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Student participation has been an important issue for information literacy (IL) teachings. The purpose of this paper is to promote active student participation in IL courses with Rain Classroom, an intelligent teaching tool.

Using mixed method research, the paper presents a practical case study of the author’s experiences with Rain Classroom to improve teaching and learning of IL.

The study shows that Rain Classroom helps implement problem-based learning, promote student participation in class interaction and optimize learning experience, which facilitates a shift of the IL course from passive to active learning.

It is known that university public courses have large class sizes (more than 50 students per class), and, therefore, class interaction is difficult to organize. So this is a big issue for the researchers to study.

The proposed Rain Classroom is a free teaching tool and can be used in other academic libraries to enhance active student participation in IL lessons.

The paper includes implications for improving interaction in large-size conference or trainings using Rain Classroom.

The existing literature has not traced the reports on using the Rain Classroom to enhance student participation in IL courses in academic libraries. This paper intends to fill this gap and share practical methods and experiences, deepening the application research of Rain Classroom.

In 2014, Turkish policymakers implemented a policy change in the school inspection system that encouraged school principals to conduct classroom observations and provide feedback to teachers as a means to improve teaching. However, the question of whether or to what extent such feedback has an impact on teaching has not previously been researched. The study presented in this article scrutinizes the relationship between classroom observation feedback from principals and teachers’ classroom practices, as well as the mediating role of teachers’ self-efficacy in terms of instructional practices, student engagement and classroom management.

Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling are employed to examine the relationship among principals’ feedback, teacher self-efficacy and teachers’ instructional practices using data from the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS), compiled by the OECD in 2018.

These analyses indicate a small but significant direct correlation between principals’ feedback and teachers’ instructional practices, as well as an indirect relationship mediated by teacher self-efficacy in instructional practices.

The findings support the policy shift in Turkey by concluding that classroom observation feedback from principals makes contributions to the improvement of instructional practices.

This study establishes a connection between teachers’ classroom practices and leadership behaviors, which has not been extensively researched in developing nations.

Teachers in the USA have been conducting lesson study for more than ten years since it was introduced from Japan in the late 1990s. Although interest in conducting lesson study in the USA is still strong and greater numbers of teachers have become involved in this professional learning, there are significant obstacles to conducting high quality and effective lesson study that enhances teachers’ content and pedagogical knowledge, as well as improving their instruction and student learning in classrooms. Because of the needs of improvement in lesson study in the USA, so it can be administered effectively and sustained, the purpose of this paper is to discuss the current status of lesson study in the USA, what high quality and effective lesson study is, and what ideas might be help to improve lesson study in the USA.

In this paper, issues that are common barriers to conducting effective lesson study, such as: US teachers’ misunderstanding or lack of understanding of lesson study; teachers’ insufficient knowledge of content, pedagogical content, curriculum knowledge; lack of support from administrators for lesson study; non‐systematic approach to implement lesson study; and having short‐sighted vision to conduct lesson study will be discussed. The discussions are based on the author's 12 years of experience working with teachers, schools, and school districts in the USA, interactions and information exchanges with other lesson study educators and researchers and professional development coordinators in schools and districts in the USA, and existing research documents in the USA. Through this discussion, the author attempts to provide suggestions for improving lesson study in the USA.

In order for lesson study to be successful, teachers need to think of lesson study as a way to improve their own learning as well as student learning. Spending more time studying mathematical content and curriculum, developing a strong pedagogical content knowledge with colleagues, and establishing a professional community of learning through lesson study will help it to be effective for improving classroom teaching and learning.

The paper provides some helpful suggestions for improving quality and effectiveness of lesson study in order to improve: classroom teaching – teacher's content, pedagogical content and curriculum knowledge; and student learning. The paper is particularly valuable for lesson study practitioners, and administrators and staff developers who are implementing lesson study in schools.

This study focused on the impact of principals' leadership content knowledge, evaluation practices and teachers' professional learning activities on classroom instruction.

Data were collected from 425 teachers who worked in 46 elementary and lower secondary public schools within two provinces in Turkey. Teachers were asked to fill out a questionnaire on principals’ leadership content knowledge, evaluation feedback, professional learning activities and changed instructional practices. This study employed multilevel structural equation modeling (MSEM) by using the Bayesian estimation method to analyze the research hypotheses.

Findings indicate that if teachers perceive the evaluation progress as more useful, then they will participate in more professional learning activities, and they will be more effective in their classroom practices. This study also indicates that teachers' professional learning activities stimulate their instructional practices.

Although the number of schools and teachers allows using multilevel analysis, it limits the findings generalized beyond the sample. To compensate for this limitation, the author confirmed that the sample was representative of the larger population by examining the size of students and teachers, SES and teachers' job experience. The author also conducted a Bayesian estimator to strengthen the test of significance of effects.

This study underlines the critical role of leadership content knowledge in evaluating practices and providing useful feedback perceived by teachers in elementary and secondary schools. Principals should lead to instruction by knowing how to address a lack of teachers' pedagogical content knowledge and classroom practices. The Ministry of Education should support principals in becoming effective instructional leaders to observe teachers and provide them meaningful feedback on teaching.

Despite increased interest in this construct, research on principals' and teachers' responses to adapt the recent form of teachers’ performance evaluation systems is scant, especially in developing countries’ context. Moreover, little is known about the paths through which principals can enhance classroom practices by providing useful feedback. Given these trends in policy and practice context, this study provides empirical evidence that principals can enact the teachers' performance evaluation that affects classroom instruction.

This study explores the factors that promote university teachers' switching intention from a traditional classroom to a smart classroom based on the push–pull–mooring (PPM) framework to enrich the theoretical research on the smart classroom and provide a reference for smart classroom promotion.

The proposed conceptual framework was developed from a comprehensive review of the related literature. This study tested and validated the proposed framework using a partial least square structural equation model based on 269 valid questionnaires.

(1) Perceived inefficiency, inquiry-based learning, future expectation and technical self-efficacy had significant effects on switching intention, while low participation, perceived usefulness and habit had no significant effects on university teachers’ switching intention in the smart classroom. (2) In the process of decision-making, the course category significantly moderates the impact of perceived inefficiency and technical self-efficacy on switching intention, while the user experience of smart classrooms significantly moderates the impact of perceived inefficiency on switching intention.

This study explains university teachers' switching intention from a traditional classroom to the smart classroom, which enriches the application area of the PPM framework.

Purpose – The author examines the implementation and characteristics of teacher evaluation and explores their associations with improvement in teachers’ practice of constructivist instruction.Methodology – This quantitative study uses statewide longitudinal Teachers’ Opportunity to Learn survey data collected in 2009 and 2010 from middle school mathematics teachers in Missouri and estimates a series of value-added models with two-level Hierarchical Linear Modeling.Findings – Teachers in this study were mainly evaluated by principals who conducted classroom observations and held face-to-face meetings to evaluate teaching practice and professional development activities. The study provides empirical evidence and support for the use of multiple evaluators with multiple evaluation data and outcomes in teacher evaluation. Additionally, it highlights the potential benefits of focusing on teachers’ instructional data instead of student achievement in teacher evaluation in order to improve their teaching practice.Research limitations – This study focused on middle school mathematics teachers in a single state in the United States. Whether these findings can be generalized to teachers of other subject areas or grades, or to states with different policy contexts, or to countries with country-specific structural, cultural, and social differences is unknown.Value – This study is the first effort to systematically examine teacher evaluation practices across a single state and provide empirical evidence on the relationships between the implementation characteristics of teacher evaluation and improvement in teachers’ instructional practice. Findings of this study provide school, district, state, federal, and international policymakers and administrators with important, up-to-date information on teacher evaluation at the middle-school level in the United States.

The purpose of this paper is to show the relevance of teachers’ extra role behaviour towards improving students’ learning efficacy status. This study examines the intervening role of art-based teaching pedagogies, i.e. involvement of different forms of art during the traditional teaching session between extra role behaviour and students’ learning efficacy.

The statistical test results showed that teachers’ extra role behaviour is significant for improving and strengthening students’ learning efficacy. Further, the moderation analysis showed that if art is integrated with teachers’ extra role behaviour, the effect on learning efficacy of students will increase. Art-based teaching pedagogies suggest involvement of art in teaching practices. Multiple regression analysis was conducted to evaluate the direct effect of extra role behaviour on students’ learning efficacy with the intervening role of art-based teaching pedagogies.

Results indicated a linear effect of teachers’ extra role behaviour on students’ learning efficacy and that art-based teaching pedagogies had an indirect effect (mediation) on students’ learning efficacy.

The study will bridge the gap between academic initiatives taken and its overall implementation in primary and secondary schools.

Elementary schools have been confronted with large-scale educational reforms as strategies to improve the educational quality. While building school-wide capacity for improvement is considered critical for changing teachers’ classroom practices, there is still little empirical evidence for link between enhanced school capacity for improvement and instructional change. In this study, the authors examined the impact of school improvement capacity on changes in teachers’ classroom practices over a period of time. Leadership practices, school organizational conditions, teacher motivation and teacher learning were used to measure school-wide capacity for improvement. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Mixed-model analysis of longitudinal data over a four years (2005-2008) period of time from 862 teachers of 32 Dutch elementary schools were used to test the impact of school improvement capacity on changing teachers’ instructional practices.

The results showed that organizational-level conditions and teacher-level conditions play an important, but different role in changing teachers’ classroom practices. Whereas teacher factors mainly affect changes in teachers’ classroom practices, organizational factors are of significant importance to enhance teacher motivation and teacher learning.

More longitudinal research is needed to gain better insight into the opportunities and limits of building school-wide capacity to stimulate instructional change.

By encouraging teachers to question their own beliefs, facilitating opportunities for teachers to work together to solve problems, and through the promotion of shared decision making, school leaders can reinforce the personal and social identification of teachers with the organization. As a consequence, teachers will feel increasingly committed and are more willing to change their classroom practices. Additionally, school leaders can use the findings from this study and the related instrument as a tool for school self-evaluation.

This paper contributes to a deeper understanding of the nature of changes in conditions for school improvement and its influence on changes in teachers’ instructional practices over a period of time.

The paper discusses the influence of instructional leadership on effective teacher teaching practices and learning outcomes. In particular, the paper examines one of the instructional leadership practices, namely teaching evaluation, and seeks to investigate the influence on the effective teacher practices and on the achievement of 6th grade primary school students studying mathematics in the Cyprus educational system.

A quantitative research approach was deemed appropriate and employed for the purpose of the research subject, and in particular for the type of questions studied. Data were collected from 81 principals, 139 6th grade teachers and 1,553 students in the Cyprus educational system. In addition, data analysis was performed using structural equation models (SEM).

The instructional leadership approach assumes that principal evaluations influence high learning outcomes. Findings demonstrated that the principal evaluation has a positive and statistically significant impact on effective teaching practices and student achievement.

It is important to acknowledge that in the Cyprus educational leadership field the corellation among the instructional leadership, the effective teaching practices of teachers and the students achievements were not examined through the above parameters. Furthermore, the survey provided important insights into the principals, teachers, pupils and, more generally, on Cyprus's educational policy.

The purpose of the paper is to report the findings of a synthesis of literature reviews and stakeholder interviews conducted in Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The synthesis provides an overview of instructional leadership policy and practice in these six countries.

This paper reports the findings of a systematic literature review, and participant interviews, in six sub-Sahara African countries. The research links to the British Council's initiative to develop instructional leadership in developing contexts, including the six countries featured in this submission.

The findings show diverse policy and practice of instructional leadership in these African contexts. Three have no explicit policies on this important leadership construct, while the others have relevant policy statements but limited evidence of instructional leadership practice.

The research provides an overview of instructional leadership policy and practice in these six countries, but more school-based research is required to develop grounded evidence on whether and how this is practiced. The pandemic inhibited such school-based research in 2020. The study provides emerging evidence of the impact of instructional leadership on school and student outcomes, confirming what is known from international research.

Developing awareness of how instructional leadership can improve student learning, linked to appropriate training, could lead to more effective schools.

The Sustainable Development Goals stress the importance of high quality education for economic and social development. Leadership is an important aspect of quality, and the research reported in this paper shows the potential for instructional leadership to enhance student learning.

This is the first cross-national study of instructional leadership in sub-Saharan Africa.