The Interactive Journal of Global Leadership and Learning Infographics

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  The effects of a Shared Vision of Teacher Leadership on Classroom Teachers’ Instruction

  Tiffany L. Bockelmann

  Many models of instructional teacher leadership exist in schools with various outcomes for teachers. The aim of this illustrative case study was to understand systemic alignment in a formal teacher leadership system and how this alignment impacted instructional change. This dissertation was framed by three research questions: 1) How do the rationales of teachers, teacher leaders, and administrators regarding teacher leadership in their school align? 2) How does the coherence of a system of leadership impact classroom teachers’ abilities to engage with formal teacher leaders? 3) How does the coherence of a system of leadership impact classroom teachers’ abilities to implement instructional changes?

  A qualitative case study was conducted utilizing semi-structured interviews in one rural school in Minnesota. The participants included one K–12 principal, two high school teacher leaders, two high school teachers, two elementary teacher leaders, and two elementary teachers, and a district Q Comp Coordinator. Role theory (Biddle, 1979) was the theoretical framework used to analyze the data. The findings yielded two scenarios: The elementary in which systemic alignment and a positive engaging culture was associated with the teachers’ willingness to implement instructional change; and the high school in which a slight variation in the shared vision regarding ownership rendered role conflict, periods of teacher-teacher leader disengagement, and teacher instructional changes dependent upon feelings of ownership and relevance.A coherent and shared vision of teacher leadership is one factor that impacts classroom teachers’ instruction.

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  Narrative Inquiry in Practice: A Study Identifying Themes of Persistence and Barriers in the Educational Journeys of American Indian Students in Higher Education

  Kristina Cirks

  Increasing in popularity, the use of narrative inquiry in qualitative research study offers a unique perspective and context in sharing lived experiences. This article utilizes a narrative inquiry study to improve the knowledge of why American Indian students have the lowest college graduation rates in the United States. These narratives helped define the barriers that have discouraged American Indian students from persisting in higher education. Predominantly, participants identified the lack of financial support, lack of cultural competency, emotional distress, time poverty, afraid to ask for help, afraid to succeed, and navigating through the college processes as barriers to their educational success. Additionally, the participants’ narratives identify themes of persistence that include the importance of having a role model, fear of failure, making the family proud, advancement opportunities, and support from family, friends, and cohorts. These barriers and themes of persistence provide a better insight into why American Indian students have the lowest advanced degree completion rates of any ethnic group. By delving into the personal educational journeys of seven American Indians at varying stages of their educational experience, rich narratives were created for the qualitative study and highlighted in this article.

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  Examining Teacher Leadership: Phenomenology of the Perceived Challenges of Being a Teacher Leader

  Noelle H. Green

  Today’s school leaders recognize that one person, mainly the principal, cannot adequately address the needs of all members of the school community. Many principals rely on teacher leaders to lead alongside them to further school improvement, knowing that the traditional way of thinking of school leadership as being the sole role of the principal is no longer effective or efficient. While K-12 teachers typically have a strong background in child development, psychology, and pedagogy, many lack experience in leading and facilitating adults and have little background in adult learning theory.

  The purpose of this research is to determine how K-12 teacher leaders perceive the challenges of leading and facilitating adults. Working within Knowles Andragogy Adult Learning Theory, this phenomenological qualitative study analyzed eight teacher leaders in North Dakota school districts. Data was collected through open-ended interview questions and analyzed through coding the transcriptions of the interviews. The data revealed the group descriptions of the challenges that teacher leaders face when working with adults. Recurring themes included a lack of preparation for a leadership role, a lack of clarity in the role, being treated differently by colleagues, the importance of establishing trust among colleagues, a lack of evaluative feedback from administrators, frustrations regarding authentic decision making, and obstacles faced when initiating change. The goal is that this study can be utilized to inform further research in the area of teacher leader development for both school districts and higher education institutions.

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  Designing Effective Online Courses: Exploring the Relationships Amongst Online Teaching Self-efficacy, Professional Development, Online Teaching Experience, and Reported Implementation of Effective Higher Education Online Course Design Practices

  Elizabeth McMahon

  How best to prepare and support higher education faculty to design and teach effective online courses is a topic of great significance to higher education institutional leaders and faculty developers. This study explored how hours of professional development along with online teaching and learning experiences were related to online teaching self-efficacy and the extent to which participants reported implementation of effective online course design practices. Using a non-experimental quantitative correlational explanatory research study design, data were collected using a questionnaire. Participants included 104 online faculty from a large public higher education system located in the upper Midwest that includes both community colleges and universities. The findings suggested that both online teaching self-efficacy and self-reported ratings of implementation of effective online course design practices were higher when individuals have completed at least 20 hours of professional development meant to prepare them to teach online, have experience as an online instructor and/or online learner, and have participated in a peer review of their online course. The findings offer insights into how those with varying levels of online teaching self-efficacy rate their online course design practices and suggest that faculty may not accurately self-assess their course design abilities. The results and implications for those who are planning for and providing professional development meant to prepare faculty to teach online are discussed.

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  Synching up on a Satisfaction: A Mixed Methods Study Exploring Synchronous Online Classroom Learning Satisfaction in the Corporate Training Environment

  Andrew Burklund

  Despite rapid evolution and innovation, “online learning” is no longer a universal term. There is a need to expand the existing research base to include subsets of online classrooms and include more diverse populations of learners. The overarching question for this study focused on synchronous online classroom satisfaction in a corporate setting. The researcher analyzed four years of historical learner- satisfaction data from post-class Level-1 satisfaction surveys from a Fortune 100 company. In total, 15,577 learner responses were collected, analyzed, and converged with data collected from employee focus groups related to synchronous online classroom satisfaction. The statistical analysis of learning satisfaction survey data yielded a significant difference in the scores reported by learners, with in-person classes receiving a higher overall score than synchronous online classes. The focus group results yielded a similar discovery, with participants indicating a preference for in-person classroom experiences and providing recommendations for improvement in the synchronous online classroom. Although there was a preference by a majority of the participants to attend trainings in-person, the majority also noted that they tended to feel a similar level of satisfaction for both modalities.

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  The Effects of Service-Learning on the Moral Development of College Students

  Mike Coquyt

  In the last few years, several national reports on higher education have called for colleges and universities to take a more central role in providing moral and democratic education to college students. These developments suggest a renewed interest in collegiate goals that go beyond those that benefit the individual, continuing an emphasis in addressing the moral dimension of higher education that has existed for centuries. Courses with a service-learning component can be a powerful instrument for moral transformation. Working within Kohlberg’s Moral Development Theory, this 16-week quasi-experimental case study investigated the extent to which service-learning advances moral development (movement from conventional to post conventional or principled judgment) in college students. Student outcomes were measured by using the Moral Judgment Interview (MJI) technique and follow-up interviews were conducted and analyzed. Results of this project suggest that students who participate in service learning projects reap many benefits, including enhanced personal skills, motivation to learn, and most important, an increased moral development. Further research into this area is needed to inform policies and practices of higher education institutions regarding the connection between moral development and service learning pedagogy.

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  Methods in Practice: Grounded Theory in Media Arts Education Research

  Kyja Kristjansson-Nelson

  Grounded theory qualitative research is a powerful method of practice, particularly for researchers aiming to explore complex processes through the perspectives and experiences of others. Grounded theory is also a powerful method of practice for researchers seeking to deepen a field of study in which the literature is thin and few theories exist. However, grounded theory is an often-overlooked research method, perhaps due to its inherent messiness. The purpose of this article is to demystify grounded theory practices by walking the reader through a grounded theory study conducted by the author in the field of media arts education. The study’s findings led to the development of The Theory of Dispositions in Filmmaking, which will be used to illustrate the data analysis process. The article will describe the process of moving from raw qualitative data to open, axial, and selective codes. The study will also demonstrate how techniques such as sketching can be used to develop figures and diagrams in order to draw connections between codes and cultivate the data’s visual narrative. Providing readers with an example of grounded theory methods in practice, specifically in the field of media arts education, will hopefully encourage additional studies in the realm of media arts research and education leadership, while also illustrating the methodological process for researchers new to grounded theory.

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  Full-Service Community School Intervention: Case Study of Somali Parent-School Engagement Within a Rural Midwestern School District

  Anne Leland

  The purpose of this three-stage qualitative phenomenology case study was to characterize Somali refugee parents’ understanding of their role in school-parent relationships and investigate the impact of a research-based parent involvement intervention model adapted for use with this study. Research questions included: 1) What are Somali refugee parents’ understanding, perceptions, and expectations of school parent involvement; and 2) Did the adapted training intervention, designed to enhance school-parent relationships and parent engagement behaviors among Somali refugee parents, succeed? Following an initial interview stage, Epstein’s School-Family-Community Partnership Model (2019) was adapted and used to design a training intervention that was delivered as a component of the district’s Community School model. The pre-training interview identified that none of twelve parents in the study had attended school in their home country or the United States. The Somali refugee parents reported that their lack of English skills caused difficulty for them to understand school policies, their child’s school progress, and teacher expectations. Coded and themed results from post-training interviews revealed the parent involvement training interventions had resulted in both increased parent engagement knowledge and behaviors. The study verified parent engagement barriers for Faribault Public Schools’ Somali parents, and the engagement trainings provided the study sample group with focused, evidenced-based knowledge, skills, and recommended actions. Recommendations for practice include aligning school-parent involvement activities with a comprehensive, structured approach such as the Epstein model and the thorough identification of parent engagement barriers for the targeted subpopulation.

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  Making Summer Learning Equitable for Students in a Rural, Title I School District: Turning on the Faucet of Resources

  Kathrina O'Connell

  This research explores summer learning loss and the effect of summer resources on students’ literacy growth. Using the faucet theory, this mixed methods sequential explanatory study was designed to provide equitable resources and educational support for students in grades five through eight in a rural, socioeconomically disadvantaged school district. Transportation, breakfast, lunch, books, and a literacy-focused enrichment program were coordinated and provided for all participants in an effort to reduce learning loss during summer break. The pragmatic approach to inquiry incorporated both quantitative (e.g., literacy outputs, registration, and attendance data) and qualitative data (e.g., parent open-ended question responses). Convenience sampling was used to recruit 97 students for this study. Summer learning gains were reported for two grade levels and three grade levels maintained above benchmark status throughout the summer. Students (74%) believed that their reading skills had improved and parents (100%) wanted the program to continue in the future. Registrations increased by 746%, retention increased by 34%, and daily participation increased by 18%. This study did not attempt to measure all factors that affect students’ summer learning, but factors that could reasonably be provided by a school district. Recommendations for practice include the provision of school-year resources and the delivery of enrichment-focused instruction during the summer months. Additional research is recommended to study the summer learning loss of male and female adolescent learners. In addition, continued research and multi-year studies are suggested for summer learning programs for adolescent learners.