Greetings from the Editor

Dear readers,

Welcome to JOCTL—Journal of Classroom Teaching & Learning! This journal was originally created by Dr. Dengting Boyanton and her students at the University of Texas at Brownsville (UTB/TSC) in the fall of 2007. JOCTL is currently run by all the students who are taking the undergraduate courses of EDI 15A Psychological Perspective: Teaching & Learning and the graduate course EDI 600 Psychological Foundation of Education at the School of Education, Long Island University, C. W. Post.

JOCTL intends to publish our students’ research throughout their studying with these two courses. All of our students spend one whole semester investigating one research topic of their interest under Dr. Boyanton’s guidance and supervision. In the past, the UTB students employed a variety of research methods including classroom observation (6-10 hours), interviews (2-5 hours), weekly reflections (15 entries), class discussions (14-30 responses), and literature (5-20 articles). Most students’ research findings were (and will be) presented at the Conference of Elementary Secondary Teaching & Learning (CESTL), a student-run conference organized by Dr. Boyanton and all her students.

The main purposes of JOCTL is for our students 1) to discover principles, relationships, patterns, and theories of classroom learning and teaching; 2) to create a learning community for all students to discuss and exchange ideas about classroom learning and teaching; 3) to improve students’ analytical, critical thinking, problem-solving, and creative skills; 4) to enhance students’ communication skills (e.g., writing, public speaking, presenting); and 5) to help the students develop a deeper understanding on classroom teaching and learning.

JOCTL seeks to explore the multitude of issues that impact and influence student learning in the classroom setting. In accord with its broad focus, the journal welcomes contributions that enhance the exchange of diverse theoretical and practical information from other educators, teachers, students, and researchers at LIU or the New York community. It is our hope that our JOCTL can provide a channel for all classroom instructors and professors to better understand students’ needs and characteristics as learners, thus to design their instructions which produce powerful classroom learning.

JOCTL has received much positive feedback and support from its wide range of audiences from from different universities (University of Texas at Brownsville, University of Texas at Austin, University of Virginia, Harvard University, Yale University, City University of New York, Willamette University). To read their feedback, click JOCTL Feedback. Further, JOCTL would like to express its deepest gratitude to all the students, staff members, and professors in the School of Education, University of Texas at Brownsville for their tremendous support and encouragement with this journal. Without their support, JOCTL would not have been possible!

We sincerely hope you will enjoy our students’ exploration on teaching and learning. We welcome honest feedback from you. If you have any comments or suggestions to improve JOCTL, please contact me directly at dengting.boyanton@liu.edu. Thank you very much for your support!

Sincerely,

Dengting Boyanon Ph.D.
Editor, JOCTL
Assistant Professor
Educational Psychology
Curriculum & Instruction
School of Education
Long Island University, C.W.Post
720 Northern Blvd, Brookville, New York
516-299-4117 (Office)
Dengting.Boyanton@liu.edu
http://people.virginia.edu/~db6wq/