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LEAD - Learning Enhancement and Academic Development

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://eresearch.qmu.ac.uk/handle/20.500.12289/14083

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2012 - 20142

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End date: 2019Subject: search.filters.subject.Professional Development

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    Using a community of practice for teacher professional development in the United Arab Emirates
    (Analytrics, 2012) Gitsaki, Christina; Donaghue, Helen; Wang, Ping; Boufoy-Bastick, Béatrice
    Achieving teacher transformation through professional development training programs is not always guaranteed. Research has shown that teacher transformative learning is more likely to occur through professional interactions with colleagues and critical reflection. Such processes can help teachers develop new knowledge, change their previous beliefs about teaching, implement new strategies in class, and improve their classroom teaching practice. A Community of Practice (CoP) professional development model provides an environment where such learning can be achieved. While popular in the West, the CoP model is underused in parts of the world that have traditional educational systems, such as the Middle East. This chapter reports on a teacher professional development program using a CoP model designed to provide training on classroom teaching strategies and techniques to 25 college teachers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The chapter first describes the process of the CoP program and then reports on the results of an investigation of the participants’ attitudes towards the program and the content of the training sessions as well as how they implemented the specific teaching techniques in their classes.
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    Reflecting on mobile learning: A community of practice approach
    (HCT Press, 2014-11) Donaghue, Helen; Dowling, Sean; Donaghue, Helen; Gunn, Cindy; Raven, John; Hayhoe, Simon
    The recent (and sudden) introduction of iPads into HCT Foundations classrooms meant that teachers had to become efficient iPad users very quickly. More importantly, they also had to work out how to adapt their teaching practice to incorporate the use of these mobile devices. To support teachers in this endeavor and to encourage teacher learning, a community of practice (CoP) group was set up at Sharjah Men’s College (SMC) where teachers met regularly to reflect on, share experiences of, and share best practice in the pedagogical use of iPads. This article describes the implementation of the CoP group and reports on data results from recordings of meetings with CoP participants.