Small Learning Communities Research Articles

Small Group Learning Communities as a Prototype for Intersectional Black Feminist Praxis in Higher Education

Through the creation and analysis of Small Group Learning Communities (SGLC) at a predominantly White university in the U.S. South, this study investigated how SGLCs operationalize intersectional Black feminist praxis via dialogue, liberation, and ethic of caring. The racialized and gendered organizational dynamics that govern institutions of higher education make it an ideal site for such an intervention. Through an instrumental case study of 13 SGLCs, we uncover how SGLCs served interrelated, but separate purposes: (1) affirmation, mentorship, and professional development among “Black women-focused” SGLCs; and (2) epiphanies of intersectional oppression and nuanced Black girl representation in educational settings among “Black women-affirming” SGLCs. Findings suggest that SGLCs are innovative prototypes for understanding, studying, and implementing intersectional Black feminist praxis. We submit that SGLCs can advance broader social justice and liberation agendas. Moreover, findings may inform efforts to center Black women in higher education.

IM Twenty-Four Steps Of Educational Innovation In Indonesia

This study aims to critically analyze educational innovation in Indonesia through twenty-four appropriate educational strategies. This type of research is library research. Collecting data by identifying discourse from books, papers or articles, journals, newspapers, the internet (web), or other information related to education. Data analysis used descriptive analysis, content analysis, and scientific critical analysis. The results of the study show that educational innovation in Indonesia can implement twenty-four educational strategies which include Personalization, Multi-Age Classes, Small Community Learning, Peer Group Learning, Small Group Learning Communities with other groups, Multidisciplinary Curriculum with Block Scheduling, Cooperative Learning, Cooperative Learning, Project Based Learning, Co-Teachers, Teaching Teams, Community Service Learning, Looping Partnerships, Business for Assessment, Resources, and Funding, Global Connections, Laptops, and Wireless Technology for Anywhere, Anytime Learning, Parental Involvement, Students Putting on Shows, Curriculum Life Skills (Non-Academic), Meaningful Career Counseling, Social/Emotional Counseling, Open Learning, Education to Serve Student Needs, Portfolio-Based Assessment and New Paradigm of School Buildings.

'Change talk' among physicians in small group learning communities: An ethnographic study.

Physicians face uncertainties in complex clinical environments. Small group learning initiatives allow physicians to decipher new evidence and address challenges. This study aimed to understand how physicians in small learning groups discuss, interpret and assess new evidence-based information to make decisions for practice. An ethnographic approach was used to collect data from observed discussions between practising family physicians (n = 15) that meet in small learning groups (n = 2). Physicians were members of a continuing professional development (CPD) programme that provides educational modules with clinical cases and evidence-based recommendations for best practice. Nine learning sessions were observed over 1 year. Field notes documenting the conversations were analysed using ethnographic observational dimensions and thematic content analysis. Observational data were supplemented with interviews (n = 9) and practice reflection documents (n = 7). A conceptual framework for 'change talk' was created. Observations elucidated the following: Facilitators played a significant role in leading the discussion by focusing on practice gaps. As group members shared approaches to clinical cases, baseline knowledge and practice experiences were revealed. Members made sense of new information by asking questions and sharing knowledge. They determined what information was useful and whether it applied to their practice. They reviewed evidence, tested algorithms, benchmarked themselves to best practice and consolidated knowledge before committing to practice change(s). Themes from interviews emphasised that sharing of practice experiences played an integral part in decisions to implement new knowledge, helped validate guideline recommendations and provided strategies for feasible practice changes. Documented practice reflections regarding decisions for practice change(s) overlapped with field notes. This study provides empirical data on how small groups of family physicians discuss evidence-based information and make decisions for clinical practice. A 'change talk' framework was created to illustrate the processes that occur when physicians interpret and assess new information to bridge gaps between current and best practices.

Politics of Teaching

[...]college education failed to address or even connect with the deepest concerns of students. According to descriptions of a program called University Studies at Portland State (www.ous.pdx.edu), much of the effort in first year courses goes to establishing small learning communities, each one comprising a faculty member, a peer mentor, and a group of students. [...]post-secondary education comes in ever smaller and precision-marketed units, for customers who are often refashioning themselves to meet the needs of employers. [...]liberal arts enrollments make up a much smaller share in the burgeoning proprietary and public sector, where most of the adult students seek economic advantage, and business's needs determine what studies will yield that advantage.

Using Learning Communities to Address Important Diversity Discussions.

Purpose: A renewed call for antiracism pedagogy emerged in medical education in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and social unrest following several highly publicized incidences of police using excessive force with people of color. 1,2 To address the health care needs of increasingly diverse U.S. communities, medical students must be knowledgeable on topics of race, racism, and implicit bias. Our learning communities (LCs) provided a space for a diverse student body to engage in difficult conversations, including conversations on implicit bias. We discuss lessons learned in implementing the LC structure and developing its curriculum. Approach: Morehouse School of Medicine LCs were designed to discuss and develop relevant student skills and behaviors, foster a sense of community, improve peer-to-peer relationships, and encourage relationship development between students and faculty. Incoming medical students are divided into 8 LCs, named after school-specific values and culture (knowledge, wisdom, service, excellence, compassion, integrity, innovation, and leadership). LCs are longitudinal, with students continuing in these groups for all 4 years of medical school. In this model, rotating student leaders lead the interactive discussions with 2 faculty mentors, 1 clinician, and 1 basic science or public health, serving as facilitators for the sessions. Before each session, students are given discussion guides to serve as a framework and are encouraged to include other relevant information or activities. Outcomes: LCs provide students with opportunities to self-reflect, share, and engage with their peers and faculty on complex and challenging topics. Race, racism, and implicit bias are discussed in various LC sessions, with discussion questions and activities designed to apply the indicated topic with diverse cultures and communities. In the end-of-year student LC surveys, 80% (academic year 2018–2019; N = 71) and 86% (academic year 2019–2020; N = 70) of MD year 2 student respondents said that LCs helped them gain a better understanding of implicit bias concepts. Discussion: The curricular inclusion of discussions on race and implicit bias is crucial for the individual development of future doctors at this primary care-focused medical school. When integrated into the broader curriculum and culture of the institution, LCs can serve as a vehicle that builds relationships, establishes trust and safety, and provides the opportunity for students to critically think and self-reflect on race-related topics in a productive environment. Ultimately, these sessions aid in the production of physicians who will have the desire and the tools to work with a diverse patient base, addressing disparities in health care due to racism. Significance: To address the needs of diverse populations, the physician workforce must be knowledgeable of the social determinants of health and be demographically reflective of the communities they serve. Teaching and learning about racism and diversity are particularly significant following the revelations of the COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with the call for social and racial justice due to the disproportionate use of excessive force by law enforcement against people of color. To address the call for pedagogical concepts and practices explicitly focusing on racism and its impact on health and the promotion of racial justice, this article highlights LCs as our medical school’s vehicle for student interactions and conversations on race, using a session on implicit bias as an example. Our medical school small group LC sessions allowed for the relationship building, safe space creation, and self-reflection needed for effective discussions on race. Acknowledgments: The authors would like to acknowledge the learning community (LC) faculty, staff, students, and administrators who continue to see the role of LCs in training the next generation of physicians committed to health equity.

Implementing English language teaching reforms through professional learning

ABSTRACT In response to recent reforms to English language education in secondary schools in Iran, this study investigated how a small collaborative professional learning community prompted shifts in teachers’ practices. The study relied on Engeström’s professional learning intervention to examine the practices of three junior high school teachers. Through the analysis of teacher observations and interviews, the findings revealed that the teachers’ collaboration and engagement, and the time devoted to review and reflection on their teaching, encouraged minor changes in the teachers’ practices that aligned with the reform agenda. The study has implications for professional learning in Iran and similar contexts. It informs a need for a movement from top-down professional learning programs to more collaborative approaches to teacher education when the aim is to address reform-driven educational changes.

An Online Approach to ‘Finding Equity Through Advances in Mind and Brain in Unsettled Times’

Back to table of contents Next article APA & MeetingsFull AccessAn Online Approach to ‘Finding Equity Through Advances in Mind and Brain in Unsettled Times’Jacqueline Maus Feldman, M.D.Jacqueline Maus FeldmanSearch for more papers by this author, M.D.Published Online:1 Mar 2021https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.pn.2021.3.28AbstractNo corners have been cut to provide you with an online meeting experience as rich as a live one.Oh, what a splendid APA Annual Meeting program we have planned for you! Because of the unpredictable nature of COVID-19 and out of an abundance of caution, your 2021 APA Annual Meeting is going to be online as well as a “little bit live.” Our “unsettled times” are reflected in the challenges of the pandemic, structural racism, and health inequities resulting in trauma and isolation for our patients and for ourselves. Your Scientific Program Committee (SPC) has developed a meeting that utilizes creative engagement to respond to these challenges. Here is what’s in store for our faculty and attendees:LogisticsAttendees are inivted to participate in the Pre-Conference Expo a day before the meeting to get early access to the Virtual Exhibit Gallery and APA Publishing Bookstore, create a profile, bookmark and add sessions to their calendar, and learn how to navigate the meeting platform.Each day will begin with a plenary session featuring a keynote address on a key topic related to our meeting theme. Anthony Fauci, M.D., will be speaking at the Convocation plenary (see Psychiatric News), and we are now finalizing contracts with other superb speakers.Each plenary session will be followed by three 90-minute blocks of 15 sessions, for a total of 135 sessions over the three days. Attendees will be able to claim up to 13.5 CME credits for attending the live meeting.Each session will begin with a prerecorded 75-minute video played in real time, and attendees will be able to use a chat box to communicate with the presenters. The sessions will end with a live 15-minute Q&A session with the presenters.In the virtual Poster Hall, attendees will be able to interact with more than 1,300 poster presenters.An additional 75 CME credits will be available by purchasing the APA Annual Meeting On Demand 2021 product. It will include over 260 prerecorded 75-minute sessions, as well as the 135 prerecorded sessions held during the online Annual Meeting. More information on APA on Demand will appear in a future issue.For even more CME credit hours, APA’s Division of Education is developing an eight-credit, ABPN- approved MOC-2 self-assessment activity.The ProgramAs noted before, each day begins with a plenary session with a keynote presenter, followed by three blocks of 15 scientific sessions—thus, attendees can view up to four sessions a day. As we have all seen this past year, our country has had to deal with two very challenging issues that will be well represented in sessions at the meeting: diversity and health equity (8% of sessions) and COVID-19 (6% of sessions).Participants will find a breadth of topic areas covering a variety of domains in psychiatry: global, political, and social issues; climate change, community psychiatry, women’s health, telemedicine, psychopharmacology, resident training, emergency psychiatry, ethics, child and adolescent psychiatry, psychedelics and cannabis, and emergency psychiatry. There will also be two presidential town halls on initiatives begun by APA President Jeffrey Geller, M.D., M.P.H., structural racism in psychiatry (see Psychiatric News) and defining the number of hospital beds needed in communities (see Psychiatric News).Just FYI: This year 10 courses will be offered virtually during the summer. The courses will be specifically designed to maximize interaction between faculty and registrants through small learning communities. More information will be available soon.APA’s online 2021 Annual Meeting will be a perfect opportunity to further your understanding of a broad number of issues while earning CME credits and to have live interactions with colleagues in real time during the scientific sessions, Poster Hall, and Virtual Exhibit Gallery. Register now. We look forward to “seeing” you there. ■Jacqueline Maus Feldman, M.D., is chair of APA’s Scientific Program Committee. ISSUES NewArchived

Programas de indução que mantêm os novos professores ensinando e melhorando

Tradução do original WONG, Harry K. “Induction Programs That Keep New Teachers Teaching and Improving”. NASSP Bulletin – Vol. 88 No 638 March 2004. © Harry K. Wong Publications, Inc. por Adriana Teixeira Reis. Este artigo apresenta escolas e distritos escolares com programas bem sucedidos de indução, todos facilmente replicáveis. Cada vez mais, a pesquisa confirma que o professor e a qualidade do ensino são os mais poderosos preditores do sucesso do aluno. Em suma, os diretores garantem maior desempenho dos alunos, garantindo melhor ensino. Para fazer isso, os administradores eficazes têm um novo programa de indução de professores disponível para todos os professores recém-contratados, que então se torna parte do programa de desenvolvimento profissional sustentado ao longo da vida para o distrito ou escola. O que mantém um bom professor são programas estruturados, constantes e intensivos de desenvolvimento profissional que permitem que os novos professores observem outros, sejam observados por outros e façam parte de redes ou grupos de estudo onde todos os professores compartilham juntos, crescem juntos e aprendem a respeitar o trabalho um do outro.

Enclaves of Privilege: Access and Opportunity for Students with Disabilities in Urban K-8 Schools

Middle grades education has been the object of efforts to remediate US education to address an array of social problems. Districts have sought out K-8 models to create smaller learning communities, require fewer school transitions, and allow sustained student connections. This paper offers a historical analysis of K-8 schools, drawing on statistical and spatial methods and a DisCrit intersectional lens to illustrate how creating K-8 schools produced enclaves of privilege in one urban school district. K-8 schools in our target district became whiter and wealthier than district averages. Students with disabilities attending K-8 schools tended to be placed in more inclusive classrooms, where they were more likely to be integrated alongside nondisabled peers than counterparts attending traditional middle schools. We consider how the configuration of K-8 schools, which could be considered an administrative decision to better serve students, has obscured interworkings of power and privilege.

استخدام مجتمعات التعلم الصغیرة لتنمیة مهارات الکتابة الإبداعیة باللغة الإنجلیزیة لدی طلاب المرحلة الثانویة Using Small Learning Communities to Develop Creative Writing Skills in English Language for Secondary Stage Students

The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of using small learning communities on developing creative writing skills for secondary school students. 200 students were randomly chosen and divided into two groups: the experimental group (150 students - three small learning communities) and the control group (50 students) after being sure that they were equivalent. The experimental group students were trained in creative writing skills through the use of small learning communities, while the regular instruction was used with the control group. To achieve the aims of the study, the researchers designed a creative writing skills pre-post test to measure the participants' creative writing skills. It was administered to them before and after the experiment. The mean scores of the pre-post administrations of the test were treated statistically. The result of data analysis indicated that the experimental group outperformed the control group in the overall required creative writing skills. In the light of the findings of the study, the researchers recommended the use of small learning communities for developing creative writing skills in secondary stage.

Six conditions for successful career academies

Career academies — small learning communities within high schools that introduce students to specific industry sectors — have become a popular way to expand career education. Yet certain institutional, economic, and social factors can inhibit their viability and scalability. Michael Lanford and Tattiya Maruco conducted a yearlong qualitative study of career academies in Southern California to identify six conditions that are necessary for establishing and maintaining a career academy that has a positive influence on students and the community.

Career Academies: Effective Structures to Promote College and Career Readiness

Career academies promote smaller learning communities within high schools, creating personalized learning environments while promoting students’ readiness for college and careers. After describing the career academy structure, we present four research-based aspects that can assist school leaders and teachers in developing and implementing academies. We include practical examples from the Metro Nashville Public Schools, noting how educators have collaborated with civic agencies, businesses, and postsecondary partners to increase the graduation rate and improve student learning outcomes. Career academies can be effective in preparing students for college and careers, while also providing economic benefits to the community.

Border-less Classroom, an Experiential Approach to Entrepreneurial Education: A Pilot Study in Enhancing Chinese Students Entrepreneurial Skills

The global economy is embracing more international collaboration as technology and communication have linked countries and made the world smaller. Business and government collaborations are not alone, institutions of higher education around the world have also moving closer to each other through varied cooperative programs. Some institutions of higher education are experimenting with new approaches to learning and teaching through a technology enhanced delivery method. This paper offers an outcome assessment of a new method of an experimental/experiential pilot study where students from a university in Guangdong, China have created a small learning community and learned via WebEx technology varied topics in entrepreneurship including finance, management, and marketing. Facilitated by two faculty members from a private university in Southern California and a faculty member in Guangdong province, students were able to create a business plan, get a starting capital, started a small business, sold varied cosmetics’ products, and made some money. The paper concluded that border-less cooperation coordinated through a web technology based delivery method helped make education relevant to students' understanding of the subject of entrepreneurship as well as helped motivated them to succeed as the U.S. faculty shared their entrepreneurial knowledge. Based on quantitative analysis of the results coupled with students’ testimonials, the paper suggests that this border-less experiential learning collaboration has positive outcomes to students.

Doctoral students’ agency as second language writing teachers: The quest for expertise

Since the 1980s, when the field of second language writing (SLW) began to establish itself as a discipline in its own right, much has been learned about SL writers and their writing. However, there has been relatively little focus on teachers of SLW, including their experiences with teacher agency. In the study reported here, we focus on a group that is even less examined: graduate teaching assistants assigned to teach writing courses in English as a Second Language (ESL) programs. More specifically, we look at three international graduate teaching assistants and their teacher agency, which we explored through their participation in a small professional learning community and in relationship to their quest to develop expertise as SLW teachers. Our findings illustrate how understanding of teacher agency can be enhanced by making connections between expertise and agency, particularly adaptive expertise.

Mission on the Move for Justice and Peace

Mission on the move: Toward witnessing in religiously plural societies "Mission on the Move" means mission still moving out of traditional perceptions of what mission is; and if "witness" is a new word for mission, it means re-conceptualizing what "witness" means in multi-faith/ religiously plural societies. This is a difficult process as the concept of "mission" carries with it a long history and biblical authority. Further, it has often been aligned with political powers and misused for non-religious purposes. Its practice has focused on converting the other into one's own religious likeness rather than sharing (in a variety of ways) the transformative power of the gospel in one's own life. The European Project for Interreligious Learning (EPIL) is an educational project for Christian and Muslim women from five countries in Europe and the Middle East. It is a two-year intensive learning process that was originally developed and launched as a cooperation by the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Protestant Academy Boldern, Switzerland. It owes much to concepts of ecumenical learning and "Learning in Community" and to the liberation pedagogy of Paulo Freire. The first phase of this project (comprising three cycles) took place 2000-2013. In the course of each two-year cycle, participants spent five weeks in live-in situations where they had to deal with cultural and religious differences and explore how these might be harnessed to live more peacefully and fairly. "Interreligious dialogue and engagement should be the way for religions to relate to one another." This statement from the Birmingham Pluralist Summit (September 2003) (1) was the basis of the learning process. There would be no proselytizing and no attempt at missionization on either side. For the Christian participants in EPIL, this marked a relational shift from "mission" (as a hierarchical relationship) to witnessing in the form of presence to and with "the other." Learnings about religion became narratives and conversation--telling each other what religion meant concretely in the lives of participants. It was a work of "translation" that taught students more and at a deeper level about their own faiths than about the faith of the respective other. At the same time it heightened the students' sense of respect, even awe at the richness of religious experiences. And in the course of time it developed into something close to "the communication of love in action," (2) an attentiveness to the needs of the other woman, her limitations, her potential, and the realization of her humanness. If the classical response to "the other" used to be fear of difference (with all the consequences, including suppression and even elimination of the other) there has occurred a shift to valuing diversity, to perceiving it as enriching and helpful in solving the many problems of daily living together. In the discourse developing on a pluralist "theology of religions"/ "interreligious theology" we observe a shift from holding one's own religious truths as only truths (exclusivist approach) to acknowledging that "the great world religions with their diverse teachings and practices constitute authentic paths to the supreme Good." (3) To be "on the move" then could refer in a sense to a concept of living together in complex societies with a multitude of cultural expressions and religious beliefs. A concept that allows us to be attentive to insights and ideas emerging in many locations and that preserves a certain fluidity and openness to different ways of life and different approaches to problem solving. This works on the assumption that cooperation, respect, and acceptance of the different religious perspectives can produce results that draw all into the process of building life together within a culture of justice and peace. Being "on the move": EPIL's pedagogical concept In the educational process of EPIL, being on the move has been the most decisive factor. …

Reflective Peer Mentoring: Evolution of a Professional Development Program for Academic Librarians

For librarians engaged in teaching and learning, reflection has the potential to create opportunities to examine one’s instructional practice, identify and address challenges, and find new instructional pathways. It can also lead to a deeper understanding of one’s teaching. As valuable as it is, it can be challenging for librarians to find time to deeply contemplate instruction experiences. In the fast-paced environment of academic libraries, reflection is too often passed over as we rush from one teaching experience to the next. Recognizing the value of reflective practice, a team of academic librarians at Memorial University created a peer mentoring program for librarians involved in information literacy and other forms of teaching. The goal was to create an inviting and collaborative environment for exploring and developing instructional self-awareness by working with librarian colleagues. The resulting Reflective Peer Mentoring (RPM) program requires minimal librarian time yet offers satisfying opportunities for brainstorming, problem solving, and reflection by bringing colleagues together into small co-mentored learning communities. This paper explores the successful evolution of this peer-based, collegial approach to reflection. It describes the inspiration and experimentation that led to the eventual creation of the RPM model, including Reflective Teaching & Observation (RTO), an earlier program founded on peer observation and collaborative exploration. It also describes the foundational principles that form the basis for the RPM program as well as the three-step framework on which it is structured. Finally, the article examines the information gathered and lessons learned from assessment of the program during the first year of implementation.

Supporting Young Adolescents’ Middle-to-High-School Transition by Creating a Ninth Grade Community of Care: Implications for Middle Grades Educators

Authors discuss the importance of middle-to-high school transitions and highlight the importance of collaboration between middle and high school teachers as essential for healthy adolescent development beyond the middle grades.Difficulties associated with the middle-to-high-school transitionThe middle-to-high-school transition and the first year of high school are critical periods in students' lives. According to the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB), passage of students from the middle grades to high school is the most difficult transition point in education (2002, p. 24). Although there are many different types of grade configurations, most students make the transition into high school between eighth and ninth grade. Regardless of grade configuration, many incoming high school students are deciding whether to stay or leave school during the first weeks of the school year (Hertzog & Morgan, 1999). Ninth grade failure rates are as high as 40% in many lower-performing, high-poverty urban schools throughout the United States (Balfanz & Letgers, 2004). Nationwide, 30% of all freshmen do not graduate high school with a diploma (EPE Research Center, 2006), and 6% of all dropouts leave school by the beginning of their 10th grade year (Mizelle, 1999). One possible reason this period of schooling is so difficult is a potential developmental mismatch between students' needs and their new, often larger, and traditionally organized high school environment (Eccles, 2004; Eccles & Midgley, 1989; Eccles et al., 1993; National Association of Secondary School Principals, 2006). It is vitally important that high schools implement structures and programs that ease the transition and allow school personnel to get to know incoming students; meet their developmental needs, including their social and academic needs (Eccles et al., 1993); and encourage them to become valued, integrated members of a caring community at school (Battistich, Solomon, Watson, & Schaps, 1997; Schussler & Collins, 2006). A community of care can be defined as a school culture in which students and teachers care about and support each other, individuals' needs are satisfied within a group setting, and members feel a sense of belonging and identification with the group (Ellerbrock & Kiefer, 2010).National Middle School Association's This We Believe: Keys to Educating Young Adolescents (2010) highlights 16 characteristics of successful schools for young adolescents, including educators that understand the uniqueness of young adolescents, schools that organize into structures that help to promote meaningful relationships, and school environments that are established to promote emotional well-being. In recent years, high schools around the nation have recognized the importance of supporting their younger adolescent students' needs during the middle-to-high-school transition. High schools have begun implementing developmentally responsive school structures and programs (e.g., small learning communities) for ninthgrade students to help foster a personalized environment that meets the unique needs of adolescents, promotes a sense of community and care, and bolsters academic success. Middle grades educators can help students with this transition by gaining insight into how high schools are identifying the needs of young adolescents and by considering ways they can help meet those needs in collaboration with their high school colleagues (Hertzog & Morgan, 1999).Middle grades educators can teach foundational skills and ensure a sense of continuity to help young adolescents successfully navigate the middle-to-highschool transition. The purpose of this article is to share with middle level educators how one high school attempted to meet the needs of young adolescents by offering a transition program as part of a ninth grade small learning community. This article also highlights ways middle grades educators can help support students during this important period of transition. …

Where is the Learning in Smaller Learning Communities? Academic Press, Social Support for Learning, and Academic Engagement in Smaller Learning Community Classrooms

The extent to which smaller learning communities' (SLCs) focus on academic press and strong social relationships affects academic engagement among 9th graders in urban high schools was investigated. Data were collected through classroom observations, student questionnaires, and focus groups with teachers. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, multiple regression analysis, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and content analysis of focus group interviews. Results indicated moderate to low levels of academic press, social supports, and engagement. Students experiencing high levels of academic press were more academically engaged, but social support was not confirmed as a key factor in academic engagement. Focus group data indicated that much of the press and social support was attributable to the individual efforts of teachers, sometimes in spite of the SLC structure. Additionally, factors affecting engagement emerged, including teacher and student rapport, the relevance and complexity of the curriculum, and student ethnicity.

Collaborative Tagging of Java Learning Resources

With the advent of Web 2.0 technologies, new applications have emerged that provide Internet users with the power to create content. This study focuses on a specific kind of Web 2.0 application, which is social bookmarking and tagging, and evaluates its educational use within the boundaries of a small Java learning community. Using activity theory, the activity system is defined and the interaction between its components is studied. Furthermore, the findings suggest that such a system could be used as a course tool to create a pool of negotiated and accepted keywords supporting appropriate, effective and efficient retrieval of Java resources.

Transforming teaching into scholarship

Traditionally, scholarship has been defined very narrowly as the number of one's publications and grant awards. Recently this definition has broadened to include dissemination of knowledge, experience or a tangible product shared with the educational community. In an effort to enhance our own educational development, in 2005 we formed a 'community of practice' centred on teaching. The group was formed to share ideas, to reflect on teaching experiences and to transmit new knowledge to other clinician-educators within our paediatrics department. By examining what we do as clinicians and teachers, we were able to gather information about how we teach and how our students learn. As we reflected on this information within our small learning community, we began to realise the value of other people's input as a great source of learning. One of our first activities as a community was to develop a series of conferences on clinical teaching. We also asked ourselves how we could transform what we were doing into educational scholarship. It occurred to us that the conference topics could be the chapters of a book. Therefore, we chose to create a handbook that was a 'learning journal' on teaching. We transformed the initial list of conference topics to scholarship by using a three-phase model for transforming teaching into scholarship. Using this framework, we have demonstrated how clinician-educators can transform teaching activities into scholarship, and how important a community of practice can be for professional development.