ECOSENSUS: developing collaborative learning systems for stakeholding development in environmental planning

ECOSENSUS *(Electronic/Ecological Collaborative Sensemaking Support System) investigates the socio-technological issues around developing collaboration tools for participatory environmental decision making amongst (a) marginalised natural resource users, (b) professional 'experts' from different countries, and (c) key decision makers associated with managing ecosystems. An integral activity is the production of open content learning resources to support stakeholders in facilitating distributed environmental decision making. This involves the integrated use of three open source software tools: Moodle (online course management), Compendium (dialogue mapping) and uDig (user friendly desktop/internet GIS). In the first ECOSENSUS-1 phase, the pilot collaborative effort has been focused on supporting stakeholders in developing adaptive management plans for the Rupununi Wetlands in southern Guyana, a region rich in flora and fauna but also under intense pressure to expand the exploitation of its natural resources, including timber, gold, and commercially viable fish species. Results of the ECOSENSUS-1 are briefly described along with some preliminary notes on the current ECOSENUS-2 phase of associated research in Guyana supported by an additional grant from DEFRA. The paper prompts questions on how ECOSENSUS can feed into wider open source course development using the LabSpace on the OpenLearn project

‘The International Teacher Leadership project,’ a case of international action research.

Copyright CARNThe paper arises from the International Teacher Leadership project, a research and development project involving researchers and practitioners in 14 European countries. The paper provides a conceptual exploration of the idea of teacher leadership and its role in educational reform, central to which is the idea that teachers, regardless of their level of power and organisational position, can engage in the leadership of enquiry-based development activity aimed at influencing their colleagues and embedding improved practices in their schools. The paper provides an outline of the project’s methodology which builds on that used in the Carpe Vitam Leadership for Learning project (Frost, 2008a). It is a form of collaborative action research which is highly developmental and discursive. It seeks to identify principles, strategies and tools that can be applied in a range of cultural settings. The paper includes a thematic analysis of the cultural contexts and policy environments of the participating countries in order to identify the obstacles to teacher leadership and to inform the nature of the support strategies employed

Toward a Quantitative Analysis of Online Communities

In flexible learning environments there has been an increased focus on developing resources that promote and facilitate the emergence of online communities. The formation of, and active participation in, a learning community has been suggested to facilitate the learning process (Rovai, 2002; Palloff & Pratt, 1999). Current literature examining the formation and development of online communities has predominantly centred on the qualitative analysis of posted messages (within an asynchronous discussion forum) as evidence for community attainment and sustainment (Brook & Oliver, 2003; Hew & Cheung, 2003). The search for key words and phrases is conducted regardless of timing and position within the threaded discussion. Hence, analysis of the postings often occurs in a manner that de-contextualises the discourse throughout the delivery of a subject (Misanchuk & Dueber, 2001). Furthermore, as analysis is limited to a few disparate units of study, an overall picture of the extent to which the online communities formed in individual units are supporting the strategic goals of the university is not formed. Investment in online technologies and development of learning and teaching strategies is conducted at an enterprise level. However, current methodologies evaluating the development and sustainment of online communities have been focussed at a localised level. This paper proposes a scaleable quantitative approach to identify the degree of learner interactions occurring in specific subject-based forums for further qualitative analysis. It is proposed that the examination of data derived from the wider University context better positions and informs staff undertaking subject-based forums in order to align with University strategic goals

Towards reframing professional expert support

The paper addresses practical ways of reconfiguring professional expertise in development practice in moving away from the expert as a technocrat. Two projects associated with managing natural resource dilemmas suggest an alternative way of framing intervention involving professional experts providing a more appropriate collaborative learning space for development practice. The paper describes the heuristic devices generated by each project as helpful in bringing out dialectic tensions between practice and understanding, and between systems of interest and situations of interest (or situated problems). Firstly, SLIM (social learning for the integrated management and sustainable use of water at catchment scale) - a European Framework Programme 5 project - exemplifies social learning as a measure of sustainable development. The heuristic illustrates the dependence of sustainability on changes in practice and understanding amongst professionals and other stakeholders as part of concerted - rather than merely individual or even collective - action. Secondly, ECOSENSUS (Electronic/Ecological Collaborative Sensemaking Support System) - a Guyana focused intervention involving several UK universities in collaboration with the University of Guyana and Amerindian community representatives from the North Rupununi wetlands - builds on the SLIM heuristic in supporting the development of practice. Additionally, the ECOSENSUS heuristic provides conceptual space for the interaction between conceptual constructs of distributed stakeholders (that is, systems thinking) including those with professional expertise, and the actual context of intervention (the situated problem). Both SLIM and ECOSENSUS provide heuristics for process-orientated management enabling more meaningful and purposeful interaction between professional/ technical experts and other stakeholders, as an alternative to conventional project-orientated management intervention. An alternative framing may help to steer practice away from the apoliticised comforting linearity of professionalised systematic project management towards more constructive systemic endeavours involving multiple stakeholders

Discourse Analysis

This chapter (a) presents discourse analysis as both epistemology and methodology; (b) suggests a sociolinguistic toolkit that could be used as one type of approach to conducting discourse analysis; (c) reviews and points to literature in music education and music therapy that have used such epistemological and methodological tools; and (d) suggests that, by engaging with discourse analysis, we can begin to ask questions about participants and their interactions within environments where music therapists operate and analyze prevailing discourses within structures and systems of music therapy. [excerpt

What Does “Peer” Mean in Teaching Observation for the Professional Development of Higher Education Lecturers?

The observation of teaching remains an integral process for the enhancement of practice as part of academic continuing professional development in higher education in the UK. This paper argues that failure to recognise the potential for peer-orientated development to reinforce restrictive norms of practice will be detrimental to the project of continuing professional development for learning and teaching. It is suggested that teaching observation schemes grounded in a peer model of observation within a reflective practitioner paradigm are potentially reinforcing parochial and performative constructions of teacher professionalism that ultimately enable resistance to changes to practice. It argues that for teaching observation to contribute to legitimate enhancement of teaching practice, such processes must be underpinned by pluralistic models of professional development that tolerate,and indeed require, critical differences of perspective that challenge rather than affirm the existing professional “self-concept” of experienced practitioners as it is enacted within current peer models of development in higher education

Beyond information: factors in participation in networks of practice, a case study of web management in UK Higher Education

Purpose To explore the pattern and significance of cross-organizational ties in an emergent professional field, web production in UK Higher Education. Methodology/Approach The research is based on in-depth interviews with 21 practitioners and analysis of activity in cross-organizational spaces, such as an online community and a series of annual practitioner conferences on the web in HE (1997-). Findings The cross organizational spaces have support and symbolic roles as well as informational ones. They have overlapping but different membership and agendas. Key factors that govern individual participation and so the shape of cross-organizational spaces are differential involvement in technical innovation, degree of organizational embedding or marginality, differences in organizational position and role, orientation towards centralisation or decentralisation and orientation towards marketing or IT. There is some sense of occupational community among web managers, but within that also diversity and a significant fracture line between marketing and IT perspectives on the role. This may explain the lack of formal professionalization. As a more natural boundary practice between organizations than marketing, IT has more public visibility, possibly influencing the course jurisdictional struggles over who should control the web. Research limitations/implications As a heavily contextualised study, its detail reflects particular features of HE in the UK at one period as well as specific aspects of the web as a technology. Nevertheless, underlying factors which seem to influence participation and non-participation in cross-organizational networks may be generalisable to many occupations, particularly where knowledge is rapidly changing. Practical implications Some suggestions about how cross-organizational knowledge sharing is most effectively supported can be derived from the analysis. IT is a natural focus for cooperation, but there is a risk of this masking the importance of other professional practices. Efforts at formal professionalization may be devisive because people have different professional ambitions and there are individual and organizational benefits in not professionalizing the role formally. New practitioners may be the most active in using extra-organizational networks to assist them to become more embedded locally. Old hands, though they have high prestige and centrality, may increasingly take their own path away from the community. Aspects of local roles such as involvement in innovation or decentralist strategies favour participation in cross-organizational networks. Originality/value of paper Most studies of knowledge sharing have focussed on the factors which influence it within an organization, yet cross-organizational sharing is also of importance, even for established professions as the boundaries of organizations become more open. For new occupations cross-organizational ties may be a critical resource, and not only for sharing information or support, but for making sense of what the job is about at the deepest level. The research is also original in analysing a relatively little researched occupational group, those producing web sites for a living. It will be relevant to those interested in online and people centred information seeking, in professionalization and occupational identity

The influence of online problem-based learning on teachers' professional practice and identity

In this paper we describe the design of a managed learning environment called MTutor, which is used to teach an online Masters Module for teachers. In describing the design of MTutor pedagogic issues of problem-based learning, situated cognition and ill-structured problems are discussed. MTutor presents teachers with complex real-life teaching problems, which they are required to solve online through collaboration with other teachers. In order to explore the influence of this online learning experience on the identity and practice of teachers, we present the results from a small-scale study in which six students were interviewed about their online experiences. We conclude that, within the sample, students' engagement with online problem-based learning within their community of practice positively influenced their professional practice styles, but that there is little evidence to suggest that online identity influences real-life practice