Participatory Design for sustainable social innovation in developing countries: Design experiments towards a model to deploy interventions with marginalised youth

An increasing number of practitioners are engaging in the consideration of Participatory Design (PD) as a strategic modus operandi to attain socially progressive ends among marginalised communities in developing countries. However, the structures, methods and objectives of this type of work constitute an ongoing debate. A scattered body of resources in this area tend to focus on either theory (such as journal papers) or practice (such as design toolkits). To fill this gap, this research develops a model of practice that links these two dimensions through a collection of elements drawn upon contemporary approaches to design and development. The model considers three layers of ethos, methods and outputs to guide the design and undertaking of social-entrepreneurially oriented PD interventions with a focus on problem identification. Two case studies are undertaken with communities of marginalised youth in South Africa to evaluate the model and its inherent flexibility respectively. The evaluation found that the model enabled the researcher to build capacity and empower participants to gain leadership and ownership over the intervention, ultimately developing their sense of activism and aspiration for change. On this basis, a final version of the model is put forward to help prepare and guide design practitioners to deploy PD interventions with marginalised youth in developing countries for responsible and sustainable social innovation. In addition, the research reflects on the various roles that design practitioners take on while deploying the intervention and on the use of a cross-paradigm to undertake the type of design research approached in this thesis

Transformative Community School Practices and Impacts: A Tale of Two Community Schools

Students are coming to school with myriad issues that teachers and schools cannot address alone. ecological systems theory posits that the environments with which a child comes into contact, either directly or indirectly, can impact her or his development (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). With the support of community partner organizations in the local community, community schools can effectively respond to students’ needs and help them navigate the interconnected web of environments. Through interviews, focus groups, and a document review, this cross-site case study explored the practices that are employed by community school leaders (school staff and employees of community partner organizations) at two pilot high schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), to implement six guiding principles of community schools. The study also captured impacts of these practices through participants’ perceptions, documents, and the application of transformative leadership theory. The findings revealed that the pilot school model is a natural avenue for the community schools strategy, and that intentional practices and a shared vision by all stakeholders can result in transformative impacts on students and the school as a whole. District and school leaders could consider developing processes and systems for implementing a community schools strategy district-wide by providing funding for community school coordinators for school sites, working with school leaders to develop their shared decision-making skills, and leveraging the assets and resources of community partners

Digital storytelling for non-background learners of Chinese : a case study of a primary school in Australia

With the proliferation of technology, digital storytelling has become a popular strategy used in the second language learning classroom. Despite its widely cited benefits, digital storytelling is not common in the context of teaching and learning Chinese as a foreign language. Adopting a case study methodology, this study aimed to examine the affordances and challenges of using digital storytelling to teach Chinese to non-background learners in an Australian primary school where Chinese language lessons were incorporated into its school curriculum. It also aimed to explore the scaffolding strategies needed to make Chinese learnable when non-background learners created digital stories to develop Chinese language skills. The study involved 32 Year 6 students (aged 11 to 12), and it employed a qualitative approach to analyse the data collected over a school term, which consisted of field notes from participant observations, transcripts of focus group discussion, and students’ artefacts. I argue that digital storytelling was beneficial to the non-background learners, primarily in the retention of Chinese vocabulary and engaging them in the language learning process. Nevertheless, two key challenges were evident when digital storytelling was used to teach Chinese to the non-background learners. There was an overemphasis on technical aspects of the creating of digital stories given the limited ICT competency of the learners. Additionally, the linguistic characteristics of Chinese language created high levels of difficulty for the nonbackground learners to create digital stories entirely in Chinese. Given the challenges in adopting digital storytelling, appropriate scaffolding strategies were judiciously and reflectively developed to enable the non-background learners to use Chinese to create digital stories. The study showed that appropriate levels of scaffolds had to be progressively introduced; social scaffolding was the dominant type of scaffold that was viable, which included timely encouragement and prompting, sequential modelling and imitation, distancing, direction, and concurrent modelling and imitation. The findings of the study contribute to an understanding of how digital storytelling can be an innovative strategy for the teaching and learning of Chinese as a foreign language. It shows that teaching Chinese to non-background learners does not necessarily have to adopt the traditional approach of using rote learning. The research presented is one of the pioneering studies that experiment with technology to promote a more student-centred approach when teaching Chinese to non-background learners in Australia

Re-cognising RPL – A Deleuzian enquiry into policy and practice of Recognition of Prior Learning

This enquiry addresses a gap in the literature in relation to the conceptual development of Recognition of Prior Learning. Generally, research in RPL comprises large inventories and audits of practice as this enquiry shows. Few qualitative studies are available and there is a dearth of theoretical development in the field. This thesis explores perspectives of claimants and university managers/practitioners to explicate the issues at stake and explore the value of RPL in education. Using the practical philosophy of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari (DG), the conceptualization of RPL is explored in policy and practice and their concepts are employed to reimagine RPL for learning, and as pedagogy, in adult university education. A hybrid method of grounded and rhizomatic theory informs the research approach. This involves searching the complex and diffuse territory of RPL to seek affirmative options for RPL theory and practice. Three case studies illustrate how different approaches to RPL offer different outcomes and were built on vague conceptualizations. In one setting, fifteen years of RPL claimant records is collated and analysed. Findings show that up to 70% of adult students in the case study had prior learning and gained exemptions. The data further indicates that RPL did not increase a student’s chances of completing a degree. This contradicts findings from international research. The research also challenges fears expressed by university managers that RPL poses a risk to academic standards, as claimants may not have foundational knowledge to succeed in university. The data indicates, however, that on the contrary, claimants have extensive prior learning; much of it accredited at levels 6 and 7 and are thus college ready. A model of learner directed RPL, used in another setting, is explored and theorized. This creative approach seamlessly integrates prior learning with new learning and thereby advances knowledge for the learner. The impact of the approach on the learner and learning is significant and offers new possibilities for RPL in education. It moves it on from the narrow purpose of reducing time in education and enhancing skills for employment. Accounts from participants in this enquiry show that they go to college to learn and they prize RPL most when it extends their knowledge – a dimension of RPL neglected in the literature. The thesis concludes with some affirmative options for re-cognising RPL in adult education

Re-cognising RPL – A Deleuzian enquiry into policy and practice of Recognition of Prior Learning

This enquiry addresses a gap in the literature in relation to the conceptual development of Recognition of Prior Learning. Generally, research in RPL comprises large inventories and audits of practice as this enquiry shows. Few qualitative studies are available and there is a dearth of theoretical development in the field. This thesis explores perspectives of claimants and university managers/practitioners to explicate the issues at stake and explore the value of RPL in education. Using the practical philosophy of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari (DG), the conceptualization of RPL is explored in policy and practice and their concepts are employed to reimagine RPL for learning, and as pedagogy, in adult university education. A hybrid method of grounded and rhizomatic theory informs the research approach. This involves searching the complex and diffuse territory of RPL to seek affirmative options for RPL theory and practice. Three case studies illustrate how different approaches to RPL offer different outcomes and were built on vague conceptualizations. In one setting, fifteen years of RPL claimant records is collated and analysed. Findings show that up to 70% of adult students in the case study had prior learning and gained exemptions. The data further indicates that RPL did not increase a student’s chances of completing a degree. This contradicts findings from international research. The research also challenges fears expressed by university managers that RPL poses a risk to academic standards, as claimants may not have foundational knowledge to succeed in university. The data indicates, however, that on the contrary, claimants have extensive prior learning; much of it accredited at levels 6 and 7 and are thus college ready. A model of learner directed RPL, used in another setting, is explored and theorized. This creative approach seamlessly integrates prior learning with new learning and thereby advances knowledge for the learner. The impact of the approach on the learner and learning is significant and offers new possibilities for RPL in education. It moves it on from the narrow purpose of reducing time in education and enhancing skills for employment. Accounts from participants in this enquiry show that they go to college to learn and they prize RPL most when it extends their knowledge – a dimension of RPL neglected in the literature. The thesis concludes with some affirmative options for re-cognising RPL in adult education

Towards an interactive mobile lecturing model a higher-level engagement for enhancing learning

Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references.The use of mobile devices has grown in recent years and has overtaken the proliferation of desktop computers with their dual affordances of small size and easy connectivity in diverse fields. The usage of these devices has not been widespread in higher education. Mobile technology is a new and promising area of research in higher education. The affordance of mobile technologies has prompted their adoption as a means of enhancing face-to-face (f2f) learning. In this thesis, mobile lecturing is presented as a means of achieving mobile learning. The availability of mobile devices has positively enabled the mobile lecturing process. F2f lectures are recorded and distributed as lecture vodcasts using mobile devices. The vodcasts are generated through Opencast Matterhorn and YouTube. Currently, there are few descriptive models of mobile lecturing that can be used to enhance learning in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). This thesis has several contributions: first I propose a “MOBLEC” theoretical model of mobile lecturing; mobile lecturing represents a new paradigm in mobile learning which enhances students’ engagement with lecture vodcasts to foster deep learning. The second contribution of this thesis is a mobile lecturing tool, MOBILect. MOBILect is developed in HTML5 for cross-platform solution across most mobile devices. This tool enables students to use mobile devices to actively interact with lecture vodcasts and with peers using the vodcast. Finally, I use different case studies to evaluate the MOBLEC model to explore the effectiveness of mobile lecturing in enhancing learning in HEIs. The MOBLEC model is proposed to define mobile lecturing: it describes mobile lecturing as a process resulting from the convergence of mobile technologies, learning engagements and learning interactions. The case studies are evaluative, relying on a group of students to evaluate the MOBLEC by accessing MOBILect. Empirical data was acquired through triangulation method involving focus group discussions, open-ended questions and interviews. All the questions were based on the MOBLEC model. The result of the studies provided positive indicators as to the usefulness and effectiveness of mobile lecturing in engaging students to enhance and foster deep learning. Mobile lecturing, through augmenting and accessing lecture vodcasts on students’ mobile devices anywhere and at any time, with an affordance to comment and respond to comments, has potential for empowering students who might be struggling to understand f2f sessions and the aggregated comments become a valuable educational resource. The thesis also outlines areas for future research work

Understanding teacher development: case study of knowledge and beliefs in English language teaching in Mexico

This thesis reports on a case study that discusses the interconnection between the knowledge, beliefs and practices of teachers of English as a foreign language in a state university in Mexico. Previous research suggests that there is a knowledge base for teaching that is significant for teachers irrespective of the subject they teach. Research also indicates that teaching practices are shaped by teachers’ beliefs about the nature of language, the nature of the learning process and the nature of the teaching act. Nevertheless, it appears that the development of language teachers tends to be focused on increasing the knowledge required for the teaching of English without recognising that teaching practices are also informed by the beliefs that teachers hold. The purpose of this case study was therefore to increase our understanding of how the knowledge and beliefs of the case study teachers intersected to inform their teaching practices, and to draw some conclusions that could be used to further English language teacher development. The case study involved four teachers of English in a state university in Mexico. It was conducted from an interpretivist approach and drew on the perspectives of the participant teachers. The methods used were: observations and video recordings of classes; focus groups, interviews and conversations with the case study teachers; teachers’ journals. The words and actions of the teachers were the units of the within-in case and cross-case analysis undertaken. The findings of the study illustrate three main aspects: Firstly, teacher’s knowledge plays a supporting role in their teaching practices and appears to be composed of different knowledge categories that are not independent but interwoven. In addition, any category presupposes other knowledge categories since any of them implies knowledge covered by other categories. Secondly, teaching practices are not only informed by teachers’ knowledge but also by their beliefs. Moreover, the study suggests that teachers’ beliefs have a predominant role in their teaching since teachers claim to use only the knowledge in which they believe. Finally, the case study suggests that the learning and teaching experiences of the teachers are a major source of their knowledge and beliefs, and beliefs that are experientially engrained appear to be more influential than theoretically embraced beliefs. The case study concludes that teachers’ knowledge, beliefs and teaching practices interact and inform each other persistently in a dynamic process that could usefully be represented as a gear model of the relationships between the three elements. This model would illustrate the dynamic process more accurately since it represents them within a constant interaction process. It is also argued that the relations between the three elements are pertinent irrespective of the context of the study as this offers a frame of reference for other researchers and teacher educators interested in understanding the interconnection between teachers’ practices and their knowledge and beliefs