Co-authorship in the age of cyberculture: Open Educational Resources at the Open University of the United Kingdom

Locating Open Educational Resources (OER) as a phenomenon of cyberculture, this paper presents a reflection on the possibilities of co-authorship that are entailed in OER initiatives of different natures and settings within a large organisation. A selection of OER-related projects and activities carried out at the Open University of United Kingdom (UKOU) are examined from the perspective of a comparative framework proposed by Okada (2010). The framework identifies key features and differences between ‘Closed’ and ‘Open’ Education, that is, respectively, formal education, which takes place within the constraints of institutional Virtual Learning Environments, and informal education, which is gradually taking place more widely in cyberspace. The paper is introduced with a succinct discussion of the connection between cyberculture and the emergence of OER, followed by a presentation of the comparative framework adopted. The UKOU´s structure and methods are then presented, and various projects are discussed. The article concludes by proposing a brief commentary on the creative potential that is being unleashed at the very boundaries between formal and informal educational spaces that cyberculture is challenging

Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Noticing and Wondering: An Equity-Inducing yet Accessible Teaching Practice

Noticing and Wondering is a promising practice with an emerging research base in mathematics education for helping move teachers to a more contemporary paradigm of learning where culturally and linguistically diverse students have more equitable opportunities for academic success. This paper documents and extends this emerging research of Noticing and Wondering to fill a gap in the literature by (1) conceptualizing six reasons for the value of Noticing and Wondering and (2) discussing its potential to support English learners, such as by providing teachers easy access to students’ cultural assets. We document application of Noticing and Wondering beyond mathematics and conclude with a call for empirical research and practice in this direction

Data-Informed Leadership in Education

Explores ideas, frameworks, and beliefs concerning the use of data in educational decision making and in the work of leaders at state and local levels as it relates to the improvement of teaching and learning

Making Sense of Immigrant Work Integration

This open access book explores the wicked problem of immigrant work integration, with specific examples from Canada. Bringing together a variety of disciplinary perspectives, it discusses immigrant work integration as a process of sensemaking, involving multiple actors (immigrants, organizations, communities, and governments) and multiple scales (individual, interactional, organizational, and institutional). The authors identify key players, issues, practices of support, and avenues for future research. This work contributes to enhancing the social impact of academic research by providing a comprehensive overview of the field of immigrant work integration for researchers in global mobility and organizational studies, as well as practitioners

Teacher Sensemaking in Times of Crisis: A Case Study of the Teaching of High School Ethnic Studies Classes During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Black Lives Matter Protests

This is a study about secondary ethnic studies classes within the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, a novel coronavirus caused dramatic changes in society, and social protests erupted in the United States in response to violence against people of color. This period of dual crises created a collective period of turbulence for educators in the United States as schooling moved to emergency virtual environments. Though the impact of this time is not yet understood, early indicators suggest that existing educational inequalities for students of color will be exacerbated. This study explored ethnic studies teacher sensemaking to understand how teachers adapted their pedagogy during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter protests. Ethnic studies classes provided an important case, because ethnic studies tends to adopt culturally relevant and community responsive pedagogies through the study of historically marginalized groups and the deconstruction of race and systems of oppression, which was particularly relevant in the context of the concurrent crises. This study employed a qualitative case study design to investigate the sensemaking strategies of nine high school ethnic studies teachers. This study posed the question, How did ethnic studies teachers make sense of teaching and learning in virtual environments for high school students during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter protests? Qualitative interviews formed the primary data collection strategy. Data were analyzed through two cycles of coding. The findings suggest that ethnic studies teachers adjusted their teaching during this time by prioritizing student well-being. The critical dialogic approach privileged in ethnic studies classes meant that teachers were well-positioned to incorporate culturally responsive content, and utilize digital technology in innovative, humanizing ways. The teachers’ beliefs about teaching and the nature of ethnic studies pedagogy helped them engage in actions that directly addressed students’ social and emotional needs in this novel context. Implications for educators and school leaders are addressed, along with suggestions for future research on critical pedagogy in the virtual environment

Exploring leaders\u27 sensemaking of emergent global norms for open science: a mixed methods discourse analysis of UNESCO’s multistakeholder initiative

In November 2021, all 193 United Nations Member States adopted the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) Recommendation on Open Science (UNESCO, 2021a), which signaled a shared commitment to globally recognized standards for open science. However, as with other normative instruments established by intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) such as UNESCO, the ways in which local, national, and regional leaders will implement the recommendation can and will vary (Finnemore, 1993). Top-down and bottom-up coordination across international stakeholders in the research system is critical for the framework to be effective in driving global policy implementation and enabling sustained research culture change. Such international coordination necessitates an understanding of the complex economic, socio-political, and cultural dimensions that exist among these stakeholders and may influence local implementation efforts and norm-setting (Martinsson, 2011; Nilsson, 2017). This mixed methods study explores leaders’ sensemaking of emergent global norms for open science through public discourse during the development of UNESCO’s recommendation. The central research question is: How did institutional leaders make sense of emergent global norms for open science during UNESCO’s multistakeholder initiative? The study is situated at the intersection of systems thinking, global norms, and sensemaking, using a social constructionist lens. A synthesis of study findings draws two conclusions: That there is evidence in the discourse of accelerating self-organization toward open science among Member States who responded to UNESCO’s call for commentary on the draft recommendation; and that there is also evidence in the discourse of a degree of instability around prospective norm diffusion and internalization of the Recommendation on Open Science (2021a) related directly to matters of implementation. The tension between emergence and instability is well documented throughout the literature across complex systems, global norms, and sensemaking. Therefore, the study supports the ongoing exploration of global norms development and, specifically, the critical progression from norm emergence to norm diffusion. Given the theoretical coherence of complex systems, global norms, and sensemaking as evidenced throughout the findings, the novel integrative analytic frame that was developed during the design of this study may support other global norms development studies

Critical discourses of cultural policy and artistic practice: a comparative study of the contemporary dance fields in the UK and Germany

The advent of overtly instrumental cultural policy making since the 1990s in Europe shows variations in both its articulation and implementation. Whilst discourses of globalisation and neo-liberalism are frequently cited to justify policy instrumentalism, a consistent explanation of how policy making in different countries is linked to localised outcomes is not apparent. This thesis aims to close this explanatory gap by investigating the institutional arrangements of policy making and implementation in two European countries with distinct traditions of cultural administration, i.e. the UK and Germany, using the contemporary dance sector in each country as a site of investigation. This thesis adopts a comparative-historical approach to examine firstly, the cultural policy and contemporary dance sectors of the UK and Germany, using key policy texts and initiatives to uncover the primary logics inherent in the texts. Secondly, we identify how these extrinsic logics are privileged at the expense of alternative, intrinsic logics using rhetorical strategies imported from other policy areas. Thirdly, we apply a moderated form of critical discourse analysis to examine how these strategies and logics are appropriated by actors and organizations in the dance fields of both countries using Bourdieuian concepts of capital to effect changes of identity and legitimacy as a means to gain access to scarce resources. Finally, we assess the impact of instrumental policies on organizational practices and identity using case examples from both Germany and the UK. The emphasis on discourses generated by both policy makers and dance practitioners and organizations reflects the social constructivist perspective inherent in the analysis of the thesis. Furthermore the underlying assumption that much of what is under investigation is dependent on the context in which it is situated, signifies that more than one interpretation of the observations is possible. We use embedded case study examples that are representative of the contemporary dance sector in the UK and Germany and intended as illumination rather than as a deductive source of material for theory building. Thus, we adhere to the particularist view of convergent and divergent discourses and practices, whereby both institutional arrangements and culture are key determinants in the explanation of variations in cultural policy and its outcomes between countries. We argue that variations in socio-political and historical trajectories, institutional structures and processes mediate the forms of compliance and resistance observed amongst dance practitioners in each country. This thesis contributes to the literature on institutional logics by examining the nature of power relationships between dance practitioners and cultural and political organizations in constructing identity and legitimacy for artistic practice

Making Sense of Immigrant Work Integration

This open access book explores the wicked problem of immigrant work integration, with specific examples from Canada. Bringing together a variety of disciplinary perspectives, it discusses immigrant work integration as a process of sensemaking, involving multiple actors (immigrants, organizations, communities, and governments) and multiple scales (individual, interactional, organizational, and institutional). The authors identify key players, issues, practices of support, and avenues for future research. This work contributes to enhancing the social impact of academic research by providing a comprehensive overview of the field of immigrant work integration for researchers in global mobility and organizational studies, as well as practitioners

The impact of digitization and digital resource design on the scholarly workflow in art history

The technological progress of the past decades has had a transformative effect on both cultural institutions and academic research. It is generally accepted that mass digitization projects led by museums, libraries and archives have allowed institutions to reach new audiences and increase the impact of their collections, while the emergence of digital libraries and other types of digital resources has opened up new opportunities for scholars in terms of accessing diverse types of information. Yet, our knowledge of the impact of these resources on the scholarly workflow beyond the stage of discovery remains limited; this paper argues for the importance of understanding user behavior and needs for building digital resources that have a positive effect on the whole scholarly workflow. By employing an ethnographic approach to the study of art historians’ habits we get a detailed view of the effect that digitization and digital resource design can have on scholars’ work, from the seeking of the information to the construction of the research argument. The complex information behavior of art historians and the challenges they often face when interacting with digital resources make them a great example to demonstrate the impact that these can have on the research process