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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Abstract Many innovations in education are not completed, even if they are well thought out in advance. One of the main causes is the organization's lack of learning ability, combined with a shortage of teachers' and students' ownership with respect to the renewal of ideas and design. In communities of learners, teachers and students collaborate and learn together in order to shape innovations in their daily practice. Their ability to learn collectively is a key factor in developing a learning organization. So far, insights into how processes of collective learning can be designed effectively, and which critical factors play a role, have been based on limited empirical research. This article's goal is to contribute to the development of these insights, using the results of a study based on 48 cases of collective learning in communities of learners in primary schools and teacher education institutes. The results suggest that although collective learning rarely takes place in most cases many outcomes are created that affect all community members. This leads to the conclusion that some participants create outcomes, not only on behalf of themselves, but also on behalf of others.
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Deze casestudie geeft inzicht in verschillende soorten kennis die kenmerkend zijn voor applied design research. Er wordt onderscheid gemaakt tussen kennis over de huidige situatie, over wenselijke alternatieven en over effectieve oplossingen om daar te komen. Ofwel, kennis hoe het is, kennis over hoe het kan zijn en kennis over hoe het zal zijn als we effectieve oplossingen toepassen. Elk van deze soorten kennis heeft andere kwaliteitscriteria.
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In our professorship 'Learning Strategies' of the Fontys Secondary Teacher Training College Tilburg, we stress the importance of practitioner research for the professional development of teachers. To investigate our own beliefs, we started a project in which teachers learned to do practitioner research in their own schools. There were two questions we were interested in: 1) Which elements of the program are suitable to help teachers to learn do their own practitioner research? 2) What knowledge do teachers create in doing practitioner research? Several authors mention the benefits of practitioner research performed by teachers (Loughran et al, 2004; Zeichner & Noffke, 2001; Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1999; Cochran-Smith, 2005; Huberman, 2002; Anderson & Herr , 1999; Robson, 1993, 2002; Onstenk, Kallenberg & Koster, 2007). Doing their own research would increase their professionalism as teacher. Although the relevance of practitioner research is stressed by many authors, not many teachers in the Netherlands are already actively doing practitioner research. Among other causes, the lack of experience in how to do practitioner research might be a barrier. We developed a program for teacher practitioner research, consisting of seven group sessions. In each session, attention was paid to theoretical backgrounds (formulation of a research question, choosing methods, obtaining and analyzing data, reporting on the findings) and to practical implications (participating teachers were advised by each other and by the supervisor). Most teachers worked together in a couple on their research project. The supervisor kept notes about difficulties and experiences of the teachers during the process and interviewed the teachers after they finished their research project. The answers to our research questions are: 1) The theoretical parts of the program were necessary for teachers to obtain knowledge about the (systematic) approach of research. The practical help of the supervisor was crucial during the process as the teachers were insecure about applying their newly obtained research knowledge in practice and needed help to do so. 2) Teachers obtained knowledge about performing practitioner research as well as knowledge about the problem they investigated in their school practice. Furthermore, they mention personal benefits such as 'another look at my profession', 'renewed motivation' and 'new insights'.
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In December of 2004 the Directorate General for Research and Technological Development (DG RTD) of the European Commission (EC) set up a High-Level Expert Group to propose a series of measures to stimulate the reporting of Intellectual Capital in research intensive Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs). The Expert Group has focused on enterprises that either perform Research and Development (R&D), or use the results of R&D to innovate and has also considered the implications for the specialist R&D units of larger enterprises, dedicated Research & Technology Organizations and Universities. In this report the Expert Group presents its findings, leading to six recommendations to stimulate the reporting of Intellectual Capital in SMEs by raising awareness, improving reporting competencies, promoting the use of IC Reporting and facilitating standardization.
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Dit paper is het eindproduct van leerarrangement 1 (Zin in Leren) van de HBO masteropleiding Leren en Innoveren. Het is een literatuurstudie naar blended learning en hoe blended learning kan bijdragen aan een beter leerresultaat van de student.
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In this chapter it is argued that self-direction is currently well above the head of the majority of youngsters and even of many adults. Evidence for this conclusion stems from developmental and brain research. However, for various reasons it is important that people develop the competences that are necessary for self-direction. To what degree is it possible to develop these competences? Are they 'learnable'? What can education contribute?
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The principal aim of this study is to explore the relations between work domains and the work-related learning of workers. The article is intended to provide insight into the learning experiences of Dutch police officers during the course of their daily work. Interviews regarding actual learning events and subsequent changes in knowledge, skills or attitudes were conducted with police officers from different parts of the country and in different stages of their careers. Interpretative analyses grounded in the notion of intentionality and developmental relatedness revealed how and in what kinds of work domains police officers appear to learn. HOMALS analysis showed work-related learning activities to vary with different kinds of work domains. The implications for training and development involve the role of colleagues in different hierarchical positions for learning and they also concern the utility of the conceptualisation of work-related learning presented here.
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Hoofdstuk 2 uit Position paper Learning Communities van Netwerk learning Communities Grote maatschappelijke uitdagingen op het gebied van vergrijzing, duurzaamheid, digitalisering, segregatie en onderwijskwaliteit vragen om nieuwe manieren van werken, leren en innoveren. In toenemende mate wordt daarom ingezet op het bundelen van kennis en expertise van zowel publieke als private organisaties, die elkaar nodig hebben om te innoveren en complexe vraagstukken aan te pakken. Het concept ‘learning communities’ wordt gezien als dé oplossing om leren, werken en innoveren anders met elkaar te verbinden: collaboratief, co-creërend en contextrijk. Vanuit het Netwerk Learning Communities is een groep onafhankelijk onderzoekers van een groot aantal Nederlandse kennisinstellingen aan de slag gegaan met een kennissynthese rondom het concept ‘Learning Community’. Het Position paper is een eerste aanzet tot kennisbundeling. Een ‘levend document’ dat in de komende tijd verder aangevuld en verrijkt kan worden door onderzoekers, praktijkprofessionals en beleidsmakers.
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Primary schools are challenged to continuously improve their teachers' teaching and their students' learning. Through an iterative process, we have developed a method to stimulate teachers to collectively collect and analyze data, derive consequences from their analyses, take actions and evaluate outcomes. Such processes are referred to as collective learning (Verbiest, 2002; Dixon 2002) through collective action research. In order to study the impact of our method in practice, fifteen pilot-schools have applied this method of collective action research in their school-practice. Every pilot-school was followed intensively, both regarding processes as well as outcomes, leading to 15 case-description. Our research questions are: 1) what kind of framework is helpful to monitor collective learning in primary schools? and 2) which critical aspects are involved in the process of collective learning? There are three important aspects underlying our definition of collective learning: influence, vitality and evaluating. With 'influence' we refer to the way Lundy (2005) uses this: whose voice is heard and who has influence on the process? The second aspect is vitality, which refers to the way people interact with each other. Castelijns, Koster & Vermeulen (2009) describe vitality in relation to collective processes as a balanced situation in which individual- as well as collective needs are fulfilled. The third important aspect in collective learning is the way the process is finished: do the participants evaluate their process of working and learning together in order to learn from the process itself (double-loop learning as defined by Argyris & Schön, 1978)? This theoretical background is the frame for the analysis of our cases. Fifteen (qualitative) case-descriptions are the input for our analysis. We have developed an analytical framework, based on the three underlying principles for collective learning as described above. This framework consists of a set of descriptions (rubrics) which define each principle. Every case is read carefully and scores are adjusted for each principle leading to a quantitative measurement of collective learning. In addition to the quantitative scoring of case-descriptions, also a qualitative analysis is carried out by labelling text-fragments. The qualitative analysis helps to interpret the quantitative findings. By analysing our quantitative and qualitative data, we hope to be able to explore processes of collective learning. At this moment half of the fifteen case descriptions are ready for analysis, the other cases are being written. Our first impressions in applying the analytical framework are that the framework offers a useful tool to monitor and interpret a case. We think the framework itself might not only be used for research purposes, but could also serve as an instrument for schools to monitor their processes. Our first analysis shows that the framework is useful for analysing the process of collective learning in detail and that the framework is applicable to all kind of different cases.
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