The Old Man and the Sea: Navigating the Gulf between Special Educators and the Content Area Classroom

The special educator in the content area classroom often experiences an ill‐defined role, which can translate into marginalization within instructional settings. Indeed, most students with learning disabilities (LD) receive content area instruction from a general education teacher with the support of a special educator. However, the literacy demands of the respective content areas often present content specific challenges for students with language‐based disabilities and their teachers. To date, proposed content area literacy interventions have not addressed the specific language‐based needs of students with LD. In this article, we highlight the similarities among history, science, English language arts, and mathematics texts from a language perspective, and present strategies specifically targeting students’ background knowledge. We also provide recommendations to researchers and practitioners for improving content area learning.     

On-Site Pedagogical Content Knowledge Development

Experiences and reflection have long been regarded as a foundation for pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) development. However, little is known about how experienced teachers develop their PCK via reflection-in-action during their moment-to-moment classroom instruction. Drawing upon data sources including classroom observations, semi-structured interviews and stimulated recall interviews based on lesson videos, this study examined instances when four experienced teachers were found to invent new instructional strategies/representations on the spot during the lesson (referred to as on-site PCK development) in their first attempts at teaching a new topic. The study documented the moment-to-moment experiences of the teachers, including their reconstructed thought processes associated with these instances of on-site PCK development. An explanatory model of a three-step process comprising a stimulus, an integration process and a response was advanced to account for the on-site PCK development observed among the teachers. Three categories of stimulus that triggered on-site PCK development were identified. Factors influencing the integration process and, hence, the resulting response, included teachers’ subject matter knowledge of the new topic, their general pedagogical knowledge and their knowledge of student learning difficulties/prior knowledge related to the new topic. Implications for teacher professional development in terms of how to enhance teachers’ on-site PCK development are discussed.     

An institutional approach to the evaluation of educational technology

While the evaluation of the development, implementation and use of technology in higher education can legitimately be carried out on an individual by individual basis, it is reasonable for institutions to develop their own evaluation approaches to support and guide the evaluation efforts of their staff. This paper outlines an institutional approach that guides the evaluation of educational technology in the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences at the University of Melbourne. It proposes roles for an internal evaluator and educational technology practitioners and provides a conceptual framework that guides the evaluation process. Practitioners are supported using micro evaluation guidelines and this process is discussed for two types of evaluation. A discussion of the practical implementation of the framework is supported by the presentation of two evaluation case studies.Une approche institutionnelle d'évaluation de la technologie de l'éducation. Alors que l'évaluation du développement, de la mise en oeuvre et de l'usage de la technologie dans l'enseignement supérieur peut avec légitimité être marquée sur une base d'individu par individu, il est raisonnable que les institutions développent leurs propres approches d'évaluation pour soutenir et guider les efforts d'évaluation de leurs enseignements. Cet article décrit l'approche institutionnelle qui guide l'évaluation de la technologie de l'éducation dans la faculté de médecine, dentologie et de sciences de la santé de l'Université de Melbourne. Il propose des rôles pour une évaluation interne et des praticiens de technologie de l'Education et fournit un cadre conceptuel qui permet de guider les processus d'évaluation. Les praticiens sont aidés par l'emploi de guides de microévaluations et ce processus est discuté pour deux types d'évaluation. Une discussion sur la mise en oeuvre pratique du cadre est illustrée par deux études de cas d'évaluation.Ein institutioneller Ansatz zur Auswertung der Bildungstechnologie. Während die Auswertung der Entwicklung, Umsetzung und die Verwendung von Technologie im Bereich der höheren Bildung mit Recht auf individuellen Basis ausgeführt werden kann, ist es vernünftig, daß Institutionen ihre eigenen Auswertungsansätze entwickeln, um die Auswertungsbemühungen ihres Stabs zu unterstützen und zu leiten. Dieses Papier umreißt einen institutionellen Ansatz zur Auswertung der Nutzung von Bildungstechnologie in der Fakultät für Medizin, Zahnheilkunde und Gesundheitswissenschaften an der Universität von Melbourne. Es beschreibt die Rolle eines internen Auswerters und Bildungstechnikpraktikers und liefert einen begrifflichen Rahmen für den Auswertungsprozeß. Praktiker werden durch Micro-Auswertungsrichtlinien unterstützt. Dieser Prozeß wird für zwei Evaluationstypen erörtert. Die praktische Umsetzung des Rahmens wird anhand zweier Auswertungsfallstudien diskutiert.     

Assessment matters: Making assessment easier with the Organizational Effectiveness Model

Savannah C. Heilman and Lance Kennedy‐Phillips describe a comprehensive, step‐by‐step, mixed‐methods assessment model.