Multi-Institutional Teaching Communities in Computer Education (original) (raw)
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Up Close and Pedagogical: Computing Academics Talk About Teaching
This paper describes and enacts a process for bootstrapping a more systematic discussion of computing education within a school of computing at a researchintensive Australasian university. Thus far, the project has gone through three stages. In the first stage, some academics were interviewed about their approach to teaching. In the second stage, selected anonymous quotes from the interviews were presented and discussed by other interested members of the school at workshops. In the final stage, selected anonymous quotes from the interviews and workshops were placed on a web-based survey, to which interested members of the school responded. These forms of data will be used to drive further stages of debate within the school. The theoretical underpinnings of this project are Wenger's concept of a community of practice, phenomenography, and socially constructivism. The aim is not to instruct the academics in any "right way" to teach. Instead, the aim is to facilitate debate, where the teachers identify the problems, and in finding the solutions they construct their own "pedagogic reality". As facilitators of this process, the authors of this paper highlighted dialectically opposed views in quotes from the teachers, and then allow the teachers to synthesise those views into a more sophisticated view. Our ultimate project aim is to grow a teaching community that balances reified theories of teaching and learning with participation in a community of practice.
From Informal to Formal: Creating the Australasian Computing Education Community
ACM International Conference Proceeding Series, 2004
The advent of Web technology has enabled new ways in which groups of people may interact, leading to the development of online communities. In an academic environment these virtual communities can facilitate collaboration and provide new ways for educators to communicate and disseminate their ideas and practices. A website designed to support a community of educators interested in scholarship and
Supporting Computing Educators to Create a Cycle of Teaching and Computing Education Research
United Kingdom and Ireland Computing Education Research conference., 2021
Despite a rich history of computing education in the United Kingdom and Ireland, computing educators often rely on the same procedures and teaching practices rather than embrace innovations. Similarly, while a growing collection of literature exists on educational theory and practice in computing education, much of this focuses on the same concepts and concerns. An aspiration is that both these problems can be simultaneously addressed by computing educators adopting a cycle of embracing existing literature when devising teaching practice and then feeding their experience and findings back to the community in a rigorous fashion. Consequently, this panel supports computing educators by acting as advisers on a one-on-one basis to support audience members in discovering or devising their own cycle of teaching practice and computing education research.
Faculty learning communities (FLCs) provide their members with both information and support as they move toward utilizing digital technology tools, learn new skills, and share meaningful instructional practices. This paper emerges from the initial year of an FLC established in a large urban research university with a focus on integrating digital technology and instruction. Key aspects of an FLC are addressed, including the effectiveness of the FLC in reshaping the nature of members’ engagement in the academy, the challenges and opportunities of creating an FLC, and the power of FLCs to enhance the way faculty learn about technology.
ICERI2011 Proceedings, 2011
Advances in information and communication technologies (ICTs) as well as modern pedagogical perspectives have created new possibilities to facilitate and support learning in higher education (HE). Emerging technologies bring opportunities to reconsider teaching and learning (Coto, 2008). New ideas and concepts about the educational use of new technologies transform the roles of teachers. In this context the key question of this study is: whether learning as part of a (virtual) community of practice supports teachers’ technology professional development. Different learning alternatives such as distance learning, workplace learning as well as blended forms of learning will enhance lifelong learning which forces a rethinking of traditional forms of education. However, most institutions for education foster just-in-case learning while new technologies foster just-in-time learning (Schrum, 1999; Collins & Halverson, 2009). As a result of new learning perspectives and the potential pedagogical benefits of ICTs in educational contexts, teachers have to learn how to integrate new technologies in teaching and learning. Putnam and Borko (2000) recommend that teacher professional development should be situated in multiple learning settings in which learning is teacher-centred. Next to classroom settings and cross-institutional learning communities, virtual learning communities (VCoPs) are a significant source for learning. There is an overlap between the educational values of interned-based learning and social theories of learning such as Lave & Wenger’s (1991) situated learning theory and Wenger’s (1998) theory of communities of practice. Drawing upon these theories, offers a perspective on social learning that emphasizes social processes within (V)CoPs where community participants engage in collective learning and knowledge creation. The data discussed in this paper have been drawn from a cross institutional setting at Fontys University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands. The data were collected and analysed according to a qualitative approach. The paper concludes that VCoPs are learning environments since these network-based learning communities push learners to take more control of their learning and provide tasks which are more contextualised and meaningful.
Developing communities of practice within and outside higher education institutions
British Journal of Educational Technology, 2008
Higher education institutions (HEIs) are largely built on the assumption that learning is an individual process best encouraged by explicit teaching that is, on the whole, separated from social engagement with those outside the university community. This perspective has been theoretically challenged by those who argue for a social constructivist learning theory and a more collaborative approach to learning. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) afford lecturers and students an opportunity for extending the boundaries of a learning experience, not merely beyond the lone individual, but beyond the limits of discipline boundaries within a specific university community and beyond the institution into the local community. This paper illustrates how a collaborative effort between lecturers and students from the Computer Science and Education Departments at Rhodes University, teachers from the local community, the provincial Department of Education and a non-governmental organisation developed into an unfolding virtual and physical community of practice which enabled ICT take-up in a number of schools in the Grahamstown District, South Africa. This discussion of what has become known as the e-Yethu project provides an example of how ICTs, underpinned by the insights of social constructivism, the notion of ‘community of practice’ and in particular Hoadley and Kilner's C4P Framework for Communities of Practice, can serve to help HEIs understand ways in which ICTs can provide opportunities for developing collaborative learning within HEIs, and between the HEI and the local community.
The Mini-Conference As a Research Tool: Encouraging Collegiality Among ICT Educators
… Society for Computers in Learning in …, 2001
This paper examines the development of the 'mini-conference'; a novel method for collecting qualitative data whilst promoting collegiality among participants. The mini-conference was developed for the purpose of obtaining the views of information and communication technology (ICT) educators from across Australia's universities as part of the ICT-Ed Project. The ICT-Ed Project is a DETYA funded investigation into innovation in the delivery of ICT education in Australian universities. The field of ICT education is diverse, encompassing a range of disciplines: both those traditionally classified as IT (e.g., information systems, computer system engineering and computer science) and newer disciplines which cross over a number of educational domains (e.g., business systems, web development and design, e-commerce).
Models and Methods for Computing Education Research
Australian Computer Science Communications, 2012
We have been engaged in computing education research for close to two decades. One characteristic of the field has been a preponderance of exploratory research, Marco Polo papers as Valentine termed them. Even considering the entire research corpus it is hard to discern a clear trend in terms of models and methods for conducting research. While some prominent researchers, such as Fincher, have established a tradition of mixed method research and multi-institutional studies, these approaches form a branch of the discipline ...