slater, S. J.

2011-12-01

For over 40 years, the science education community has given its attention to cataloging the substantial body of "misconceptions" in individual's thinking about science, and to addressing the consequences of those misconceptions in the science classroom. Despite the tremendous amount of effort given to researching and disseminating information related to misconceptions, and the development of a theory of conceptual change to mitigate misconceptions, progress continues to be less than satisfying. An analysis of the literature and our own research has persuaded the CAPER Center for Astronomy and Physics Education Research to put forth model that will allow us to operate on students' learning difficulties in a more fruitful manner. Previously, much of the field's work binned erroneous student thinking into a single construct, and from that basis, curriculum developers and instructors addressed student misconceptions with a single instructional strategy. In contrast this model suggests that "misconceptions" are a mixture of at least four learning barriers: incorrect factual information, inappropriately applied mental algorithms (phenomenological primitives), insufficient cognitive structures (e.g. spatial reasoning), and affective/emotional difficulties. Each of these types of barriers should be addressed with an appropriately designed instructional strategy. Initial applications of this model to learning problems in the Earth & Space Sciences have been fruitful, suggesting that an effort towards categorizing persistent learning difficulties in the geosciences beyond the level of "misconceptions" may allow our community to craft tailored and more effective learning experiences for our students and the general public.

Students Negotiating and Designing Their Collaborative Learning Norms: A Group Developmental Perspective in Learning Communities

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Hod, Yotam; Ben-Zvi, Dani

2015-01-01

This research shows how participants in classroom learning communities (LCs) come to take responsibility over designing their collaborative learning norms. Taking a micro-developmental perspective within a graduate-level course, we examined fine-grained changes in group discourse during a period of rapid change where this responsibility taking…

Transformative unlearning: safety, discernment and communities of learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Macdonald, Geraldine

2002-09-01

This paper aims to stimulate awareness about the intellectual and emotional work of 'unlearning' in knowledge workers in the emerging learning age. The importance of providing a safe space for dialogue to promote transformative learning, through building 'communities of learning', is highlighted. Unlearning is conceptualized within a transformative education paradigm, one whose primary orientation is discernment, a personal growth process involving the activities of receptivity, recognition and grieving. The author utilizes the metaphor of an unfolding spiral path to explore her experience of needing to 'unlearn' a trusted nursing practice prior to 'learning' new best caring practices related to infant sleep positions. Macro and micro approaches to facilitating unlearning in organizations, in learners and in nurses are suggested.

Virtual communities of practice in web-based second language learning

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Petersen, Karen Bjerg

2013-01-01

in communities of practice and of situated and collaborative learning have deeply inspired educators and teachers and, to a certain degree, become the theoretical and practical framework for developing web-based learning platforms, while findings from this research indicate that students perceive e...

Undergraduate nursing students' perceptions of service-learning through a school-based community project.

Science.gov (United States)

Bassi, Sherry

2011-01-01

Service-learning (SL) is an experiential teaching method that combines instruction with community service, with the aim of enriching students' academic learning, interpersonal skills and sense of responsibility while making meaningful contributions to the community. However, measuring outcomes of service-learning projects is difficult. This article reports on the perceptions of 18 third-year undergraduate nursing students who took part in a pilot service-learning project targeting tobacco use in a local elementary school. Faculty members evaluated the program's outcomes by engaging students in structured reflection on the program about its relevance to their future careers as practicing professionals, especially in community-based settings. The students' perceptions were elicited through three sets of reflective assignments following the project. Findings from the reflective assignments suggest that the pilot program was successful in enhancing the students' academic, social, and personal development while building a partnership between the school of nursing and key players in the community, including school-based nurses, teachers, administrators, families, and community leaders. The author suggests that service-learning projects can help nursing students accomplish key developmental tasks of the college years (such as building their competence, autonomy, and integrity), while helping impart the skills and values they will need as they graduate and seek professional nursing roles.

Enhancing Sustainability Curricula through Faculty Learning Communities

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Natkin, L. W.; Kolbe, Tammy

2016-01-01

Purpose: Although the number of higher education institutions adopting sustainability-focused faculty learning communities (FLCs) has grown, very few of these programs have published evaluation research. This paper aims to report findings from an evaluation of the University of Vermont's (UVM's) sustainability faculty fellows (SFF) program. It…

Developing Structured-Learning Exercises for a Community Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience

OpenAIRE

Thomas, Renee Ahrens

2006-01-01

The recent growth in the number of pharmacy schools across the nation has resulted in the need for high-quality community advanced pharmacy practice experience (APPE) sites. A vital part of a student's education, these APPEs should be structured and formalized to provide an environment conducive to student learning. This paper discusses how to use a calendar, structured-learning activities, and scheduled evaluations to develop students' knowledge, skills, and abilities in a community pharmacy...

Developing structured-learning exercises for a community advanced pharmacy practice experience.

Science.gov (United States)

Thomas, Renee Ahrens

2006-02-15

The recent growth in the number of pharmacy schools across the nation has resulted in the need for high-quality community advanced pharmacy practice experience (APPE) sites. A vital part of a student's education, these APPEs should be structured and formalized to provide an environment conducive to student learning. This paper discusses how to use a calendar, structured-learning activities, and scheduled evaluations to develop students' knowledge, skills, and abilities in a community pharmacy setting.

Mobilising Community? Place, Identity Formation and New Teachers' Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Somerville, Margaret; Rennie, Jennifer

2012-01-01

This paper analyses data from a longitudinal study which foregrounds the category of "place" to ask: How do new teachers learn to do their work, and how do they learn about the places and communities in which they begin teaching? Surveys and ethnographic interviews were carried out with 35 new teachers over a three-year period in a…

Model-Based Learning Environment Based on The Concept IPS School-Based Management

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hamid Darmadi

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The results showed: (1 learning model IPS-oriented environment can grow and not you love the cultural values of the area as a basis for the development of national culture, (2 community participation, and the role of government in implementing learning model of IPS-based environment provides a positive impact for the improvement of management school resources, (3 learning model IPS-based environment effectively creating a way of life together peacefully, increase the intensity of togetherness and mutual respect (4 learning model IPS-based environment can improve student learning outcomes, (5 there are differences in the expression of attitudes and results learning among students who are located in the area of conflict with students who are outside the area of conflict (6 analysis of the scale of attitudes among school students da SMA result rewards high school students to the values of unity and nation, respect for diversity and peaceful coexistence, It is recommended that the Department of Education authority as an institution of Trustees and the development of social and cultural values in the province can apply IPS learning model based environments.

Sociocultural Perspective of Science in Online Learning Environments. Communities of Practice in Online Learning Environments

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Erdogan, Niyazi

2016-01-01

Present study reviews empirical research studies related to learning science in online learning environments as a community. Studies published between 1995 and 2015 were searched by using ERIC and EBSCOhost databases. As a result, fifteen studies were selected for review. Identified studies were analyzed with a qualitative content analysis method…

An Adult Education Model of Resident Participation: Building Community Capacity and Strengthening Neighborhood-Based Activities in a Comprehensive Community Initiative (CCI.

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Daniel Brisson

2008-12-01

Full Text Available Comprehensive Community Initiatives (CCIs are of growing interest to social work and the social services field as they are an effort to move away from remediation of individual problems within neighborhoods to a comprehensive change effort that builds resident and institutional capacity for long term sustainability of healthy communities. Built on ongoing lessons learned from the community development field, CCIs are largely foundation supported projects that engage low-income neighborhood residents in a holistic change effort. However, based on what is known about community organizing, CCIs will likely face challenges as long as they involve a top-down approach with an outside funder entering a community to make change. This manuscript frames an adult education model of resident participation that can be used in CCIs and provides a case example illustrating the model in action. A discussion of how the model can be an effective means for communities to take advantage of outside resources while maintaining their power and voice for change is offered in conclusion.

Reimagining Communities and Implementing Social Learning: Contemporary Community Theatre Development in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore

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Wang, Wan-Jung

2014-01-01

Since the 1990s, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan have encountered political, social, economic and cultural challenges. During this period, their community theatres have played distinctive roles in activating their public space to reimagine their communities, form dialogues with their governments and construct learning experiences amongst various…

Online Library of Scientific Models, A New Way to Teach, Learn, and Share Learning Experience

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hatem H. Elrefaei

2008-05-01

Full Text Available While scientific models are usually communicated in paper format, the need to reprogram every model by every user results in a huge loss of efforts, time and money, hence lengthening the educational and research developing cycle and loosing the learning experience and expertise gained by every user. We demonstrate a new portal www.imodelit.com that hosts a library of scientific models for electrical engineers in the form of java applets. They are all conformal, informative, with strong input and output filing system. The software design allows a fast developing cycle and it represents a strong infrastructure that can be shared by researchers to develop their own applets to be posted on the library. We aim for a community based library of scientific models that enhances the e-learning process for engineering students.

Self-regulated Learning in a Hybrid Science Course at a Community College

Science.gov (United States)

Manuelito, Shannon Joy

Community college students are attracted to courses with alternative delivery formats such as hybrid courses because the more flexible delivery associated with such courses provides convenience for busy students. In a hybrid course, face-to-face, structured seat time is exchanged for online components. In such courses, students take more responsibility for their learning because they assume additional responsibility for learning more of the course material on their own. Thus, self-regulated learning (SRL) behaviors have the potential to be useful for students to successfully navigate hybrid courses because the online components require exercise of more personal control over the autonomous learning situations inherent in hybrid courses. Self-regulated learning theory includes three components: metacognition, motivation, and behavioral actions. In the current study, this theoretical framework is used to examine how inducing self-regulated learning activities among students taking a hybrid course influence performance in a community college science course. The intervention for this action research study consisted of a suite of activities that engage students in self-regulated learning behaviors to foster student performance. The specific SRL activities included predicting grades, reflections on coursework and study efforts in course preparation logs, explanation of SRL procedures in response to a vignette, photo ethnography work on their personal use of SRL approaches, and a personalized study plan. A mixed method approach was employed to gather evidence for the study. Results indicate that community college students use a variety of self-regulated learning strategies to support their learning of course material. Further, engaging community college students in learning reflection activities appears to afford some students with opportunities to refine their SRL skills and influence their learning. The discussion focuses on integrating the quantitative and qualitative

The Applicability of eLearning in Community-Based Rehabilitation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Karly Michelle Dagys

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Community-based rehabilitation (CBR strives to enhance quality of life for individuals with disabilities and their families by increasing social participation and equalizing opportunities in the global south. Aligning with the Sustainable Development Goals, CBR also aims to address the high rates of poverty faced by individuals with disability. Empowerment, a pillar of CBR, involves strengthening the capacity of people with disabilities, their families, and their communities to ensure reduction of disparities. This article outlines a scoping review that guided by the question: “What is known from the existing literature about the applicability of eLearning for capacity building in CBR?” This review did not uncover literature related to eLearning in CBR; however findings suggest that other disciplines, not explicitly tied to CBR, currently use eLearning to educate and empower professionals in the global south. We argue that eLearning technology could be an effective and sustainable solution for CBR programming in the global south for capacity development. Such technology could increase individuals with disabilities’ access to education and could provide opportunities for wider dissemination of knowledge, beyond typical funding cycles. With a goal of informing future CBR practice in eLearning, this article concludes by highlighting key lessons taken from other disciplines that have utilized eLearning in the global south.

Using Web 2.0 for Learning in the Community

Science.gov (United States)

Mason, Robin; Rennie, Frank

2007-01-01

This paper describes the use of a range of Web 2.0 technologies to support the development of community for a newly formed Land Trust on the Isle of Lewis, in NW Scotland. The application of social networking tools in text, audio and video has several purposes: informal learning about the area to increase tourism, community interaction,…

Community Resilience Education: Lessons Learned from an Emerging Community of Practice - NOAA's Environmental Literacy Grantees

Science.gov (United States)

Schoedinger, S. E.; McDougall, C.

2017-12-01

NOAA supports community resilience to extreme weather events, climate change and other environmental hazards by preparing communities through Weather Ready Nation and through programs addressing coastal community needs. These programs primarily target adult decisions makers in a professional capacity (emergency managers, city planners, et al.), leaving non-professional audiences without opportunities to understand and develop the skills to prepare for the threats and vulnerabilities that their communities face. As a result, resilience became the focus of NOAA's Environmental Literacy Grants in 2015. The goal of these investments is to strengthen the public's and/or K-12 students' environmental literacy to enable informed decision-making necessary for community resilience to extreme weather events and other environmental hazards. Funded projects build an understanding of Earth systems and the threats and vulnerabilities that are associated with a community's location, are aligned with existing adaptation/resilience plans, and connect audiences to relevant tools and resources to prepare for and respond to these hazards. These first few years of investment will create new models for how education can improve community resilience. Although these projects incorporate a variety of approaches, a few common themes stand out: empowering youth and adults to increase their understanding of locally relevant natural hazards and stresses; giving youth a voice in resilience planning; and student-led vulnerability assessments of their schools and communities. In this session we will report on the first convening of the principal investigators of our 13 funded projects, which represents the beginning of a new community of practice focused on resilience education. We will specifically share lessons learned about: engaging youth and adults about climate change and resiliency; working with local resilience/adaptation planners; and case studies on the use of NOAA's Digital Coast and

Implementing Community Service Learning through Archaeological Practice

Science.gov (United States)

Nassaney, Michael S.

2004-01-01

The Anthropology Department at Western Michigan University has sponsored an annual archaeological field school since the mid-1970s. Over the past decade, students have worked with community and government organizations, learning to apply archaeological methods to real world problems to preserve and interpret significant heritage sites. They come…

Building a Community Memory in Communities of Practice of E-Learning: A Knowledge Engineering Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Sarirete, Akila; Chikh, Azeddine; Noble, Elizabeth

2011-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to define a community memory for a virtual communities of practice (CoP) based on organizational learning (OL) concept and ontologies. Design/methodology/approach: The paper focuses on applying the OL concept to virtual CoP and proposes a framework for building the CoP memory by identifying several layers of…

International Community-Based Service Learning: Two Comparative Case Studies of Benefits and Tensions

Science.gov (United States)

Akhurst, Jacqueline

2016-01-01

The drives to internationalise the UK curriculum and psychology students' desires to work in communities are brought together in this paper. International community-based learning (ICBL) links with many psychology students' motivations to make contributions to others; with the potential to enhance students' learning and cultural sensitivities. The…

One Happy Union: Infusing Community-Based Learning Projects through Online Instruction

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Jason W.; Kane, Jennifer; Cavanaugh, Terence

2015-01-01

Both community-based learning (CBL) and online learning are popular pedagogical practices, with distinct benefits and issues for teaching and learning. The integration of these practices may seem challenging, but they can be compatible. This article seeks to provide effective examples and support for conducting CBL projects in online courses while…

Sustainability Transdisciplinary Education Model: Interface of Arts, Science, and Community (STEM)

Science.gov (United States)

Clark, Barbara; Button, Charles

2011-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe the components of a sustainability transdisciplinary education model (STEM), a contemporary approach linking art, science, and community, that were developed to provide university and K-12 students, and society at large shared learning opportunities. The goals and application of the STEM curriculum…

Creating Professional Learning Communities: The Work of Professional Development Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Doolittle, Gini; Sudeck, Maria; Rattigan, Peter

2008-01-01

If professional learning communities offer opportunities for improving the teaching and learning process, then developing strong professional development school (PDS) partnerships establish an appropriate framework for that purpose. PDS partnerships, however, can be less than effective without proper planning and discussion about the aims of those…

Modellus: Learning Physics with Mathematical Modelling

Science.gov (United States)

Teodoro, Vitor

Computers are now a major tool in research and development in almost all scientific and technological fields. Despite recent developments, this is far from true for learning environments in schools and most undergraduate studies. This thesis proposes a framework for designing curricula where computers, and computer modelling in particular, are a major tool for learning. The framework, based on research on learning science and mathematics and on computer user interface, assumes that: 1) learning is an active process of creating meaning from representations; 2) learning takes place in a community of practice where students learn both from their own effort and from external guidance; 3) learning is a process of becoming familiar with concepts, with links between concepts, and with representations; 4) direct manipulation user interfaces allow students to explore concrete-abstract objects such as those of physics and can be used by students with minimal computer knowledge. Physics is the science of constructing models and explanations about the physical world. And mathematical models are an important type of models that are difficult for many students. These difficulties can be rooted in the fact that most students do not have an environment where they can explore functions, differential equations and iterations as primary objects that model physical phenomena--as objects-to-think-with, reifying the formal objects of physics. The framework proposes that students should be introduced to modelling in a very early stage of learning physics and mathematics, two scientific areas that must be taught in very closely related way, as they were developed since Galileo and Newton until the beginning of our century, before the rise of overspecialisation in science. At an early stage, functions are the main type of objects used to model real phenomena, such as motions. At a later stage, rates of change and equations with rates of change play an important role. This type of equations

Reframing Practice: High School Mathematics Teachers' Learning through Interactions in Their Workplace Community

Science.gov (United States)

Bannister, Nicole A.

2009-01-01

This dissertation seeks to understand how teachers learn through interactions in newly formed workplace communities by examining how mathematics teachers engaged in equity-oriented reforms frame problems of practice. It examines how teachers' framings develop over time, and how teachers' shifting frames connect to their learning in a community of…

Developing a Culture of Assessment through a Faculty Learning Community: A Case Study

Science.gov (United States)

Schlitz, Stephanie A.; O'Connor, Margaret; Pang, Yanhui; Stryker, Deborah; Markell, Stephen; Krupp, Ethan; Byers, Celina; Jones, Sheila Dove; Redfern, Alicia King

2009-01-01

This article describes how a diverse, interdisciplinary team of faculty formed a topic-based faculty learning community. Following an introduction to faculty learning communities and a brief discussion of their benefit to faculty engaged in the process of adopting new technology, we explain how our team, through a competitive mini-grant…

CSU Digital Ambassadors: An Empowering and Impactful Faculty Learning Community

Science.gov (United States)

Soodjinda, Daniel; Parker, Jessica K.; Ross, Donna L.; Meyer, Elizabeth J.

2014-01-01

This article chronicles the work of the California State University Digital Ambassador Program (DA), a Faculty Learning Community (FLC), which brought together 13 faculty members across the state to create ongoing, targeted spaces of support for colleagues and educational partners to learn about innovative technological and pedagogical practices…

Tacit Knowledge in Online Learning: Community, Identity, and Social Capital

Science.gov (United States)

Oztok, Murat

2013-01-01

This article discusses the possibilities that tacit knowledge could provide for social constructivist pedagogies; in particular, pedagogies for online learning. Arguing that the tacit dimension of knowledge is critical for meaning making in situated learning practices and for a community of practice to function, the article considers whether…

Service Learning: An Empowerment Agenda for Students and Community Entrepreneurs

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Scholtz, Desiree

2018-01-01

Service learning (SL) presents apposite opportunities for students to share with and learn from businesses for mutually beneficial development and experience. This article focuses on a SL project conducted by undergraduate students in South Africa, to devise advertising and marketing strategies for community businesses. The reciprocity of benefits…

Dynamic Textures Modeling via Joint Video Dictionary Learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Wei, Xian; Li, Yuanxiang; Shen, Hao; Chen, Fang; Kleinsteuber, Martin; Wang, Zhongfeng

2017-04-06

Video representation is an important and challenging task in the computer vision community. In this paper, we consider the problem of modeling and classifying video sequences of dynamic scenes which could be modeled in a dynamic textures (DT) framework. At first, we assume that image frames of a moving scene can be modeled as a Markov random process. We propose a sparse coding framework, named joint video dictionary learning (JVDL), to model a video adaptively. By treating the sparse coefficients of image frames over a learned dictionary as the underlying "states", we learn an efficient and robust linear transition matrix between two adjacent frames of sparse events in time series. Hence, a dynamic scene sequence is represented by an appropriate transition matrix associated with a dictionary. In order to ensure the stability of JVDL, we impose several constraints on such transition matrix and dictionary. The developed framework is able to capture the dynamics of a moving scene by exploring both sparse properties and the temporal correlations of consecutive video frames. Moreover, such learned JVDL parameters can be used for various DT applications, such as DT synthesis and recognition. Experimental results demonstrate the strong competitiveness of the proposed JVDL approach in comparison with state-of-the-art video representation methods. Especially, it performs significantly better in dealing with DT synthesis and recognition on heavily corrupted data.

The urban and community health pathway: preparing socially responsive physicians through community-engaged learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Meurer, Linda N; Young, Staci A; Meurer, John R; Johnson, Sheri L; Gilbert, Ileen A; Diehr, Sabina

2011-10-01

One of five options for the new required Medical College of Wisconsin Pathways program, the Urban and Community Health Pathway (UCHP), links training with community needs and assets to prepare students with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to provide effective care in urban, underserved settings; promote community health; and reduce health disparities. Students spend at least 10 hours per month on pathway activities: 4 hours of core material delivered through readings, didactics, case discussions, and site visits; and at least 6 hours of experiential noncore activities applying core competencies, guided by an Individualized Learning Plan and faculty advisor. Noncore activities include community-engaged research, service-learning activities or other relevant experiences, and submission of a synthesis paper addressing pathway competencies. The first cohort of students began their pathways in January 2010. Of 560 participating students, 95 (of which 48 were first-year, 21 second-year, and 26 third-year students) selected UCHP. Core sessions focused on public health, social determinants, cultural humility, poverty, the local healthcare system, and safety net. During noncore time, students engaged in projects addressing homelessness, obesity, advocacy, Hmong and Latino health, HIV, asthma, and violence prevention. Students enjoyed working with peers across classes and favored interactive, community-based sessions over didactics in the classroom. Students' papers reflected a range of service and scholarly activities and a deepened appreciation of social and economic influences on health. The UCHP enriches the traditional curriculum with individualized, community-based experiences to build knowledge about health determinants and skills in partnering with communities to improve health. Copyright © 2011 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

An Analysis of Gender and Major Differences upon Undergraduate Student Attitudes about Community Service Learning

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Shukla, P. K.; Shukla, Monica P.

2014-01-01

Community Service Learning (CSL) believes that university and colleges should incorporate community based service projects into courses. There are faculty and administrator supporters who argue for such proposals to require community service learning components into classes, but there are also faculty and administrator critics of such proposals.…

CyberPsychological Computation on Social Community of Ubiquitous Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Xuan; Dai, Genghui; Huang, Shuang; Sun, Xuemin; Hu, Feng; Hu, Hongzhi; Ivanović, Mirjana

2015-01-01

Under the modern network environment, ubiquitous learning has been a popular way for people to study knowledge, exchange ideas, and share skills in the cyberspace. Existing research findings indicate that the learners' initiative and community cohesion play vital roles in the social communities of ubiquitous learning, and therefore how to stimulate the learners' interest and participation willingness so as to improve their enjoyable experiences in the learning process should be the primary consideration on this issue. This paper aims to explore an effective method to monitor the learners' psychological reactions based on their behavioral features in cyberspace and therefore provide useful references for adjusting the strategies in the learning process. In doing so, this paper firstly analyzes the psychological assessment of the learners' situations as well as their typical behavioral patterns and then discusses the relationship between the learners' psychological reactions and their observable features in cyberspace. Finally, this paper puts forward a CyberPsychological computation method to estimate the learners' psychological states online. Considering the diversity of learners' habitual behaviors in the reactions to their psychological changes, a BP-GA neural network is proposed for the computation based on their personalized behavioral patterns. PMID:26557846

Doctoral learning: a case for a cohort model of supervision and support

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Naydene de Lange

2011-01-01

Full Text Available We document the efforts of the faculty of education of a large research-oriented university in supporting doctoral learning. The development of a space for doctoral learning is in line with the need to develop a community of researchers in South Africa. We describe the historical origins of this cohort model of doctoral supervision and support, draw on literature around doctoral learning, and analyse a cohort of doctoral students' evaluation of the seminarsoverthree years. The findings indicate that the model has great value in developing scholarship and reflective practice in candidates, in providing support and supervision, and in sustaining students towards the completion of their doctorates.

The Learning Organization: A Model for Educational Change.

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, Rexford

1997-01-01

Analyzes public school bureaucracy and ways to reform institutions into learning communities that value shared knowledge and learning experiences. Describes how a bureaucratic organizational structure impairs learning. Proposes the "learning organization" in which adults learn alongside students, planning is decentralized, families are…

School-community learning partnerships for sustainability: Recommended best practice and reality

Science.gov (United States)

Wheeler, Leone; Guevara, Jose Roberto; Smith, Jodi-Anne

2018-05-01

Effective partnerships across different stakeholders are essential to the collaboration required for learning cities to contribute to sustainable development. Through partnerships, formal educational institutions, such as schools and universities, play a vital role in establishing and sustaining learning cities, often by facilitating the meaningful participation of different local community members. The research presented in this article examines the characteristics of effective school-community partnerships in the literature and compares it to the results of a three-year research study which examined 16 case studies of school-community partnerships in the state of Victoria in Australia. Using participatory action research, the researchers identified four approaches to implementing partnerships for sustainability, explored challenges to achieving an idealised partnership, and made recommendations for establishing successful partnership networks. The researchers propose that partnerships be viewed as a dynamic resource rather than merely a transactional arrangement that addresses the identified challenges of time, funding, skills and personnel. Furthermore, the use of "partnership brokers", such as local government or non-government organisations, is recommended to expand the current school-centred approach to partnerships. These insights aim to contribute to providing quality education and lifelong learning through partnerships - outcomes crucial for establishing and sustaining learning cities.

Actualizing Communities of Practice (COPs and Situated Learning for A Sustainable Eco-Village

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria Victoria Pineda

2016-05-01

Full Text Available An eco-village as defined by Robert Gilman is a “human-scale, full-featured settlement where you feel you know the others, and human activities are integrated with natural, biological systems.” Roland Mayerl argued that this maybe ideal, but there are huge challenges. He claims the challenges are at different levels—there is the physical layer that constitutes food production, animals, water and wastewater treatment. Other layers will be the built environment, the economic system and the governance in the village.This paper argues that one of the challenging layers is the human layer that was excluded in the modeling of many eco-village works. While there are many good models of an eco-village, sustainability will primarily be laid on the shoulders of the members of the community or the village for that matter. Sustainability should be espoused by the members of the eco-village. But how can sustainability be attained? What sustainability approach or strategy can be employed?“Communities of practice (COP are formed by people who engage in a process of collective learning in a shared domain of human endeavor.“ (Wenger, 2004 COPs are concepts commonly applied in organizations and virtual communities. Using this approach together with periphery participation and situated learning, this paper presents a human-based model of a sustainable eco-village and some useful examples.The paper also argues that an eco-village necessitates the support of technology in enhancing and preserving the shared practices. Hence, use of social media deployed in the web is one of the recommended ways that also permit collective action among members of the eco-village.

With Educational Benefits for All: Campus Inclusion through Learning Communities Designed for Underserved Student Populations

Science.gov (United States)

Fink, John E.; Hummel, Mary L.

2015-01-01

This chapter explores the practices of learning communities designed for specific, underserved student populations, highlighting on-campus examples and culminating with a synthesized list of core practices from these "inclusive" learning communities.

Learning in networks Community of Practice: a new approach to entrepreneurial learning

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schrooten, G.B.J. (Gerrit)

2009-01-01

Educational programs teaching entrepreneurial behaviour and knowledge are crucial to a vital and healthy economy. The concept of building a Communities of Practice (CoP) could be very promising. CoP’s are formed by people who engage in a process of collective learning in a shared domain of

Collaborative Learning in the Scientific Community of Practice

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jesionkowska, J.

2016-01-01

Full text: The paper describes research done in the scope of doctoral project. The aim of the study is to discover how to improve the process of collaborative learning in the community of scientists by the development of a community of practice. A mixed methods approach was used combining data from content analysis, interviews and questionnaires. Results show that such community helps to build relationships and network with others, it motivates to share work-related knowledge, represents an area of common interest for organization, but also that it is mainly driven by the willingness of members and is lacking instruments to share ideas. (author

Exploration of Textual Interactions in CALL Learning Communities: Emerging Research and Opportunities

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White, Jonathan R.

2017-01-01

Computer-assisted language learning (CALL) has greatly enhanced the realm of online social interaction and behavior. In language classrooms, it allows the opportunity for students to enhance their learning experiences. "Exploration of Textual Interactions in CALL Learning Communities: Emerging Research and Opportunities" is an ideal…

Making the Most of Professional Learning Communities

Science.gov (United States)

Hughes-Hassell, Sandra; Brasfield, Amanda; Dupree, Debbie

2012-01-01

As more and more schools implement professional learning communities (PLCs), school librarians often ask: What is the role of school librarians in PLCs? What should they be doing to contribute? What are their colleagues in other schools doing? In this article the authors explore these questions by first describing eight potential roles for school…

Caring communities as collective learning process: findings and lessons learned from a participatory research project in Austria.

Science.gov (United States)

Wegleitner, Klaus; Schuchter, Patrick

2018-04-01

By now, the public health end-of-life care approach is well established and has induced diverse initiatives-subsumed under the concept of compassionate or caring communities-to engage the community in supporting vulnerable, dying people and their beloved ones. In the light of a participatory research project our paper examines the question: what are the deeper ideas behind caring communities and what constitutes a caring community? A multi-level analysis based on (I) qualitative research with focus groups and interviews with community members within the project; (II) the reflection of the role of participatory research in caring community initiatives, and (III) the meta-analysis of an international expert workshop, which allowed to discuss our experiences and insights in the light of international caring community models and expertise. Our analysis of qualities ("ingredients") of a caring community, from the perspective of community members, highlighted the importance of the co-creation of supportive care relationships in the local care web, through everyday life solidarity in the neighbourhood, appreciating and exchanging the wisdom of care, and also marked the role of professionals as enablers. Participatory research in caring community developments has the potential to engage and empower citizens, and to interlink existential care-stories with questions about the structural and political environments of appropriate end-of-life care. The caring community movement and public health end-of-life care has to maintain their critical potential against the commercialization and fragmentation of care (services), but also without "romanticizing" communities. Prospective caring community progresses need (I) an ecological health-promotion framework for action and (II) social learning processes along the existential experiences and the wisdom of community members, complementing each other. Organizing existential-political care dialogues can contribute to an ethic of caring

Building up STEM education professional learning community in school setting: Case of Khon Kaen Wittayayon School

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Thana, Aduldej; Siripun, Kulpatsorn; Yuenyong, Chokchai

2018-01-01

The STEM education is new issue of teaching and learning in school setting. Building up STEM education professional learning community may provide some suggestions for further collaborative work of STEM Education from grounded up. This paper aimed to clarify the building up STEM education learning community in Khon Kaen Wittayayon (KKW) School setting. Participants included Khon Kaen University researchers, Khon Kaen Wittayayon School administrators and teachers. Methodology regarded interpretative paradigm. The tools of interpretation included participant observation, interview and document analysis. Data was analyzed to categories of condition for building up STEM education professional learning community. The findings revealed that the actions of developing STEM learning activities and research showed some issues of KKW STEM community of inquiry and improvement. The paper will discuss what and how the community learns about sharing vision of STEM Education, supportive physical and social conditions of KKW, sharing activities of STEM, and good things from some key STEM teachers' ambition. The paper may has implication of supporting STEM education in Thailand school setting.

Mentoring as a Formalized Learning Strategy with Community Sports Volunteers

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Griffiths, Mark; Armour, Kathleen

2012-01-01

The aim of our study was to examine formalized mentoring as a learning strategy for volunteer sports coaches and to consider implications for other volunteer groups in the community. Despite the increasingly popular use of mentoring as a learning and support strategy across professional domains, and the sheer scale of volunteer sports coach…

34 CFR 692.30 - How does a State administer its community service-learning job program?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

...-learning job program? 692.30 Section 692.30 Education Regulations of the Offices of the Department of... Administer Its Community Service-Learning Job Program? § 692.30 How does a State administer its community service-learning job program? (a)(1) Each year, a State may use up to 20 percent of its allotment for a...

Transgressing the norm: Transformative agency in community-based learning for sustainability in southern African contexts

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Lotz-Sisitka, Heila; Mukute, Mutizwa; Chikunda, Charles; Baloi, Aristides; Pesanayi, Tichaona

2017-12-01

Environment and sustainability education processes are often oriented to change and transformation, and frequently involve the emergence of new forms of human activity. However, not much is known about how such change emerges from the learning process, or how it contributes to the development of transformative agency in community contexts. The authors of this article present four cross-case perspectives of expansive learning and transformative agency development in community-based education in southern Africa, studying communities pursuing new activities that are more socially just and sustainable. The four cases of community learning and transformative agency focus on the following activities: (1) sustainable agriculture in Lesotho; (2) seed saving and rainwater harvesting in Zimbabwe; (3) community-based irrigation scheme management in Mozambique; and (4) biodiversity conservation co-management in South Africa. The case studies all draw on cultural-historical activity theory to guide learning and change processes, especially third-generation cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT), which emphasises expansive learning in collectives across interacting activity systems. CHAT researchers, such as the authors of this article, argue that expansive learning can lead to the emergence of transformative agency. The authors extend their transformative agency analysis to probe if and how expansive learning might also facilitate instances of transgressing norms - viewed here as embedded practices which need to be reframed and changed in order for sustainability to emerge.

Success factors of social innovations by a community-based learning course (CBLC)

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wink, G.; Casimir, G.; Goris, M.

2014-01-01

This is the success story of a community-based learning course (CBLC) project addressing the concerns of the international community of students and staff of Wageningen University and Research Centre (WageningenUR). A joint effort of this community, WageningenUR and social entrepreneurs resulted in

Seamless Language Learning: Second Language Learning with Social Media

OpenAIRE

Wong, Lung-Hsiang; Sing-Chai, Ching; Poh-Aw, Guat

2017-01-01

This conceptual paper describes a language learning model that applies social media to foster contextualized and connected language learning in communities. The model emphasizes weaving together different forms of language learning activities that take place in different learning contexts to achieve seamless language learning. It promotes social interactions with social media about the learners’ day-to-day life using the targeted second or foreign language. The paper first identifies three ke...

Binational Learning Communities: A Work in Progress

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Gross, Joan

2015-01-01

The author, having directed, taught and evaluated five study-abroad programmes in three different countries, created her own programme based on the pros and cons she had observed. In December 2013, she completed a pilot run of a binational learning community focused on food, culture and social justice in Ecuador and Oregon, and here she shares…

Development of inclusive communities of learning through relationship building and feedback

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christiansen, René Boyer; Bruun, Mette; Vestergaard, Linda Rask

2016-01-01

successfully? A report from the Danish Ministry of Education in 2015 showed that inclusion, well-being and the development of learning communities have not yet succeeded according to ambition by 2016. The report suggested among other things that these matters should be addressed by practitioners......n Denmark the goal of the new reform of the primary school from 2013 was to develop and raise the pupils' academic skills, but the reform also has a strong focus on students' well-being and development of inclusive learning communities. The question is how this is developed or are managed...... and researchers on both a macro, meso and micro level. This project, which is still in its starting phase, is based on the issues of the micro level to target teachers and educators who work in classes marked by students in complex learning situations in the so-called LKT-problems (Learning, Contact and Well...

Secondary Science Teachers Making Sense of Model-Based Classroom Instruction: Understanding the Learning and Learning Pathways Teachers Describe as Supporting Changes in Teaching Practice

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Hvidsten, Connie J.

Connie J. Hvidsten September 2016 Education Secondary Science Teachers Making Sense of Model-Based Classroom Instruction: Understanding the Learning and Learning Pathways Teachers Describe as Supporting Changes in Teaching Practice This dissertation consists of three papers analyzing writings and interviews of experienced secondary science teachers during and after a two-year professional development (PD) program focused on model-based reasoning (MBR). MBR is an approach to science instruction that provides opportunities for students to use conceptual models to make sense of natural phenomena in ways that are similar to the use of models within the scientific community. The aim of this research is to better understand the learning and learning pathways teachers identified as valuable in supporting changes in their teaching practice. To accomplish this aim, the papers analyze the ways teachers 1) ascribe their learning to various aspects of the program, 2) describe what they learned, and 3) reflect on the impact the PD had on their teaching practice. Twenty-one secondary science teachers completed the Innovations in Science Instruction through Modeling (ISIM) program from 2007 through 2009. Commonalities in the written reflections and interview responses led to a set of generalizable findings related to the impacts and outcomes of the PD. The first of the three papers describes elements of the ISIM program that teachers associated with their own learning. One of the most frequently mentioned PD feature was being in the position of an adult learner. Embedding learning in instructional practice by collaboratively developing and revising lessons, and observing the lessons in one-another's classrooms provided a sense of professional community, accountability, and support teachers reported were necessary to overcome the challenges of implementing new pedagogical practices. Additionally, teachers described that opportunities to reflect on their learning and connect their

Outcomes of an Academic Service-Learning Project on Four Urban Community Colleges

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Greenwood, Debra Abston

2015-01-01

Service-learning has a rich history in higher education, with a multitude of studies indicating positive learning, community engagement, and moral development outcomes of student participants. The majority of the research findings, however, have represented four-year colleges. And while there are limited outcome studies of service-learning in…

A Service-Learning Initiative within a Community-Based Small Business

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Simola, Sheldene

2009-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to extend previous scholarly writing on community service-learning (SL) initiatives by looking beyond their use in the not-for-profit sector to their potential use in community-based small businesses. Design/methodology/approach: A rationale for the appropriateness of using SL projects in small businesses is…

The World of Wonder Accelerated Learning Community: A Case Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Biddle, Julie K.

This report presents a case study of the World of Wonders Accelerated Learning Community School (WOW). A community school in Ohio is a new kind of public school-an independent public school that is nonsectarian and nondiscriminatory. The report presents three contexts for the study--historical, local and methodological--and highlights some of the…

Community and School Gardens as Spaces for Learning Social Resilience

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Reis, Kimberley; Ferreira, Jo-Anne

2015-01-01

Can community and school gardens help people learn to build social resilience to potential food shortages? We seek to address this question through an examination of the ways in which gardens can teach individual and community resiliency in times of emergency, pockets of food insecurity, and the challenges presented by climate change. We focus on…

Extension and Higher Education Service-Learning: Toward a Community Development Service-Learning Model

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Stoecker, Randy

2014-01-01

This article explores how on-the-ground Extension educators interface with higher education service-learning. Most service-learning in Extension has focused on precollege youth and 4-H. When we look at higher education service-learning and Extension in Wisconsin, we see that there is not as much connection as might be expected. County-based…

Otitis Media, Learning and Community.

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McSwan, David; Clinch, Emma; Store, Ron

2001-01-01

A 3-year research project in Queensland (Australia) implemented educational and health strategies to ameliorate effects of otitis media at three schools in remote Aboriginal communities. The interdisciplinary model brought together health and education professionals, teacher aides, and the community, with the school being the lead agency. However,…

Bridging Communities: Culturing a Professional Learning Community that Supports Novice Teachers and Transfers Authentic Science and Mathematics to the Classroom

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Herbert, B. E.; Miller, H. R.; Loving, C. L.; Pedersen, S.

2006-12-01

Professional Learning Community Model for Alternative Pathways (PLC-MAP) is a partnership of North Harris Montgomery Community Colleges, Texas A&M University, and 11 urban, suburban, and rural school districts in the Greater Houston area focused on developing a professional learning community that increases the retention and quality of middle and high school mathematics and science teachers who are being certified through the NHMCCD Alternative Certification Program. Improved quality in teaching refers to increased use of effective inquiry teaching strategies, including information technology where appropriate, that engage students to ask worthy scientific questions and to reason, judge, explain, defend, argue, reflect, revise, and/or disseminate findings. Novice teachers learning to adapt or designing authentic inquiry in their classrooms face two enormous problems. First, there are important issues surrounding the required knowledgebase, habit of mind, and pedagogical content knowledge of the teachers that impact the quality of their lesson plans and instructional sequences. Second, many ACP intern teachers teach under challenging conditions with limited resources, which impacts their ability to implement authentic inquiry in the classroom. Members of our professional learning community, including scientists, mathematicians and master teachers, supports novice teachers as they design lesson plans that engage their students in authentic inquiry. The purpose of this research was to determine factors that contribute to success or barriers that prevent ACP secondary science intern and induction year teachers from gaining knowledge and engaging in classroom inquiry as a result of an innovative professional development experience. A multi-case study design was used for this research. We adopted a two-tail design where cases from both extremes (good and poor gains) were deliberately chosen. Six science teachers were selected from a total of 40+ mathematics and science

School-Community Partnership Models: Implications for Leadership

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Valli, Linda; Stefanski, Amanda; Jacobson, Reuben

2018-01-01

School-community partnerships have shown promise as an educational reform effort. In these partnerships, schools expand their traditional educational mission to include health and social services for children and families and to involve the broader community. Such partnerships have been found to enhance student learning, strengthen schools and…

Teachers' professional development in a community: A study of the central actors, their networks and web-based learning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jiri Lallimo

2008-07-01

Full Text Available The goal of this article was to study teachers' professional development related to web-based learning in the context of the teacher community. The object was to learn in what kind of networks teachers share the knowledge of web-based learning and what are the factors in the community that support or challenge teachers professional development of web-based learning. The findings of the study revealed that there are teachers who are especially active, called the central actors in this study, in the teacher community who collaborate and share knowledge of web-based learning. These central actors share both technical and pedagogical knowledge of web-based learning in networks that include both internal and external relations in the community and involve people, artefacts and a variety of media. Furthermore, the central actors appear to bridge different fields of teaching expertise in their community.According to the central actors' experiences the important factors that support teachers' professional development of web-based learning in the community are; the possibility to learn from colleagues and from everyday working practices, an emotionally safe atmosphere, the leader's personal support and community-level commitment. Also, the flexibility in work planning, challenging pupils, shared lessons with colleagues, training events in an authentic work environment and colleagues' professionalism are considered meaningful for professional development. As challenges, the knowledge sharing of web-based learning in the community needs mutual interests, transactive memory, time and facilities, peer support, a safe atmosphere and meaningful pedagogical practices.On the basis of the findings of the study it is suggested that by intensive collaboration related to web-based learning it may be possible to break the boundaries of individual teachership and create such sociocultural activities which support collaborative professional development in the teacher

Unpacking the Roles of the Facilitator in Higher Education Professional Learning Communities

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Margalef, Leonor; Pareja Roblin, Natalie

2016-01-01

Facilitators are central for the success of professional learning communities (PLCs). Yet, their specific roles in supporting teacher learning remain still largely underexplored. To address this gap, the current multiple case study examines the roles of 4 university PLC facilitators, the strategies they used to support teacher learning, and the…

Service-Learning in the Financial Planning Curriculum: Expanding Access to the Community

Science.gov (United States)

Annis, Paul M.; Palmer, Lance; Goetz, Joseph

2010-01-01

Service-learning projects are a cornerstone of student experiential learning. Such programs have proven to be mutually beneficial to communities and students within a variety of family and consumer sciences courses. However, there is a paucity of literature addressing service-learning efforts within the field of financial planning. There is an…

Creating a Community of Practice: Lessons Learned from the Center for Astronomy Education (Invited)

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Brissenden, G.

2009-12-01

The Center for Astronomy Education (CAE) is devoted to improving teaching and learning in Astro 101. To accomplish this, a vital part of CAE is our broader community of practice which includes over 1000 instructors, graduate and undergraduate students, and postdocs. It is this greater community of practice that supports each other, helps, and learns from each other beyond what would be possible without it. As our community of practice has grown, we at CAE have learned many lessons about how different facets of CAE can best be used to promote and support our community both as a whole and for individual members. We will discuss the various facets of CAE, such as our online discussion group Astrolrner@CAE (http://astronomy101.jpl.nasa.gov/discussion) and its Guest Moderator program, our CAE Regional Teaching Exchange Coordinator program, our CAE Workshop Presenter Apprenticeship Training program, our online This Month’s Teaching Strategy, monthly newsletters, and various types of socializing and networking sessions we hold at national meetings. But more importantly, we will discuss the lessons we’ve learned about what does and does not work in building community within each of these facets.

Communities in Action: Lifelong Learning for Sustainable Development

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Noguchi, Fumiko; Guevara, Jose Roberto; Yorozu, Rika

2015-01-01

This handbook identifies principles and policy mechanisms to advance community-based learning for sustainable development based on the commitments endorsed by the participants of the "Kominkan-CLC International Conference on Education for Sustainable Development," which took place in Okayama City, Japan, in October 2014. To inform…

Supporting Clinical Practice Candidates in Learning Community Development

Science.gov (United States)

DeJarnette, Nancy K.; Sudeck, Maria

2015-01-01

The purpose of this qualitative research study was to monitor pre-service teacher candidates' progression and implementation of the learning community philosophy along with classroom management strategies. The study took place during their final semester of clinical practice. Data were collected from self-reports, surveys, university supervisor…

Clay Modeling as a Method to Learn Human Muscles: A Community College Study

Science.gov (United States)

Motoike, Howard K.; O'Kane, Robyn L.; Lenchner, Erez; Haspel, Carol

2009-01-01

The efficacy of clay modeling compared with cat dissection for human muscle identification was examined over two semesters at LaGuardia Community College in Queens, NY. The 181 students in 10 sections in this study were randomly distributed into control (cat dissection) and experimental (clay modeling) groups, and the results of the muscle…

Lessons learned from recent geomagnetic disturbance model validation activities

Science.gov (United States)

Pulkkinen, A. A.; Welling, D. T.

2017-12-01

Due to concerns pertaining to geomagnetically induced current impact on ground-based infrastructure, there has been significantly elevated interest in applying models for local geomagnetic disturbance or "delta-B" predictions. Correspondingly there has been elevated need for testing the quality of the delta-B predictions generated by the modern empirical and physics-based models. To address this need, community-wide activities were launched under the GEM Challenge framework and one culmination of the activities was the validation and selection of models that were transitioned into operations at NOAA SWPC. The community-wide delta-B action is continued under the CCMC-facilitated International Forum for Space Weather Capabilities Assessment and its "Ground Magnetic Perturbations: dBdt, delta-B, GICs, FACs" working group. The new delta-B working group builds on the past experiences and expands the collaborations to cover the entire international space weather community. In this paper, we discuss the key lessons learned from the past delta-B validation exercises and lay out the path forward for building on those experience under the new delta-B working group.

Modeling eating behaviors: The role of environment and positive food association learning via a Ratatouille effect.

Science.gov (United States)

Murillo, Anarina L; Safan, Muntaser; Castillo-Chavez, Carlos; Phillips, Elizabeth D Capaldi; Wadhera, Devina

2016-08-01

Eating behaviors among a large population of children are studied as a dynamic process driven by nonlinear interactions in the sociocultural school environment. The impact of food association learning on diet dynamics, inspired by a pilot study conducted among Arizona children in Pre-Kindergarten to 8th grades, is used to build simple population-level learning models. Qualitatively, mathematical studies are used to highlight the possible ramifications of instruction, learning in nutrition, and health at the community level. Model results suggest that nutrition education programs at the population-level have minimal impact on improving eating behaviors, findings that agree with prior field studies. Hence, the incorporation of food association learning may be a better strategy for creating resilient communities of healthy and non-healthy eaters. A Ratatouille effect can be observed when food association learners become food preference learners, a potential sustainable behavioral change, which in turn, may impact the overall distribution of healthy eaters. In short, this work evaluates the effectiveness of population-level intervention strategies and the importance of institutionalizing nutrition programs that factor in economical, social, cultural, and environmental elements that mesh well with the norms and values in the community.

Comprehensive survey of deep learning in remote sensing: theories, tools, and challenges for the community

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Ball, John E.; Anderson, Derek T.; Chan, Chee Seng

2017-10-01

In recent years, deep learning (DL), a rebranding of neural networks (NNs), has risen to the top in numerous areas, namely computer vision (CV), speech recognition, and natural language processing. Whereas remote sensing (RS) possesses a number of unique challenges, primarily related to sensors and applications, inevitably RS draws from many of the same theories as CV, e.g., statistics, fusion, and machine learning, to name a few. This means that the RS community should not only be aware of advancements such as DL, but also be leading researchers in this area. Herein, we provide the most comprehensive survey of state-of-the-art RS DL research. We also review recent new developments in the DL field that can be used in DL for RS. Namely, we focus on theories, tools, and challenges for the RS community. Specifically, we focus on unsolved challenges and opportunities as they relate to (i) inadequate data sets, (ii) human-understandable solutions for modeling physical phenomena, (iii) big data, (iv) nontraditional heterogeneous data sources, (v) DL architectures and learning algorithms for spectral, spatial, and temporal data, (vi) transfer learning, (vii) an improved theoretical understanding of DL systems, (viii) high barriers to entry, and (ix) training and optimizing the DL.

Inquiry-Based Learning for a Virtual Learning Community to Enhance Problem-Solving Ability of Applied Thai Traditional Medicine Students

Science.gov (United States)

Chanprasitchai, Ong-art; Khlaisang, Jintavee

2016-01-01

The recent growth in collaborative and interactive virtual learning communities integrating innovative digital technologies and contemporary learning frameworks is contributing enormously to the use of e-learning in higher education in the twenty-first century. The purpose of this study was to describe the development of a virtual learning…

Constructing Leadership Identities through Participation in a Leadership Living-Learning Community

Science.gov (United States)

Priest, Kerry Louise

2012-01-01

This case study conceptually illustrated how a leadership living-learning community provided an educational context well suited to enhance development of leaders within changing leadership and educational paradigms. Specifically, it highlighted how both leadership and learning have come to be viewed as sociocultural processes, and presented…

Socio-semantic Networks of Research Publications in the Learning Analytics Community

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Fazeli, Soude; Drachsler, Hendrik; Sloep, Peter

2013-01-01

Fazeli, S., Drachsler, H., & Sloep, P. B. (2013). Socio-semantic Networks of Research Publications in the Learning Analytics Community. In M. d'Aquin, S. Dietze, H. Drachsler, E. Herder, & D. Taibi (Eds.), Linked data challenge, Learning Analytic and Knowledge (LAK13) (pp. 6-10). Vol. 974, Leuven,

Communities of Practice and Social Learning Systems: the Career of a Concept

Science.gov (United States)

Wenger, Etienne

The concept of community of practice was not born in the systems theory tradition. It has its roots in attempts to develop accounts of the social nature of human learning inspired by anthropology and social theory (Lave, 1988; Bourdieu, 1977; Giddens, 1984; Foucault, 1980; Vygotsky, 1978). But the concept of community of practice is well aligned with the perspective of systems traditions. A community of practice itself can be viewed as a simple social system. And a complex social system can be viewed as constituted by interrelated communities of practice. In this essay I first explore the systemic nature of the concept at these two levels. Then I use this foundation to look at the applications of the concept, some of its main critiques, and its potential for developing a social discipline of learning.

Community Colleges and Underappreciated Assets: Using Institutional Data to Promote Success in Online Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Hachey, Alyse; Conway, Katherine; Wladis, Claire

2013-01-01

Adapting to the 21st century, community colleges are not adding brick and mortar to meet enrollment demands. Instead, they are expanding services through online learning, with at least 61% of all community college students taking online courses today (Pearson, 2011). As online learning is affording alternate pathways to education for students, it…

Human-Guided Learning for Probabilistic Logic Models

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Phillip Odom

2018-06-01

Full Text Available Advice-giving has been long explored in the artificial intelligence community to build robust learning algorithms when the data is noisy, incorrect or even insufficient. While logic based systems were effectively used in building expert systems, the role of the human has been restricted to being a “mere labeler” in recent times. We hypothesize and demonstrate that probabilistic logic can provide an effective and natural way for the expert to specify domain advice. Specifically, we consider different types of advice-giving in relational domains where noise could arise due to systematic errors or class-imbalance inherent in the domains. The advice is provided as logical statements or privileged features that are thenexplicitly considered by an iterative learning algorithm at every update. Our empirical evidence shows that human advice can effectively accelerate learning in noisy, structured domains where so far humans have been merely used as labelers or as designers of the (initial or final structure of the model.

Nursing Living-Learning Communities and Student Retention: A Qualitative Study.

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Bauer, Renee N; Kiger, Susan

Living-learning communities have been known to promote student performance and a sense of collegiality. Most studies on this topic have utilized quantitative methods. This qualitative comparison case study examined personal experiences associated with residing in a living-learning community. The study was conducted to explore findings associated with promoting student retention. A secondary goal was to explore student experiences with mentoring. Data were collected using taped recordings of live interviews at two universities that have nursing-themed housing. The targeted sample size was 14. Themes that emerged from the data were mutual support, importance of the resident assistant, and self-determination. Nursing students enjoy themed housing and especially desire the resident assistant to be a nursing student.

Student experiences of the adolescent diversion project: a community-based exemplar in the pedagogy of service-learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Davidson, William S; Jimenez, Tiffeny R; Onifade, Eyitayo; Hankins, Sean S

2010-12-01

Service-learning partnerships between universities and surrounding communities striving to create systems-level change must consider an emphasis in critical community service; a community centered paradigm where students are taught to work with communities to better understand contexts surrounding a social problem, as opposed to merely volunteering to provide a service to a community. The Adolescent Diversion Project (ADP), which has been operating for over 30 years, demonstrates critical community service through the type of relationship built between students and the local community. This article describes: a qualitative study with ADP students, the historical context of ADP, what and how students learned through their involvement in ADP, and reframes the work of this project as a form of service-learning pedagogy. Inductive content analysis was employed to identify underlying themes across participants related to their personal experiences of ADP and its impact in their lives. Findings were compared with service-learning outcomes and other quantitative studies conducted with past ADP cohorts from the literature. Consistent with past studies, ADP students become more negative toward social systems involved with their youth. This finding may explain an increase in feelings of political commitment following involvement in ADP. Consistent with service-learning outcomes, results demonstrate that ADP should be further documented as not only an effective community-based program but also as an exemplar in the pedagogy of service-learning. This study highlights why service-learning opportunities for students are not just one way to teach students, they are opportunities to bridge relationships within communities, bring life to theoretical concepts, and build the foundations necessary for educated citizens that will one day take lead roles in our society.

Listening and Learning: Community Indicator Profiles of Knight Foundation Communities and the Nation.

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John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Miami, FL.

This volume presents information from a social indicators project designed to shed light on factors affecting civic health in twenty-six communities where John S. and James L. Knight published newspapers and provided grants to improve quality of life. Seven chapters discuss research results: (1) "Listening and Learning" (e.g., growth of…

Leading for Change: Creating a Professional Learning Community for Collaborative Relationships and Shared Leadership

Science.gov (United States)

Martin, Linda

2013-01-01

This action research study examines school reform through the development of a professional learning community for teacher-leaders. Through action research, this study organized a select group of teacher-leaders into a professional learning community to engage in a series of readings through a book club. The purpose of the book club was to develop…

Enhancing Self-Efficacy in Elementary Science Teaching with Professional Learning Communities

Science.gov (United States)

Mintzes, Joel J.; Marcum, Bev; Messerschmidt-Yates, Christl; Mark, Andrew

2013-01-01

Emerging from Bandura's Social Learning Theory, this study of in-service elementary school teachers examined the effects of sustained Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) on self-efficacy in science teaching. Based on mixed research methods, and a non-equivalent control group experimental design, the investigation explored changes in…

Using a multi-state Learning Community as an implementation strategy for immediate postpartum long-acting reversible contraception.

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DeSisto, Carla L; Estrich, Cameron; Kroelinger, Charlan D; Goodman, David A; Pliska, Ellen; Mackie, Christine N; Waddell, Lisa F; Rankin, Kristin M

2017-11-21

Implementation strategies are imperative for the successful adoption and sustainability of complex evidence-based public health practices. Creating a learning collaborative is one strategy that was part of a recently published compilation of implementation strategy terms and definitions. In partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other partner agencies, the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials recently convened a multi-state Learning Community to support cross-state collaboration and provide technical assistance for improving state capacity to increase access to long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) in the immediate postpartum period, an evidence-based practice with the potential for reducing unintended pregnancy and improving maternal and child health outcomes. During 2015-2016, the Learning Community included multi-disciplinary, multi-agency teams of state health officials, payers, clinicians, and health department staff from 13 states. This qualitative study was conducted to better understand the successes, challenges, and strategies that the 13 US states in the Learning Community used for increasing access to immediate postpartum LARC. We conducted telephone interviews with each team in the Learning Community. Interviews were semi-structured and organized by the eight domains of the Learning Community. We coded transcribed interviews for facilitators, barriers, and implementation strategies, using a recent compilation of expert-defined implementation strategies as a foundation for coding the latter. Data analysis showed three ways that the activities of the Learning Community helped in policy implementation work: structure and accountability, validity, and preparing for potential challenges and opportunities. Further, the qualitative data demonstrated that the Learning Community integrated six other implementation strategies from the literature: organize clinician implementation team meetings, conduct

Designing and Implementing Service Learning Projects in an Introductory Oceanography Course Using the ``8-Block Model''

Science.gov (United States)

Laine, E. P.; Field, C.

2010-12-01

The Campus Compact for New Hampshire (Gordon, 2003) introduced a practical model for designing service-learning exercises or components for new or existing courses. They divided the design and implementation process into eight concrete areas, the “8-Block Model”. Their goal was to demystify the design process of service learning courses by breaking it down into interconnected components. These components include: project design, community partner relations, the problem statement, building community in the classroom, building student capacity, project management, assessment of learning, and reflection and connections. The project design component of the “8-Block Model” asks that the service performed be consistent with the learning goals of the course. For science courses students carry out their work as a way of learning science and the process of science, not solely for the sake of service. Their work supports the goals of a community partner and the community partner poses research problems for the class in a letter on their letterhead. Linking student work to important problems in the community effectively engages students and encourages them to work at more sophisticated levels than usually seen in introductory science classes. Using team-building techniques, the classroom becomes a safe, secure learning environment that encourages sharing and experimentation. Targeted lectures, labs, and demonstrations build the capacity of students to do their research. Behind the scenes project management ensures student success. Learning is assessed using a variety of tools, including graded classroom presentations, poster sessions, and presentations and reports to community partners. Finally, students reflect upon their work and make connections between their research and its importance to the well being of the community. Over the past 10 years, we have used this approach to design and continually modify an introductory oceanography course for majors and non

Engaging Karen Refugee Students in Science Learning through a Cross-Cultural Learning Community

Science.gov (United States)

Harper, Susan G.

2017-01-01

This research explored how Karen (first-generation refugees from Burma) elementary students engaged with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) practice of constructing scientific explanations based on evidence within the context of a cross-cultural learning community. In this action research, the researcher and a Karen parent served as…

Food security: what the community wants. Learning through focus groups.

Science.gov (United States)

Hargrove, D; Dewolfe, J A; Thompson, L

1994-01-01

We used focus groups to learn the range of issues threatening food security of low income residents in our community. Five major themes emerged from the discussions: literacy, money, time, mental health and self-esteem, suggesting several approaches that could help ensure food security: 1) education, 2) sharing of resources, 3) coalition building, and 4) advocacy. Education programs have to be practical, allowing for demonstrations and hands-on learning while emphasizing skill building and problem solving. Incorporating a social aspect into learning may compensate for the social isolation and would capitalize on the impressive mutual support we witnessed. Strategies based on self-help and peer assistance may counteract low self-esteem and overcome suspicion of health professionals. A community-wide effort is needed to address the factors contributing to food insecurity. We envision the formation of a coalition of professionals, agencies, and low income people to develop a comprehensive strategy for achieving food security.

Exploring home visits in a faith community as a service-learning opportunity.

Science.gov (United States)

du Plessis, Emmerentia; Koen, Magdalene P; Bester, Petra

2013-08-01

Within South Africa the Psychiatric Nursing Science curriculum in undergraduate Baccalaureate nursing education utilizes home visits as a service-learning opportunity. In this context faith communities are currently unexplored with regards to service-learning opportunities. With limited literature available on this topic, the question was raised as to what are these students' and family members' experience of home visits within a faith community. To explore and describe nursing students' and family members' experiences of home visits within a faith community. A qualitative approach was used that was phenomenological, explorative and descriptive and contextual in nature. The research was conducted within a faith community as service learning opportunity for Baccalaureate degree nursing students. This community was situated in a semi-urban area in the North-West Province, South Africa. Eighteen (n=18) final year nursing students from different cultural representations, grouped into seven groups conducted home visits at seven (n=7) families. Comprehensive reflective reporting after the visits, namely that the students participated in a World Café data collection technique and interviews were conducted with family members. Three main themes emerged: students' initial experiences of feeling overwhelmed but later felt more competent; students' awareness of religious and cultural factors; and students' perception of their role. Two main themes from the family members emerged: experiencing caring and growth. There is mutual benefit for nursing students and family members. Students' experiences progress during home visits from feeling overwhelmed and incompetent towards a trusting relationship. Home visits in a faith community seems to be a valuable service learning opportunity, and the emotional competence, as well as spiritual and cultural awareness of nursing students should be facilitated in preparation for such home visits. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights

Automated Library Networking in American Public Community College Learning Resources Centers.

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Miah, Adbul J.

1994-01-01

Discusses the need for community colleges to assess their participation in automated library networking systems (ALNs). Presents results of questionnaires sent to 253 community college learning resource center directors to determine their use of ALNs. Reviews benefits of automation and ALN activities, planning and communications, institution size,…

Effect of Internet-Based Cognitive Apprenticeship Model (i-CAM) on Statistics Learning among Postgraduate Students.

Science.gov (United States)

Saadati, Farzaneh; Ahmad Tarmizi, Rohani; Mohd Ayub, Ahmad Fauzi; Abu Bakar, Kamariah

2015-01-01

Because students' ability to use statistics, which is mathematical in nature, is one of the concerns of educators, embedding within an e-learning system the pedagogical characteristics of learning is 'value added' because it facilitates the conventional method of learning mathematics. Many researchers emphasize the effectiveness of cognitive apprenticeship in learning and problem solving in the workplace. In a cognitive apprenticeship learning model, skills are learned within a community of practitioners through observation of modelling and then practice plus coaching. This study utilized an internet-based Cognitive Apprenticeship Model (i-CAM) in three phases and evaluated its effectiveness for improving statistics problem-solving performance among postgraduate students. The results showed that, when compared to the conventional mathematics learning model, the i-CAM could significantly promote students' problem-solving performance at the end of each phase. In addition, the combination of the differences in students' test scores were considered to be statistically significant after controlling for the pre-test scores. The findings conveyed in this paper confirmed the considerable value of i-CAM in the improvement of statistics learning for non-specialized postgraduate students.

Infrastructure requirement of knowledge management system model of statistical learning tool (SLT) for education community

Science.gov (United States)

Abdullah, Rusli; Samah, Bahaman Abu; Bolong, Jusang; D'Silva, Jeffrey Lawrence; Shaffril, Hayrol Azril Mohamed

2014-09-01

Today, teaching and learning (T&L) using technology as tool is becoming more important especially in the field of statistics as a part of the subject matter in higher education system environment. Eventhough, there are many types of technology of statistical learnig tool (SLT) which can be used to support and enhance T&L environment, however, there is lack of a common standard knowledge management as a knowledge portal for guidance especially in relation to infrastructure requirement of SLT in servicing the community of user (CoU) such as educators, students and other parties who are interested in performing this technology as a tool for their T&L. Therefore, there is a need of a common standard infrastructure requirement of knowledge portal in helping CoU for managing of statistical knowledge in acquiring, storing, desseminating and applying of the statistical knowedge for their specific purposes. Futhermore, by having this infrastructure requirement of knowledge portal model of SLT as a guidance in promoting knowledge of best practise among the CoU, it can also enhance the quality and productivity of their work towards excellence of statistical knowledge application in education system environment.

A cooperative inquiry into action learning and praxis development in a community nursing module.

Science.gov (United States)

Jenkins, Emrys R; Mabbett, Gaynor M; Surridge, Andrea G; Warring, Joanna; Gwynn, Elizabeth D

2009-09-01

As nurse lecturers we investigated practice development and action learning approaches aimed at enabling postregistration bachelor's- and master's-level nursing students (Community Health Studies, Nursing in the Home) to advance practice in the context of policy and professional developments. A patchwork text was used to assess summatively what students achieved (practice change/development) and how this was informed critically, via an extended epistemology. First-person inquiry supplemented by cooperative inquiry postcourse completion (including reflective discussions with 16 students and 16 practice mentors) were used to assist coresearcher constructions of meaning. A relational, tripartite approach to learning and assessment (students', teachers', and practice mentors' collective contributions) depends on continuing reflective attention. Action learning enhances interrelation of experience with dialectic thinking. The patchwork text functions to promote creative writing, evaluative thinking, and praxis development. Role modeling by all, being genuine and not just "talking" genuine, is challenging yet crucial if people are to function as mutual resources for learning.

Effects of Community Service-Learning on Heritage Language Learners' Attitudes toward Their Language and Culture

Science.gov (United States)

Pascual y Cabo, Diego; Prada, Josh; Lowther Pereira, Kelly

2017-01-01

This study examined the effects of participation in a community service-learning experience on Spanish heritage language learners' attitudes toward their heritage language and culture. Quantitative and qualitative data from heritage language learners demonstrated that engagement in community service-learning activities as part of the Spanish…

Acttention – Influencing Communities of Practice with Persuasive Learning Designs

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Sandra Burri Gram; Ryberg, Thomas

2015-01-01

design within this more established field of research and development. Rather than focus on improving learning technologies or motivating the interest in a subject, persuasive designs may be more efficient when used to influence the communities of practice in educational institutions.......Based on the preliminary results of implementing and testing a persuasive learning initiative in the Danish Military, this paper discusses and develops the notion of persuasive learning designs. It is suggested that the acquirement of new knowledge is fundamental to persuasion, and that persuasive...... learning designs distinguish themselves by leading to sustainable change to the learner’s attitude and/or behaviour. A practical example of persuasive learning designs is provided in terms of the interactive location-based learning game Acttention, which has been developed and tested on behalf...

Community Learning Campus: The Hard Work Begins after the Ribbon-Cutting

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Education Canada, 2012

2012-01-01

Dorothy Negropontes was a key player in the creation of the Community Learning Campus (CLC), an innovative collaboration of education and community leaders in Olds, Alberta. A former Assistant Superintendent with Chinook's Edge School District, she co-chaired the steering committee that developed the project, served as its executive director…

Mapping a sustainable future: Community learning in dialogue at the science-society interface

Science.gov (United States)

Barth, Matthias; Lang, Daniel J.; Luthardt, Philip; Vilsmaier, Ulli

2017-12-01

In 2015, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) announced that the Science Year 2015 would focus on the "City of the Future". It called for innovative projects from cities and communities in Germany dedicated to exploring future options and scenarios for sustainable development. Among the successful respondents was the city of Lüneburg, located in the north of Germany, which was awarded funding to establish a community learning project to envision a sustainable future ("City of the Future Lüneburg 2030+"). What made Lüneburg's approach unique was that the city itself initiated the project and invited a broad range of stakeholders to participate in a community learning process for sustainable development. The authors of this article use the project as a blueprint for sustainable city development. Presenting a reflexive case study, they report on the process and outcomes of the project and investigate community learning processes amongst different stakeholders as an opportunity for transformative social learning. They discuss outputs and outcomes (intended as well as unintended) in relation to the specific starting points of the project to provide a context-sensitive yet rich narrative of the case and to overcome typical criticisms of case studies in the field.

Analysing a Web-Based E-Commerce Learning Community: A Case Study in Brazil.

Science.gov (United States)

Joia, Luiz Antonio

2002-01-01

Demonstrates the use of a Web-based participative virtual learning environment for graduate students in Brazil enrolled in an electronic commerce course in a Masters in Business Administration program. Discusses learning communities; computer-supported collaborative work and collaborative learning; influences on student participation; the role of…

Implementation Study of Smaller Learning Communities. Final Report

Science.gov (United States)

Bernstein, Lawrence; Millsap, Mary Ann; Schimmenti, Jennifer; Page, Lindsay

2008-01-01

The Smaller Learning Communities (SLC) program was established in response to growing national concerns about students too often lost and alienated in large, impersonal high schools, as well as concerns about school safety and low levels of achievement and graduation for many students. Authorized under the "Elementary and Secondary Education Act,"…

Learning with hierarchical-deep models.

Science.gov (United States)

Salakhutdinov, Ruslan; Tenenbaum, Joshua B; Torralba, Antonio

2013-08-01

We introduce HD (or “Hierarchical-Deep”) models, a new compositional learning architecture that integrates deep learning models with structured hierarchical Bayesian (HB) models. Specifically, we show how we can learn a hierarchical Dirichlet process (HDP) prior over the activities of the top-level features in a deep Boltzmann machine (DBM). This compound HDP-DBM model learns to learn novel concepts from very few training example by learning low-level generic features, high-level features that capture correlations among low-level features, and a category hierarchy for sharing priors over the high-level features that are typical of different kinds of concepts. We present efficient learning and inference algorithms for the HDP-DBM model and show that it is able to learn new concepts from very few examples on CIFAR-100 object recognition, handwritten character recognition, and human motion capture datasets.

Model-based machine learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Bishop, Christopher M

2013-02-13

Several decades of research in the field of machine learning have resulted in a multitude of different algorithms for solving a broad range of problems. To tackle a new application, a researcher typically tries to map their problem onto one of these existing methods, often influenced by their familiarity with specific algorithms and by the availability of corresponding software implementations. In this study, we describe an alternative methodology for applying machine learning, in which a bespoke solution is formulated for each new application. The solution is expressed through a compact modelling language, and the corresponding custom machine learning code is then generated automatically. This model-based approach offers several major advantages, including the opportunity to create highly tailored models for specific scenarios, as well as rapid prototyping and comparison of a range of alternative models. Furthermore, newcomers to the field of machine learning do not have to learn about the huge range of traditional methods, but instead can focus their attention on understanding a single modelling environment. In this study, we show how probabilistic graphical models, coupled with efficient inference algorithms, provide a very flexible foundation for model-based machine learning, and we outline a large-scale commercial application of this framework involving tens of millions of users. We also describe the concept of probabilistic programming as a powerful software environment for model-based machine learning, and we discuss a specific probabilistic programming language called Infer.NET, which has been widely used in practical applications.

Using Evidence Based Practice in LIS Education: Results of a Test of a Communities of Practice Model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joyce Yukawa

2010-03-01

Full Text Available Objective ‐ This study investigated the use of a communities of practice (CoP model for blended learning in library and information science (LIS graduate courses. The purposes were to: (1 test the model’s efficacy in supporting student growth related to core LIS concepts, practices, professional identity, and leadership skills, and (2 develop methods for formative and summative assessment using the model.Methods ‐ Using design‐based research principles to guide the formative and summative assessments, pre‐, mid‐, and post‐course questionnaires were constructed to test the model and administered to students in three LIS courses taught by the author. Participation was voluntary and anonymous. A total of 34 students completed the three courses; response rate for the questionnaires ranged from 47% to 95%. The pre‐course questionnaire addressed attitudes toward technology and the use of technology for learning. The mid‐course questionnaire addressed strengths and weaknesses of the course and suggestions for improvement. The post‐course questionnaire addressed what students valued about their learning and any changes in attitude toward technology for learning. Data were analyzed on three levels. Micro‐level analysis addressed technological factors related to usability and participant skills and attitudes. Meso‐level analysis addressed social and pedagogical factors influencing community learning. Macro‐level analysis addressed CoP learning outcomes, namely, knowledge of core concepts and practices, and the development of professional identity and leadership skills.Results ‐ The students can be characterized as adult learners who were neither early nor late adopters of technology. At the micro‐level, responses indicate that the online tools met high standards of usability and effectively supported online communication and learning. Moreover, the increase in positive attitudes toward the use of technology for learning at

Creating a Learning Community for Solutions to Climate Change

Science.gov (United States)

Bloom, A. J.; Benedict, B. A.; Blockstein, D. E.; Hassenzahl, D. M.; Hunter, A.; Jorgensen, A. D.; Pfirman, S. L.

2011-12-01

The rapidly evolving and interdisciplinary nature of climate change presents a challenge to colleges and universities as they seek to educate undergraduate students. To address this challenge, the National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE) with NSF funding is creating a nationwide cyber-enabled learning community called CAMEL (Climate, Adaptation, and Mitigation e-Learning). CAMEL engages experts in science, policy and decision-making, education, and assessment in the production of a virtual toolbox of curricular resources designed for teaching climate change causes, consequences, and solutions. CAMEL is: ? Developing cyberinfrastructure that supports and promotes the creation of materials and community; ? Generating materials for the Encyclopedia of Earth, a site averaging 50,000 views per day; ? Ensuring that materials developed and shared are founded on the best available scientific information and follow the most appropriate educational practices; ? Assisting faculty at institutions of higher education across the United States as they create, improve, test, and share resources for teaching students not only how to diagnose climate change problems, but also to identify and effect solutions; ? Evaluating the determinants of successful community building using cybermedia. The community and resultant content range from general education to upper division courses for students in a variety of majors. At the center of the community are the 160 colleges and universities represented in NCSE's Council of Environmental Deans and Directors. Members of this group represent recognized expertise in virtually all areas of this project. A team with substantial experience with evaluating innovative initiatives in STEM education is administering the evaluation component.

An Exploration of Community Learning Disability Nurses' Therapeutic Role

Science.gov (United States)

Marsham, Marian

2012-01-01

This literature review and primary qualitative research explores therapeutic role from the perspective of Community Learning Disability Nurses. Semi-structured interviews, based on Critical Incident Technique ("Psychol Bull", 51, 1954, 327), and descriptive phenomenological methodology were adopted to elicit data amenable to systematic…

Professional Learning Communities' Impact on Science Teacher Classroom Practice in a Midwestern Urban School District

Science.gov (United States)

Carpenter, Dan

2012-01-01

The purpose of this reputation-based, multiple-site case study was to explore professional learning communities' impact on teacher classroom practice. The goal of this research was to describe the administrator and teachers' perceptions with respect to professional learning communities as it related to teacher practice in their school. Educators…

Nurturing social responsibility through community service-learning: Lessons learned from a pilot project.

Science.gov (United States)

Dharamsi, Shafik; Espinoza, Nancy; Cramer, Carl; Amin, Maryam; Bainbridge, Lesley; Poole, Gary

2010-01-01

Community service-learning (CSL) has been proposed as one way to enrich medical and dental students' sense of social responsibility toward people who are marginalized in society. We developed and implemented a new CSL option in the integrated medical/dental curriculum and assessed its educational impact. Focus groups, individual open-ended interviews, and a survey were used to assess dental students', faculty tutors' and community partners' experiences with CSL. CSL enabled a deeper appreciation for the vulnerabilities that people who are marginalized experience; students gained a greater insight into the social determinants of health and the related importance of community engagement; and they developed useful skills in health promotion project planning, implementation and evaluation. Community partners and faculty tutors indicated that equal partnership, greater collaboration, and a participatory approach to course development are essential to sustainability in CSL. CSL can play an important role in nurturing a purposeful sense of social responsibility among future practitioners. Our study enabled the implementation of an innovative longitudinal course (professionalism and community service) in all 4 years of the dental curriculum.

A Working Model for Intercultural Learning and Engagement in Collaborative Online Language Learning Environments

Science.gov (United States)

Lawrence, Geoff

2013-01-01

Given the emerging focus on the intercultural dimension in language teaching and learning, language educators have been exploring the use of information and communications technology ICT-mediated language learning environments to link learners in intercultural language learning communities around the globe. Despite the potential promise of…

Creating International Community Service Learning Experiences in a Capstone Marketing-Projects Course

Science.gov (United States)

Metcalf, Lynn E.

2010-01-01

This article outlines the development of a project-based capstone marketing course, specifically designed to provide marketing students with an international community service learning experience. It differs significantly from previous studies, which focus on integrating service learning into existing marketing courses and on helping local…

Broadening the Learning Community Experience: An Outdoor Orientation Program's Impact on Engagement, Persistence, and Retention

Science.gov (United States)

Nolan, Christy David

2013-01-01

The Keystone Learning Community was implemented by the Department of Campus Recreation to address retention at the institution. This learning community for incoming freshmen consists of two phases. Phase I is as an outdoor orientation program that includes a three day, two night canoeing and camping experience lead by upperclassmen leaders.…

Lessons learnt from comprehensive evaluation of community-based education in Uganda: a proposal for an ideal model community-based education for health professional training institutions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Atuyambe Lynn

2011-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Community-based education (CBE can provide contextual learning that addresses manpower scarcity by enabling trainees acquire requisite experiences, competence, confidence and values. In Uganda, many health professional training institutions conduct some form of community-based education (CBE. However, there is scanty information on the nature of the training: whether a curriculum exists (objectives, intended outcomes, content, implementation strategy, administration and constraints faced. The objective was to make a comprehensive assessment of CBE as implemented by Ugandan health professional training institutions to document the nature of CBE conducted and propose an ideal model with minimum requirements for health professional training institutions in Uganda. Methods We employed several methods: documentary review of curricula of 22 institutions, so as to assess the nature, purpose, outcomes, and methods of instruction and assessment; site visits to these institutions and their CBE sites, to assess the learning environment (infrastructure and resources; in-depth interviews with key people involved in running CBE at the institutions and community, to evaluate CBE implementation, challenges experienced and perceived solutions. Results CBE was perceived differently ranging from a subject, a course, a program or a project. Despite having similar curricula, institutions differ in the administration, implementation and assessment of CBE. Objectives of CBE, the curricula content and implementation strategies differ in similar institutions. On collaborative and social learning, most trainees do not reside in the community, though they work on group projects and write group reports. Lectures and skills demonstrations were the main instruction methods. Assessment involved mainly continuous assessment, oral or written reports and summative examination. Conclusion This assessment identified deficiencies in the design and implementation

Contextualizing learning to improve care using collaborative communities of practices.

Science.gov (United States)

Jeffs, Lianne; McShane, Julie; Flintoft, Virginia; White, Peggy; Indar, Alyssa; Maione, Maria; Lopez, A J; Bookey-Bassett, Sue; Scavuzzo, Lauren

2016-09-02

The use of interorganizational, collaborative approaches to build capacity in quality improvement (QI) in health care is showing promise as a useful model for scaling up and accelerating the implementation of interventions that bridge the "know-do" gap to improve clinical care and provider outcomes. Fundamental to a collaborative approach is interorganizational learning whereby organizations acquire, share, and combine knowledge with other organizations and have the opportunity to learn from their respective successes and challenges in improvement areas. This learning approach aims to create the conditions for collaborative, reflective, and innovative experiential systems that enable collective discussions regarding daily practice issues and finding solutions for improvement. The concepts associated with interorganizational learning and deliberate learning activities within a collaborative 'Communities-of-practice'(CoP) approach formed the foundation of the of an interactive QI knowledge translation initiative entitled PERFORM KT. Nine teams participated including seven teams from two acute care hospitals, one from a long term care center, and one from a mental health sciences center. Six monthly CoP learning sessions were held and teams, with the support of an assigned mentor, implemented a QI project and monitored their results which were presented at an end of project symposium. 47 individuals participated in either a focus group or a personal interview. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed using an iterative content analysis. Four key themes emerged from the narrative dataset around experiences and perceptions associated with the PERFORM KT initiative: 1) being successful and taking it to other levels by being systematic, structured, and mentored; 2) taking it outside the comfort zone by being exposed to new concepts and learning together; 3) hearing feedback, exchanging stories, and getting new ideas; and 4) having a pragmatic and accommodating approach to

Negotiating Service Learning through Community Engagement: Adaptive Leadership, Knowledge, Dialogue and Power

Science.gov (United States)

Preece, Julia

2016-01-01

This article builds on two recent publications (Preece 2013; 2013a) concerning the application of asset-based community development and adaptive leadership theories when negotiating university service learning placements with community organisations in one South African province. The first publication introduced the concept of 'adaptive…

Conceptual Model of Successful Educational online Community of Practice for Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fatimah Al-Shahrani

2014-10-01

Full Text Available The community of practice is an internet application that nourishes knowledge management and innovation. Implementing the community of practice in education can enhance the learning process and make it an enjoyable, exiting and lifelong experience. In this paper, the researchers intend to create a conceptual model for the successful implementation of community of practice in Education in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia through evaluate the literature review about the educational community of practice. Then, a prototype is developed followed by a survey to collect feed-backs about the experiment. Using the Chi-Square statistical method of qualitative analysis associated with the Design Science Methodology of research, the research is fulfilled. The results illustrated the conceptual model of the effective implementation of the community of practice in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, that define the seven factors to be considered which are network density, culture perceptions, distributed production, knowledge complexity and richness, government enforcement, IT specialist role, and senior members role.

Recruitment and Lessons Learned from a Community-Based Intervention Program: The Learning Families Project in Hong Kong

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joanna T. W. Chu

2018-02-01

Full Text Available BackgroundRecruitment is central to any research project, and recruitment itself should be well documented and researched. We describe our recruitment efforts for a community-based research project—entitled the Learning Families Project—conducted in Hong Kong.MethodsIn collaboration with community stakeholders, residents from a public housing estate were recruited to participate in family programs aimed at enhancing family well-being. Various recruitment strategies were employed including the distribution of 19,200 leaflets, 688 posters, a banner, a kick-off ceremony, 10 promotion activities, 1,000 direct calls, word of mouth, 51 mobile counters, and 10 door-to-door visits. Drawing on field notes, research logs, short questionnaires, and focus group conducted with our community partners and residents, we describe and discuss our recruitment strategies, challenges, and lessons learned.ResultsOver a 9-month period, 980 participants were recruited and participated in our study, exceeding our recruitment goal (860 participants. Several observations were made including active recruitment strategies (i.e., door-to-door and mobile counter being more effective than passive strategies (i.e., posters and leaflets; the importance of raising project awareness to facilitate recruitment; and the challenges encountered (i.e., burn-out and loss of motivation of staff, decreased community capacity in collaborating in research projects.ConclusionThe lessons learned include the importance of engaging Chinese communities, utilizing a positive outreach approach, and setting realistic expectations. Although similar recruitment strategies have been reported the West, a number of cultural differences should be taken into account when working with Chinese population. Further research is needed to examine the effectiveness of tailoring recruitment strategies to various populations.

Recruitment and Lessons Learned from a Community-Based Intervention Program: The Learning Families Project in Hong Kong.

Science.gov (United States)

Chu, Joanna T W; Wan, Alice; Stewart, Sunita M; Ng, Kwok Tung; Lam, Tai Hing; Chan, Sophia S

2018-01-01

Recruitment is central to any research project, and recruitment itself should be well documented and researched. We describe our recruitment efforts for a community-based research project-entitled the Learning Families Project-conducted in Hong Kong. In collaboration with community stakeholders, residents from a public housing estate were recruited to participate in family programs aimed at enhancing family well-being. Various recruitment strategies were employed including the distribution of 19,200 leaflets, 688 posters, a banner, a kick-off ceremony, 10 promotion activities, 1,000 direct calls, word of mouth, 51 mobile counters, and 10 door-to-door visits. Drawing on field notes, research logs, short questionnaires, and focus group conducted with our community partners and residents, we describe and discuss our recruitment strategies, challenges, and lessons learned. Over a 9-month period, 980 participants were recruited and participated in our study, exceeding our recruitment goal (860 participants). Several observations were made including active recruitment strategies (i.e., door-to-door and mobile counter) being more effective than passive strategies (i.e., posters and leaflets); the importance of raising project awareness to facilitate recruitment; and the challenges encountered (i.e., burn-out and loss of motivation of staff, decreased community capacity in collaborating in research projects). The lessons learned include the importance of engaging Chinese communities, utilizing a positive outreach approach, and setting realistic expectations. Although similar recruitment strategies have been reported the West, a number of cultural differences should be taken into account when working with Chinese population. Further research is needed to examine the effectiveness of tailoring recruitment strategies to various populations.

Building a Learning Community: Telecommunications, Collaborations, and Sharing on Long Island.

Science.gov (United States)

Schneiderman, Bette E.; Carriero, Corinne

The Long Island Team is a collaborative system of K-12 students and teachers, university students and faculty, and community members who have been linked by telecommunications and in-person sessions. Since 1993 the group has culminated their work together at an annual sharing event. This paper provides the history of the learning community, a list…

Learning How to Teach Poverty: A Case for Community of Practice

Science.gov (United States)

Browne, Laurie P.; Roll, Susan J.

2015-01-01

Recreation students today need to be prepared to engage in the topic of poverty as a social justice issue affecting our communities, yet many instructors do not have the tools to effectively teach this complex topic. One way instructors might learn how to engage students with poverty is through an interdisciplinary community of practice (CoP).…

Professional Learning in Unlikely Spaces: Social Media and Virtual Communities as Professional Development

OpenAIRE

Kathleen P. King

2011-01-01

In this case study, results demonstrate that an individual’s use of social media as professional learning spans understanding, networking, professional identity development, and transformative learning. Specifically, virtual online communities facilitated through social media provide professional networks, social relationships and learning beyond the scope of the individual’s usual experience. Case study method reveals strategies, extent, and impact of learning providing insight into this phe...

Learning Communities for University Students At-Risk of School Failure: Can They Make a Difference?

Science.gov (United States)

Tharp, Terri J.

2009-01-01

This study investigated the impact of learning communities on the academic success of university students at-risk of academic failure. The effects of learning communities (LC) at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) on cumulative GPAs, retention rates, and earned cumulative hours of students with ACT sub-scores of 17 or 18 in math who were…

Effect of Internet-Based Cognitive Apprenticeship Model (i-CAM on Statistics Learning among Postgraduate Students.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Farzaneh Saadati

Full Text Available Because students' ability to use statistics, which is mathematical in nature, is one of the concerns of educators, embedding within an e-learning system the pedagogical characteristics of learning is 'value added' because it facilitates the conventional method of learning mathematics. Many researchers emphasize the effectiveness of cognitive apprenticeship in learning and problem solving in the workplace. In a cognitive apprenticeship learning model, skills are learned within a community of practitioners through observation of modelling and then practice plus coaching. This study utilized an internet-based Cognitive Apprenticeship Model (i-CAM in three phases and evaluated its effectiveness for improving statistics problem-solving performance among postgraduate students. The results showed that, when compared to the conventional mathematics learning model, the i-CAM could significantly promote students' problem-solving performance at the end of each phase. In addition, the combination of the differences in students' test scores were considered to be statistically significant after controlling for the pre-test scores. The findings conveyed in this paper confirmed the considerable value of i-CAM in the improvement of statistics learning for non-specialized postgraduate students.

Learning versus correct models: influence of model type on the learning of a free-weight squat lift.

Science.gov (United States)

McCullagh, P; Meyer, K N

1997-03-01

It has been assumed that demonstrating the correct movement is the best way to impart task-relevant information. However, empirical verification with simple laboratory skills has shown that using a learning model (showing an individual in the process of acquiring the skill to be learned) may accelerate skill acquisition and increase retention more than using a correct model. The purpose of the present study was to compare the effectiveness of viewing correct versus learning models on the acquisition of a sport skill (free-weight squat lift). Forty female participants were assigned to four learning conditions: physical practice receiving feedback, learning model with model feedback, correct model with model feedback, and learning model without model feedback. Results indicated that viewing either a correct or learning model was equally effective in learning correct form in the squat lift.

Lessons learned from the PMI case study: the community perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Hare, M L; Orians, C E; Kennedy, M G; Goodman, K J; Wijesinha, S; Seals, B F

2000-03-01

This summary report presents the lessons learned during the two-part qualitative case study on the efficacy of the Prevention Marketing Initiative (PMI) in its implementation of an HIV prevention program. About 179 community participants were included in the PMI program, which discussed topics ranging from organizing initial planning committees to financially sustaining federal demonstration programs. One of the successes observed was the development of rapport with schools and churches; however, during the course of its implementation, the program realized the necessity of 1) approaching the program as an ongoing process; 2) going beyond studying the target population through formative research; 3) changing the role of a community coalition as the project matures; 4) reexamining the composition of coalition in the light of the target audience; 5) advocating the project as a community resource that promotes collaboration; 6) attending the needs of coalition members; and 7) using the media in the campaign. Likewise, several lessons were also learned in the areas of youth involvement, intervention development, program implementation, and maintenance of PMI activities.

Some aspects of school seen as a Professional Learning Community

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bradea Adela

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Each school is part of the community and at the same time, a provider of education services. This makes school a Learning Community for both teachers and students. While in the case of students this is a mission accomplished, in that of teachers’ things seem to be a bit more difficult. The latter ones should see themselves as members of a Professional Learning Community (PLC, where each teacher should cooperate with the other to achieve common goals, engage in common research activities for the progress of their school, take part in evaluating school results and propose plans to improve them etc. This research aimed to identify teachers’ perception of the role of school as a Professional Learning Community, to identify how school boards support and encourage this idea through participative management and to identify lines of joint research in which teachers are involved. The instrument used was a questionnaire having 30 close-ended items, administered to pre-university teachers from Bihor county, Romania. The implementation period was January to June 2016. The results show that there is collaboration between the same subject area teachers, who form committees to discuss, analyse and propose solutions. The research has also showed that more effort is required to improve collaboration between more experienced teachers and those who are at the beginning of their career, to improve collaboration between different subject area teachers by getting them to engage in joint projects, but above all, there is a need for a greater involvement of teachers, of school boards in managing schools so that participative management is achieved.

Integrating Interview Methodology to Analyze Inter-Institutional Comparisons of Service-Learning within the Carnegie Community Engagement Classification Framework

Science.gov (United States)

Plante, Jarrad D.; Cox, Thomas D.

2016-01-01

Service-learning has a longstanding history in higher education in and includes three main tenets: academic learning, meaningful community service, and civic learning. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching created an elective classification system called the Carnegie Community Engagement Classification for higher education…

Enhancing project-oriented learning by joining communities of practice and opening spaces for relatedness

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Pascual, R.

2010-03-01

This article describes an extension to project-oriented learning to increase social construction of knowledge and learning. The focus is on: (a) maximising opportunities for students to share their knowledge with practitioners by joining communities of practice, and (b) increasing their intrinsic motivation by creating conditions for student's relatedness. The case study considers a last year capstone course in Mechanical Engineering. The work addresses innovative practices of active learning and beyond project-oriented learning through: (a) the development of a web-based decision support system, (b) meetings between the communities of students, maintenance engineers and academics, and (c) new off-campus group instances. The author hypothesises that this multi-modal approach increases deep learning and social impact of the educational process. Surveys to the actors support a successful achievement of the educational goals. The methodology can easily be extended to further improve the learning process.

Changing students' perceptions of the homeless: A community service learning experience.

Science.gov (United States)

Gardner, Janet; Emory, Jan

2018-03-01

The homeless are an underserved, local vulnerable population that can benefit from a service learning clinical practicum experience for baccalaureate prepared nursing students. Negative attitudes and disrespect among healthcare workers has been identified by the homeless as a barrier to healthcare. A service learning experience with a vulnerable population has been shown to change nursing students' attitudes and beliefs. A large university in a southern city partnered with a community based organization that provided services to the homeless to educate senior nursing students in a service learning experience. The goal of this project was to examine attitudes and perceptions of nursing students toward the homeless population before and after participation in a service learning clinical practicum experience. This case study utilized a pre and post experience questionnaire to collect qualitative data for the purposes of the project. The findings revealed students demonstrated a decrease in fear, an increase in empathy, and a deeper understanding of the advocacy role of nurses for people experiencing homelessness. Nurse educators are challenged to engage students with vulnerable populations to change the attitudes and perceptions for improvement in the overall health of communities served worldwide. Partnerships and service learning experiences can benefit all. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Community Learning Campus: It Takes a Simple Message to Build a Complex Project

Science.gov (United States)

Pearson, George

2012-01-01

Education Canada asked Tom Thompson, president of Olds College and a prime mover behind the Community Learning Campus (CLC): What were the lessons learned from this unusually ambitious education project? Thompson mentions six lessons he learned from this complex project which include: (1) Dream big, build small, act now; (2) Keep a low profile at…

Intersections of Critical Systems Thinking and Community Based Participatory Research: A Learning Organization Example with the Autistic Community.

Science.gov (United States)

Raymaker, Dora M

2016-10-01

Critical systems thinking (CST) and community based participatory research (CBPR) are distinct approaches to inquiry which share a primary commitment to holism and human emancipation, as well as common grounding in critical theory and emancipatory and pragmatic philosophy. This paper explores their intersections and complements on a historical, philosophical, and theoretical level, and then proposes a hybrid approach achieved by applying CBPR's principles and considerations for operationalizing emancipatory practice to traditional systems thinking frameworks and practices. This hybrid approach is illustrated in practice with examples drawn from of the implementation of the learning organization model in an action research setting with the Autistic community. Our experience of being able to actively attend to, and continuously equalize, power relations within an organizational framework that otherwise has great potential for reinforcing power inequity suggests CBPR's principles and considerations for operationalizing emancipatory practice could be useful in CST settings, and CST's vocabulary, methods, and clarity around systems thinking concepts could be valuable to CBPR practioners.

Factors That Develop Effective Professional Learning Communities in Taiwan

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Peiying; Lee, Che-Di; Lin, Hongda; Zhang, Chun-Xi

2016-01-01

This research aimed to investigate the key factors of developing effective professional learning communities (PLCs) within the Taiwanese context. Four constructs--supportive and shared leadership, shared visions, collegial trust, and shared practices--were adopted and developed into an instrument for measuring PLC function. A stratified random…

DEVELOPING PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS FOR LIFELONG LEARNING THROUGH WORK-BASED LEARNING AMONG COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS

OpenAIRE

Wan Azlinda Wan Mohamed; Badrul Omar; Mohd Faroul Rafiq Romli

2010-01-01

Many training providers are working to improve their curricula to meet the demand of today’s industries. The Malaysian College Communities, one of the major providers for lifelong learning program, had introduced the Work-Based Learning (WBL) concept since 2007 to ensure that their graduates met these demands. One of the key skills required by industry is problem solving skill. The ability to solve a complex or an ill-structured work problem in the workplace is the kind of skill demanded at a...

Learning to Act: Qualitative Learning of Deterministic Action Models

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bolander, Thomas; Gierasimczuk, Nina

2017-01-01

In this article we study learnability of fully observable, universally applicable action models of dynamic epistemic logic. We introduce a framework for actions seen as sets of transitions between propositional states and we relate them to their dynamic epistemic logic representations as action...... in the limit (inconclusive convergence to the right action model). We show that deterministic actions are finitely identifiable, while arbitrary (non-deterministic) actions require more learning power—they are identifiable in the limit. We then move on to a particular learning method, i.e. learning via update......, which proceeds via restriction of a space of events within a learning-specific action model. We show how this method can be adapted to learn conditional and unconditional deterministic action models. We propose update learning mechanisms for the afore mentioned classes of actions and analyse...

The contributions of community learning centres (CLCs) to personal and community development in Myanmar

Science.gov (United States)

Le, Ai Tam Pham

2018-05-01

Community learning centres (CLCs) have been widely established in the Asia-Pacific region as locally managed institutions that offer non-formal educational opportunities and community development activities. Myanmar officially has more than 3,000 centres, which is one of the highest numbers in the region. This article examines the operation of CLCs and their contributions to personal and community development in Padaung, Myanmar. The author's research is based on six weeks of fieldwork in Myanmar for data collection including semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions and informal conversations. Her findings suggest that CLCs can contribute to the improvement of both individuals' quality of life and communities' social capital, which facilitates mutually beneficial collective action. The findings also support the conclusion that CLCs can provide additional educational opportunities beyond the formal system, especially for adults and members of rural communities, e.g. farmers. However, due to constraints in terms of budget, implementing capacity and socio-economic factors, the outreach of CLC activities is still somewhat limited and has yet to reach its full potential.

Assessing the Change Process in Comprehensive High Schools Implementing Professional Learning Communities

Science.gov (United States)

Shaner, Robert G.

2009-01-01

Professional learning communities (PLC) have been identified as scaffolds that can facilitate, support, and sustain systemic change focused on improving student achievement. PLCs represent the application of the theoretical constructs of the learning organization within the framework of schools and school systems. Little is known about the change…

College Teaching and Community Outreaching: Service Learning in an Obesity Prevention Program

Science.gov (United States)

Himelein, Melissa; Passman, Liz; Phillips, Jessica M.

2010-01-01

Background: Service learning can enrich students' knowledge, skills and commitment to occupational goals while positively affecting communities. Undergraduate students in a course on obesity engaged in service learning by assisting with a family-based obesity prevention program, Getting Into Fitness Together (GIFT). Purpose: The impact of GIFT on…

The Impact of an Interdisciplinary Learning Community Course on Pseudoscientific Reasoning in First-Year Science Students

Science.gov (United States)

Franz, Timothy M.; Green, Kris H.

2013-01-01

This case study examined the development and evaluation of an interdisciplinary first-year learning community designed to stimulate scientific reasoning and critical thinking. Designed to serve the needs of scholarship students majoring in mathematics and natural sciences, the six-credit learning community course was writing-intensive and…

Transforming Teaching and Learning at University of Ghana through Community Service-Learning: Listening to the Voices of Students

Science.gov (United States)

Tagoe, Michael A.

2014-01-01

Universities all over the world are undergoing change to improve teaching, learning and service. These changes have been motivated by call for universities to connect more to communities to address their problems. One of the means of ensuring that universities and communities engage mutually in a partnership where students, faculty and community…

From Learning Object to Learning Cell: A Resource Organization Model for Ubiquitous Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Shengquan; Yang, Xianmin; Cheng, Gang; Wang, Minjuan

2015-01-01

This paper presents a new model for organizing learning resources: Learning Cell. This model is open, evolving, cohesive, social, and context-aware. By introducing a time dimension into the organization of learning resources, Learning Cell supports the dynamic evolution of learning resources while they are being used. In addition, by introducing a…

EFFECT OF INQUIRY LEARNING MODEL AND MOTIVATION ON PHYSICS OUTCOMES LEARNING STUDENTS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dahlia Megawati Pardede

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The purposes of the research are: (a to determine differences in learning outcomes of students with Inquiry Training models and conventional models, (b to determine differences in physics learning outcomes of students who have high motivation and low motivation, (c to determine the interaction between learning models with the level of motivation in improving student Physics learning outcomes. The results were found: (a there are differences in physical students learning outcomes are taught by Inquiry Training models and conventional models. (b learning outcomes of students who are taught by Inquiry Learning Model Training better than student learning outcomes are taught with conventional model. (c there is a difference in student's learning outcomes that have high motivation and low motivation. (d Student learning outcomes that have a high motivation better than student learning outcomes than have a low motivation. (e there is interaction between learning and motivation to student learning outcomes. Learning outcomes of students who are taught by the model is influenced also by the motivation, while learning outcomes of students who are taught with conventional models are not affected by motivation.

Self-regulated learning and science achievement in a community college

Science.gov (United States)

Maslin, (Louisa) Lin-Yi L.

Self-regulated learning involves students' use of strategies and skills to adapt and adjust towards achievement in school. This research investigates the extent to which self-regulated learning is employed by community college students, and also the correlates of self-regulated learning: Is it used more by students in advanced science classes or in some disciplines? Is there a difference in the use of it by students who complete a science course and those who do not? How does it relate to GPA and basic skills assessments and science achievement? Does it predict science achievement along with GPA and assessment scores? Community college students (N = 547) taking a science course responded to the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ). The scales measured three groups of variables: (1) cognitive strategies (rehearsal, elaboration, organization, and critical thinking); (2) metacognitive self-regulation strategies (planning, monitoring, and self-regulation); and (3) resource management strategies (time and study environment, effort regulation, peer learning, and help-seeking). Students' course scores, college GPA, and basic skills assessment scores were obtained from faculty and college records. Students who completed a science course were found to have higher measures on cumulative college GPAs and assessment scores, but not on self-regulated learning. Self-regulated learning was found not to be used differently between students in the advanced and beginning science groups, or between students in different disciplines. The exceptions were that the advanced group scored higher in critical thinking but lower in effort regulation than the beginning group. Course achievement was found to be mostly unrelated to self-regulated learning, except for several significant but very weak and negative relationships in elaboration, self-regulation, help-seeking, and effort regulation. Cumulative GPA emerged as the only significant predictor of science achievement

What impact does community service learning have on medical students' appreciation of population health?

Science.gov (United States)

Essa-Hadad, J; Murdoch-Eaton, D; Rudolf, M C J

2015-11-01

The Bar Ilan Faculty of Medicine places public health as a priority in its medical curriculum, emphasizing its importance by strategically placing the required course as first on entry into medical school. Students are introduced to the importance of population health and community engagement through participatory community learning experiences. This study aims to examine how participatory community teaching methods impact students' understanding and attitudes towards community health. Mixed quantitative and qualitative design. 75 first year students completed the required public health course utilizing participatory community methods, including community visits, Team Based Learning, an ethnic forum, and lifestyle medicine. Evaluation comprised skills assessment through project work, analysis of reflective notes and comparison of assessment scores with students in the previous year who experienced a formal lecture-only based curriculum. Students acquired public health skills, including conducting a needs assessment, searching for research evidence and designing an evaluation framework. Reflective notes revealed in-depth understanding not only of course aims, but an appreciation of the social determinants of health and the local community. Test marks indicated public health knowledge reached a comparable standard (83 ± 7.3) to the previous year (85 ± 9.3; P = 0.431). Participatory community learning equips students with public health skills, knowledge, and enhanced understanding of communities. It offers a way to effectively teach public health, while emphasizing the extended role and societal responsibilities of doctors. Copyright © 2015 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

VirRAD - The virtual radiopharmacy - a virtual learning community in radiopharmacy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mather, S.J.

2002-01-01

VirRAD is a new research project funded by the Information Society Technologies programme of the Fifth RTD Framework Programme of the European Union. The aim of VirRAD is to develop an Internet-based virtual learning environment for Radiopharmacy which will facilitate learning and understanding in the speciality at all levels both within and outside the radiopharmaceutical community. The final structure of VirRAD is yet to be decided and will be determined by the needs and desires of its ultimate participants, however it is expected to include multimedia teaching modules for distance learning applications, 3-D simulations of specialised equipment and complex techniques used in radiopharmaceutical preparation and research as well as improved systems of peer-to-peer and student-to-tutor communication and information retrieval. To be as useful and effective as possible VirRAD needs ideas and suggestions from the Nuclear Medicine community. A mechanism for obtaining such input and feedback will be an integral part of the development process

A Qualitative Analysis of Pesantren Educational Management: School Culture and Leadership of a Professional Learning Community

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nyimas Mu'azzomi

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to explore supportive and shared leadership structures at one Indonesian Islamic boarding school (Pesantren as a function of school culture policies and procedures in a professional learning community in the disctrict. A qualitative study was conducted at one Pesantren located in Jambi, an Indonesian province in west part of Sumatra island. We interviewed three administrators and five teachers to get in-depth information about the purpose of this paper. The interview transcriptions were translated, coded, divided into themes, and elaborated in the findings of the paper. The findings of study conclude that Pesantren leaders in the perspective of the participants must provide supportive and shared leadership structures for teachers in order to create positive cultures and effective a professional learning community for the development of the Pesantren. Leaders of the Pesantren must directly cooperate with teaching staff to provide policies and procedures for teachers in the leadership structure to directly impact school improvement through professional learning community collaborative attempts. This study was conducted based on the school culture and professional learning communities literature by exploring existent policies and practices in schools as unique cases. This study is significant to the community as specific cases informing educational leaders especially in Islamic education on mechanisms that may be leveraged to ensure successful implementation of policies and procedures on the leadership and school culture of a professional learning community literature.

A novel self-organizing E-Learner community model with award and exchange mechanisms.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Fan; Shen, Rui-min; Han, Peng

2004-11-01

How to share experience and resources among learners is becoming one of the hottest topics in the field of E-Learning collaborative techniques. An intuitive way to achieve this objective is to group learners which can help each other into the same community and help them learn collaboratively. In this paper, we proposed a novel community self-organization model based on multi-agent mechanism, which can automatically group learners with similar preferences and capabilities. In particular, we proposed award and exchange schemas with evaluation and preference track records to raise the performance of this algorithm. The description of learner capability, the matchmaking process, the definition of evaluation and preference track records, the rules of award and exchange schemas and the self-organization algorithm are all discussed in this paper. Meanwhile, a prototype has been built to verify the validity and efficiency of the algorithm. Experiments based on real learner data showed that this mechanism can organize learner communities properly and efficiently; and that it has sustainable improved efficiency and scalability.

Theorizing Collaborative Mathematics Teacher Learning in Communities of Practice

Science.gov (United States)

Bannister, Nicole A.

2018-01-01

Persistent disconnects within and among education research, practice, and policy are limiting the reach of professional mathematics teacher communities, one of the most promising levers for humanizing mathematics teaching and learning in schools. An overarching goal of this commentary is to convince the field of mathematics education to broaden…

The Role of Departmental Leadership for Professional Learning Communities

Science.gov (United States)

Vanblaere, Bénédicte; Devos, Geert

2018-01-01

Purpose: Department heads play a pivotal role in the functioning of departments in secondary schools. However, quantitative research about the role of departmental leadership for the development of professional learning communities (PLCs) in subject departments in secondary schools remains scarce. As PLCs are seen as promising contexts for…

Facilitating Student Engagement: Social Responsibility and Freshmen Learning Communities

Science.gov (United States)

Kingston, Lindsey N.; MacCartney, Danielle; Miller, Andrea

2014-01-01

Human rights education is advanced as a method for promoting social responsibility, with an emphasis on promoting ideals of "global citizenship" among undergraduate students. At the same time, the practice of learning communities is widespread on college campuses for retaining freshmen and promoting student success. However, there is…

Building a Learning Community: A Tale of Two Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Mindich, Dan; Lieberman, Ann

2012-01-01

Teacher professional development is one of the most powerful influences on student achievement, and professional learning communities can be an excellent vehicle for high-quality PD. Mindich and Lieberman examine ways to implement effective PLCs. Education research has found that collegial work is connected to teachers' professional growth and…

45 CFR 2515.10 - What are the service-learning programs of the Corporation for National and Community Service?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 45 Public Welfare 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false What are the service-learning programs of the... Public Welfare (Continued) CORPORATION FOR NATIONAL AND COMMUNITY SERVICE SERVICE-LEARNING PROGRAM PURPOSES § 2515.10 What are the service-learning programs of the Corporation for National and Community...

Lessons learned from a community-academic initiative: the development of a core competency-based training for community-academic initiative community health workers.

Science.gov (United States)

Ruiz, Yumary; Matos, Sergio; Kapadia, Smiti; Islam, Nadia; Cusack, Arthur; Kwong, Sylvia; Trinh-Shevrin, Chau

2012-12-01

Despite the importance of community health workers (CHWs) in strategies to reduce health disparities and the call to enhance their roles in research, little information exists on how to prepare CHWs involved in community-academic initiatives (CAIs). Therefore, the New York University Prevention Research Center piloted a CAI-CHW training program. We applied a core competency framework to an existing CHW curriculum and bolstered the curriculum to include research-specific sessions. We employed diverse training methods, guided by adult learning principles and popular education philosophy. Evaluation instruments assessed changes related to confidence, intention to use learned skills, usefulness of sessions, and satisfaction with the training. Results demonstrated that a core competency-based training can successfully affect CHWs' perceived confidence and intentions to apply learned content, and can provide a larger social justice context of their role and work. This program demonstrates that a core competency-based framework coupled with CAI-research-specific skill sessions (1) provides skills that CAI-CHWs intend to use, (2) builds confidence, and (3) provides participants with a more contextualized view of client needs and CHW roles.

The Development of Media Activities by Undergraduate Students in Order to Promote Agricultural Tourism Community Enterprise According to the Principles of Social Service Learning and Community-Based Leaning

Science.gov (United States)

Thamwipat, Kuntida; Princhankol, Pornpapatsorn; Yampinij, Sakesun; Meejaleurn, Sopon

2018-01-01

This research was aimed to develop media activities by undergraduate students to promote agricultural tourism community enterprise according to the principles of social service learning and community-based learning, 2) to evaluate the quality of such media activities, 3) to measure the income of the community after the development of media…

Learning to Learn: towards a Relational and Transformational Model of Learning for Improved Integrated Care Delivery

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John Diamond

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Health and social care systems are implementing fundamental changes to organizational structures and work practices in an effort to achieve integrated care. While some integration initiatives have produced positive outcomes, many have not. We reframe the concept of integration as a learning process fueled by knowledge exchange across diverse professional and organizational communities. We thus focus on the cognitive and social dynamics of learning in complex adaptive systems, and on learning behaviours and conditions that foster collective learning and improved collaboration. We suggest that the capacity to learn how to learn shapes the extent to which diverse professional groups effectively exchange knowledge and self-organize for integrated care delivery.

Interpersonal social responsibility model of service learning: A longitudinal study.

Science.gov (United States)

Lahav, Orit; Daniely, Noa; Yalon-Chamovitz, Shira

2018-01-01

Service-learning (SL) is commonly used in Occupational Therapy (OT) programs worldwide as a community placement educational strategy. However, most SL models are not clearly defined in terms of both methodology and learning outcomes. This longitudinal study explores a structured model of Service-Learning (Interpersonal Social Responsibility-Service Learning: ISR-SL) aimed towards the development of professional identity among OT students. Based on OT students experiences from the end of the course through later stages as mature students and professionals. A qualitative research design was used to explore the perceptions and experiences of 150 first, second, and third-year OT students and graduates who have participated in ISR-SL during their first academic year. Our findings suggest that the structured, long-term relationship with a person with a disability in the natural environment, which is the core of the ISR-SL, allowed students to develop a professional identity based on seeing the person as a whole and recognizing his/her centrality in the therapeutic relationship. This study suggests ISR-SL as future direction or next step for implementing SL in OT and other healthcare disciplines programs.

Teaching/learning strategies for the essentials of baccalaureate nursing education for entry-level community/public health nursing.

Science.gov (United States)

Callen, Bonnie; Smith, Claudia M; Joyce, Barbara; Lutz, Jayne; Brown-Schott, Nancy; Block, Derryl

2013-01-01

The purpose of this article is to describe teaching/learning strategies for each of the 15 Essentials of Baccalaureate Nursing Education for Entry-Level Community/Public Health Nursing (ACHNE, 2009). Carper's ways of knowing serve as foundations for creating classroom and clinical experiences that focus on clinical action with community as client. Each community/public health essential is defined with relevance to community/public health nursing practice. Five teaching/learning strategies have been delineated for each essential with suggestions of teaching resources and/or target population application. Teaching/learning strategies that focus on community as client, population health, and the essential knowledge and competencies of C/PH nursing will help ensure preparation of baccalaureate prepared nurses with knowledge and skills to improve the health of populations. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

A Community Health Worker "logic model": towards a theory of enhanced performance in low- and middle-income countries.

Science.gov (United States)

Naimoli, Joseph F; Frymus, Diana E; Wuliji, Tana; Franco, Lynne M; Newsome, Martha H

2014-10-02

There has been a resurgence of interest in national Community Health Worker (CHW) programs in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). A lack of strong research evidence persists, however, about the most efficient and effective strategies to ensure optimal, sustained performance of CHWs at scale. To facilitate learning and research to address this knowledge gap, the authors developed a generic CHW logic model that proposes a theoretical causal pathway to improved performance. The logic model draws upon available research and expert knowledge on CHWs in LMICs. Construction of the model entailed a multi-stage, inductive, two-year process. It began with the planning and implementation of a structured review of the existing research on community and health system support for enhanced CHW performance. It continued with a facilitated discussion of review findings with experts during a two-day consultation. The process culminated with the authors' review of consultation-generated documentation, additional analysis, and production of multiple iterations of the model. The generic CHW logic model posits that optimal CHW performance is a function of high quality CHW programming, which is reinforced, sustained, and brought to scale by robust, high-performing health and community systems, both of which mobilize inputs and put in place processes needed to fully achieve performance objectives. Multiple contextual factors can influence CHW programming, system functioning, and CHW performance. The model is a novel contribution to current thinking about CHWs. It places CHW performance at the center of the discussion about CHW programming, recognizes the strengths and limitations of discrete, targeted programs, and is comprehensive, reflecting the current state of both scientific and tacit knowledge about support for improving CHW performance. The model is also a practical tool that offers guidance for continuous learning about what works. Despite the model's limitations and several

Design Principles of an Open Agent Architecture for Web-Based Learning Community.

Science.gov (United States)

Jin, Qun; Ma, Jianhua; Huang, Runhe; Shih, Timothy K.

A Web-based learning community involves much more than putting learning materials into a Web site. It can be seen as a complex virtual organization involved with people, facilities, and cyber-environment. Tremendous work and manpower for maintaining, upgrading, and managing facilities and the cyber-environment are required. There is presented an…

Transformative Learning, Affect, and Reciprocal Care in Community Engagement

Science.gov (United States)

Holmes, Ashley J.

2015-01-01

Drawing on interviews with writing teachers, this article highlights some of the affective responses that may arise for students, community partners, and teachers when we situate our pedagogies in public sites beyond the classroom. I analyze a teacher-narrated moment of student distress to demonstrate how theories of transformative learning might…

Forging Professional Learning Communities: The Role of External Agency

Science.gov (United States)

Sperandio, Jill; Kong, Peggy A.

2018-01-01

This article explored the effects of external agency on the establishment of professional learning communities (PLCs). The research was undertaken in the context of schools that have chosen to adopt the Primary Years Programme (PYP) of the International Baccalaureate (IB) worldwide. The study employed a two-stage qualitative sequential design…

Participatory evaluation of community actions as a learning methodology for personal and community empowerment: case studies and empowerment processes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xavier Úcar Martínez

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Participatory evaluation (PE is a hybrid methodology that can be used simultaneously to investigate and act in groups and communities. It can generate new knowledge about reality, but italso allows changes in the participants and their sociocultural context. This research project, developed over three years, aims to find out whether PE processes are useful and appropriate to evaluate community actionsand to generate learning that contribute to the empowerment of people who develop them.Method: The methodological structure of the research process design Participatory Evaluation processes that are applied in three selected communities-cases, over one year. The steering groups in each caseevaluated four dimensions of Community Development Plans: context, evolution, performance and results, using different techniques and group dynamics. Throughout this process, participants identify the acquiredknowledge and this is linked to indicators of empowerment, using questionnaires, content analysis and semi-structured interviews.Results: The development PE process in the three analyzed cases confirmed that PE is a useful strategy to assess participatory community actions of a territory; to report them to the people of the community; andto make shared decisions, about initiatives in order to improve community actions. The obtained results also verify that, throughout PE, there has been learning in the participants.Conclusions: The involvement of community members in the evaluation makes it more useful, fairer and more valid, but also a fourth positive consequence of PE is empowerment. From the process and the resultsof these cases of Participatory Evaluation, we consider that community EP is social transformation.

Broadening participation in community problem solving: a multidisciplinary model to support collaborative practice and research.

Science.gov (United States)

Lasker, Roz D; Weiss, Elisa S

2003-03-01

Over the last 40 years, thousands of communities-in the United States and internationally-have been working to broaden the involvement of people and organizations in addressing community-level problems related to health and other areas. Yet, in spite of this experience, many communities are having substantial difficulty achieving their collaborative objective, and many funders of community partnerships and participation initiatives are looking for ways to get more out of their investment. One of the reasons we are in this predicament is that the practitioners and researchers who are interested in community collaboration come from a variety of contexts, initiatives, and academic disciplines, and few of them have integrated their work with experiences or literatures beyond their own domain. In this article, we seek to overcome some of this fragmentation of effort by presenting a multidisciplinary model that lays out the pathways by which broadly participatory processes lead to more effective community problem solving and to improvements in community health. The model, which builds on a broad array of practical experience as well as conceptual and empirical work in multiple fields, is an outgrowth of a joint-learning work group that was organized to support nine communities in the Turning Point initiative. Following a detailed explication of the model, the article focuses on the implications of the model for research, practice, and policy. It describes how the model can help researchers answer the fundamental effectiveness and "how-to" questions related to community collaboration. In addition, the article explores differences between the model and current practice, suggesting strategies that can help the participants in, and funders of, community collaborations strengthen their efforts.

Investigating the social configuration of a community to understand how networked learning activities take place: The OERu case study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schreurs, Bieke; Van den Beemt, Antoine; Prinsen, Fleur; De Laat, Maarten; Witthaus, Gaby; Conole, Grainne

2015-01-01

Examining how OER (Open Educational Resources) communities come to live, function or learn can support in empowering educators in the use of open educational resources. In this paper we investigate how an OER community functions through its networked learning activities. Networked learning

The Game Enhanced Learning Model

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Reng, Lars; Schoenau-Fog, Henrik

2016-01-01

will describe the levels of the model, which is based on our experience in teaching professional game development at university level. Furthermore, we have been using the model to inspire numerous educators to improve their students’ motivation and skills. The model presents various game-based learning...... activities, and depicts their required planning and expected outcome through eight levels. At its lower levels, the model contains the possibilities of using stand-alone analogue and digital games as teachers, utilizing games as a facilitator of learning activities, exploiting gamification and motivating......In this paper, we will introduce the Game Enhanced learning Model (GEM), which describes a range of gameoriented learning activities. The model is intended to give an overview of the possibilities of game-based learning in general and all the way up to purposive game productions. In the paper, we...

Finding the community in sustainable online community engagement: Not-for-profit organisation websites, service-learning and research

OpenAIRE

Dodd, Alice

2017-01-01

This article explores the use of action research (2008–2014) based on a case study of the Sustainable Online Community Engagement (SOCE) Project, a service-learning project in which University of South Australia students build websites for not-for-profit (NFP) organisations, to demonstrate that effective teaching, public service and research are interdependent. A significant problem experienced in the SOCE project was that, despite some training and ongoing assistance, the community organisat...

ASIE Model: An Innovative Instructional Design Model for Teachers in Enhancing and Sustaining the Quality of the 21st Century Learning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ismail Md Zain

2017-04-01

Full Text Available An effective and systematic design of instruction will determine the quality of learning and teaching practices. Hence, instructional design models are required, to move from just adopting a standard approach to developing models that have an impact on learners' profiles, creating a much better learning experience, skills, and knowledge both in the classroom and online. The 21st Century Learning Framework requires learners to develop their thinking skills, communication skills, collaborating skills and enhancing their creativity, (4Cs towards establishing "globally competitive learners." An Integral ASIE Instructional Design Model is an innovative 21st Century teachers' designing tool that provides a solution to the above challenges. The Model assist teachers in Planning, Utilizing and Sharing (PLUS instructions with others across nations. It promotes the Professional Learning Community practices where educationist, stakeholders, parents, and corporates work collaboratively ensuring its quality and sustainability in addressing the future employability issues of the learners. Results from 5 Likert Scales Questionnaires given to teachers in workshops and pilot project conducted, shows positive views on the model.

Community-Based Research: From Practice to Theory and Back Again.

Science.gov (United States)

Stoecker, Randy

2003-01-01

Explores the theoretical strands being combined in community-based research--charity service learning, social justice service learning, action research, and participatory research. Shows how different models of community-based research, based in different theories of society and different approaches to community work, may combine or conflict. (EV)

Community Schools as an Effective Strategy for Reform. Research Brief

Science.gov (United States)

Daniel, Julia; Snyder, Jon David

2016-01-01

Research literature finds that community school models offering various agreed-upon features provide an excellent social return on investment and significant promise for providing opportunities for learning and promoting well-being in students and communities. Community schools show significant promise for addressing barriers to learning and…

Student Modeling and Machine Learning

OpenAIRE

Sison , Raymund; Shimura , Masamichi

1998-01-01

After identifying essential student modeling issues and machine learning approaches, this paper examines how machine learning techniques have been used to automate the construction of student models as well as the background knowledge necessary for student modeling. In the process, the paper sheds light on the difficulty, suitability and potential of using machine learning for student modeling processes, and, to a lesser extent, the potential of using student modeling techniques in machine le...

Communities of Practice in Higher Education: Professional Learning in an Academic Career

Science.gov (United States)

Arthur, Linet

2016-01-01

This article focuses on the life history of a university academic, and the ways in which he learned in different communities of practice during his career. This account raises questions about the applicability of situated learning theory to a knowledge-based organisation, and argues that both the external context and the individuals within the…

Empowering Students through Service-Learning in a Community Psychology Course: A Case in Hong Kong

Science.gov (United States)

Chan, Kevin; Ng, Eddie; Chan, Charles C.

2016-01-01

This article chronicles a service-learning (SL) subject on community psychology in Hong Kong (n = 26) and elaborates on how students experience concepts, frameworks, and values in community psychology and put them into practice at servicelearning settings. Upon acquiring basic concepts in community psychology, including sense of community,…

Learning Communities in Teacher Education: The impact of e-competence

Science.gov (United States)

Elster, Doris

2010-11-01

The present article reports on the results of a three-year German-wide program Biology in Context (bik). In this program teachers and researchers worked together in 10 learning communities with the goal of enhancing the quality of teaching and learning in biology classrooms as mandated by the recently passed National Educational Standards for the lower secondary level. In addition to face-to-face meetings, computers were used as the tools for communication and collaboration. Computers enabled the mutual sharing of information among the participants, as well as the planning and documenting of tasks and teaching units. Furthermore, they promoted the reflection of the process and the refinement of the products. Data were collected from questionnaires and structured interviews with teachers, researchers, and coordinators. The analysis identified teacher profiles with regard to their attitudes towards implementing the bik concept, their use of computers, and the change of classroom activities. The results exposed several main tendencies. (1) The participant teachers largely utilized Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools for the construction of tasks and units and for collaboration with each other. (2) These tools were, however, less useful for instructional purposes, learning, and knowledge creation. (3) ICT tools were hardly used for reflection of professional experiences. (4) Teacher use of ICT tools increased from the first to the third year. The study concludes that information literacy skills have a strong impact on the persistence of learning communities. Further research should be conducted to adopt a mixed form (blended form) of learning.

E-Learning Lifecycles:How Communities and Context can affect E-learning Specifications and Tool Design

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michael Magee

2004-10-01

Full Text Available The development of a large body of e-learning specifications, such as IMS and SCORM, has led to the proposal for a new way to facilitate content workflow. This involves the movement of educational digital content and the knowledge of pedagogical communities into an online space. Several projects have looked at the theoretical structure of these specifications. They implemented a series of tools in order to examine and research the issues around the actual usage of these specifications. The CAREO, ALOHA and ALOHA 2 projects were designed to expose both individual users and whole institutions to these ideas. Initial research into the result of those interactions indicates that there is some utility in the adoption of e-learning specifications. The future success of them will depend on their ability to adapt and meet the needs of the educational community as they begin to adopt, use and evolve the way they use the specifications and the tools created around them.

Model for teaching population health and community-based care across diverse clinical experiences.