Search results for "learning community"
showing 10 items of 78 documents
Seeking New Perspectives on the Development of Teacher Education – A Study of the Finnish Context
2013
Studies show that changes in teacher education around the world occur slowly and are difficult to implement. This study aims to contribute to the discussion on the major resources for and obstacles to developing teacher education and finding novel solutions to overcome the obstacles. Resources and obstacles were investigated in the context of academic and university-based teacher education in Finland. Findings revealed three major challenges: (a) obstacles in renegotiating professional identity, (b) internal competition between subject-matter groups within the department, and (c) discrepancies between individual agency and organizational development. Based on the findings, this study argues…
THE IMPACT OF HEADMASTER’S LEADERSHIP PRACTICE ON THE FORMATION OF A PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITY AT SCHOOL
2019
In the context of general education content reform initiated in Latvia, which also provides change of teaching approach, the issue of the role of headmaster has raised. The introduction and implementation of competence approach requires strengthening and development of cooperation between teachers in professional learning communities (PLCs) at school, in order to address didactic issues, regularly analyze pupils` learning outcomes and find best ways to increase the learning outcomes of each pupil, and give an opportunity for teachers to improve their teaching by sharing good pedagogical practice. The change of teaching approach prompts a revision of school management practices as well. In o…
Learning Psychology and becoming psychologists: developing professional identity through group experiential learning
2017
International audience; n this paper, we describe the advantages of an experiential training group, specifically conceived for psychology students, in which the goal was to activate reflection on the internalized social representations of professional identity. Our study showed the results of a pre-post comparison of a one-group intervention. It was aimed to demonstrate that group experiential learning is particularly useful in changing the basis of social representations and may contribute to the construction of a realistic image of both the profession and the professional identity. The research involved 88 students enrolled in a graduate program in clinical psychology. Before and after th…
The use of EduBlog in initial teachers training: an experience of a teaching innovation project
2020
Digital technologies are central elements of today's society. In this context to achieve an adequate degree of development of Digital Competence for professional performance is essential, as well as for life in society and the exercise of citizenship. Higher Education must actively contribute to develop Digital Competence, training students to effectively use digital technologies. That need is exacerbated in the case of initial teacher training, not only because of the progress towards a digitalized school, but also because of the fundamental role in the training of future generations. With the aim of promoting the development of Digital Teaching Competence, this paper presents an innovatio…
Student teachers’ ways of experiencing the teaching of health education
2010
The aim of this phenomenographic study was to identify student teachers’ ways of experiencing the teaching of health education, and to determine the aspects that are educationally critical in gaining a deeper understanding of the teaching. Qualitative data (written essays, semi‐structured interviews) were gathered twice during health education teacher training. Teaching was seen as transferring knowledge and skills, supporting the active processing of knowledge, supporting transformation of conceptions, supporting holistic personal growth and building a learning community with the students. The teaching was reflected through five themes: the nature of the knowledge, the source of the knowle…
Higher education teachers' descriptions of their own learning : large scale study of Finnish Universities of Applied Sciences
2016
In this large-scale study, higher education teachers’ descriptions of their own learning were examined with qualitative analysis involving application of principles of phenomenographic research. This study is unique: it is unusual to use large-scale data in qualitative studies. The data were collected through an e-mail survey sent to 5960 teachers at universities of applied sciences in Finland. The number of respondents was 1622. Four hierarchically structured categories of learning were found: individual learning, collegial learning, team learning and innovative partnership learning. The role of teachers in higher education demands innovative partnership learning: being active at the socie…
ICT-SUSTOUR and MARKETOUR: Two second language acquisition projects through a virtual learning environment
2009
We are presenting a methodological approach that aims to increase students' motivation by asking them to develop tasks based on professional settings. In order to meet this objective a collaborative methodology was designed and applied to two multidisciplinary projects: MARKETOUR and ICT-SUSTOUR. Both projects made students face real workplace situations by working collaboratively through the use of a virtual learning environment (VLE) and other information technology (IT) tools at a national and international level. The methodology proposed offers students a professional scenario in which they are required to develop purpose-based tasks using IT. A virtual learning environment was devised …
CSCL – a tool to motivate foreign language learners: The Finnish application
2003
This article discusses the applications of the theory of Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) to teaching and learning a foreign language, in this case, one of the ‘Less Commonly Taught Languages’, Finnish. The ‘Virtually Finnish’ project was based on the idea of creating a larger, virtual Finnish learning community among the second-year Finnish language students in five US universities during the fall semester, 2001. CSCL was chosen as a base, as its principal goal is to aid the learners in sharing and distributing their knowledge to the whole learning community. In addition to discussing the set up and the content of the project, the students’ feedback about their language lea…
Contextual and strategic knowledge in the acquisition of design expertise
2000
Abstract This study examines the acquisition of expertise in designing and developing information systems. The aim was to investigate how practical experience is related to contextual and strategic knowledge in problem-solving. Using a combination of expert–novice comparisons and longitudinal methods, professional systems analysts were compared with novices at the beginning and end of a seven month project-based course. The results show that during the course, the novices acquired a good deal of strategic competence in using domain-specific methods. Compared to the novices, the experts showed a more comprehensive and higher level of awareness of clients' contextual constraints. The study de…
Teacher training paths between neuroeducation and professional learning community
2016
This paper starts from the belief that a school capable of feeling and making community is regarded as a privileged context to promote both organizational and relational well-being. Teacher training is possible in the intersection between the concepts of Neuroeducation and learning community. Moreover, the concept of "school-as-a-community" interacts with that of "peer learning", which is configured as a methodology capable of simultaneously promoting the ability of realization of the individual and of the organization. From a methodological point of view, this work documents a research project carried out with a group of 69 teachers of the first cycle of education. Moving from the problems…