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Book part
Publication date: 4 August 2021

Rohit Setty

This chapter focuses on one particular practice that came to the forefront in over a dozen teacher education sessions with government schoolteachers in southern India- the…

Abstract

This chapter focuses on one particular practice that came to the forefront in over a dozen teacher education sessions with government schoolteachers in southern India- the reflective practice “Dialogic Modeling.” This chapter delves into two primary facets of dialogic modeling: how it operates and how it fosters opportunities to study the practices being modeled. To help supporters’ and critics’ reading, this chapter examines the form of several episodes of dialogic modeling. By form, the author refers to terms such as logic, structure, and conditions. This form and function analytic is critical to recognizing the mechanics of the practice, and provides an understanding of how a reflective dialogic practice can operate. The chapter also takes up why this form matters for how teachers learn to do their work, and how doing the work of teaching can be bolstered through reflective practice. By doing so, the chapter aims to provide additional warrants for the claims that teacher education can, and likely should, involve teacher-learners in the deliberate study of principled practices. Moreover, the author argues that modeling as it is commonly done leaves much to chance and squanders the opportunity to learn and build teachers’ capacities.

Details

Building Teacher Quality in India: Examining Policy Frameworks and Implementation Outcomes
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80071-903-3

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 29 October 2021

Ariel Cornett and Alexa M. Quinn

Using morning meeting, an evidence-based practice that is part of the responsive classroom (RC) approach, the authors (two teacher educators [TEs]) created opportunities for…

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Abstract

Purpose

Using morning meeting, an evidence-based practice that is part of the responsive classroom (RC) approach, the authors (two teacher educators [TEs]) created opportunities for teacher candidates (TCs) to experience representations, decompositions and approximations of practice in multiple iterations of an elementary social studies methods course.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors detail how TEs can expose TCs to social studies content (e.g. the National Council for the Social Studies themes) that can be incorporated into structured, daily classroom routines, such as morning meeting.

Findings

The authors include TE-created morning meeting facilitation guides with components such as a morning message, greeting, share, group activity and theme justification. Furthermore, the authors outline TCs' reflections on planning and implementing a morning meeting with a partner in addition to their own reflections on the TCs' feedback.

Originality/value

This work has implications related to TEs and TCs in elementary social studies methods courses as well as current and future students in elementary classrooms.

Details

Social Studies Research and Practice, vol. 17 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1933-5415

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 October 2020

Yuxiang Chris Zhao, Yan Zhang, Jian Tang and Shijie Song

In the domain of information science, affordance is a relatively new concept that deserves further exploration. It may serve as a bridge to narrow the research-practice gap that…

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Abstract

Purpose

In the domain of information science, affordance is a relatively new concept that deserves further exploration. It may serve as a bridge to narrow the research-practice gap that has persisted in information studies. Building upon previous research, we call for a broader concept of affordance that would help researchers understand information practices from an ecological perspective.

Design/methodology/approach

The study focuses on conceptualizing affordances for information practices in order to theorize engagement among people, technology, and sociocultural environments. We develop a hierarchical model and a component model to illustrate how key tenets of affordances can be linked with the decomposition of activities and its mechanism. Following this, we describe an illustrative case of a popular Chinese cloud-based music platform to demonstrate the utility of our conceptual frameworks in guiding studies of information practices.

Findings

The study proposes to shift the focus of technology affordances, which highlights the features and functions of particular technologies, to the affordances for practices that are enacted through technology and social construction within a sociocultural environment. The illustrative case of the cloud-based music platform shows that the proposed models can provide a structured view of operations, actions and motives for music information practices. The processes of internalization and externalization offer insight into the decomposition of information practice as a chain of activity-action-operation.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the literature on theorizing engagement among people, technology and sociocultural environments through the theoretical lens of affordances and sheds new light on the challenges of information practice.

Details

Journal of Documentation, vol. 77 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0022-0418

Keywords

Abstract

Purpose

To advance the learning of professional practices in teacher education and medical education, this conceptual paper aims to introduce the idea of representational scaffolding for digital simulations in higher education.

Design/methodology/approach

This study outlines the ideas of core practices in two important fields of higher education, namely, teacher and medical education. To facilitate future professionals’ learning of relevant practices, using digital simulations for the approximation of practice offers multiple options for selecting and adjusting representations of practice situations. Adjusting the demands of the learning task in simulations by selecting and modifying representations of practice to match relevant learner characteristics can be characterized as representational scaffolding. Building on research on problem-solving and scientific reasoning, this article identifies leverage points for employing representational scaffolding.

Findings

The four suggested sets of representational scaffolds that target relevant features of practice situations in simulations are: informational complexity, typicality, required agency and situation dynamics. Representational scaffolds might be implemented in a strategy for approximating practice that involves the media design, sequencing and adaptation of representational scaffolding.

Originality/value

The outlined conceptualization of representational scaffolding can systematize the design and adaptation of digital simulations in higher education and might contribute to the advancement of future professionals’ learning to further engage in professional practices. This conceptual paper offers a necessary foundation and terminology for approaching related future research.

Article
Publication date: 4 January 2023

Dazhi Yang, Chareen Snelson and Shi Feng

This paper aims to identify computational thinking (CT) in 4th to 6th grade students in the context of project-based problem-solving while engaged in an after-school program.

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to identify computational thinking (CT) in 4th to 6th grade students in the context of project-based problem-solving while engaged in an after-school program.

Design/methodology/approach

This case study approach was selected due to its suitability for answering “how” or “why” questions about real-world phenomena within a set context (Creswell and Poth, 2018; Yin, 2018). This was an appropriate fit given the context of an after-school program and the research question asked how to identify learners’ demonstrated CT through project-based learning hands-on activities and problem-solving in a naturalistic environment.

Findings

Results show that heuristics, algorithms and conditional logic were observed more than other components of CT such as data collection, simulations and modeling. Descriptions of common activities in a naturalistic learning environment are presented to illustrate how the students practiced CT over time, which could help readers develop an understanding of CT in conjunction with hands-on problem-solving activities in elementary students. Identifying and classifying CT in this study focused on students’ learning process.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the challenging field of evaluating CT while focusing on observable behaviors and problem-solving activities with various degrees of teacher’s facilitation instead of final artifacts. Implications for researchers and educators interested in integrating CT in K-12 learning and its assessment are discussed.

Details

Information Discovery and Delivery, vol. 51 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2398-6247

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 22 August 2023

Caroline Daly, Polly Glegg, Beth Stiasny, Mark Hardman, Becky Taylor, Claire Pillinger and Haira Gandolfi

The paper provides analysis of the use of instructional coaching (IC) as a prevalent trend supporting new teachers in the English system and aims to inform ongoing policy…

Abstract

Purpose

The paper provides analysis of the use of instructional coaching (IC) as a prevalent trend supporting new teachers in the English system and aims to inform ongoing policy development and implementation. The qualitative study examines mentors' conceptualisations and enactment of the role of instructional coach and the readiness of mentors to assume mentors' key stakeholder roles in the professional education of early career teachers (ECTs).

Design/methodology/approach

Semi-structured interviews with 37 mentors explored mentors' understandings and experiences of becoming instructional coaches as part of a pilot support initiative to support ECTs in England. Two rounds of interviews were conducted to generate data related to the first six months of mentoring on the programmes. Thematic analysis identified seven semantic themes which describe manifest content found within the data and identify mentors' perceptions of their role and practice as instructional coaches. Three latent themes were developed from mentors' accounts which indicate challenges in becoming an instructional coach in this context.

Findings

Concern to apply IC “correctly” according to the programme models was a strong feature amongst both novice and experienced mentors. A key finding is the lack of explicit knowledge of professional learning pedagogies amongst mentors and insecure understanding of how new teachers learn. Assuming the role of instructional coach presented both benefits of having a “model” to follow and disadvantages in fostering limited and over-prescribed concepts and practices related to the learning of new teachers.

Research limitations/implications

The study investigated mentors during the first six months of a pilot programme and the paper reports on analysis of one type of data. The research results may lack generalisability, and a longitudinal study is necessary to further explore the validity of the findings.

Practical implications

Sustained, high-quality professional learning for mentors is crucial to mentors' role as instructional coaches to enable mentors to develop deep, critical understanding of how IC might support new teachers and how to exercise professional judgement in working with “models”. Judicious use of time and resource is needed to enable mentors to fulfil the potential of national mentoring programmes.

Originality/value

The study is timely in its examination of mentors that assume the role of instructional coach as one response to national policy development that makes support for ECTs mandatory. Such strategies have wide international relevance where the retention of new teachers is a policy priority.

Details

International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education, vol. 12 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2046-6854

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 February 1994

Ian Winfield

Examines how Toyota′s worldwide HRM practice has been developed tosustain the Toyota Production System. Explains how, in setting up theEuropean assembly plant in the UK, Toyota…

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Abstract

Examines how Toyota′s worldwide HRM practice has been developed to sustain the Toyota Production System. Explains how, in setting up the European assembly plant in the UK, Toyota has been faced with both strong forces for international consistency in HRM practices and strong local cultural forces calling for differentiation. Analyses this dialectic of forces by critically examining Toyota′s emergent HRM practices at its UK plant. These HRM practices are intended by the company to promote the four goals of employee integration with the organization; employee commitment; workforce flexibility and adaptability; and, finally, an emphasis on quality. Evaluates the evidence.

Details

Employee Relations, vol. 16 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0142-5455

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 27 May 2014

Susan D. Nickerson, Michael Fredenberg and Bridget Kinsella Druken

Lesson study in the USA provides a space for teachers to discuss classroom teaching with a goal of improving student learning. In general, US teachers’ professional lives are…

Abstract

Purpose

Lesson study in the USA provides a space for teachers to discuss classroom teaching with a goal of improving student learning. In general, US teachers’ professional lives are constrained by a lack of time for planning and observation. Within a lesson study context, we designed and utilized a web site to support and extend collaboration among teachers of mathematics at 26 school sites across two school districts. The purpose of this paper is to describe the lesson study context and share results of the investigation and affordances of the web site.

Design/methodology/approach

Through the use of a survey, discourse analysis, and grounded theory, we examined how teachers used the web site and how best to foster regular and inclusive participation.

Findings

The results reveal the web site spans time and distance. A significant percentage of the teachers used the web site for accessing resources, while a smaller fraction of teachers used the web site to discuss pedagogy and students’ mathematical thinking.

Originality/value

The work expands the descriptive knowledge base of lesson study efforts in the US with the hybrid lesson study model that addresses the time constraints of US teachers. Also, the work addresses the challenge of geographical distance associated with facilitating communication among teachers from multiple sites.

Details

International Journal for Lesson and Learning Studies, vol. 3 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2046-8253

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 March 2016

Monique Eissens-van der Laan, Manda Broekhuis, Marjolein van Offenbeek and Kees Ahaus

Applying “modularity” principles in services is gaining in popularity. The purpose of this paper is to enrich existing service modularity theory and practice by exploring how…

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Abstract

Purpose

Applying “modularity” principles in services is gaining in popularity. The purpose of this paper is to enrich existing service modularity theory and practice by exploring how services are being decomposed and how the modularization aim and the routineness of the service(s) involved may link to different decomposition logics. The authors argue that these are fundamental questions that have barely been addressed.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors first built a theoretical framework of decomposition steps and the design choices involved that distinguished six decomposition logics. The authors conducted a systematic literature search that generated 18 empirical articles describing 16 service modularity cases. The authors analysed these cases in terms of decomposition logic and two main contingencies: modularization aim and service routineness.

Findings

Only three of the 18 articles explicitly addressed the service decomposition by reflecting on the underlying design choices. By unravelling the decomposition in each case, the authors were able to identify the decomposition logic and found four of the six theoretically derived logics: single-level process oriented; single-level outcome oriented; multilevel outcome oriented; and multilevel combined orientation. Although the authors did not find a direct relationship between the modularization aim and the decomposition logic, the authors did find that single-level decomposition logics seem to be mainly applied in non-routine service offerings whereas the multilevel ones are mainly applied in routine service offerings.

Originality/value

By contributing to a common understanding of modular service decomposition and proposing a framework that explicates the design choices involved, the authors enable an enhanced application of the modularity concept in services.

Details

International Journal of Operations & Production Management, vol. 36 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-3577

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 28 February 2023

Jalandhar Pradhan, Kshirabdhi Tanaya Patra and Sasmita Behera

The purpose of this study is to examine the socio-economic inequalities that exist in the use of unhygienic menstrual practices in India and its states, as well as to identify the…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine the socio-economic inequalities that exist in the use of unhygienic menstrual practices in India and its states, as well as to identify the contribution of various socio-economic factors that leads to these inequalities.

Design/methodology/approach

Data from the National Family Health Survey-5 (2019–21) for 240,285 menstruating women aged 15–24 years is used to examine the above objectives. The concentration index for unhygienic menstrual practices is calculated to measure the socio-economic inequalities, which are then decomposed into their determining factors.

Findings

The state of Punjab experiencing the highest level of economic inequality, followed by Telangana and Haryana. The results from decomposition analysis suggest that rural residence (13%), illiteracy (7%), poor economic status (53%), not reading newspaper (12%) and not watching TV (14%) contribute 99% to the total socio-economic inequality in using unhygienic menstrual practices in India. The contribution of economic status to total inequalities is more in all the states except for Kerala and Mizoram, where caste and residence play an important role.

Originality/value

This paper signifies the role of economic inequality in the use of unhygienic menstrual practices in India as well as the contribution of various socio-economic factors contributing towards these inequalities. The results from decomposition analysis suggest the need for unique health intervention strategies for different states following the evidence of major contributions to total inequalities in the use of unhygienic menstrual practices.

Details

International Journal of Human Rights in Healthcare, vol. 16 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2056-4902

Keywords

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