Educating through communities of practice

The aim of this paper is to attempt at building a bridge between education and situated learning. The etymology of the word education outlines the two major ways of envisioning education. The meaning which we give to the term ‘education’ surely influences the ways in which the process of education unfolds and is actually conducted. The Constructivist Approach which is being used in education today is characterised by its studentcenteredness rather than teacher‑centeredness. The adoption of Communities of Practice from the industrial sphere to the realm of Catholic schools is a way in which education as bringing forth from the student (e‑ducere) and the constructivist approach developed earlier can be put into practice in Catholic Schools. Communities of practice create the right condition for situated learning in Catholic schools today. It is here that legitimate peripheral participation can be put into practice, thus fulfilling the Church’s mission of evangelisation in our contemporary culture by drawing students from the periphery of the educational endeavour, making them active participants at the core.peer-reviewe

Developing communities of practice and research through research informed teaching and learning in cross-cultural groups.

This conceptual research aims to answer three questions: • What is the process for learning where teachers and learners research together? • How can this process be enriched and enhanced, specifically working within an international and cross-cultural student population? • How can a co-existence of a pedagogic research informed learning and teaching environment be embedded with staff and students? This research looks into the way staff research informs pedagogic practice, and how staff work as ’joint partners’ with students to deliver more ’iterative’ education learning models. The research is aimed at the development of inclusive scholarly knowledge-building communities of practice (see Brew, 2006). The research highlights how staff work with students in an iterative communal process through project-based research activity and collaborative teamwork within cross-cultural groups. It also describes the processes of working with students and how it has helped to directly reinforce the curricula and informed the author’s own learning and teaching strategies. Significantly, this type of open engagement with cultural groups has alerted the author to howtraditional linear ’Western’ forms of academic research within art and design can be influenced by Eastern models of research enquiry. The research describes a coexistence of practice where research and enquiry can be fluidly exchanged between teacher and student. Changes were made to curricula to develop a more social constructivist form of working (Gredler, 1997) where both the context in which learning occurs and the social contexts that learners bring to their learning environment were put centre stage. A short film entitled Event digestion, a pedagogic filmic picnic, where students came together to form a community event, highlighted this process. This process was also one of cross-disciplinary staff team-working within art and design where research work is enhanced through creating a more open social experiential learning environment. The research methodology is a predominantly qualitative one through problem solving and action research. It is also situated within a pedagogic research-informed teaching approach where teaching draws upon enquiry into the teaching and learning process itself (Jenkins & Healey, 2005). Methods incorporated have been cross-cultural international focus groups attended by students, ’unstructured’ interviews, student case studies and, importantly, practice-based work. The paper highlights how an active educational model can be developed through learning by doing (Gibbs, 1998) and thinking (Ramsden, 2003), however, coming from a perspective which addresses creativity across cultures (Lubart), is cross-disciplinary, and, importantly, by a practicebase collaborative international team project approach. The practical pedagogic findings will be of use to anyone working in design education wishing to develop cross-cultural curricula through practice-based learning and research

Community Dimensions of Learning Object Repositories

This paper outlines some enablers and barriers in the use of learning object repositories (LORs) to support learning within a range of communities. Key dimensions of use of LORs as well as relationships between LORs and the learning communities that they aim to support are discussed. The LORs and communities analysed in the paper are SIESWE Learning Exchange (formerly Stor Curam), JORUM, IVIMEDS, and DIDET. Guided by the Activity Theory perspective, the LORs and the communities are analysed as sociocultural activity systems. Based on this analysis, some initial barriers and enablers for the use of LORs to support learning are outlined and implications for the future use of LORs are discussed

Technology advances : transforming university teaching through professional development

Increasing use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in universities is a global trend. However, many teaching academics are unfamiliar with the possibilities of ICTs and have limited understanding of how to integrate them into their teaching in pedagogically appropriate ways. Th is highlights a need for universities to provide professional development opportunities to assist staff to better understand their teaching practices, and the theoretical perspectives underpinning them, in order to exploit current educational technologies for the benefi t of student learning. This paper introduces the broad trends infl uencing the advancement of technology in higher education before considering the opportunities that the new context off ers for pushing the boundaries of theory and practice relating to learning and teaching in higher education. It then describes an online professional development initiative which responds to these opportunities. Th is is an exemplars website entitled Designing Electronic Learning and Teaching Approaches (DELTA) which has been introduced at Monash University to support pedagogically appropriate teaching with technology.<br /

Being digital: The challenge for career-change beginning teachers

The pedagogical challenge of supporting learning in a digital world requires an understanding of how, where, when and when not to use information and communications technology (ICT) in teaching and learning. This paper builds on existing research on the integral use of ICT for teaching and learning, that is, digital pedagogies. Additionally, the research that highlights the value of skills and experiences that career-change beginning teachers bring to the profession is advanced. Through an interpretative analysis of quantitative and qualitative data collated via an online survey, the paper builds a profile of (N=64) career-change beginning teachers currently entering the profession from a one year graduate diploma program at a Queensland university. The responses showed that (a) career-change beginning teachers have diverse backgrounds (b) a range of ICT skills related to former careers exist; (c) beliefs about how ICT should be used for teaching and learning are firmly grounded in past experience; (d) confidence to manage data and teach ICT skills is high in contrast to confidence in using digital pedagogies; and (e) expectations about how ICT will be used in school contexts are also related to past experiences. The paper concludes that influencing beliefs about contemporary learning may be central to supporting career-change beginning teachers to develop familiarity and confidence in the use of digital pedagogies

ALT-SURF seminar: ePortfolios and Digital Repositories, 22 and 23 April 2004, Edinburgh UK

ALT (Association for Learning Technology) and SURF (collaborative organisation for IT innovation in Dutch HE) have similar goals and started working together in 1999. In 2001 they signed a Memorandum of Understanding to bring together learning technologists from the UK and the Netherlands in a variety of exchange activities. Sharing experiences and views internationally between peers proved to be an excellent way to learn new things, find inspiration to meet joint challenges and engage in healthy reflection. ALT and SURF organised mutual study visits (50 Dutch learning technologists visited universities in the UK in 2002 and 40 UK colleagues visited Dutch institutes in 2003), joint conferences and seminars, and a expert study trip to Australia (8 UK and 8 Dutch experts visited 14 institutes in 2002). SURF and ALT reported on these in presentations and publications. A new activity is the joint working seminar, where a specific theme can be discussed by experts in the field with the purpose of describing in a so-called ‘briefing paper’ the current state of affairs, the underlying beliefs, hopes and desired situation, and possible ‘next steps’ in joint conceptualisation and/or developing activities. In the process of composing the briefing papers differences between the countries will surface, e.g. organisational, cultural or political. The themes are therefore not isolated topics but seen as developments within a context. The first joint ALT-SURF working seminar took place in April 2004 in Edinburgh, immediately following an ALT spring conference, and addressed two related topics: e-(or Digital) Portfolios and Digital Repositories. The aim was to establish working relationships between experts in both countries through discussion and collaborative writing of briefing papers aimed at experts, researchers, managers and policy makers. The objectives of the working seminar were threefold: • describe the basic belief that leads to so much energy being put into these concepts • outline current thinking in ePortfolios and Digital repositories as a common reference point for deeper understanding • devise a roadmap to meet required conditions to further develop ePortfolios and Digital Repository concepts and use. This report is the result of that seminar, namely a briefing paper on ePortfolios and another on Digital Repositories. In the papers the potential and ultimate goal of using ePortfolios and Digital Repositories for learning and teaching is outlined; the current state of achievements is described, and thirdly the briefing paper concludes with desired next steps to reach the ultimate goals, what conditions need to be in place, what activities need to be set in motion. The papers highlight any apparent differences in approaches between UK and Netherlands as well as opportunities for future collaboration. SURF and ALT will use the conclusions and suggestions as input for joint future development and networking activities

Strategies for mlearning integration : evaluating a case study of staging and scaffolding mlearning integration across a three-year bachelor’s degree

This paper outlines the third iteration of integrating mobile web 2.0 within a Bachelors level course. An analysis and comparison of the impact of mobile web 2.0 across all three years of the 2009 course enables the development of implementation strategies that can be used to integrate mlearning into other tertiary courses, and inform the design of further Product Design mlearning integration iterations

Using Blogs to Foster Inquiry, Collaboration, and Feedback in Pre-Service Teacher Education

This chapter presents a critical case study on the use of information technology in a pre-service teacher education program. The authors integrated Weblogs (blogs) into two constructivist-oriented teacher preparation courses with the goal of helping students learn to think like a teacher through enhanced inquiry, collaboration, and feedback. The authors found that, through the use of blogs, pre-service teaching candidates grew in their abilities to reflect on their own teaching and to provide constructive comments to peers. The authors’ experience also indicated that while instructor and peer feedback via blogs was valuable, it functioned best when paired with face-to-face meetings between the instructors and students. They discussed design principles for combining online and face-to-face environments and offer possibilities for the expanded use of blogs in pre-service teacher education