From a personal theory to a grounded theory of staff development

This study set out to develop a grounded theory of staff development for teachers. The aims of the study were: • to evaluate the impact that a staff development program, called Frameworks, had on teachers beliefs and practices in literacy education • to evaluate a personally developed staff development theory which underpinned the design and delivery of that program • as a consequence of the above, to develop a staff development theory which had been formally grounded in the real world of classrooms and schools. The study employed a naturalistic mode of inquiry, and in particular was framed by the parameters of a responsive constructivist evaluation paradigm. The methods of naturalistic inquiry were employed. In particular there was a strong emphasis on a hermeneutic/dialectic process which takes full advantage, and account, of the observer/observed interaction in order to create a constructed reality that is as informed and sophisticated as it can be made at a particular point in time. The study comprised four case studies of four class teachers which analyse and describe their experiences as a result of their participation in the eight week program. These four case studies were further analysed into a construction of Frameworks as it was run in the Gorham Middlesex School District (more commonly known as Marcus Whitman Central School District). A theory of staff development grounded in the data emerged which has been depicted in schematic form and described in detail. Recommendations for the future of staff development, based on the principles emerging from this theory are made. Finally it is argued that effective staff development in the future is contingent upon the adoption of a new paradigm of teacher learning, namely, one that views learning cultures of teachers as social semiotic systems

From face-to-face teaching to online distance education classes: some challenges and surprise

Many educators in higher education are now delivering their courses online. For some however this move was initially a reluctant one as it was difficult to perceive how their face-to-face classes could be successfully transported into the online medium. This paper describes the journey of one academic who took on the challenge ofdeveloping a knowledge building online distance education community. It describes the model used to guide this process and reports on the interaction that occurred. The challenges and surprises are described

Transformation of traditional face-to-face teaching to mobile teaching and learning: Pedagogical perspectives

Teaching students in a face-to-face context has been and, in many institutions of education, still is the only form of teaching in higher education. However, in the past 20 years, there has been a slowly increasing movement toward transforming the higher education teaching and learning experience from face-to-face to a mobile online learning experience. For most teachers this move is quite a challenge and raises many issues and questions. These include questions such as: What mobile technologies are available to employ? What teaching practices are best to use? Will student learning outcomes be better or worse as a result? And for many the question asked is simply how can this be done? In this chapter a framework for designing and implementing online pedagogy is shared. This framework is underpinned by Turbill\u27s (From a personal theory to a grounded theory in staff development. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, 1994; The role of a facilitator in a professional learning system: the frameworks project. In: Hoban G (ed) Teacher learning for educational change: a systems thinking approach. Open University Press, Buckingham, pp 94-114, 2002) integrative theory of learning and draws on Herrington and Bunker\u27s (Quality teaching online: putting pedagogy first. In: Quality conversations, proceedings of the 25th HERDSA annual conference, Perth, 7-10 July 2002, pp 305-312) pedagogical guidelines. Both are unpacked and explained using a case study that provides the reader with a pedagogical perspective that is both doable and proven to be successful

Berry school book club: Engaging readers and writers

This article describes one school\u27s approach to establishing a Book Club where children learn to \u27read like writers\u27. It offers insights into the practicalities of the project and its successes

Developing a professional identity: first year preservice teachers inschool experience project

It has long been recognised that the process of ‘becoming a teacher’ is complex. The aim of any teacher education program therefore should be to provide ‘high quality learning’ (Killen 2005) that entails both theoretical and practical components. These components need to be clearly linked for as Cole and Knowles (2000) claim there is an unmistaken gap between what teachers are taught in pre-service teacher training and what they are expected to do at the ‘chalk-face’ in the beginning of their professional experience. In response to this obvious challenge current reviews of, and research into, teacher education, have paid particular attention to issues concerning the practical component, commonly known as ‘the practicum’ (Ramsey 2000, Perry and Allard 2003, Vick 2006). However the traditional ‘practicum’ where preservice students are ‘supervised’ by classroom teachers seems to be insufficient in responding to challenges raised. This paper explores how the Faculty of Education in the University of Wollongong attempted to change the traditional ‘practicum’ by setting up ‘inschool experiences’ for first year preservice teachers across their first session in their BEd program. These experiences activated the process of bridging the gap between theory and practice for the preservice teachers and most importantly led to the beginnings of preservice teachers developing a professional identity of what it means to ‘be a teacher’

Teaching as a craft: making links between pre-service training and professional practice

It is acknowledged in the literature and in professional practice that there are gaps between the theory of pre-service teacher education and the realities of classroom practice. The report from the 2002 National Meeting of Professional Educators identified tensions between theory and practice and suggested that teachers were living these out in everyday learning environments as a creative tension (Cumming, 2002, p. 3). We believe the challenge for teacher educators is to assist beginning teachers in making links between pedagogical theory they have accrued in their pre-service training and practice they are attempting to put into place in their classrooms. From our work with teachers in schools it is apparent that beginning teachers find it difficult to link theory with their practice This article describes a model of profession learning that greatly assisted one beginning teacher begin to make connections between her pre-service training and the relevance of this training to her classroom practice

Building academic capability to facilitate and support the transition of first year social inclusion business students

The first year in higher education has been of growing interest particularly in light of the Australian Federal Government\u27s mandate to target students from socially disadvantaged backgrounds. This paper reports on one faculty\u27s Social Inclusion Project designed to help teachers support first year student transition into tertiary studies. This paper outlines an action learning project directed at building knowledge and skills around transition pedagogy for subject coordinators of core first year business subjects. The project was deliberately designed to develop academics\u27 ability to confidently monitor students\u27 progress through the use of both formative and summative assessment practices and to modify their teaching according to students\u27 needs. This paper describes an approach to creating a community of practice around sharing, reflecting and collaboration among coordinators of first year subjects, to embed inclusive teaching strategies into first year subjects

\u27So, what did you do?\u27 A performative, practice-based approach to examining informal learning in WIL

A growing body of research in work-integrated learning (WIL) demonstrates the importance of industry experience for student learning. Much of this research however focuses on individual, formal learning that occurs in WIL programs typically captured through assessment. What is less visible is the informal learning experienced during placement. In this paper, we argue that such omissions are suggestive of the incommensurability of the standard paradigm of learning with informal learning. The standard paradigm limits informal learning by privileging individual, cognitive processes of recall, thereby casting experience as “static and sedimented, separated from knowledge making processes” (Fenwick, 2009, p.235). This paper offers an alternative approach to understanding learning, by drawing on a relational ontology that emphasises how “everything that is has no existence apart from its relation to other things” (Langley & Tsoukas, 2010, p.3) and using a performative practice-based approach. Through a relational, performative approach, this paper demonstrates the utility of examining enacted and embodied knowledge (or knowing) in order to better understand informal learning. Ethnographic vignettes are presented of three commerce interns on WIL placement. Using data from observation, interviews and collection of artefacts we draw attention to the under-acknowledged, embodied and socio-material dimensions of student learning in WIL. By shedding light on this approach, we offer the usefulness of a practice-based lens and a focus on socio-materiality for researching overlooked areas of WI

A conversation with Ralph Fletcher: Writer and teacher of writing

In July 2014 Ralph Fletcher was invited by ALBA and PETAA to present the Donald Graves Address at the ALEA/AATE National Conference in Darwin, NT. It was an inspiring talk, filled with stories about writing and the writer. Intertwined within the stories Ralph presented his audience with key messages about the teaching of writing. Capturing such an inspiring talk as a chapter in a book was going to be a challenge until we came up with the idea of Ralph talking to his readers. After jointly designing key questions that both Ralph and I felt would best capture these messages, we chatted via Skype across the world - Ralph in Portsmouth NH USA in his evening time and me in Shoalhaven Heads in NSW, Australia in my morning time. What fun we had! Even my dog got into the act! The Skype chat was transcribed and sent to Ralph who happily did an edit, tightening and adding where needed. My role has been to carefully work through the original oral conversation and cut-and-paste, add and delete in order to weave together Ralphs\u27 key thoughts and ideas, his \u27gems\u27 into a coherent chapter: A Conversation with Ralph Pletcher

Ethnography in work integrated learning research

This paper introduces and discusses ethnography as a methodological approach to investigate phenomena at the place of practice in WIL. The commensurability of ethnography for examining WIL \u27in situ\u27 is presented in order to delve deeper into WIL phenomena on placement through greater temporal and physical proximity. Part of the reason we haven\u27t been able to fully understand student learning on placement, for example, is because of a lack of awareness and uptake of methodologies that employ direct observation in WIL spaces. Ethnography could open the door to investigating a range of research areas previously obscured or inaccessible by methodologies that keep the researcher at a distance. This paper offers practical implications for researchers in WIL by highlighting methods and future research areas conducive with an ethnographic approach