Collaborative reflection : supporting one practitioner's development of online learning communities /

This is a study of one participant's reflective practice as she worked to develop online communities in a face-to-face science course. Her process of reflective practice was examined in order to address factors that influenced her learning path, and the benefits and challenges of collaborative action research. These research goals were pursued using a collaborative action research methodology, initially chosen for its close match with Schon's (1983) model of reflective practice. The participant's learning fit vnth Mezirow's (1991) model of transformative learning. She began with beliefs that matched her goals, and she demonstrated significant learning in three areas. First, she demonstrated instrumental learning around the constraints of workload and time, and achieving online learning community indicators. Second, she demonstrated communicative learning that helped her to see her own needs for feedback and communication more clearly, and how other process partners had been a support to her. Third, her emancipatory learning saw her revisiting and questioning her goals. It was through the reflective conversation during the planned meetings and the researcher's reframing and interrogation of that reflection that the participant was able to clarify and extend her thinking, and in so doing, critically reflect on her practice as she worked to develop online learning communities. In this way, the collaborative action research methodology was an embodiment of co-constructivism through collaborative reflective practice. Schon's (1983) model of reflective practice positions a lone practitioners moving through cycles ofplan-act-observe-reflect. The results fi"om this study suggest that collaboration is an important piece of the reflective practice model.

Best Practices of Sport For Development: A Case Study of An African Organization

Sport-for-development is the active practice of achieving social ideals through the use of sport and other traditional development programs. The purpose of this thesis was to evaluate SFD best practices from the context of an African organization development project. The case was a development organization in Zambia, Africa that was utilizing sport within its strategy. The data collection and analysis framed using Curado and Bontis (2007) MIC Matrix, the Sport For Development International Working Group’s (2007) best practices model, and B. Kidd’s (2011) Sport-in-Development Logic Model. The research supports that a SFD project is multi-faceted and should include the employment of strategic community programming on the basis of collaborative and integrative sport, health care and education. Further, the researcher found that the best practices include setting specific goals and objectives, as well as instituting regular monitoring and evaluation strategies