Current: 673 words. Total allowed: 2000 words (1000 words/group)
Collaboration: The persistent dilemma on how to effectively integrate research findings (outcomes) into classroom practice (outcomes) may be mediated by developing a better understanding of teacher characteristics and the nature of teaching. This understanding would be an outgrowth of a knowledge building community that brings together researchers, policy makers, practitioners and teachers. The community’s objectives would include creating education policies informed by and informative to the broader society. Success would rely on a shared mindset that partnerships positively impact research and teaching. This view may begin to dissolve the belief that research can be produced by researcher and exported to teachers and curriculum developers. The erosion of the belief that researchers and teachers are separate entities may better connect research and practice. Example: PDS (professional development school). It would be wise to include teachers and students with different conceptions, sharing and negotiating research agendas and questions, to better connect research with schools. Working with athentic data with few resources of dealing with the data, both in terms of tools, human resources, etc.develop an efficient mechanism of dealing with data. The divergent terminologies that are used in different discplines in collaboration. Mutual understanding and mutual valuing of the research that we are addressing, shared understandig, shared vision on issues and techonology. Challenge of bringing multi discplines working together. Basic starting points with shared understanding. Access to the communities in terms of establishing trust and working together: outreaching, building trust, worthwhile and relevant research interest. Technological culture. Bring people with different perspective, but different discplinery advocates understanding each other in order that this interdesclplinery corperation working out.
Praxis: A challenge education has always faced, and increasingly noticeable in the past decades, is the difficulty of changing teachers’ practices. One reason, among others, is that policymakers lack knowledge of teachers’ needs and of their day-to-day activities. Much research has been done to improve learning in different educational settings. However, very little has been put into practice. Far too often, the application (or shall we say “interpretation”) of theoretical ideas fail to generate the anticipated results. For example, many secondary classrooms have desks arranged into small groups, supposedly to encourage collaboration. Unfortunately, in too many of these same classes, students are discouraged from talking so that the teacher can “teach” at the front of the room. The research necessary in the following decade should concentrate on creating alignment between researchers, teachers and curriculum designers. This alignment requires overcoming an existing power difference between researchers and practitioners. This means researchers must value teachers. Better understanding in terms of how to change practice. Change but not just at individual level but at the whole scale change, how change happens, how to bring about the change? Bring people with different background to do research and to affect scaly change. Looking at the teachers as pedogogical and also as descipline learners: learn about the process of change. How should teaching be assessed--constructs that should be assessed, scalability of objective assessment: cognitive processes, affective processes. Using the assessement not as a driving/summative force of learning but as a formative process in the learning mechanism. How should teacher should be involved in self assessment, guiding learning, as a constructive process.
Capacity for innovation: With the rapid advancement of technology, which is bringing innovative forms of pedagogical approaches to the education system, schools are no more in a position to adhere traditional didactic ways of teaching. The advancement will demand redesigning of teacher education programs as well as professional development programs that are in line with the new pedagogical approaches. Teachers cannot be successful to enact new pedagogical innovations with their existing capacity. More extensive support either from the macro and micro-level of society is needed (the whole society, policy makers, and the school level). The speed with which the research foundings lead the practice, especiall with the technology: to keep reseach founding for the practice remain relevant. Find balance between using technology: adopt the research foundings that are meaningful not just because it is new/fancy.
Technology: Another possible challenge may be in relation to adapting technological advancements for teaching and learning purposes. Technological advancements primarily occur in order to improve working conditions and life in general. The advancements are not usually done by taking the betterment of education as a central focus. When computers are invented, they were not primarily designed to foster the education process. I feel that it is the responsibility of educators/instructional designers to think of how new technological innovations can be adapted to teaching and learning. So pacing with the rapid change of technologies to make use of them for educational purposes may be a challenge. Furthermore, there may be a mismatch in the speed at which technological advances are occurring and the speed at which we can get teachers trained with the new innovations, i.e. by the time we get graduates from teacher education programs, the innovations that were existing when they start the programs may become obsolete. Teacher beliefs, values and attitudes also play a key role in whether in the successful integration of new technology into the learning. Synchonized notion between technology and practice, make it remain relenvant and current.
Globalization: Another question we might need to ask is: Are research universities globalizing? A global vision is needed to achieve more cooperation worldwide and to achieve openness in igher education. As a community, when we can learn together, and share resources, we can meet grand challenges together. However, the pace at which technological advancements are undertaking and being incorporated as part of education systems in general and the teaching learning process in particular across nations is not same. With the presence of disparity in such respects, achieving a global vision will be a challenge. Making edication more locally relevant.Reculturing.
Possible next steps:- Reduce and tighten sentences (especially lengthy descriptions of easy-to-grasp phenomenon) - Peruse the executive summaries of longer whitepapers (i.e. provided by Alain & Alenoush) to identify key features of their writing style and structure. - Carefully add some key supporting literature (i.e. lit reviews, policy statements, evaluative reports)
Total allowed: 2000 words (1000 words/group)
Collaboration: The persistent dilemma on how to effectively integrate research findings (outcomes) into classroom practice (outcomes) may be mediated by developing a better understanding of teacher characteristics and the nature of teaching. This understanding would be an outgrowth of a knowledge building community that brings together researchers, policy makers, practitioners and teachers. The community’s objectives would include creating education policies informed by and informative to the broader society. Success would rely on a shared mindset that partnerships positively impact research and teaching. This view may begin to dissolve the belief that research can be produced by researcher and exported to teachers and curriculum developers. The erosion of the belief that researchers and teachers are separate entities may better connect research and practice. Example: PDS (professional development school). It would be wise to include teachers and students with different conceptions, sharing and negotiating research agendas and questions, to better connect research with schools. Working with athentic data with few resources of dealing with the data, both in terms of tools, human resources, etc.develop an efficient mechanism of dealing with data. The divergent terminologies that are used in different discplines in collaboration. Mutual understanding and mutual valuing of the research that we are addressing, shared understandig, shared vision on issues and techonology. Challenge of bringing multi discplines working together. Basic starting points with shared understanding. Access to the communities in terms of establishing trust and working together: outreaching, building trust, worthwhile and relevant research interest. Technological culture. Bring people with different perspective, but different discplinery advocates understanding each other in order that this interdesclplinery corperation working out.
Praxis: A challenge education has always faced, and increasingly noticeable in the past decades, is the difficulty of changing teachers’ practices. One reason, among others, is that policymakers lack knowledge of teachers’ needs and of their day-to-day activities. Much research has been done to improve learning in different educational settings. However, very little has been put into practice. Far too often, the application (or shall we say “interpretation”) of theoretical ideas fail to generate the anticipated results. For example, many secondary classrooms have desks arranged into small groups, supposedly to encourage collaboration. Unfortunately, in too many of these same classes, students are discouraged from talking so that the teacher can “teach” at the front of the room. The research necessary in the following decade should concentrate on creating alignment between researchers, teachers and curriculum designers. This alignment requires overcoming an existing power difference between researchers and practitioners. This means researchers must value teachers. Better understanding in terms of how to change practice. Change but not just at individual level but at the whole scale change, how change happens, how to bring about the change? Bring people with different background to do research and to affect scaly change. Looking at the teachers as pedogogical and also as descipline learners: learn about the process of change. How should teaching be assessed--constructs that should be assessed, scalability of objective assessment: cognitive processes, affective processes. Using the assessement not as a driving/summative force of learning but as a formative process in the learning mechanism. How should teacher should be involved in self assessment, guiding learning, as a constructive process.
Capacity for innovation: With the rapid advancement of technology, which is bringing innovative forms of pedagogical approaches to the education system, schools are no more in a position to adhere traditional didactic ways of teaching. The advancement will demand redesigning of teacher education programs as well as professional development programs that are in line with the new pedagogical approaches. Teachers cannot be successful to enact new pedagogical innovations with their existing capacity. More extensive support either from the macro and micro-level of society is needed (the whole society, policy makers, and the school level). The speed with which the research foundings lead the practice, especiall with the technology: to keep reseach founding for the practice remain relevant. Find balance between using technology: adopt the research foundings that are meaningful not just because it is new/fancy.
Technology: Another possible challenge may be in relation to adapting technological advancements for teaching and learning purposes. Technological advancements primarily occur in order to improve working conditions and life in general. The advancements are not usually done by taking the betterment of education as a central focus. When computers are invented, they were not primarily designed to foster the education process. I feel that it is the responsibility of educators/instructional designers to think of how new technological innovations can be adapted to teaching and learning. So pacing with the rapid change of technologies to make use of them for educational purposes may be a challenge.
Furthermore, there may be a mismatch in the speed at which technological advances are occurring and the speed at which we can get teachers trained with the new innovations, i.e. by the time we get graduates from teacher education programs, the innovations that were existing when they start the programs may become obsolete. Teacher beliefs, values and attitudes also play a key role in whether in the successful integration of new technology into the learning. Synchonized notion between technology and practice, make it remain relenvant and current.
Globalization: Another question we might need to ask is: Are research universities globalizing? A global vision is needed to achieve more cooperation worldwide and to achieve openness in igher education. As a community, when we can learn together, and share resources, we can meet grand challenges together. However, the pace at which technological advancements are undertaking and being incorporated as part of education systems in general and the teaching learning process in particular across nations is not same. With the presence of disparity in such respects, achieving a global vision will be a challenge. Making edication more locally relevant.Reculturing.
Possible next steps:- Reduce and tighten sentences (especially lengthy descriptions of easy-to-grasp phenomenon)
- Peruse the executive summaries of longer whitepapers (i.e. provided by Alain & Alenoush) to identify key features of their writing style and structure.
- Carefully add some key supporting literature (i.e. lit reviews, policy statements, evaluative reports)