An online community designed to support future makers in educational reform

Australian education is undergoing national reform at many levels. The school sector, where preservice teachers will be employed, are adjusting to the demands of the National Curriculum and improving teacher quality through the National Professional Standards for Teachers. In addition, the university sector, where pre-service teachers are prepared, is undergoing its own education reform through the introduction of a demand-driven system and ensuring quality for tertiary education interns through the Higher Education Standards Framework. In moving to prepare preservice teachers for the school system; universities are grappling with the double-barreled approach to teacher quality; quality within the university course and quality within the student teachers being prepared. Through a collaborative partnership including university lecturers, Department of Education central administration staff, school principals, school coordinators, practicum supervisors, mentor teachers and pre-service teachers; the stakeholders have formed an online community of learners engaging in reflective practice who are committed to improving teacher quality. This online community not only links the key stakeholders within the project, it facilitates the nexus between theory and practice often missing in our pre-service teacher placements. This paper reports preliminary data about an initiative to ensure final year pre-service teachers are aspiring to meet the graduate professional standards through the use of an innovative online community.

A process of engagement: Engaging with the process

Photography is now a highly automated activity where people enjoy phototaking by pointing and pressing a button. While this liberates people from having to interact with the processes of photography, e.g., controlling the parameters of the camera or printing images in the darkroom, we argue that an engagement with such processes can in fact enrich people's experience of phototaking. Drawing from fieldwork with members of a film-based photography club, we found that people who engage deeply with the various processes of phototaking experienced photography richly and meaningfully. Being able to participate fully in the entire process gave them a sense of achievement over the final result. Having the opportunity to engage with the process also allowed them to learn and hone their photographic skills. Through this understanding, we can imagine future technologies that enrich experiences of photography through providing the means to interact with photographic processes in new ways.

The good, the bad and the ugly of bone-anchored prostheses: Guideline to assess true clinical outcomes

The aim of this study is to share the key elements of an evaluation framework to determine the true clinical outcomes of bone-anchored prostheses. Scientists, clinicians and policy makers are encouraged to implement their own evaluations relying on the proposed framework using a single database to facilitate reflective practice and, eventually, robust prospective studies.

Implicações de um curso a distância à formação humana de professores: um estudo sobre egressos da graduação em Pedagogia da UERJ

A pesquisa desenvolvida teve como objetivo investigar como o curso de Pedagogia a Distância da UERJ implicou a prática docente de egressos do curso. Partimos da discussão da concepção de formação do homem através de três categorias: trabalho, conhecimento e tecnologia e debatemos como a Educação a Distância e as tecnologias podem contribuir para a formação humana em nossa sociedade. Dando continuidade focamos o caso da graduação em Pedagogia a Distância da UERJ e discutimos quais são as contribuições e contradições existentes neste curso oferecido através do Consórcio CEDERJ. Realizamos o confronto entre os nossos referenciais teóricos e a prática das professoras entrevistadas a fim de nos aproximarmos de sua realidade e percebermos que implicações o curso teve à prática das mesmas. Para chegar a este resultado fizemos uso de entrevistas semi-estruturas que foram analisadas através da metodologia de análise do conteúdo. Nosso trabalho é pautado no materialismo histórico, portanto nos interessa como a teoria e a prática se relacionam no caso de nossas entrevistadas. O resultado da análise indicou de que maneira o curso colaborou para tornar essa prática reflexiva e crítica.

Diversidade e diferença: um estudo na Creche Fiocruz

Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo investigar as concepções de diversidade e diferença no contexto da Educação Infantil, buscando analisar a experiência de trabalho em uma creche institucional. Tem-se como referencial as abordagens teóricas de Sarmento, Abramowicz, Pierucci, dentre outros, considerando que as diferenças devem ser analisadas como produto da história, da ideologia e das relações de poder. Inicialmente apresentamos o histórico da creche em foco, intercruzada com a história das políticas públicas nacionais. Em seguida analisamos o Projeto Político Pedagógico da mesma e nele a presença dos termos em estudo. Num segundo momento de análise apresentamos as professoras das turmas de crianças de quatro a cinco anos de idade, interlocutoras privilegiadas da pesquisa e suas concepções sobre o tema. As questões de pesquisa foram as seguintes: O Projeto Político Pedagógico da instituição contempla o trabalho com a diversidade e diferença? O que fazer com a diversidade e diferença encontrada em uma creche institucional? O quanto o Projeto Político Pedagógico influencia a prática desenvolvida cotidianamente na instituição? Os resultados da análise do documento e das falas das professoras nos levam a concluir que os termos são pontuados como preponderantes na operacionalização da proposta pedagógica, mas algumas vezes são ligadas ao fator biológico, e estiveram pouco presente na formação acadêmica das mesmas. Quanto ao entendimento dos conceitos as professoras acreditam que a diversidade é um conceito mais amplo do que a diferença. Entretanto, entendem que um não existe sem o outro. Nesta perspectiva, compreendemos como fundamental o avançar da reflexão e da ação direcionada as necessidades prementes das crianças na intenção de renovar, revitalizar e favorecer a prática reflexiva e que considere a multiplicidade de olhares e fazeres. Pretendemos, então, contribuir para a análise e discussão de metodologias e recursos pedagógicos adequados às peculiaridades da comunidade, repensando o direito à Educação Infantil além do ponto de vista legal, mas compreendido no âmbito do direito as diferentes infâncias e culturas existentes na contemporaneidade.

Aprendizagem do profissional de saúde na web: perfis, percepções e representações sociais

No campo da educação permanente na área da saúde, podem ser citadas diferentes iniciativas que visam formar profissionais com o uso das Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação (TICs). No entanto, pouco se sabe ainda sobre o uso da web por profissionais da saúde como estratégia da aprendizagem formal, menos ainda quando se aborda a aprendizagem informal. Percebe-se que as ações no campo da educação com uso e, sobretudo, para o uso da tecnologia como ferramenta de aprendizagem ainda são feitas de forma muito intuitivas, por acerto e erro, tendo em vista a própria evolução da tecnologia em um curto período temporal. Sendo assim, o objetivo geral da pesquisa é compreender o perfil, as percepções e representações sociais sobre aprendizagem na web de médicos, enfermeiros e cirurgiões-dentistas e uma possível influência desse uso no cotidiano profissional. Para atingir o objetivo delimitado, foi empregada a metodologia quali-quantitativa através da utilização de um questionário on-line, contendo questões fechadas e questões abertas, respondido por 277 alunos do Curso de Especialização em Saúde da Família oferecido pelo núcleo da Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UERJ) da Universidade Aberta do Sistema Único de Saúde (UNA-SUS). Para análise das questões fechadas, foi utilizada a estatística descritiva e testes bivariados não paramétricos. A análise das questões abertas foi feita à luz da teoria da representações sociais com emprego da técnica da análise do conteúdo e das evocações livres. Os resultados da pesquisa foram apresentados em formato de três trabalhos para apresentação em eventos e quatro artigos submetidos para publicação em revistas de alta qualidade acadêmica. Com base nos resultados, destaca-se como preocupação que o simples consumo de informações esteja justificando e a ele esteja restrito o uso da internet para os sujeitos, em detrimento às possibilidades educacionais da cibercultura. Acredita-se ser necessário o desenvolvimento de ações que subsidiem uma prática mais reflexiva a fim de reverter um possível uso reduzido das potencialidades da TICs.

‘Novice Teachers’ Views of an Introductory Workshop about Teaching in the Biosciences.

Seven regional networking events, aimed at supporting and developing ‘early stage’ novice university bioscience teachers were held across the UK. These workshops allowed 230 participants to reflect on teaching styles, learn about Higher Education Academy resources and discuss strategies to deal with a range of teaching situations. Post-event feedback was sought, and the results are presented in this paper. Feedback on the events was overwhelmingly positive, highlighting the need for such events to support the development of new teachers in higher education. Institutional training varies and these opportunities for sharing experiences, asking questions, networking and reflection on teaching practice were highly regarded. Most participants felt more confident about their teaching and believed that students were more directly engaged in their teaching after attending the events. Recommendations for support of this category of teacher include provision of discipline-specific events, opportunity for local area networking and support for the development of reflective practice in teaching and learning.

Learning to Teach and its Implications for the Continuum of Teacher Education: A Nine Country Cross-national Study.

The purpose of this Report is to inform discussions, policy formulation, and strategic planning on teacher education in Ireland. The research gives priority to initial teacher education (ITE) and induction, their interface, and implications for the continuum of teacher education, including continuing professional development (CPD). The study involved a two-pronged approach: a narrative review of recent and relevant literature and a cross-national review of teacher education policies in nine countries, namely, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, England, Finland, USA, Poland, Singapore and New Zealand. Adopting a broad, balanced and comprehensive understanding of the role of the contemporary teacher, it provides a framework for developing quality teacher education in Ireland. The Report incorporates exemplars of good practice and notes their implementation challenges for the Irish context.  Chapter One provides a framework for conceptualising quality teacher education and the continuum. Key features that emerge from the literature are discussed: teachers¿ practice, quality teaching, the professional life-cycle, teacher learning and relationships. With more specific reference to the continuum, Chapter Two overviews initial teacher education, induction, learning outcomes and accreditation in the selected countries, including Ireland. Key features of policy in the various countries are summarised. Individual country profiles, incorporating descriptions of socio-political, teaching and teacher education contexts, are further detailed in Appendix A. Chapter Three analyses relevant literature on initial teacher education, induction, learning outcomes/professional standards and accreditation. Along with previous chapters it provides the basis for recommendations for teacher education that are presented in Chapter Four. Chapter Four draws together the findings emerging from the cross-national review in terms of the contemporary context of teacher education in Ireland and identifies key challenges and possible lines of policy development as well as recommendations for the Teaching Council and other teacher education stakeholders. Each generation has an opportunity to provide the vision and resources for renewing teacher education in light of ambitious social, economic and educational aspirations to meet perceived societal and education challenges (as occurred in the 1970s). Despite the publication of two key reviews of initial teacher education a number of years ago, there is considerable scope for further reform of teacher education. However, significant changes have occurred to teacher education course provision and content over the last 100 years. In this report, we have stressed the need for, and called for investment in, greater system and programme coherence, mentoring to support assisted practice, knowledge integration, critical reflective practice, inquiry and the development of vibrant partnerships between higher education institutions and schools as the basis for teacher education reform across the continuum. This Executive Summary presents the Report¿s context, key findings and recommendations emerging from the analysis.  

A new poetics of exile and belonging: the place of memory in the new media environment

This paper explores how new media environments represent and create collective memories of trauma; how creative digital practice can be a key methodology for memory studies and the potential of digital interfaces for representing and reconciling collective memories of trauma, particularly in the context of Cyprus. My project MemoryBank will be used as a model to discuss the potential role of creative digital media practice in both community arts and the formal education process in order to enable participants to engage with the process of peace and reconciliation in Cyprus and circumvent and negotiate politically ossified collective memory narratives and chauvinistic histories. [From the Author]

Foundation degrees in biomedical science: the student experience

The first cohort of students on a University of Westminster foundation degree completed the course recently. Here, Chrystalla Ferrier, Kelly Brookwell and Paul Quinn employ some reflective practice.

O impacto do modelo touchpoints nas representações do educador

Dissertação apresentada na Escola Superior de Educação de Lisboa, para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Ciências da Educação Especialidade Intervenção Precoce

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.