How academic teachers perceive and facilitate creativity

We will present a case study result from a cross-disciplinary education called Medialogy, which is taught in the Technical and Science Faculty at Aalborg University. The aim of Medialogy is to facilitate creativity within technical solutions. The intention of this paper is to answer the following: how do the Medialogy teachers perceive creativity and how do they facilitate it? Many of the answers point to the pedagogical approach used in problem-based learning, which are perceived as an important element for the creative process. In this paper we will also argue the importance of including the social context (both at a macro and at a micro level) in the definition and use of creativity in engineering education.     

How teachers become action researchers and how teacher educators become their facilitators

The article contributes to the theory of action research by focusing upon kinds of action an individual may undertake in relation to their research endeavour. The article explores action as illusion, as occurring at different speeds according to context, as ‘cure’, as repair to maintain a system, as system improvement, as border skirmishes, as deconstruction and as stealth action. Each of these kinds of action has implications for the action researcher seeking to bring about change. The article explores the ways in which the action researcher can challenge the status quo and bring about creative, educative, democratic frameworks for living in society.     

Empowering teachers: empowering children? How can researchers initiate and research empowerment?

The relationship between reading and empowerment, though often taken for granted, is complex. The paper describes a pilot research project, which sought to explore how teachers might change their practice in such a way as to empower the children in their care, rather than enculture them into the rather more passive and compliant practices of schooled literacy in the time of the National Literacy Strategy. The paper particularly explores the challenge of methodology: a project about empowerment needs emancipatory research methods. Can research empower, and can teachers, so dominated by the status quo, find the confidence to take on the responsibility that power confers? The paper describes the attempt to empower teachers and the researchers' attempt to gather evidence of that empowerment.     

How teachers become action researchers in Pakistan: emerging patterns from a qualitative metasynthesis

The purpose of this study was to develop an understanding of how teachers become action researchers in the context of Pakistan in view of the attempts by the Ministry of Education to reconceptualize teachers as researchers. A metasynthesis of 20 action research theses by MEd students of a private university as part of their program requirements illustrates that teachers found action research to be both complex and messy. The dual role of the teacher and researcher was difficult to balance, and teachers carried the double burden of bringing about change and creating valid knowledge in schools where the prime concerns were syllabus completion and the passing of examinations. Supervision support to enhance skills of reflection and observation is required. The study shows that teachers can learn to undertake action research provided they are offered strong support. The way forward for these reform efforts is to educate the relatively small number of teacher educators in action research to enable them to offer support to pre‐service and in‐service teachers. An additional means to bring about this change is to encourage the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan to enforce the curriculum guidelines that include action research in the teacher education curriculum.     

Books and articles of academic interest

Books and articles of academic interest