Self-Study Enabling Understanding of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: An Exploration of Collaboration among Teacher Educators for Special and Inclusive Education

ABSTRACT

While teaching is increasingly being accepted as a discipline, there is a growing emphasis on teacher educators researching their own practice to advance the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL). This study sought to explore the extent to which self-study contributes to teacher educators’ understanding of the SoTL within the discipline of teaching. While self-study is generally accepted as a scholarly approach, the aim here is to address the call in the literature for self-study researchers to evince a commitment to a practice-based and theory-building research agenda by linking with public theories, in this case the SoTL. Additionally, given that self-study is collaborative in nature, findings here may help to address the dearth of knowledge reported in the literature about teacher educator collaboration. A self-study approach was adopted to explore a journey of two teacher educators as they designed, implemented and evaluated new modules in special and inclusive education within an initial teacher education programme in the Republic of Ireland. Analysis and synthesis of data from 24 student teachers and two teacher educators provide insights and understandings into the collaborative interactions and factors that enabled and hindered these interactions. This may support other teacher educators in developing a collaborative pedagogical culture to enhance greater understanding of the SoTL We argue for adopting self-study as a scholarly approach to engage with other theories, such as the SoTL, thus contributing to the broader field of teacher education research.     

Learning from Rookie Mistakes: Critical Incidents in Developing Pedagogical Content Knowledge for Teaching Science to Teachers

While there is a growing literature focused on doctoral preparation for teaching about science teaching, rarely have recommendations extended to preparation for teaching science content to teachers. We three doctoral students employ self-study as a research methodology to investigate our developing pedagogical content knowledge for teaching science to teachers during a mentored internship in an elementary teacher professional development program. With our mentor, we examine critical incidents in the experience that supported new insights about teaching teachers and about ways in which beginning teacher educators need to develop their existing pedagogical content knowledge for teaching science to students in order to teach science effectively to teachers. We emphasize ways in which doctoral internships can support this learning and how our respective cultures shaped our interactions with and perceptions of teachers as learners.     

Researching Teaching about Teaching: Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices

The growth in the field of self-study of teacher education practices has largely been based on teacher educators' desire to better understand teaching and learning about teaching. This paper reviews research over the last decade that has been important in shaping understandings of self-study and the issues, concerns and agendas that are emerging as crucial to furthering the work. A major purpose of the paper is to draw particular attention to ways of expressing the learning from self-study so that it might be meaningful and applicable in practice for other teacher educators; especially in relation to developing a pedagogy of teacher education.     

发展心理学自主讨论教学模式初探

发展心理学自主讨论教学模式是建立在自主学习、合作学习、探究教学理论基础上,结合高师院校教育学、心理学专业的专业课程发展心理学进行的具体学科教学模式。该模式包括提出议题、个人自学、小组讨论研究、全班交流与总结几个环节,能有效地促进学生知识、能力．、个性的全面发展。其实施需要教师转变观念、改变作业与评价方式、充分发挥教师的主导作用。     

The Scholarship of Teaching in Teams: What does it look like in practice?

The extent to which teaching in universities should reflect scholarly values has received increased attention over the past few years. There has, however, been little attention paid to what the scholarship of teaching might look like in practice and no attention to what the scholarship of teaching would look like from the perspective of a teaching-team. This paper reports on a study of five groups of university teachers working in teaching-teams. It considers how their practice as a team matches what is claimed to be scholarly and collaborative in the existing literature on scholarship and teaching and learning, on the one hand, and on collaboration and teamwork, on the other. A model of scholarship of teaching is further developed to include the scholarship of teaching in a team. The ways in which the teaching-teams in the study fit this model are explored and implications for improved practice are considered.     

Locating and building knowledges outside of the academy: approaches to engaged teaching at the University of Sheffield

This article draws on three case studies, which illuminate a number of practical, ethical and intellectual issues that arise from ‘engaged’ teaching activities within the curriculum. Projects from the disciplines of Architecture, English and Journalism Studies illustrate the possibilities offered by learning and teaching projects which emphasise public facing, co-produced knowledge as central components. It is argued that such approaches enable dynamic forms of learning to emerge, which work to expand the parameters of subject-specific knowledge while enabling the development of citizenship attributes and employability skills amongst students in ways that deepen, rather than dilute, intellectual rigour. The article locates these practical pedagogical reflections within theoretical frameworks offered by those working (largely in North America) on publicly engaged approaches to scholarship and seeks to draw connections with contemporary developments in learning and teaching in the UK.     

The Handmaid’s Tale: Using Literature and Online Journaling to Facilitate a Self-Study of Feminist Identity in an International Research Collective

ABSTRACT

This article explores how five international colleagues from the USA, Canada, China, and Japan use self-study methodologies and online journaling to systematically examine the tensions surrounding the lived experiences of feminist academics in diverse global contexts. It draws from the theoretical foundations of critical qualitative inquiry, self-study, feminist epistemologies, and fiction as research. The main research questions guiding the study are: what is the role of self-study and journaling in an international research collective?, how can contemporary literature inform a self-study about the intersection of gender and career?, and in what ways does journaling with international partners support personal and professional development of multicultural teacher educators?. For 6 months, the authors explored these questions with one another in an interactive online journal. Collaborative analysis of the journal entries produced three major themes: fiction as self-study, scholarship as hope, and scholarship as freedom. The article concludes with the authors’ personal views on the importance of online journaling and self-study among educational researchers who are interested in finding tools and structures for navigating the contemporary women’s movement within academia.     

Study of Self: The Self as Designer in Online Teacher Education

In this article we describe our engagement in self-study as part of an examination of design-based research for education. We focus on graduate-level online teacher education as an example of how self-study provided a means of examining deeply our teaching and our roles as teacher and designer in the learning environment. We posit that online learning environments are particularly well suited for self-study to enhance design perspectives because the interactions between teacher and students are informed by personal context and mediated by technological tools. The graduate students in our courses were teacher leaders in literacy or mathematics who were learning how to support professional development for other teachers. Throughout our self-study research we found ourselves drawing upon our previous design research experiences, which aided our ability to engage in self-study: We were part of the classroom system, focusing on our roles within the teaching and learning process as designers of the online learning environment. Three key design principles resulted from our self-study process: focusing on systems of learning and teaching, designing pedagogical tools and products, and using iterative processes. Engaging in self-study enhanced our understanding and implementation of synchronous online instruction, particularly regarding our use of technological tools to enhance student learning and support learning communities.     

Why Self-Study? An Exploration of Personal,Professional, and Programmatic Influences in the Use of Self-Study Research

ABSTRACT

How does a teacher educator come to engage in self-study research? In this article, the authors seek to answer this question by investigating the personal, professional, and programmatic influences that drew one teacher educator to self-study. The authors used critical friendship to investigate the first author’s introduction to self-study, with data collected through collaborative journaling and regular meetings. Influences for the authors included struggles with outsidership and expectations, teaching from an others perspective, and weathering programmatic shifts. Experiences presenting this study at the 2018 Castle Conference are shared, along with lessons learned from the presentation. Generally speaking, some who attended the presentation saw their initial use of self-study as part of a healing process; others were unsure of their impetus but plan to reconsider their introductions to self-study. Further study of scholars’ introductions to and motivations for engaging in self-study research may improve our understandings of this aspect of self-study scholarship.     

以培养学生自主学习能力为导向的药学本科《无机化学》的教学研究与实践

本文对当前药学本科《无机化学》教学现状作了分析,提出了有效的教学改革方法,即传统理论教学与PBL理论教学、经典实验逆向思维教学法与综合实验技能培养相结合的教改措施,以实现学生主动获取知识、应用知识、分析问题、解决问题、创新思维及批判性思维等能力的培养。     

Towards Contextual Experimentation: Creating a Faculty Learning Community to Cultivate Writing-to-Learn Practices

In order to explore ways to integrate new pedagogical practices, five faculty members created an informal faculty learning community focused on writing-to-learn practices, an inquiry and process-based writing pedagogy. The faculty members learned the writing-to-learn practices together, periodically met to discuss how they implemented the practices, and reflected on each other’s instructional methods in the contexts of their own experiences. The faculty members engaged in a self-study in order to understand how the collaborative nature of the learning community helped them to learn and use the new teaching practices. After participating in a series of workshops together, they shared written reflections about their experiences of employing the practices in their own classrooms. The findings of this study reveal that participation in a faculty learning community provided an engaging and effective way to learn and make use of new pedagogical practices. Participants gained practical adaptive strategies from each other, felt supported in their experimentation with the new practices, and analyzed more deeply the ways in which the new practices could be integrated into their teaching. The authors describe how an informal faculty learning community can be an effective tool for faculty to research, learn, and analyze the learning of specific pedagogical practices.     

农村中小学现代远程教育工程中教师主导作用的发挥

在农远工程“三模式”环境下,中小学教师利用计算机教室系统、卫星接收系统和光盘播放系统开展教学活动,丰富了教学方式和教育资源。“三模式”环境下教师的主导作用主要体现在学习目标的引导、运用教育技术的指导、教学过程的疏导、自主学习方法的辅导四个方面。只有教师注重自身素质的提高,才能在农远工程中充分发挥主导作用。     

Muddying the Waters: Studying Teaching for Social Justice in the Midst of Uncertainty

ABSTRACT

In light of societal pluralism, diverse visions exist for social justice. In this sense, uncertainty is a marker of social justice education and research. This article shares insights into how we came to ask a question about teaching for social justice through cross-cultural collaborative self-study. Eight New Zealand pre-service teachers participated in semi-structured interviews in which they reflected on their six-week social studies methods course. Drawing on pedagogical moments that the pre-service teachers saw as being significant, this article explores the generative and ambiguous ways in which the course ‘muddied the waters’ of their unfolding conceptions and practices of social justice education. The article describes how coming to know ‘teaching for social justice’ through the eyes of these pre-service teachers provided a reflexive surface for our self-study and has shaped its trajectory. In contrast to our initial desire for greater certainty, placing the uncertainties of social justice at the forefront of our practice has become central to our inquiry.     

Creative Authenticity: A Framework for Supporting the Student Self in Design Education

This article introduces a pedagogical approach in design education referenced as creative authenticity. Creative authenticity is defined as an ongoing process of learning to create through intrinsically motivated, self-aware and self-affirming actions and rationales. The concept is grounded in Constructivist learning theory, Postmodernist views of pluralism and cultural position, Anthony Giddens’ theory of reflexive identities, and scholarship on intrinsic motivation in learning. This ideology seeks to personalise the learning experience for each student in ways that are meaningful to their person, not just useful to the design industry, at large. This conversation proposes four samples of methodology by which to infuse creative authenticity into curriculum as a starting point for shaking off implicit biases; focusing on student learning and growth; initiating meaningful and empowering discussions; and redefining success through collaborative and participatory educational design. This work promotes teaching with creative authenticity as a foundation to help students realise their strengths through their ever-evolving identities. In a broader context, authenticity in education supports marginalised groups to see themselves, their histories and their experiences authentically reflected in their education and work.     

优化英语教学方法 有效提高教学质量

Students' mastering learning method is the focus of new curriculum,which forces our teachers to optimize teaching methods and continuously improve students' learning effectiveness.Therefore,this article analyzes it from three aspects: the establishment of harmonious relationships, enhancing self-study potential,using inductive method flexibly,developing effective potential of thinking and smart guidance and learning interest.     

“自学、议论、评价”三环互动教学模式的构建

以"任务型自学—议论交流—评价反馈"为基本程序的教学模式,简称"自学、议论、评价"教学模式,遵循了"最有效的学习方法就是让学生在体验和创造的过程中学习"这一宝贵的教学理念,把教学重点从"教"转移到"学",提升了学生的主体地位,让学生真正成为学习的主人。文章介绍了该教学模式的操作流程,肯定了其教学意义和优势,相信其对教学改革的进一步推进具有一定的理论和实践意义。     

Polyvocal Play: A Poetic Bricolage of the Why of Our Transdisciplinary Self-Study Research

ABSTRACT

We have come to conceptualize our transdisciplinary, transnational, and transcultural interaction and reciprocal learning through self-study research as polyvocal professional learning. Our conceptualization of polyvocality has made visible how dialogic encounters with diverse ways of seeing, knowing, and doing can deepen and extend professional learning in self-study research. For this collaborative self-study, we created a poetic bricolage composed of frequently used words in three of our published research poems as we asked, “Why? Why does our work together exist? And why should anyone care?” What emerged became an organic abstract of the impetus for our collaborative learning over time. Through inventing a poetic bricolage, we were able to make visible and available how our multiple interests, practices, and methods have come together to support fluid, dialogic co-learning, and re-learning. Discovering the why of our work included unearthing our gravitation toward transdisciplinary scholarship, which offers university faculty a wide range of possibilities for co-learning and co-creativity. Our demonstration of methodological inventiveness in action through poetic bricolage will be useful to others interested in exploring the promise and tensions of plurality, interaction and interdependence, and creative activity in self-study methodology.