It has been argued that teachers need practical principled knowledge and that design research can help develop such knowledge. What has been underestimated, however, is how to make such know-how and know-why useful for teachers. To illustrate how principled knowledge can be “practicalized”, we draw on a design study in which we developed a professional development program for primary school teachers (N = 5) who learned to design language-oriented mathematics lessons. The principled knowledge we used in the program stemmed from the literature on genre pedagogy, scaffolding, and hypothetical learning trajectories. We show how shifting to a simple template focusing on “domain text” rather than genre, and “reasoning steps” rather than genre features made the principled knowledge more practical for the teachers.
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Over the last two decades, institutions for higher education such as universities and colleges have rapidly expanded and as a result have experienced profound changes in processes of research and organization. However, the rapid expansion and change has fuelled concerns about issues such as educators' technology professional development. Despite the educational value of emerging technologies in schools, the introduction has not yet enjoyed much success. Effective use of information and communication technologies requires a substantial change in pedagogical practice. Traditional training and learning approaches cannot cope with the rising demand on educators to make use of innovative technologies in their teaching. As a result, educational institutions as well as the public are more and more aware of the need for adequate technology professional development. The focus of this paper is to look at action research as a qualitative research methodology for studying technology professional development in HE in order to improve teaching and learning with ICTs at the tertiary level. The data discussed in this paper have been drawn from a cross institutional setting at Fontys University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands. The data were collected and analysed according to a qualitative approach.
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VHL University of Applied Sciences (VHL) is a sustainable University of AppliedSciences that trains students to be ambitious, innovative professionals andcarries out applied research to make a significant contribution to asustainable world. Together with partners from the field, they contribute to innovative and sustainable developments through research and knowledge valorisation. Their focus is on circular agriculture, water, healthy food & nutrition, soil and biodiversity – themes that are developed within research lines in the variousapplied research groups. These themes address the challenges that are part ofthe international sustainability agenda for 2030: the sustainable developmentgoals (SDGs). This booklet contains fascinating and representative examplesof projects – completed or ongoing, from home and abroad – that are linked tothe SDGs. The project results contribute not only to the SDGs but to their teaching as well.
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Presentation at the 6th European Conference for Social Work Research (ECSWR) 2016. As of September 2013, the Research Group Applied Research Methodology at HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht helps researchers to optimise their research methods for practice-oriented research. This presentation introduces the main elements of a PhD study on methodology in the field of Social Work by one of the research group members. The preliminary results of another PhD study are presented as an example on how to involve citizens, in particular vulnerable target groups in a SW-research design (Wilma Numans: science practitioner at Tranzo/Tilburg University - The Academic Collaborative Center Social Work). After a general introduction of the research outlines, all participants will be invited to share ideas and engage in a plenary discussion regarding the context, purpose and methods of the intended study.
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Enterprise Services have been proposed as a more business-friendly form of web services which can help organizations bridge the gap between the IT capabilities and business benefits of Service Oriented Architecture. However up until now there are almost no methodologies for creating enterprise services, and no lists of definite criteria which constitute a good enterprise service. In this paper we present a model which can aid Service Oriented Architecture designers with this by giving them a set of researched criteria that can be used to measure the quality of enterprise service definitions. The model and criteria have been constructed by interviewing experts from one of the big five consultancy firms and by conducting a literature study of software development lifecycle methods and Service Oriented Architecture implementation strategies. The results have been evaluated using a quantitative survey and qualitative expert interviews, which have produced empirical support for the importance of the model criteria to enterprise service design. The importance of business ownership and focusing on business value of enterprise services is stressed, leading to suggestions of future research that links this area more closely with Service Oriented Architecture governance, Service Oriented Architecture change management, and Business Process Management.
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In this document, we provide the methodological background for the Safety atWork project. This document combines several project deliverables as defined inthe overall project plan: validation techniques and methods (D5.1.1), performanceindicators for safety at work (D5.1.2), personal protection equipment methods(D2.1.2), situational awareness methods (D3.1.2), and persuasive technology methods(D4.1.2).
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Expectations are high for digital technologies to address sustainability related challenges. While research into such applications and the twin transformation is growing rapidly, insights in the actual daily practices of digital sustainability within organizations is lacking. This is problematic as the contributions of digital tools to sustainability goals gain shape in organizational practices. To bridge this gap, we develop a theoretical perspective on digital sustainability practices based on practice theory, with an emphasis on the concept of sociomateriality. We argue that connecting meanings related to sustainability with digital technologies is essential to establish beneficial practices. Next, we contend that the meaning of sustainability is contextspecific, which calls for a local meaning making process. Based on our theoretical exploration we develop an empirical research agenda.
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Artistic research is a relatively new form of research that makes use of the attitudes and methods of artists and designers during the research process. This simply implies that researchers work from a visual and associative perspective and have an open attitude that makes it possible for them to notice that which others may fail to see. For a better understanding, we will place artistic research next to three other research paradigms in this text: design-oriented research, practice-oriented research, and academic research. We do this in order to make the social relevance of artistic research visible, a notion that stems from the direct ambition to create a space for artistic research in which the elderly, caregivers, and researchers can gather new insights. Not only does this topic require extra attention because artistic research has a different social value, but also because it is still relatively young: artistic research needs to develop its vocabulary to make itself intelligible towards the already more developed forms of research. This article is an initial attempt in doing so.
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In our research we focus on shared processes of interpretation, knowledge development and innovation in education, developing non-hierarchical research relationships between researchers. Our work is informed by a critical stance towards the current practice in Dutch education where teachers are struggling with student diversity and students with disabilities are excluded from mainstream schools. For the project we present in this book we combined critical discourse analysis, participatory action research and an emergent research design. We worked with teachers and students, supporting and stimulating them to develop a more just and inclusive practice in their schools, where all students get a fair deal. Starting point were the narratives of the teachers involved. Their stories, their struggle and their views were important. Interpretation became a process of shared meaning making at all stages of the research process, systematically integrating insiders’ and outsiders’ perspectives. Thus, the teachers and their students developed contextually-relevant and innovative solutions to the challenges they encountered in their practice, for example regarding power relations in the classroom and managing diversity, making use of the strengths of individual students and those of the group. The researchers involved brought in their knowledge and experience regarding practice-oriented research and introduced a theoretical framework for analysing and understanding current practices. In: Smeyers P., Bridges D., Burbules N., Griffiths M. (eds) International Handbook of Interpretation in Educational Research. Springer International Handbooks of Education. Springer, Dordrecht
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