This article examines the organisation of collaborative digital methods and data projects in the context of engaged research-led teaching in the humanities. Drawing on interviews, field notes, projects and practices from across eight research groups associated with the Public Data Lab (publicdatalab.org), it provides considerations for those interested in undertaking such projects, organised around four areas: composing (1) problems and questions; (2) collectives of inquiry; (3) learning devices and infrastructures; and (4) vernacular, boundary and experimental outputs.Informed by constructivist approaches to learning and pragmatist approaches to collective inquiry, these considerations aim to support teaching and learning through digital projects which surface and reflect on the questions, problems, formats, data, methods, materials and means through which they are produced.
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Even though classroom discussion is considered an essential element of citizenship education, research indicates that pre-vocational students have fewer opportunities to practice with these discussions than their pre-academic peers. To provide more insight into pre-vocational teaching strategies to facilitate citizenship-related classroom discussions that allow for variation in familiarity with discussion, we analyzed observations of plenary discussion moments during 26 lessons at three Dutch secondary schools. Classrooms less familiar with discussion seem to benefit from a focus on structural aspects of discussion and avoiding strict content regulation, whereas classrooms more familiar with discussion profit from reflection on both process and content.
Self-directed learning is often embraced as an important educational goal, although for quite different reasons, from the improvement of school learning to the critical assessment of the claims of democracy. Most reasons imply that self-direction is important in learning throughout life. Therefore process-oriented teaching, which aims to foster self-directed lifelong learning, needs a broad and multidimensional theoretical basis. The important role of experiences in the social and cultural context, prior knowledge, and the emotional aspects in learning is highlighted, and related to self-directed learning in life. Important aspects of process-oriented teaching are summarized in four principles. A multidimensional approach of learning also provides a conceptual basis to teachers learning. Developing a process-oriented approach in teaching presents a major challenge for teachers as well as for schools.
