Abstracts - Earli

which they were asked to evaluate one "excellent" teacher, one "mediocre" teacher, and one"terrible" teacher based on a given set of criteria. A content analysis of the descriptions based on amodel for the descriptions of teachers developed by us in a previous study, as well as a regressionanalysis of the evaluations, revealed a limited number of characteristics related to the cognitiveorganizationalaspect and the personal-social aspect of the teacher’s actions. As expected, thestudy did not find a perfect symmetry in the issues focused on in memories of the two groups ofteachers. Aspects related to poor motivation and failed classroom management were addressed inthe descriptions of "terrible" teachers, but not in those of "excellent" teachers. The descriptions of"excellent" teachers tended to be significantly longer and more easily recalled than those of poorones. These findings point to the unique issues that should be addressed in teacher training andevaluation.Making orgnanizational learning in teacher education visible: A theoretical model and case studyCharles Peck, University of Washington, USAChrysan Gallucci, University of Washington, USATine Sloan, University of California, Santa Barbara, USAAnn Lippencott, University of California, Santa Barbara, USADespite intense and growing pressures for change in teacher education, relatively little researchhas directly investigated change processes within these programs. We used a socio-cultural theoryof learning to examine how individual and collective processes of learning and change took placea teacher education program during an eighteen month period of adaptation to a set of new statepolicy mandates. Findings suggest this framework may be useful as a lens for analysis andstrategic support of organizational learning processes within programs of teacher education.Weblogs as instruments for reflection-on-action in teacher trainingIwan Wopereis, Open University of the Netherlands, NetherlandsSybilla Poortman, Fontys University of Professional Education, NetherlandsThe study aims at unfolding the potential of weblogs as instruments for reflection-on-action duringapprenticeship. It is hypothesized that weblogs are suitable for enhancing reflection in teachertraining. Weblogs are easy to access and above all fit for community supported (reflective)learning at a distance. They are assumed (a) to solve problems like postponing reflective activityand (b) to promote reflective dialogue, since instant feedback-on-action by peers and teachers ispossible. Three groups of student teachers (n=20) from two teacher-training institutionsparticipated in this study. Two groups (n=9; n=3) included freshmen; one group (n=8) was a groupof third-year teacher college students. After being instructed how to use the weblog and how toreflect-on-actions during apprenticeship, the students were asked to reflect on their teachingexperiences during a ten week lasting internship. In addition the students were also asked to givefeedback on each other’s weblog contributions. After this ten-week period the students wereinterviewed group wise and were asked to fill in questionnaires individually. Further, the writings(posts and comments) in the weblogs were analysed quantitatively and qualitatively. Results showthat students are reasonably involved (active) in reflective writing. However this reflective activityis not profound. Especially freshmen confine themselves to descriptions of incidents. Incidentallythey describe a spiral process, where new and alternative actions are based on self-evaluation or(peer) feedback. Deep reflection and meta-reflection are sparse, although more frequentlyobserved in the analysis of the third-year teacher college students. Concluding, it can be said thatweblogs, as instrument for reflection-on-action, have potential. Well-designed, the instrument canstimulate reflective activity and serve as an instrument for meta-reflection in a digital portfolio.– 559 –