Jun. 28, 2012
Dear subscriber, 
MOFET ITEC Portal Newsletter

Dear Subscriber,

We are delighted to be sending you another issue of The MOFET ITEC Portal bulletin, presenting research findings and trends from the latest articles published in academic journals focusing on teacher education, pedagogy and instruction.

Registration is now open for The Online Academy for the Professional Development of Teachers and Teacher Educators. Next semester commences in October 2012, with various courses offered in English and Spanish.
Save your spot in one of our various courses for the improvement and development of your teaching skills!

Wishing you interesting and enjoyable reading,

The MOFET ITEC Portal Team

June 28, 2012 International Portal of Teacher Education
Please note: a complete list of recent additions to the portal follows the Featured Items.
June 2012
Featured Items
Riding on a Speeding Train? How Teacher Educators Perceive Teacher Education
The purpose of this article is to examine how teacher educators in Israel perceive current practices in teacher education. The authors designed a questionnaire to determine what teacher educators consider the basic components of teacher education and what they think about teacher education as practiced in their teaching institutions. The authors also asked them to provide metaphors that describe teacher education. Based on the findings, the authors claim that teacher educators in Israel generally believe in the importance of teacher education. The metaphorical level reveals tension between what exists and what is desired, representing a more pessimistic view.
Perspectives on the Integration of Technology and Assessment
This article examines a few of the emergent cases that have used technology in educational assessment from the perspective of innovation and support for teaching and learning. The assessment cases were drawn from contexts that include large-scale testing programs as well as classroom-based programs. Assessment programs should be designed to produce results that allow educators and policy makers to address a variety of questions about how a nation, state, district, school, program, group, or individual is performing. The article concludes that extensive technology-based systems that link curriculum, instruction, and assessment at the classroom level might enable a shift from today’s assessment systems to a balanced design.
The Prevailing Construct in Civic Education and Its Problems
The current article presents a construct that has served as the perspective by which civic education and government courses have been taught in American secondary schools. The author explains the construct of natural rights. The author's purpose here is pointing out the elements of the natural rights construct and critiquing its effects on the teaching of civics and government. Then, the author outlines the moral element and theoretical and curricular elements of the natural rights construct . Finally, the author provides a critique of the natural rights perspective.
Knowledge through a Collaborative Network: A Cross-Cultural Partnership
This article uses Campbell and Fulford's framework to examine links between research and practice in a collaborative cross-cultural partnership. The article describes a partnership between the School of Education at the Solomon Islands College of Higher Education and the University of Waikato. This paper attempts to develop a greater understanding of how knowledge mobilisation can take place when partners are from different cultures, when much communication has to take place through unreliable information and communication technologies, and when partners meet at intervals only.
Challenges in Teaching for Critical Multicultural Citizenship: Student Teaching in an Accountability-Driven Context
The purpose of this paper is to examine how three preservice teachers who supported the tenets of critical multicultural citizenship negotiated the constraints they encountered when trying to teach for this kind of citizenship in an urban school classroom. Participants in this study negotiated constraints, mostly contextual, by de-emphasizing teaching to the test, finding ways to sneak in critical and multicultural social studies knowledge and contemporary issues into the curriculum, and incorporating multiple perspectives as a way to increase critical inquiry while teaching the facts necessary for standardized tests.
Assessment of a University-Based Distance Education Mentoring Program from a Quality Management Perspective
In this article, the authors describe and evaluate the efficacy of a unique program designed to mentor university faculty in online instruction. In the DEMP, learning about teaching online takes place when faculty members who possess superior knowledge of instructional design serve as mentors. The mentors engage with protégés, professors who are newer or less experienced in online education. The results of this study indicate that the DEMP is effective.
June 2012
All Recent Items
Multiculturalism & Diversity
Challenges in Teaching for Critical Multicultural Citizenship: Student Teaching in an Accountability-Driven Context

Professional Development

Teachers’ Attitudes toward Pedagogical Changes during Various Stages of Professional Development
Discourse Communities: A Framework from which to Consider Professional Development for Rural Teachers of Science and Mathematics
Stimulating Professional Learning through Teacher Evaluation: An Impossible Task for the School Leader?
Teacher Job Satisfaction and Motivation to Leave the Teaching Profession: Relations with School Context, Feeling of Belonging, and Emotional Exhaustion

Teacher Education & Instruction

Teachers Attending to Students’ Mathematical Reasoning: lessons from an After-School Research Program
Acting as Accountable Authors: Creating Interactional Spaces for Agency Work in Teacher Education
A Multilevel Analysis of the Impact of a Professional Learning Community, Faculty Trust in Colleagues and Collective Efficacy on Teacher Commitment to Students
Grading Styles and Disciplinary Expertise: The Mediating Role of the Teacher’s Perception of the Subject Matter
Playing with Power and Privilege: Theatre Games in Teacher Education
Building Caring Relationships between a Teacher and Students in a Teacher Preparation Program Word-by-Word, Moment-by-Moment

Research Methods

Knowledge through a Collaborative Network: A Cross-Cultural Partnership
Visualizing Community: Understanding Narrative Inquiry as Action Research
Developing A Pedagogy for Teaching Self-Study Research: Lessons Learned across the Atlantic
Action Research as a School-Based Strategy in Intercultural Professional Development for Teachers

Mentoring & Supervision

Trade-Offs Between Perceptions of Success and Planned Outcomes in an Online Mentoring Program

Teacher Educators

Riding on a Speeding Train? How Teacher Educators Perceive Teacher Education
Establishing and Sustaining Teacher Educator Professional Development in a Self-Study Community of Practice: Pre-Tenure Teacher Educators Developing Professionally
Features and Strategies of Supervisor Professional Community as a Means of Improving the Supervision of Preservice Teachers
Creating A “Third Space” in Student Teaching: Implications for the University Supervisor’s Status as Outsider

Preservice Students

Design Approaches to Support Preservice Teachers in Scientific Modeling
Exploring Factors related to Preschool Teachers’ Self-Efficacy
Clarifying Pre-service Teacher Perceptions of Mentor Teachers’ Developing Use of Mentoring Skills

Beginning Teachers

The Power of the ‘Object’ to Influence Teacher Induction Outcomes

Teaching Assessment

Assessment of a University-Based Distance Education Mentoring Program from a Quality Management Perspective
Assessment of Teacher Competence using Video Portfolios: Reliability, Construct Validity, and Consequential Validity

Technology & Computers

Perspectives on the Integration of Technology and Assessment
Grounded in Theory: Immersing Preservice Teachers in Technology-Mediated Learning
The Impact of and Key Elements for a Successful Virtual Early Field Experience: Lessons Learned From a Case Study

Theories & Approaches

The Prevailing Construct in Civic Education and Its Problems
June 2012
 
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