This study describes the instructional resources that facilitated elementary teachers' integration of character education into their content standards-aligned curriculum. This single-site case study utilized qualitative data, including curricular materials, teacher interviews, and researchers' anecdotal notes from professional development sessions and committee meetings, collected from five teachers and one district character education coordinator, over the course of 1 year, as they designed and piloted the new character education-infused curriculum. Findings from this study indicated the importance of instructional resources for teachers to successfully integrate character education into an elementary, content standards-aligned curriculum. These resources include the provision of time for cross-grade level teacher collaboration, opportunities for co-teaching with a character education coordinator, utilizing literature to develop character traits, and community-based learning. The findings of this case study provide professional learning recommendations and resources for integrating character education into an elementary, content standardsaligned curriculum.

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Purpose This paper aims to investigate doctoral students’ perceptions of and satisfaction with their doctor of education program, specifically related to dissertation writing preparation. The results offer a complex picture that has implications for the design of doctoral education programs that aim to help students prepare for culminating academic writing products such as dissertations. Design/methodology/approach Qualitative data, by means of an anonymous online survey with open-ended questions, were used to ascertain 115 doctoral students’ writing experiences in a doctoral program at one university in the USA. Findings The findings of this study suggest the importance of intrapersonal factors, specifically the ability to engage in self-directed learning; interpersonal factors, such as peer and faculty support; and institutional factors, namely, faculty’s writing-based pedagogical practices, in supporting doctoral students’ academic writing. Practical implications This study suggests in addition to selecting and nurturing students’ ability to engage in self-directed learning, there are a number of specific strategies and practices doctoral faculty can engage in and use to prepare students for successful dissertation writing. Originality/value This study provides the perspective of former and existing doctoral students to illuminate the needs they perceive as they engage in dissertation writing. The study provides practical strategies based on common themes in student responses.

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What tools are available to foster independent and critical thought in the music classroom? We propose that visual mapping—a method of representing relationships and associations between a main concept and other ideas, subtopics, or examples—is an ideal tool for doing exactly this. After examining the principles and usefulness of mapping in a variety of contexts, we discuss several specific ways in which mapping might be implemented in teaching music. We argue that the central strength of mapping is its ability to encourage users to be explicit and metacognitive about their knowledge. As such, it can be part of a constructivist stance whereby the instructor creates a student-centered classroom in which learners are active, engaged participants in their education.