Defining learning communities

The beginning of the twenty-first century heralds a shift in emphasis from learning with the focus on the individual to learning as part of a community. The concept of “learning communities” is currently one that is to the fore of much educational and organisational literature and discussion. In the literature, however, the term “learning communities” is being defined and used in diverse and flexible ways. As well as learning communities that are geographically defined, there has been growth in accessing learning through participation in “communities of common purpose”. Information and communication technologies have facilitated the emergence and rapid growth of learning communities whose members interact from remote corners of the globe to form online learning communities.

This paper explores the ways in which learning communities are defined, and the commonalities, blurred boundaries and close associations that are apparent between learning communities and other contemporary areas of interest, such as lifelong learning, social capital, communities of practice and distributed cognition. The Faculty of Education at the University of Tasmania has acknowledged the potential that learning communities offer for the new century, and the benefits that can flow from an improved understanding of the concept, by adopting learning communities as the key metaphor of its research. It is apparent that learning communities can be a powerful means of creating and sharing new knowledge.

Communities of mathematical inquiry : a primary pedagogy in peril

This paper outlines some examples from an Australian education system, and its classrooms, that provide evidence of practices that are considered as antithetical to establishing and maintaining Communities of Mathematical Inquiry (CoMI). Although some possible solutions are posed, implementation is left open for readers to consider, as contexts vary widely from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

Critical perspectives on communities of mathematical inquiry

While the notion of Communities of Inquiry (CoI) has its origins in philosophy, there has been widespread interest in mathematics classrooms as Communities of Mathematical Inquiry (CoMI). This paper outlines the structure and content of Research Forum 2: Critical Perspectives on Communities of Mathematical Inquiry, gives a brief review of research in the area, and highlights some key issues.

The story of fable : a narrative analysis of the experience of four registered nurses in their first year of practice

This research explores the transition from student to registered nurse from the perspective of the new graduate. This interpretive study uses narrative analysis as the methodology. Individual stories were collected and processed using the method of core story creation and emplotment (Emden 1998). Four newly registered nurses were invited to share stories related to how they were experiencing their role. Participants were encouraged to tell their stories in response to the open question 'what is it like to be a registered nurse?' In the final step of the analysis one honest and critical story has been crafted (Barone 1992) using a process termed emplotment thus disclosing the themes that allow the stories to be grasped together as a single story (Polkinghorne 1988, Emden 1998). The final story of 'Fable' gives insight into the ways in which newly registered nurses experience their role. Becoming a registered nurse is not easy however, Fable finds that nursing is more than just a job and describes many rewarding experiences. It is hoped that the outcomes of this research will be valuable to students, graduates, nurse academics and the profession of nursing generally by enhancing understandings of the relationship between the graduate and the actual employment experience.

Collaborative care : the role of practice nurses

Background
Comorbid depression can occur with diabetes and heart disease. This article reports on a feasibility study focusing on additional roles for practice nurses in detecting and monitoring depression with other chronic diseases.
Method
A convenience sample of six practices in southeast Australia was identified. Practice nurses received training via a workshop, which included training in the use of the Patient Health Questionnaire, to detect depression.
Results
The 332 patients who participated in the project each received a comprehensive health summary to assist with self management. Depression was identified in 34% of patients in this convenience sample. After 18 months implementation, practice nurses were strongly in favour of continuing the model of care. General
practitioners gave highly favourable ratings for effectiveness and willingness to continue this model of care.
Discussion
Practice nurses can include depression monitoring alongside systematic care of diabetes and heart disease. A randomised trial is currently underway to compare the clinical outcomes of this model with usual care.

Nurses’ utilisation of complementary therapies : a pilot study exploring scope of practice

The increasing use of complementary therapies (CTs) by the public requires nurses to be fully informed about the use and safety of these modalities. In addition, nurses need to be aware of what constitutes complementary therapy practice, its overlap with nursing practice and how to respond appropriately to patients' requests for access to and information about CTs. A pilot study that aimed to describe nurses' knowledge about, and the use of CTs was conducted in four hospitals in southeast Queensland, Australia. One hundred and twenty-nine nurses (65% response rate) of varying levels of qualification and expertise completed a questionnaire. Over 80% of the participants indicated that they engaged in some form of complementary therapy (CT) activity. The entire sample worked in acute care hospitals but 5% engaged in CTs while employed in a second job. These nurses worked in either individual private practice or a multidisciplinary clinic setting. Only 2% of the sample had formal qualifications in a specific CT. Many nurses seemed unsure about what should be defined as a CT. The most common CTs engaged in by nurses were massage, music therapy and relaxation techniques but some nurses also participated in acupuncture, acupressure, hypnotherapy and osteopathy. Some nurses were confused about the difference between CT and usual nursing care. In addition, there were knowledge deficits relating to institutional policies and professional standards. Our findings suggest that nurses require more education about the scope of CT and how it differs from nursing practice. Nurses also require access to clear policies about the safe use of CTs in specific practice settings and about appropriate referral of clients to complementary therapists with accredited qualifications.

Professional learning through narratives of practice

Narratives of practice are a primary means by which educators understand their work, shaping the identities and practices of those who engage with them. Written narratives are examined as a resource for professional learning in three contexts: a writing group for adult educators, a national professional development initiative and a teacher appraisal program.

Revolt and discovery : towards an understanding of practice as research through Kristevan aesthetics

This paper will examine Kristeva’s conceptions of revolution and revolt to demonstrate the significance of her work for practitioners and researchers working in the emerging field of creative arts practice as research, a field of research that is burgeoning in the UK, Australia, Canada and Scandinavia. I will argue that Kristeva’ thought elaborates the aesthetic underpinnings of discovery and provides a rationale for the methodologies used in artistic research.

In her later work on interpretation, Kristeva places a greater emphasis on the need for analysis or theory, since the art and culture of revolt produce unfamiliar or mutant meanings that are difficult for audiences to grasp in terms of their potency for engendering social change and individual empowerment. However, she places the responsibility for this analysis and interpretation on the art critic. But what if (as is the case with the advent of artistic practice as research), the maker and the “critic” become one and the same? Can this shift in the status of artistic practice within the knowledge economy, be understood in terms of Kristeva account of the sense and nonsense of revolt? I will address these questions by revisiting aspects of Kristeva thinking on experience-in practice and examining her more recent and extended elaboration of revolutionary practice. The paper will explore how her thinking can provide practitioners with a framework for understanding creative arts research as the production of new knowledge. If as Kristeva argues, that art and literature are amongst the few means of revolt and renewal, it seems appropriate to turn to her thinking in order to articulate a rationale and argument for claiming that practice as research can operate as a driver of change and innovation in contemporary culture.

The first part of this task will involve tracing what Kristeva sees as three forms of revolt made possible through aesthetic experience. This will involve a closer examination of the notions of transgression and art as experience. Following on from this discussion, I will discuss how Kristeva’s work constitutes both an implicit and explicit critique of science allowing us to conceive of artistic research as an alternative and performative production of knowledge. Finally in this paper, I will apply and illustrate these ideas through an analysis of a selection of a number of research projects successfully completed by artistic researchers in Australia. I hope to show that artistic practice as a mode of enquiry, reveals the inextricable and necessary relationship between practice and theory, interpretation and making, art and life. I suggest that it is this interrelationship, that underpins what Kristeva describes as creative and revolutionary practice. In the context of creative arts practice as research, Kriteva’s account of experience–in-practice indicates that interpretation and analysis must fall to the practitioner-researcher himself or herself - rather than to another person who has been external to the procedures of making - to trace the significant experiential, subjective and emergent processes involved in the production of the work that allows it to reveal the new. This is necessary if the generative and revolutionary impact of artistic research is to be fully understood in the wider research arena.