Heart Of Teaching Research Articles

The Soul of Teaching: Insights From 50 Years of Experience in Management Education

This interview with Dr. Joan V. Gallos, 2023 recipient of the David L. Bradford Outstanding Educator Award from the Management and Organizational Behavior Teaching Society (MOBTS), explores the four components of what Gallos considers the “soul of teaching”—insights she wished she had understood when she began her teaching career more than 50 years ago. Her four insights advise educators to: (1) work with what they’ve got—and own it!, (2) fail in the right way (think progress, not perfection), (3) dive into the magic at the heart of teaching and learning, and (4) relax and take your time: becoming the best educator you can be is a journey of never arriving. The interview is presented to encourage others to both find the soul of their teaching and guide their individual and collective discovery of the connection, authenticity, and magic at the heart of all teaching and learning.

Knowing and learning: from Hirst to Ofsted

Abstract Hirst always highlighted knowledge when reflecting on the school curriculum. He replaced his early focus on liberal education, the development of mind and theoretical knowledge by emphasizing the practical and practices as a curriculum starting point and for the framing of educational aims. In this paper I explore links between Hirst’s philosophical treatment of knowledge and some currently contested aspects of UK government education policies. I also note some ways in which his work relates to selected present-day debates in philosophy of education. Examples of UK government policy will include Ofsted’s definition of learning as a ‘change in long-term memory’ and the ways in which they place ‘logical sequencing’ at the heart of teaching, learning, and curriculum. Their learning definition treats knowledge as an individual asset rather than something about individuals as embedded in the social world of practices, a perspective more in keeping with Hirst’s later views. The critique of individualistic notions of knowledge and learning includes some explorations of how learners move into the ‘space of reasons’. Where I draw attention to relationships between Hirst’s thought and contemporary philosophy of education debates, I do not always draw any definite conclusions.

A Text Mining and Statistical Approach for Assessment of Pedagogical Impact of Students’ Evaluation of Teaching and Learning Outcome in Education

Technology-enhanced learning (TEL) is now at the heart of teaching and learning process in many higher education institutions (HEIs). Today, educators are faced with the challenges of pedagogically specifying what tools, methods, and technologies are used to support the teachers and students, and to help maintain/sustain a continuous education and practices. This study shows that there is an opportunity in the use of (educational) datasets derived about the teaching and learning processes to provide insights for fostering the education process. To this effect, it analyzed the students’ evaluation of teaching (SET) dataset ( <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$n=471968$ </tex-math></inline-formula> ) collected within a higher education setting to determine prominent factors that influences the students’ performance or the way (TEL-based) education is being delivered, including its didactical impact and implications for practice. Theoretically, the study employed a mixed methodology grounded on integration of the Data-structure approach and Descriptive decision theory to study the rationality behind the students’ evaluation of the teaching and performance. This was done through the Textual data quantification (qualitative) and Statistical (quantitative) analysis. Qualitatively, the study applied the Educational Process and Data Mining (EPDM) model (a text mining method) to extract the different sentiments and emotional valence expressed by the students in the SET, and how those characteristically differ based on the period and type of evaluation they have completed (between 2019 to 2021). For the quantitative analysis, the study used a multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) and multiple pairwise comparisons post-hoc tests to analyze the quantified information (average sentiment and emotional valence) extracted from the SET data to determine the marginal means of effect the different SET types and evaluation period have on the students’ learning outcomes/perception about the teaching-learning process. In addition, the study empirically discussed and shed light on the implications of the main findings for TEL-based Education, particularly implemented by the HEI during the analyzed periods. The scholastic indicator from the study shows that while the flexible digital models or instructional methods are effective for continuous education, innovative pedagogies, and teaching transformations. It also, on the other hand, serve as an incentive for more robust research that idiosyncratically look into their implications for the students’ learning outcomes and assessment done in this study.

Applying a band-aid or building a bridge: ecological factors and divergent approaches to enhancing teacher wellbeing

ABSTRACT Teacher wellbeing is important, not least for the role teachers play in supporting students’ social, emotional, physical and academic wellbeing. Effective teachers need to remain both physically and mentally healthy. This paper examines how teacher wellbeing is conceptualised through research to identify the influential ecological influences that support and sustain teachers. Through a scoping review methodology, this examination starts with a conceptualisation of teacher wellbeing, and is then organised into three interrelated themes. This thematic approach provides a basis to examine, first, the influential individual factors shaping teachers’ wellbeing; second, the relational factors that characterise teachers’ work; and, third, the contemporary contextual factors associated with enhancing or eroding teacher wellbeing. These themes highlight that many approaches to enhancing teachers’ wellbeing are often short-term band-aid fixes, and the authors argue that attention must be given to longer-term bridge-building strategies that place teacher wellbeing at the heart of teaching.

Editorial: What is at the Heart of Teaching and Learning in a Post-pandemic Recovery World?

Editorial: What is at the Heart of Teaching and Learning in a Post-pandemic Recovery World?

Understanding efl Teachers’ Emotional Experience of Doing Research: A Review

Abstract In an era when scientific research is in the spotlight, foreign language teachers have developed a variety of complex and diverse emotions towards it. Research into teachers’ professional development has long focused on rational factors. However, teacher emotions are real and emotions are at the heart of teaching and learning. Teachers’ research emotions are therefore as important as the rational elements of teacher professional development. Indeed, teacher emotions have a crucial impact on teachers’ careers and development, and teacher emotions cannot be ignored. However, little attention has been paid to research on English teachers’ emotions, and there is a lack of literature reviews to sort out the limited research on English teachers’ emotions. Such a literature review would help to understand the gaps in the current field of research on English teachers’ research on emotions and thus better guide the direction of future research. By using keywords to identify relevant studies, further screening and analysing candidate studies, and reporting and summarizing existing research findings, this study reviews the current state of research on English teachers’ research on emotional experiences and finds that research on foreign language teachers’ emotions is mainly concerned with the content of emotional experiences, emotion formation and its influencing factors. On this basis, further directions for research are indicated, including the attention paying to the processes of emotion formation and emotion adjustment strategies of foreign language teachers, the emotions of university teachers and the influence of Chinese society and culture on foreign language teachers in higher education.

Dear Dr. D’Amour: Relational Psychoanalysis at the Heart of Teaching and Learning

Dr. Lissa D’Amour brings together relational psychoanalysis and developmental theory to offer practitioners of education an opportunity to unify theories of learning into a cohesive “dialectic model of learning and of learning’s refusal” (D’Amour, 2020, p. 142), a unification sorely needed in mathematics education as educators in Alberta feud over ‘back-to-basics’. Dr. D’Amour’s (2020) book, entitled Relational Psychoanalysis at the Heart of Teaching and Learning: How and Why It Matters, attempts to kick-start conversations about the relationships present in classrooms and offers respite from, and an alternative perspective of, the educational behemoth I have become a part of, one that increasingly ignores us humans, the relationships we have and our affective attunement with all that is around us.

Locked in and locked out: Covid-19 and teaching "remotely".

Covid-19 has rendered education “remote”, opening a chasm in space and time between teachers and students, between how teaching and learning was practiced before and how it is practiced now and for the foreseeable, uncertain future. As many educators find themselves both locked in and locked out, this article seeks to sort through the implications of this remoteness. The article builds on the work of William F. Pinar and George Grant, to argue that technology is an ontology shaping how we encounter who we are and the world in which we live. Caught within the tightening circle of a Covid-19 environment predicated on keeping our distance from one another, while we are connecting technologically, at risk is the complicated conversation, as well as attunement, that lie at the heart of teaching, even as teachers know that it is only through improvisational variations on these that one can hope to chart an ethical course forward.

Chinese Film Studies Online: Technological Innovations, Pedagogical Challenges, and Teaching Chinese-Language Cinema in the Digital Age

Abstract Because of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on higher education, online initiatives have moved from the periphery to the very heart of teaching and learning across disciplines. However, the profession has just begun to consider the full impact these new technologies have on the way we research and teach Chinese-language cinema. Using the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) and University of Hong Kong Common Core campus-based course, Hong Kong Cinema through a Global Lens, as my principal case study, I explore some of the ways in which the digital revolution has transformed research on and teaching about Hong Kong film. From surveying the types of material available for research to exploring the differences between MOOCs and flipped classrooms, this essay considers the positive implications and potential drawbacks of these new technologies in global, regional, and local educational contexts.

Making the Unsustainable Sustainable: How Swedish Secondary School Teachers Deal with Sustainable Development in Their Teaching

The aim of this article is to investigate how Swedish teachers manage the uncertainty and complexity associated with sustainable development (SD) as a field of knowledge, in relation to the requirements in the school curriculum. Underlying the whole concept of sustainable development is the vision that there is a possible solution to the ecological, economic and social problems created by humans. However, it is not so clear what this solution actually means in practice. The article builds on an analysis of transcribed individual and group interviews with 40 teachers at Swedish lower and upper secondary schools, related to the topic of sustainable development as a field of knowledge. A thematic analysis was carried out by identifying four broad themes, including dominating discourses. The results indicate that there is a lack of vision among the teachers for a future sustainable society, while at the same time, it seems to be taboo to talk about what an unsustainable society might mean in the long run. Presentations of the problems and knowledge of what causes them must always be combined with instructions on how problems can be solved and how pupils can influence their own future and help create sustainable development. The starting point for such a solution-oriented approach to SD is based on an assumption that individual behaviour is essential to achieving sustainable development and thus that individual responsibility is crucial. This focus leads to individual consumer choices, behaviours and lifestyles at the heart of teaching, while progressive, alternative visions and critical perspectives are downplayed.

Systematic Review of School-Wide Trauma-Informed Approaches.

Extensive research on traumatic life experiences reveals how healthy development can be derailed and brain architecture altered by excessive or prolonged activation of the body's stress response, impacting health, mental health, learning, behavior and relationships. Schools offer a unique environment to prevent and counter the impacts of childhood trauma. This study aimed to investigate empirical evidence for school-wide trauma-informed approaches that met at least two of the three essential elements of trauma-informed systems defined by SAMSHA (2014). SAMHSA's concept of trauma and guidance for a trauma-informed approach. HHS Publication No. (SMA) 14-4884. Rockville: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. https://store.samhsa.gov/shin/content/SMA14-4884.pdf) and consider commonalities in approaches, drivers of change, challenges and learnings related to implementation, sustainability and outcomes for students. A systematic review searching foremost databases was conducted for evidence of trauma-informed school-wide approaches used between 2008 and 2019. Four papers were identified, incorporating four school-wide approaches, The Healthy Environments and Response to Trauma in Schools (HEARTS) Model; The Heart of Teaching and Learning (HTL): Compassion, Resiliency, and Academic Success Model; The New Haven Trauma Coalition (NHTC) and The Trust-Based Relational Intervention. Although heterogeneous, the models shared core elements of trauma-informed staff training, organization-level changes and practice change, with most models utilizing student trauma-screening. Generalizability of the findings was low given the small number of studies, the mix of mainstream and specialist schools and high risk of bias. Given the limitations of research in this emergent but rapidly accelerating field, future research is urgently required to understand the interaction between core elements of a trauma-informed approach, teaching pedagogy and organizational factors that support the embedding, use and transferability of school-wide approaches.

“Students speaking to you”: teachers listen to student surveys to improve classroom environment

While positive teacher–student relationships are at the heart of teaching and learning, it is no easy task to improve these relationships and cultivate caring classroom communities. This study drew on key elements of improvement science. Three 9th grade language arts teachers and one researcher collaborated to plan, implement, study and revise an instructional routine for improving relationships with and among students. As part of this collaboration, the group created a survey to learn about students’ experiences in teachers’ classrooms. Through qualitative data collection and analysis, I examined teachers’ talk when collectively examining and discussing student survey data. Teachers’ talk turned towards and away from deeper investigations of pedagogical practice and the student survey. I describe patterns of teacher talk and analyse two episodes for which teachers collectively investigated their pedagogical practice and the routine as it related to their classroom environment. These episodes revealed that talking about survey results encouraged teachers to assess their classroom communities formatively, led to the creation of a teacher learning environment, influenced teachers’ practices, and evoked emotional and personal responses from teachers when looking at data connected to their classroom environments.

Teacher-student relationships: The positives and negatives of assessing both perspectives

Although teacher-student relationships (TSRs) lie at the heart of teaching and learning, measuring these relationships presents unique challenges. These challenges implicate how school leaders understand the connections between TSRs and student outcomes. This article addresses these challenges by describing a new approach to measuring TSRs centered around a new scale that measures the positive and negative aspects of the overall TSR from teachers' and students' perspectives. We describe the scale development process, document the measure's psychometric properties, and then use the scale to predict student outcomes. Drawing from a sample of middle and high school students (N=595) and their teachers (N=88) in four different schools, we found that a two-factor model best fits our items. Compared to a more traditional approach, our approach explains more variability in student outcomes and gives educators a sharper understanding of the patterning of associations between TSRs and student outcomes.

The Five Tier Model for Teaching English Academic Writing in EFL Contexts

Academic writing in English is at the heart of teaching and learning in English foreign language (EFL) contexts. However, despite the need to target and isolate the problems associated with writing academic English in EFL contexts, recent research has focused mostly on the psycholinguistic dimension of academic writing in English. The aim of this paper is to redirect interest in English academic writing and situate it back within linguistic enquiry. The study focuses on targeting and isolating the problems associated with English academic writing at the transitional stage from public high school to university.In contemporary research,educators are raising concerns on the level of proficiency in English academic writing, attained by the end of secondary schooling, specifically in the public education context. A case study, conducted on 470 final year secondary students in public schooling in Lebanon, reflected persistent phonemic orthographic errors, grammatical errors, structural and organizational errors, notwithstanding the fact that the participating students were instructed according to the official EFL programme. Errors were interpreted from contemporary linguistic perspectives and a five tier model was proposed for teaching English academic writing in EFL contexts.

The Five Tier Model for Teaching English Academic Writing in EFL Contexts

Academic writing in English is at the heart of teaching and learning in English foreign language (EFL) contexts. However, despite the need to target and isolate the problems associated with writing academic English in EFL contexts, recent research has focused mostly on the psycholinguistic dimension of academic writing in English. The aim of this paper is to redirect interest in English academic writing and situate it back within linguistic enquiry. The study focuses on targeting and isolating the problems associated with English academic writing at the transitional stage from public high school to university.In contemporary research,educators are raising concerns on the level of proficiency in English academic writing, attained by the end of secondary schooling, specifically in the public education context. A case study, conducted on 470 final year secondary students in public schooling in Lebanon, reflected persistent phonemic orthographic errors, grammatical errors, structural and organizational errors, notwithstanding the fact that the participating students were instructed according to the official EFL programme. Errors were interpreted from contemporary linguistic perspectives and a five tier model was proposed for teaching English academic writing in EFL contexts.

Stayers, Leavers, Lovers, and Dreamers: Why People Teach and Why They Stay - 2004 Barbara Biber Lecture

Marilyn Cochran-Smith delivers the Barbara Biber Lecture at Bank Street College in memorial of her legacy as a researcher, scholar, and leader in progressive education. Cochran-Smith focuses on what lies at the heart of teaching and learning on an individual level as well as what it will take to improve the current state of urban schools. Her main points address teacher retention and differences among generations of teachers.

Developing an English Education Department Curriculum

Curriculum is the heart of teaching and learning program. Through a curriculum, teachers formulate the designated learning objectives and their outcomes and transform all those formulated goals to students. This paper has an attempt to elaborate significant information and models on curriculum that could be developed at the English Education Department (PBI – Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris) of Ar-Raniry State Islamic University (UIN Ar-Raniry) Darussalam, Banda Aceh as an Islamic higher education institution. The paper reviews various literatures on language learning curriculum, teaching English as a foreign language curriculum, and professional learning curriculum. The paper also analyses the 2016/2017 UIN Ar-Raniry manual/handbook, and the 2015 annual report of the PBI department curriculum monitoring and evaluation (Monev). The findings elucidate that the PBI department curriculum has met a standardized curriculum quality. Yet, some weaknesses that could decelerate the language acquisition process are still found in such the PBI department curriculum.

In the Heart of Teaching: A Two-Dimensional Conception of Teachers’ Relational Competence

Research reveals that teachers’ relational competence is crucial for successful education. However, the field is still small and largely unexplored, and arguably needs a better and more precise the ...

Hispanic Faces

Immigration and globalization have dramatically changed the ethnic landscape of the United States, yet stereotypes about race continue to exist. Foreign language classrooms are at the heart of teaching about diversity. We investigated whether undergraduates (with varying exposure to Spanish language education) could accurately identify the race of Hispanic people depicted in photographs. The amount of Spanish courses was unrelated to participants’ accuracy; however, the number of courses was inversely related to confidence. The findings from this exploratory study suggest that the more Spanish language education one has, the more one realizes that appearances can be deceiving; as a result, individuals may be less likely to adhere to societally conditioned stereotypes of specific groups of people. At a time when foreign language programs are at risk of being eliminated from colleges and universities, these findings should serve as a message to educators and administrators alike about the importance of foreign language education.

‘For the bibliographers at UCL’: A humument and the lessons it teaches 21st century librarians

Object-based learning lies at the heart of teaching in both historical bibliography and cataloguing classes on the MA Library and Information Studies at UCL. Tom Phillips's work A humument and the novel he chose to use as his canvas, W.H. Mallock's A human document provide memorable ‘object lessons’ with scope for students to synthesize and evaluate their pre-existing learning from inside and outside the modules. It is important that the examples used in class are simple enough to illustrate the strengths of any conceptual model yet complex enough to highlight its limits. It is also ideal if examples can be beautiful as well as useful. A humument fulfills all these criteria and, for students with no background in art or art librarianship, also introduces the artists' book as a genre and artists themselves as an important and interesting user group within information services.