Presented in one of the parallel sessions during the 15th International Conference on Education 2010 at Universiti Brunei Darussalam.
Presenter/courtesy of Michael Moroney, Lecturer, Universiti Brunei Darussalam.
Micromeritics - Fundamental and Derived Properties of Powders
Ice 2010 presentation moroney
1. Taking evidence-based professional learning conversations online: Implications for teacher professional development programme design Michael Moroney University of Brunei [email_address]
16. A way of modeling the structure and dynamic relationships in an activity system. The structure of human activity in Engestrom’s (1987) Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) framework
17. The structure and relationships of an evidence-based professional learning conversation Explanatory framework
20. Community of practice theoretical perspective Wenger, E., McDermot, R., Snyder, W. (2002). A guide to managing knowledge: Cultivating communities of practice . Harvard Business School Press: Boston (see page 68) What are the triggers that catalyze evolution?
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23. CSCL “… In this approach, learning is conceptualized as a collective and participatory social process in which a series of multistranded interpersonal transactions mediate the exchange of knowledge” (Cole and Engestro¨m 1993).
Good morning ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming I am an educational technology lecturer at UoB I will be talking about professional development of teachers and some design factors to be considered if we are to get teachers to work together online.
I will start by defining what an evidence –based professional conversation is Look at the implications for conversation development form three theoretical perspectives: Communities of practice theory Computer supported collaborative learning theory Cultural historical activity theory A brief introduction to the professional friends programme
Teachers work together to solve a teaching and learning problem for the purpose of developing collective knowledge about teaching and learning.
Three conditions are associated with successful evidence-based professional learning conversations.
Quote: Timperley & Earl (2009), page 122 How can we find a way to make children that fail mathematics now be consistently more successful in the future?
It is not enough to want to know, we need to know how to be data-wise. Some teachers may need to develop data analysis skills.
These three conditions are critically important – they make it easier to conduct meaningful discussions. They make it easier to keep all members of a group engaged.
So far we have talked only about conversations that traditionally take place between teachers in school staffrooms. This slide shows some of the reasons why it might be worthwhile to consider having conversations online. Say a lot here…
Teachers already collaborate online but it tends to be for sharing information rather than for deeper discussion. In this example teachers in a school in Brunei are looking for information about how to use LATEX to create mathematical equations.
Practice will hopefully be underpinned by theory. Therefore it makes sense to consider theoretical perspectives that contribute to explanation of how online conversations work.
A way of modeling the structure and dynamic relationships in an activity system. The diagram highlights the complexity of online conversations with many factors possibly affecting the outcome. From Engestrom, Y. (1987) Learning by expanding: An activity-theoretical approach to developmental research. Lines represent tension between different components of an activity structure
This slide shows the CHAT framework as it applies to online evidence-based professional learning conversations
4 layers of tension to be considered when looking at online collaboration: CHAT theory suggests teachers are motivated to change by four layers of tension (Fiedler et al., 2009). The first layer lies within each of the six nodes. For example, a community may develop rules that are inconsistent with each other and this motivates the community to change in ways that mitigate this inconsistency. The second tension layer is one in which any two nodes are inconsistent. For example, too many rules may stifle innovation and creativity and insufficient rules to guide teachers may lead to loss of activity focus resulting in unmet goals. A third tension layer is one in which traditional procedures for completing tasks conflict with new approaches. For example, tech-savvy community members may be more inclined to adopt the use of online discussion tools while others prefer offline forms of communication. A fourth tension is that between different activity systems. For example, the goals of a learning community may not align with those of administrators in the wider school community as each group has different views about how to improve classroom practice.
CoP literature does touch on distributed networks, though it doesn’t call them online networks. Need to go through the 5 points above slowly.
Some quotes from various CSCL research sources indicates the CSCL perspective is focused on the need for learners to communicate effectively and at the same time this is quite difficult to do.
There appears to be a consensus that we need to look at what is happening while learning is taking place and not just on the end product.
In a single slide we can comment very generally how each of the three theoretical perspectives might contribute to an integrated theory for this type of online learning community.
This is a project that involves 50 teachers learning about how to work together in a community to create new knowledge. Teachers will get some training in the first of this 7 month training program, and after that the 10 groups will meet once per month to share their experiences with each other in a presentation day.
Ok
Uses Mixed methods and a range of data capture techniques – all online. All data will be captured online. Thematic analysis of transcripts is to be carried out using NVIVO, qualitative data analysis with SPSS and Social Network Analysis with UCINET 6. There are multiple opportunities to triangulate findings with data from different sources.