Experiencing and evidencing educational influences in learning through self-study using ICT in schools and universities
Abstract
There is a growing awareness in higher education of the need to move beyond the "tired old 'teaching versus research' debate" (1) and work out what are 'due standards of excellence' (2) for practice-based research. Three self-study researchers in higher education, will show how they are contributing to a knowledge base of professional practice by using a 'living educational theory' (3) approach to action research in their own learning. They will provide evidence to show how the meanings of their embodied ontological values, can become living standards of judgement in evaluating the validity of their knowledge-claims. These living critical standards of judgement include a 'pedagogy of the unique', a 'web of betweenness', a 'generative approach to mentoring'.
Objectives of the
session
The objectives of the
presentation are to:
i). To communicate the meanings of embodied
values of a web of betweenness, a pedagogy of the unique, a generative approach
to mentoring as living critical standards of judgement in this S-STEP research.
ii). To demonstrate
how Information and Communications Technology (ICT ) can contribute to making
the embodied knowledge of teacher-researchers public, through "artefacts that capture its richness
and complexity" (4).
iii). To
provide evidence of how other S-STEP researchers are being taught and mentored
on masters programmes and supervised in doctoral programmes to develop their
own living standards of judgement and educational theories from their
practice-based research.
Educational and
scientific importance
In a review of the
literature on pedagogies in higher education, Zukas and Malcolm (5) suggest
that the new specialism of teaching and learning in higher education has
developed without reference to adult education. Neglecting the strongly self-motivated learner has tended to
impoverish many current approaches to teaching and learning in higher
education. Zukas and Malcolm found little evidence of critical practice in
writings on higher education pedagogy. As diverse and more mature types of
students enter higher education, it is vital that the traditional role of the
educator as one who offers content knowledge is broadened so that teaching is
aimed at developing student's capacity to create their own understandings and
insights through participation, negotiation and dialogue. Barnett's writings on
critical practice in higher education points towards a learning environment
where students are provided with the space to develop their own voice (6). The educational significance of this
presentation is that the evidence-based self-studies show the educational
influences of the educators in the students learning as they develop their own
understandings and insights through participation, negotiation and dialogue.
The educational and scientific significance of the presentation can also be seen in educational influences in learning of the use of ICT. As the full potentiality of human computer interaction is developed there is likely to be a further explosion of the use of multimedia and the ability for people to communicate in more dynamic ways through use of technology. Myers (7) points to the emerging technologies that are a result of research in human-computer interaction. These extend from the mouse pointing device, windows, computer applications such as drawing, text editing and spreadsheets and hypertext, and to the new technologies of the future, such as, multimedia and 3D, gesture recognition, natural language and collaborative learning technologies. Myers claims that user interfaces will most likely be one of the main 'value-added competitive advantages' of the future, as both hardware and basic software become commodities. His prediction is being borne out as one can see that yesterday's advanced systems are today's commodity. Further advances in technology, such as high-resolution displays, 3D graphics and animations are likely to improve the end-users interface. We are still witnessing the pursuit of a developmental paradigm whose eventual outcomes can only be guessed at. By contrast with the evident potentiality and dynamism of the new technology, studies of its impact upon teaching practices in higher education indicate that, as yet, teachers in general are making use of email and web resources but more advanced technologies, such as online learning environments and wireless solutions are only being used to a limited extent. Few in higher education are dealing in a practical manner with the new technology's central ideas about the handling of knowledge.
An international comparative study on 'Models of Technology and Change in Higher Education' was carried out by the Centre for Higher Education Policy Studies and the Faculty of Educational Science and Technology of the University of Twente in the Netherlands (8). The study found that Institution wide technological structures are now in place. However, rich pedagogical use of the technological infrastructure is still in development. The central concept in handling of e-learning currently tends to centre upon 'content'. Jochems et. al. (9) regret that forms of e-learning that emphasise the active engagement of learner in rich learning tasks and the active, social construction of knowledge and acquisition of skills are rare. In other words, the potential of the technology to transform the teaching/learning environment is still far from being realised in the institutions of higher education. Hence part of the educational and scientific significance of this presentation is in showing how multi-media representations of educational practices and accounts of learning can open up new possibilities for expressing and communicating living standards of judgment appropriate for self-study of teacher education practices.
The educational
significance of the presentation is also related to the issue of the
relationships between individual and collective standards of judgment . The
shared living theories (10) developed in this presentation include self-studies
of the contribution ICT has offered to the development of educational
knowledge. This is particularly significant in the development of new standards
of collective-individual educational judgments in educational relationship that
will be characterized in terms that include the webs of betweenness of Celtic
spirituality and a generative approach to mentoring.
The significance is
in the evidence that shows how ICT has been used to complement and support the
pedagogies of the self-study researchers. These include;
á
digital video to
record teaching and supervision and reveal tensions and living contradictions
when values could be lived more fully;
á
online learning environments that have
sustained ongoing dialogue among practitioner-researchers with evidence of
reciprocal educational influences in learning;
á
desktop videoconferencing that has
opened up the classroom environment and provided opportunities to share our
knowledge with others with reciprocal influences in learning;
á
multimedia and web-based artefacts with
supporting text provide evidence of how practitioners are developing living
standards of judgement through asking, researching and answering the question,
"How do I improve my practice?'
Methods
The methods used in the
investigations include:
á
Living educational
theory action research cycles;
And
the use of the following to enhance the rigor and validity of the research:
á Winters (11) six criteria of rigor; dialectical critique, reflexive critique, collaborative resource, risk, plural structure, theory, practice transformation.
á
Methods of social validity that
include the application of Habermas' (12) four criteria of; comprehensibility,
truth, rightness and authenticity in a validation group.
Data Sources
The following data sources will be used to provide evidence of the standards of judgements used to show learning in the public interest.
i). Accounts of our learning as higher education educators. These include pre-doctoral, doctoral and postdoctoral educational enquiries.
ii). Accounts of the learning of self-study researchers on an MSc in Computer Applications for Education and MSc in Education and Training Management (ICT).
iii). 18 Living Theory Doctoral Theses awarded between 1995-2005
iv). Accounts of the action research methodology used in the development of a Training School in the UK.
Conclusion
In the context of our 'pedagogies of the unique', dialogical processes of self-study can reflect a growing openness to learning and relearning with others. They reveal how democratic processes of pedagogy and evaluation in higher education can give adequate "space to each participant to contribute to the development of new knowledge, to develop their own voice, to make their own offerings, insights, to engage in their own actions, as well as to create their own products" (6).
Self-studies of teacher education practice can move teaching towards learning by gradually providing opportunities for participants to take responsibility for their own learning and to develop their capacity as learners in the creation of their own living educational theories.
References
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