Collaborative reflective experience and practice in education explored through self-study and arts-based research

Eight teacher educators used self-study methodology to engage in reflective practice to overcome their isolation as individual teachers and researchers, and to facilitate professional development. Their research question asked: How can we continue to develop our teaching practice to ensure we are high quality, contemporary teacher educators? They contributed collaboratively in one overarching research project as well as through several focussed projects that explored issues in their individual teaching practices including: sustainability, creativity, curriculum design, pedagogy, assessment, and the learning experiences for students. This paper explores the outcomes from collaborative inquiry that five of the eight educator/researchers engaged in during a research-writing retreat. It documents their experience using arts-based strategies in which drawings were created about their experiences of engaging in a collaborative project and smaller focussed self-study projects. Analysis involved inquiring into each other’s drawings through recorded conversation. The metaphoric representations found through analysing the drawings provided insight into participants’ teaching practices and identities as teacher educators. Six months later when the participants had developed their projects further and used other artsbased methods to understand these experiences, they reflected on the key issues for their teaching practices that had arisen from undertaking this Collaborative Reflective Experience and Practice in Education research. Arts-based inquiries and reflective analysis over six months, constitute this paper. The experiences and analyses are shared to show how creating and sharing metaphoric meaning of visual representations is useful in self-study research to drill down into the real issues. Importantly, this in-depth sharing provides authentic interdisciplinary links when individual educators share their own approaches to teaching in their disciplined area. Findings suggest that gaining new insights into each other’s discipline-based approaches to teacher education through these methods, revealed different responses to pedagogical challenges and allowed for new possibilities for understanding the landscape of teacher education.

Role of ADRI model in teaching and assessing novice programmers

In this research, an ADRI approach was introduced in the teaching and learning process of an introductory programming course. The result shows that the ADRI approach impacted positively on the students learning outcomes. The ADRI approach not only reduced the failure rate but also improved student’s retention in the course.

Competencies Required in Education Research and Teaching Systematization according to Students from the Preschool, Primary and Secondary Education Programs of the University of Costa Rica

The purpose of this paper is to present the results of two online forums carried out with the participation of 42 students of the Licenciaturas  in Preschool Education, Primary Education and Secondary Education of the University of Costa Rica. The main purpose of the forums was to determine the insights of the participant students about the competencies they have achieved in the field of education research, and which have been the essential tools for them to systematize their own teaching practices. The discussion forums were part of the course FD5091 Métodos de Investigación Educativa [Education Research Methods] of the School of Teacher Education, delivered from March-April 2010.  Of the sample, 60 percent were students of the Preschool teaching program, 35 percent were from the Primary Education teaching program and 5 percent were from the Secondary Education teaching program in the fields of Science, Mathematics and Social Studies. According to the insights and beliefs showed by the participants –both, the future teachers and the profession practitioners–, there are no opportunities for research or systematization of their own teaching mediation, in the current work situation.(1) Translator’s Note: In Costa Rica, the “Licenciatura” is a one-year post-Bachelor study program, usually including thesis. “Primary Education” refers to students from the 1st to 6th grades, and “Secondary Education” refers to students from the 7th to 11th grades.

Procurement Case Study and Decision-making Strategies

Objectives The procurement research of Sydney Opera House FM Exemplar Project aims to develop innovative methods and guidelines for the procurement of FM services, applicable to iconic and / or performing arts centre facilities, or facilities with similar FM functions. The initial procurement report in June 2005 analysed the strategic objectives and operational requirements that provide ‘demand statements’ as evaluation criteria in the service procurement process. The subsequent interim procurement report in September 2005 discussed the elements contributing to the criteria for decision-making in the service procurement process. This procurement report concentrates on the research on procurement strategies and innovative methods using a case study approach. The objectives of this report are: • to investigate service procurement methods and process in iconic and/or performing arts centre facilities; • to showcase FM innovation in Sydney Opera House through a case study; • to establish a preliminary decision-making framework and guidelines for selection of appropriate FM procurement routes to provide a useful model for FM community. Findings Findings from this procurement research are presented as follows. • FM innovation and experience of Sydney Opera House • Innovative procurement methods and processes, drawn from a case study of Sydney Opera House as exemplar • An integrated performance framework to link maintenance service functions to high level organisational objective and strategies • Procurement methods and contract outcomes, focusing on building maintenance and cleaning services of Sydney Opera House • Multi-dimensional assessment of Service Providers • General decision-making strategies and guidelines for selection of appropriate FM procurement routes Further Research Whilst the Sydney Opera House case study emphasises the experience of Sydney Opera House, a study of procurement strategies and methods from published research and FM good practice will supply facilities managers with alternative procurement routes. Further research on the procurement theme will develop a final decision-making model for the procurement of FM services, drawn from the evaluation of the case study outcomes, as well as FM good practice and findings from current published research.

A study and comparison of multimedia Web searching : 1997-2006

Searching for multimedia is an important activity for users of Web search engines. Studying user's interactions with Web search engine multimedia buttons, including image, audio, and video, is important for the development of multimedia Web search systems. This article provides results from a Weblog analysis study of multimedia Web searching by Dogpile users in 2006. The study analyzes the (a) duration, size, and structure of Web search queries and sessions; (b) user demographics; (c) most popular multimedia Web searching terms; and (d) use of advanced Web search techniques including Boolean and natural language. The current study findings are compared with results from previous multimedia Web searching studies. The key findings are: (a) Since 1997, image search consistently is the dominant media type searched followed by audio and video; (b) multimedia search duration is still short (>50% of searching episodes are <1 min), using few search terms; (c) many multimedia searches are for information about people, especially in audio search; and (d) multimedia search has begun to shift from entertainment to other categories such as medical, sports, and technology (based on the most repeated terms). Implications for design of Web multimedia search engines are discussed.

Questions of English : ethics, aesthetics, rhetoric, and the formation of the subject in England, Australia and the United States

The impact and content of English as a subject on the curriculum is once more the subject of lively debate. Questions of English sets out to map the development of English as a subject and how it has come to encompass the diversity of ideas that currently characterise it. Drawing on a combination of historical analysis and recent research findings Robin Peel, Annette Patterson and Jeanne Gerlach bring together and compare important new insights on curriculum development and teaching practice from England, Australia and the United States. They also discuss the development of teacher training, highlighting the variety of ways in which teachers build their own beliefs and knowledge about English.