Conceptualising online knowledge sharing: what teachers’ perceptions can tell us

This study questions the current dependence on theories of social learning and communities of practice in research on teachers’ online learning and online knowledge-sharing behaviour. It employs the interpretative approach to examine how teachers conceptualise their engagement with two USA-based online knowledge-sharing platforms within the context of their broader teaching practice. The findings suggest that the platforms, together with teachers’ engagement with them, are intimately connected with, and must be understood in reference to, both the online and offline contexts in which they operate, with each setting providing unique affordances that shape engagement and outcomes. Teachers’ engagement was largely motivated by their individual knowledge requirements and practice-based needs, resulting in learning primarily being individually rather than socially mediated and constructed.     

Having it all? Transferring community-oriented research principles to teaching and learning to develop better university engagement

There are increasing demands on universities to develop more meaningful linkages with local communities – from government, from citizens and taxpayers, and from students. But the incorporation of community-oriented praxis into the university mission is not straightforward and requires a significant re-orientation away from ‘traditional’ organizational norms regarding teaching and research. Where community practice involves students, there is a burgeoning literature on situated learning, service learning and problem-based learning; but where community practice relates to research, the literature tends to be very much more disciplinary oriented and the sources are commensurately disparate. Discussions about community perspectives, however, are typically located in another set of literatures altogether. In order to address this deficit, this article reviews the literature on community-oriented research with the intention of providing a more holistic view of the common concerns and issues that arise when universities move their work into communities. This article reveals that – despite different disciplinary origins – the varied literature on community-oriented research illustrates the evolution of consistent principles for good practice. Moreover, it argues that community-oriented research principles provide praxis guidelines for university engagement in communities that are often absent in the literature on teaching and learning or civic engagement. The article then presents a case study of the evolution an integrated institutional response, which combines community-oriented research approaches to teaching and learning and civic engagement, being developed at the University of Limerick, Ireland.     

Professional Socialization and Mode 2 Knowledge in the Neo-liberal University Prototype

ABSTRACT

The National Association for Kinesiology in Higher Education conference theme – Leading Beyond the Campus: Driving Change as Experts – responds to public policy demands and signals consequential choices. Many choices are illuminated by the prototype for the Neo-liberal university. Essentially, economic development imperatives give rise to accountability requirements to demonstrate the value-added effects of degree programs and research. Two frameworks – one for professional socialization and the other for knowledge production – invite and necessitate outreach/engagement partnerships and networked improvement communities. These collective action formations facilitate professional socialization/education, fuel knowledge generation/sharing/use, and announce a helping discipline which accepts shared accountability for desirable outcomes and societal impact.     

Social work and social care: the struggle for knowledge

This article, written in the context of the redefinition of public service professionalism, and the roles of public service professionals by government policies and market interventions, examines the role and implications of the new movements of welfare state service users for professional practice, knowledge and analysis. Its particular focus is the field of social work and social care. It raises questions about the nature, purpose and social relationships of research, the credibility and claims of different knowledges, and the relationship between direct experience, research and knowledge. This article argues that currently a hidden battle is taking place in the context of social care between traditional sources of knowledge and service users' knowledges. It sets out ways of enabling the equal inclusion of service users and their knowledges, and suggests that this is likely to be supportive of progressive understandings of professionalism and public service, as well as contributing to more appropriate, rights-based approaches to policy and practice in public service occupations     

Towards the university entrepreneurial mission: Portuguese academics’ self-perspective of their role in knowledge transfer

The role of the university in society and the economy is evolving. Universities produce knowledge that promotes technological developments, which are, in turn, critical to economic growth and competitiveness in the global economy. Therefore, it is increasingly expected that universities become more entrepreneurial and assume this third mission in order to promote innovation and development through the provision of technologies and business ventures. Drawing on data collected for The Changing Academic Profession Project – a comparative survey of the academic profession carried out in 19 countries from all over the world – this article explores Portuguese academic entrepreneurship engagement based on the involvement in the process of technology transfer as an activity performed in the context of research activities. It thus aims to contribute to knowledge about academics’ engagement in entrepreneurial activity. Results from this study suggest that Portuguese academics are fairly involved in entrepreneurial activities and that there is an overall positive attitude towards application of research to real problems. Furthermore, it was possible to see that academics involved in processes of technology transfer are not only focused on activities such as research but also service to the outside community. However, when comparing academics involved and not involved in entrepreneurial activities, several significant differences are found in their attitudes, perceptions and behaviours.     

Insider action research doctorates: Generating actionable knowledge

The aim of this article is to contribute to understanding of the issue raised when executives do action research in their own organizations for doctorates. There are a number of significant challenges for those executives considering action research in their own organization, which are explored under the headings of, preunderstanding, role duality and organizational politics. The article reflects on the executive action research doctorate in terms of the engagement of the individual manager–researcher in first person inquiry, the collaborative activities with others in second person inquiry and the third person contribution of actionable knowledge to the practitioner and academic communities.     

Changing manifestations of wisdom and knowledge in Thailand

Conclusion Thailand is an important regional power in south-east Asia. At present it is experiencing a time of rapid economic development that brings tension into the traditional storehouses of knowledge. Local Thai knowledge and wisdom are being eclipsed by newer knowledge coming into Thailand from the outside. Thailand, however, has a long and proud tradition of adaptation and some Thais believe that this trait of adaptation describes the essence of Thailand. The task is well summed up by the Office of the National Education Commission (1991, p. 17) which says, ‘[The new graduate] must think out how to produce a well-balanced combination of modern knowledge and local wisdom for future economic and social development’. Traditional knowledge is being blended with newer knowledge to form wisdom that is distinctly Thai and enables Thailand to join the global community as a well-informed regional power. A doctoral candidate in sociology at Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia. In her research, she encourages universities to reassert the importance of local knowledge, and to incorporate new ways of thinking into their institutions that balance the influences of global commerce with the needs of local people. She defines this imperative as the search for wisdom in higher education. I would like to acknowledge Dr. Arphorn Chuaprapaisilp, the Hongladarom family, Wipawan Kulsamrit, Helen Printer, Dr. Constance Lever-Tracy, Associate Professor Puangkaew Poonyakanok, the Suttisan family, Dr. Amnuay Tapingkae, Drs. Pairoj and Peansiri Vongivipanond and friends at Suan Mokkh for sharing their ideas with me and for their encouragement and support for my research.     

The role of action research in transforming teacher identity: modes of belonging and ecological perspectives

While teacher identity has been conceptualized in different ways, research in teacher education has shown that the development of self‐understanding about being a teacher is critical to learning how to teach and can be shaped in multiple ways. Etienne Wenger argues that the formation of communities of practice is influenced strongly by the negotiation of identity and thus, to understand learning in relation to identity formation and communities of practice, three modes of belonging should be considered. Using data from a three‐year action research project, the author examines how modes of belonging (engagement, alignment, and imagination) were enacted in teacher‐centred action research communities of practice. As well, an ecological perspective is adopted to provide insight into how teachers' identities are formed and reformed in the context of teacher‐centred action research.     

论经济学课程的“研究性学习”模式——以财政学为例

在社会主义市场经济改革大潮中,只有掌握基本的经济学知识,熟悉市场经济规律,并形成严谨的经济学思维,才能按经济规律办事,才能增强驾驭市场经济的能力。经济学理论体系庞杂、分析范式晦涩,如何实现教学活动从枯燥乏味到鲜活生动呢？实践证明,采用研究性学习教学模式,切实可行且行之有效。     

A success/failure paradox: reflection on a university-community engagement in Australia

There has been an increasing interest within the academic literature on the role played by Higher Education Institutions in the social and economic development of their communities. The Australia Government has recently released its National Science and Innovation Agenda (NISA) which is designed to incentivise university-community research partnerships. In this article, the identified lack of Australian university-community engagement will be problematised through the experience of academics who undertook such an engagement in a regional university setting. A completed research project is used as a lens through which institutional factors impacting on collaborative projects between universities and their communities are identified. The difficulties of university-community engagement are unpacked and problematised so that the various forces contributing to the shortage of university-community partnerships can be better identified and understood. The unitary manner in which university-community research is to be reported under NISA is highlighted as a key barrier to regional research partnerships.     

The market oriented university and the changing role of knowledge

The development of corporate-university linkages occurs within the orbit of two major influences, the information society and the globalization of capital. The presence of the information society builds great pressure towards the production and transfer of knowledge. The economic contraction of recent years is juxtaposed against the globalization of capital which demands that productive enterprises compete on a world wide scale. Universities are not exempt from this dynamic as they too are propelled toward a market orientation. This process leads to a series of conflicts within our universities which define the parameters of the transformation.The first part of this paper discusses these areas of development and conflict within the market university: 1) autonomy and collegiality, 2) the market and the university, 3) ideology, 4) globalization and privatization, 5) pluralism. The second part focuses on the role of knowledge within market university and the change from social knowledge to market knowledge. The focus here includes: 1) the social context of knowledge, 2) science, research of knowledge, 3) knowledge as property, 4) the transfer of knowledge. It is in this context that a new public policy for universities must be charted.     

Massifying and internationalising higher education,changing labour markets and social mobility: challenges for education and urban governance

ABSTRACT

The major objective of this introductory article is to set the wider policy context for the present special issue with a particular focus to examine how the massification and internationalisation of higher education has taken place in Asia. More specifically, this introduction highlights the major arguments of articles being adopted in this issue. The contributions have been selected and gathered from presentations in various regional and international research events held in the last few years. Having experienced the growing pressure for enhancing their global competitiveness, governments in Asia are determined to expand their higher education systems to provide more learning opportunities for addressing pressing educational demand, putting additional resources to internationalising student experience and raising the research profile in order to quest for regional education hub and world-class university status. However, the rapid expansion of higher education has indeed created more university graduates than the labour market could fully absorb. It has become problematic when the global market currently experiences economic stagnation. This special issue sets out against such a political economy context to examine issues related to changing labour conditions, youth mobility and challenges for education and urban governance.     

经济全球化、全球问题与全球伦理

经济全球化浪潮引发的全球问题受到国际社会关注,在既不能改变经济全球化趋势,又不能依靠经济全球化进程消解全球问题的情况下,有必要在全人类的共同利益与各民族国家利益之间保持必要的张力,通过各主权国家进行不断地“对话、商谈和交流”,在解决人类共同问题上达成基本共识,以维护和促进地球生态系统的平衡和完整为第一价值原则,在利益上实行公平地共享与让与,整合出合乎正义与公平的具有约束力的全球伦理框架。     

Engaging the creative arts to meet the needs of twenty-first-century boys

As we navigate through a new form of economic era where science, technology, knowledge and services will replace consumer goods as drivers of growth, and the workplace will increasingly value creative abilities, there appears a need for an educational paradigm shift. However, within an Australian context of increasing school accountability, a great deal of emphasis is placed on standards vis-à-vis improving literacy and numeracy skills for students, and measured by high-stake testing. This current Australian agenda is also part of an ongoing concern for improving the educational outcomes and life chances of boys. Through a social justice lens, this paper offers an exploration of how an innovative and creative arts curriculum has the potential to engage and enhance educational outcomes for all students, particularly for boys who are at risk of underachieving. First, this paper offers an explanation of the changing nature of workplace trajectories and the significance of the creative arts in this shifting economic era. Concurrently, as we prepare students for an unknown future, this paper examines how engagement in the creative arts has the potential to facilitate emerging understandings about learning while providing opportunities to develop learner engagement, motivation, cognitive capacities and academic achievement. Second, while avoiding essentialist accounts of gender and recuperative masculinity politics, we recognise that ‘some’ boys are underachieving in schools and that these boys are often from lower socioeconomic communities. We also recognise that many of these boys are disengaged and invest considerable energy performing masculinities that are in opposition to, and resistant to, the formal processes of schooling including participation in the creative arts. Third, we draw on findings from recent research, including a doctoral study, to discuss perceived barriers to boys' engagement with the creative arts and implications for educational practice.     

The Role of Universities in the ‘Cultural Health’ of their Regions: universities' and regions' understandings of cultural engagement

As Arbo and Benneworth (2007) have alerted us, higher education institutions are now expected not only to conduct education and research, but also to play an active role in the development of their economic, social and cultural surroundings. They call this the ‘regional mission’ of HEIs. This paper is concerned with cultural engagement. Research on universities’ cultural engagement in their regions and the impact of that engagement is still in its infancy, partly because there are different understandings of ‘culture’ and of what ‘engagement’ entails. In this paper, qualitative data from the reports of mixed teams of academics and regional administrators involved in a large international project designed to improve universities’ regional engagement are analysed and discussed. The on-going study — PASCAL Universities' Regional Engagement (PURE) — investigates the role of HEIs in their regions across in a variety of fields such as the economy, community development, the environment and others. This article analyses the data from the study to identify the different perspectives universities and regions have of cultural engagement. The aim here is to demonstrate the value of PURE in facilitating the development of mutual understanding both between universities through a common language and between universities and their regions in respect of mutual expectations. For example, particularly difficult to de-construct is universities’ engagement with disadvantaged communities (Doyle, 2007) but Powell's (2009) work suggests that universities might engage more broadly and effectively ‘through better knowledge sharing and co-creation with business and community partners’ to become ‘real drivers of creative change in developing socially inclusive projects’. Others have written about the educational role of universities in developing a ‘lifelong learning culture’ in their region (European Universities’ Charter on Lifelong Learning, 2008).     

两次学术革命与研究型大学的发展

科学研究被引入大学的第一次学术革命 ,造就了研究型大学。此后科学研究这一大学(主要是研究型大学 )的社会职能逐步走向职业化和专业化 ,从“小科学”步入“大科学” ,研究型大学也由此在今天成为新知识与新经济的策源地 ,以致人们提出大学正经历着把经济发展也引为学术使命的第二次学术革命。     

Collaborative practitioner research: opening a third space for local knowledge production

Early childhood education and care is currently experiencing unprecedented policy interest and expansion. This policy and practice landscape requires new forms of adaptive leadership, new spaces for production of the knowledge necessary for this changing context, and tools that can support the development of leadership qualities. This paper examines the potential of practitioner research to produce contextually relevant knowledge and to develop leadership capacity. Our findings show that collaborative practitioner research groups provide a relatively safe environment for the sharing of dilemmas and critical reflections. The practitioners who participated in this research wanted access to narratives of change in typically resourced early childhood contexts as well as in the more highly resourced settings that are more often reflected in academic research and literature. This suggests there is a need for much more of this work to be publicly available. These groups can generate the courage required to open practice based research to public critique. This, we argue is an important element of activist leadership. Collaborative practitioner research opens up the possibility for practitioners to position themselves as knowledge producers and to revitalize the knowledge base that informs teacher education in the academy. In supporting this move, academics need to position themselves as resource gathers and co-learners thus opening a third space for knowledge production. The challenges for the profession are how to fund and effectively disseminate collaborative practitioner research and how to draw it into dialogue with other forms of research.     

Engagement and academic promotion: a review of the literature

Universities in Australia are becoming increasingly concerned with their reputation as ‘engaged’ institutions. Yet there is significant confusion about what this idea of ‘engagement’ means and no clear way of measuring or reporting it. In part, this is because of the nature of engagement itself which is dependent on local context, partnerships and communities. This presents a difficulty for academic staff undertaking engaged work within institutions and stresses the need for institutions to develop internal processes that clearly articulate definitions of engagement, set out performance expectations and provide processes for the reward and recognition of the scholarship of engagement. In a sector increasingly concerned with the outputs of research as measurable by publication bibliometrics and grant income, the sometimes difficult to measure outcomes of engaged work can become relegated and dismissed. As part of a project to articulate performance expectations in the area of the scholarship of engagement for academic promotion at the University of Wollongong, researchers undertook an extensive international literature review to learn what had been done in this area previously and to identify issues of concern. This paper sets out the findings from this review, considers the implications of engaged scholarship for academic promotion and suggests some possible ways forward for institutions and staff working in this area.     

Whose context for what quality? Informing education strategies for the Caribbean

An enduring tenet of the comparative education tradition is the significance of cultural context, of the distinctive features that characterise a society or social group. The close link that has been established between culture and development has prompted Caribbean leaders to place more emphasis on an appreciation of the region's cultural assets, and to find ways of translating these into economic wealth in the international market place. This is particularly challenging in an increasingly globalised environment where knowledge is considered the primary resource. While the Caribbean's capacity for facing the dilemmas of difference is thought to give it some comparative advantage, one of the key challenges for its educational policy‐makers is how to provide a quality education that is sensitive to the ‘local’ context while remaining responsive to the demands of the ‘global’ market. To meet these challenges, the Caribbean is revisiting traditional concepts of ‘knowledge’ and initiating comprehensive reforms aimed at refashioning its education systems to prepare an internationally competitive labour force and to promote the region as a global partner in international policy‐making.