School practitioners are increasingly expected to lead construction projects in their schools to create future learning spaces (FLSs) that support learning in today’s networked society. This study examined the process by which practitioners of one school developed their readiness to incorporate an FLS into the school via a long‐lasting research–practice partnership (RPP) that focused on co‐designing learning materials for contemporary teaching. To conceptualize this process, we introduce the Technology, Pedagogy, Content and Space (TPeCS) knowledge framework, which expands current conceptualizations of teaching expertise by tying them into the emerging field of FLSs. We interpret practitioners’ learning within a series of action–reaction progressive developments along a two‐year timeline of the partnership. Visits to an FLS, where researchers modeled, coached and then faded their guidance along this timeline played a key role in practitioners’ development of readiness to incorporate an FLS into their school. The pedagogical domain was the most challenging among all the dimensions of TPeCS. We conclude that school practitioners’ involvement leading FLS endeavors within their schools can serve as an unprecedented opportunity for practitioners to develop contemporary teaching skills, with FLSs serving as ideal spaces that make pedagogy visible. Practitioner NotesWhat is already known about this topic School practitioners are increasingly expected to participate in construction/renovation projects of FLSs. Teaching expertise is often conceptualized in terms of technological, pedagogical and content knowledge (TPaCK). What this paper adds A novel framework for conceptualizing teaching expertise as the competence to flexibly use knowledge that combines technological, pedagogical, content and space (TPeCS) considerations. The pedagogical component within TPeCS has a bottleneck quality. Reducing pedagogical gaps accelerates the development of other TPeCS components. Visits to state‐of‐the‐art FLSs, involving modeling, coaching and fading of expert guidance can foster practitioners’ development of TPeCS knowledge and competencies, increasing their readiness to incorporate FLSs into their schools. FLSs and specifically the use of large digital displays are ideal for making pedagogy visible. Implications for practice and/or policy School practitioners can, and should, be key players in leading FLS endeavors within their schools. When appropriately guided, this can serve as an unprecedented opportunity for practitioners to develop contemporary teaching skills
Extending teaching beyond the classroom walls has been known for its potential to promote inquiry learning in various disciplinary domains. Current technologies can enhance these benefits, especially by enabling supports for seamless learning between contexts. But even without technology, teachers tend to refrain from implementing outdoor inquiry due to the many complexities involved. To address this challenge, a design‐based research (DBR) was employed to develop and explore a teacher professional development (TPD) model for supporting teachers in designing TEL environments for outdoor inquiry. The study included two exploratory iterations, both implemented within TPD programs comprised of three stages (teachers‐as‐learners, teachers‐as‐designers, teachers‐as‐enactors). Analysis of the TEL environments' teachers designed in the first iteration revealed insufficient supports for students' seamless learning. Based on these findings, we developed the Supporting Outdoor Inquiry Learning (SOIL) guidelines to support teachers in designing seamless flows of activities for learning within and between four dimensions: scientific practices, outdoor learning, physical settings and social activity structures. Findings from the second iteration, in which the SOIL guidelines were embedded in each of the TPD stages, indicate that they enabled teachers to productively analyze and design TEL environments for outdoor inquiry.
This research explores the learning that took place in three hybrid universitylevel courses in education, which were designed according to three main designprinciples: (a)engage learners in peer instruction, (b)involve learners in assessment processes, and (c)reuse student artifacts as resource for further learning. These principles were employed in the courses in different manners according to the goals, contents, and target audience in each of the courses. About 40 graduate, and 260 undergraduate students participated in the study. Data-sources included collaborative and personal artifacts in the courses' sites (wikis, forums, and documents created by teams or individuals), researchers' reflective journal, surveys and interviews. We focus on the first design-principle, and show how learning was promoted by features designed according to this principle in each of the courses. We recommend course-designers and instructors in higher-education to use the design-principles identified and developed in this research to foster meaningful learning in other web-based courses.
In this study, we challenged science teachers' views of inquiry-based learning as being merely experimental, causal, and controlled. We studied science teachers enrolled in professional development programs that consisted of three different inquiry-based learning experiences in the outdoors: ecology, sociology, and archeology. These three cycles of investigation included online collaborative planning, fieldwork and collaborative online data analysis, and online communication. Data collection included pre-and post-PD, open-ended questionnaires, interviews and written reflections. Qualitative content analysis was informed by the literature referring to procedural and epistemic aspects of inquiry-based learning. Other themes that emerged from the data included the place of collaborative learning, the use of technology, and the contribution of the outdoor environment. We found a clear shift in teachers' views about inquiry which ranged from vague explanations and descriptions of inquiry as merely student-centered learning, to more sophisticated views. The teachers valued the outdoor environment highly for learning and provided interesting insights into how to integrate in-school and out-of-school learning. Collaborative learning supported by technology was perceived as an effective vehicle for meaningful learning. An incomplete shift into the highest epistemic explanations is explained by insufficient opportunities for face-to-face explicit discussions about scientific inquiry and inquirybased learning.
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