Professional development for iPad integration in general education: Staying ahead of the curve

This faculty development case study focuses on a team of 16 General Education faculty at an urban women’s college during the initial 6 months of the college’s comprehensive implementation of an iPad teaching and learning environment. This article traces the effectiveness of an iPad professional development program through analyses of critical feedback, and makes recommendations for learner-centered faculty development for iPads in Higher Education. We present our conceptual framework, guiding principles and iPad professional development program. The effects of the program were measured using thematic and content analysis of post-session interviews, participant observation, one-to-one interviews and an online discussion forum. The predominant themes were anxiety, having individual needs considered, time considerations, and fundamental questions about expectations in the mobile learning environment. The key recommendation are to attend to collaborative planning, intervention, facilitating authentic professional learning communities and timing of faculty development that is intended to result in integration of new learning tools and environments.     

Developing Visual Creative Literacies Through Integrating Art-Based Inquiry

Abstract

Visual literacy and the ability to think creatively are critical skills requisite to full participation and communication in the twenty-first century. Learning experiences that integrate studio-based inquiry and other academic concepts can develop discipline skills as well as communication skills of deciphering visual cues and de/re-constructing visual metaphor. This article provides a theoretical overview of meaningful art integrated inquiry, offering examples of science, technology and math integration with studio technique, materials and processes. Further, an argument is presented for the need for all teachers to engage in art-based practices to further develop their own skills and conceptual frameworks.     

Using the Wider Pedagogical Role model to establish learning support assistants' views about facilitators and barriers to effective practice

This article reports on small‐scale research exploring the views of learning support assistants (LSAs) about facilitators and barriers to effective practice. A focus group was conveyed involving all the LSAs working in one mainstream primary school in the north‐west of England and thematic analysis was used to interrogate the resultant dataset. The Wider Pedagogical Role (WPR) model (Webster et al., 2011) was used as a deductive framework to conceptualise these findings under the headings of practice, deployment, conditions of employment, preparedness and characteristics. Findings revealed that LSAs could readily identify current facilitators and barriers under each of the five components, highlighting the usefulness of the WPR model. Possibilities for future research, including the refinement and further development of the WPR, are briefly discussed.     

An Analysis of Teachers’ and Paraeducators’ Roles and Responsibilities with Implications for Professional Development

There is a lack of documented evidence related to the relationships existing between paraeducators and teachers working in early childhood classrooms. Based on a 2-year project with three phases of data collection, the authors explore the duties of paraeducators and their working relationships with the teachers with whom they team. Based on findings from the data collected, the authors make specific recommendations for targeted professional development that is designed to improve collaboration and skill sets for paraprofessionals within early childhood learning environments. The position taken is one that supports collaborative teamwork designed to maximize the learning of young children.     

Reading with meaning: the contributions of meaning-related variables at the word and subword levels to early Chinese reading comprehension

This study examined the associations of three levels of meaning acquisition, i.e., whole word (vocabulary), morpheme (morphological awareness), and semantic radical (orthography-semantic awareness) to early Chinese reading comprehension among 164 Hong Kong Chinese primary school students, ages 7 and 8?years old, across 1?year. With time 1 word reading, phonological awareness and speeded naming controlled, morphological awareness was uniquely associated with concurrent and subsequent reading comprehension; orthography-semantic awareness uniquely explained concurrent reading comprehension at time 2. Together, the meaning acquisition variables explained between 2 and 6% unique variance in reading comprehension across time, underscoring the importance of acquisition of meaning for early reading comprehension among Chinese children.