It ain't just what you do and the way that you do it: why discourse matters in higher education communities of practice

A number of Australian universities have established and sponsored interdisciplinary communities of practice (CoPs) to develop teaching and learning. CoPs are popularly defined as groups of people who share a passion for something and, together, learn how to do it better. Without further specification, this definition is of limited use in understanding intentionally established CoPs in higher education settings. The term CoP is used and applied in a range of ways in higher education and has been accompanied by some scholarly debate about the meaning and relevance of CoPs to academe. The prevalent response to such debate has been to propose typologies. While typology can be useful, epistemology and discourse are also significant in understanding and developing higher education CoPs. In this paper I focus on discourse surrounding CoPs as a conceptual and developmental factor which has been insufficiently considered in the literature on higher education CoPs. I draw on findings from interviews with 33 CoP members and facilitators in three Australian universities. My findings indicate that discourse surrounding CoPs is significant in shaping notions of participatory value. Connecting with the literature, my findings also reveal a ‘big D’ Discourse of collegiality whereby CoPs offer social support and knowledge sharing to build capacity, as well as spaces in which a collegial academic identity can thrive. This coincides in complex and unpredictable ways with a Discourse of managerialism. I conclude that discourse should supplement typology and epistemology in adaptively shaping understandings of contemporary higher education CoPs and their future development.

Perspectives on architectural design research : what matters - who cares - how

Perspectives on Architectural Design Research is a collection of short essays, projects and edited transcripts that offers current perspectives on design research in architecture and aligned disciplines. Contributors include international figures Donald L. Bates, Richard Blythe, Nat Chard, Murray Fraser, Dorita Hannah, Jonathan Hill and Vivian Mitsogianni. What emerges from the multiple perspectives is that contemporary design research – transdisciplinary, multi-scalar and concerning place, people, space and time – provides a collective and subtle mechanism that is propositional and transformative. The shared optimism of the contributors is that this propositional mode of research can be of catalytic value for contemporary culture and society

Existential individual alone within Freire’s sociopolitical solidarity

Freire’s work has been recognized as lacking some careful and systematic attention to details on occasion (Dale and Hyslop-Margison 2011; Gerhardt 1993; Roberts 2010). This is not a serious criticism but is simply accepted as characteristic of his humanizing approach. One example of an event Freire identifies as important but does not provide systematic details about is the personally existential encounter an individual must face alone while being educated and liberated to participate in the sociopolitical solidarity of her context. Existential encounters are often marginalized due to the all-important focus upon dialogue between others. This contribution seeks to draw attention to the existential experiences of educational transformations to which Freire refers, explaining that these are not just juxtaposed ideas (Hufford 2010) but must necessarily be experienced alone because of their existent ..