Background

The purpose of the proposed presentation is to make a contribution to the new forms of scholarship of educational enquiry. In keeping with the conference theme: ‘Shaping the Future’, our presentation will explain how practitioner-researchers can contribute to the knowledge-base of teaching and learning using Information and Communications Technology (ICT). Our proposal is made in the context of Catherine Snow's Presidential Address to the American Educational Research Association (AERA 2001) where she states that "personal knowledge, knowledge based in one's own experience and practice, is an irreplaceable source of wisdom". She poses two challenges set by the power of personal knowledge. The first challenge is to find out how to present the research findings so that their messages can compete effectively with conclusions from personal knowledge. The second challenge is to find a way of systematizing the knowledge based on personal experience of practice and make it into 'public knowledge’.
The proposal is also made in the context of Schon's claim that action research approaches are likely to contribution to the new epistemology of the new scholarship (Schon, 1995; Whitehead, 2000)

International interest in the action research/self study and new forms of scholarship in teacher education has grown rapidly over the past ten years (Russell & Munby, 1992; Whitehead, 1994; Loughran, 1996; Korthagen & Kessels, 1999). Zeichner (1998) described the movement as the most important innovation in research on teacher education. The rapid growth of the use of ICT in educational research has also included explorations into the use of multi-media portfolios of professional development in the development of a scholarship of teaching, for example, Carnegie Knowledge Media Laboratory (KML, 2001).

Context

The Computer Applications Department at Dublin City University offers a two-year part-time Masters degree in Computer Applications in Education. I teach on the following modules: Interactive Multimedia, Computer Applications for Education and Network Information Management module. I am engaged in an action research enquiry as teacher-educator on the Masters in Computer Applications for Education. In relation to their knowledge-creation, I encourage the teachers on the course to engage in self-studies of their own practice, through an action research process that supports them in the process of creating their own living theories. As part of this process I emphasise the importance of gathering data that enables a judgement to be made on the educational influence of the teacher-researchers with their students/pupils in their learning

Method

We employ the methodology of educational action research, which involves an enquiry into improving one's own practice and understanding the processes of improving practice.

Action research involves systematic enquiry made public, with a view to bringing about improvement in practice. In other words, action research encourages one to be reflective of one's own practice in order to enhance the quality of teaching and learning for oneself and one's students. In the context of the classroom, action research is about improving education, through change. This can best be done by encouraging teachers to be more aware of their practice; more critical of their practice; and being prepared to change it. Action research is participatory by nature, as it involves the teacher in his/her own enquiry, and is collaborative, in that the process involves other people as part of a shared enquiry. . In the words of Feldman (2000) "Self-study provides an important opportunity for university and school researchers to do their "separate work together". By this he means teachers studying their work as teachers, and university teachers-researchers studying their work of teaching and doing research.

I believe that a teacher's own educational values are embodied in his/her classroom practice.
The meanings of these values are communicated to students as they emerge in the course of classroom practice. Thus, as teachers, we need to take ownership of and be responsible for our own educational development. This is what accountability is, in essence. We can achieve systematic professional development by creating our own 'living' educational theory (Whitehead, 2000), and then, by using our values as 'living' standards of judgement, we can test the validity of our claims to educational knowledge. 'Living' educational theory can be described as theory based on practice, as lived or experienced by the teacher him/herself. Living educational theory is constituted by the descriptions and explanations which individual teachers produce for their own learning in enquiries of the kind: 'How do I improve my practice?’

Whitehead (1989) formulated action reflections cycles into these statements:

What am I concerned about/what do I want to improve??
What am I going? to do about it?
What data will I need to collect to enable me to make a? judgement on my effectiveness?
Act and gather data;?
Evaluation of? effectiveness;
Modification of concerns, ideas and actions in the light of? the evaluations;
Submission of description and explanation of my learning? in the educational enquiry, ' How do I improve my practice?' to a validation group.

Conference Presentation

The presentation will include evidence from my self-study on the question: ‘How can I improve my practice as teacher-educator on a Masters in Computer Applications for Education course?’ (Farren, 2001, 2002). Teachers will also provide evidence of their learning as they use action
research to design and create curriculum artefacts for use in their teaching. The contribution to the new forms of scholarship of educational enquiry will focus on the values I/we bring to show educational influence. The evidence from our work in computer applications for education, will include video-tapes of reflections on practices that use ICT effectively to bring about improvement.

Bibliography

Carnegie Foundation Web Site for the Scholarship of Teaching and http://kml.carnegiefoundation.org/gallery

Farren, M. (2001) Improving the use of ICT in higher education through action research, The Second International Conference on Technology in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. Samos, 2001

Farren, M. (2002) Teaching and Learning Action Research, Symposium, American Education Research Association Conference on Validity and Value in educational research. New Orleans, 2002
Feldman, A."Re: Why has Self study become important? " Self study discussion list. (Feb 2000).
http://educ.queensu.ca/~ar/sstep3/feb2000.htm

Korthagen, F.A., & Kessels, J.P. Linking Practice and Theory : The Pedagogy of Realistic Teacher Education, Educational Researcher, 28 (4), 4-17

Russel & Munby (1992) Teachers and Teaching: From Classroom to Reflection, London, Falmer Press

Schon, D. (1995) The New Scholarship requires a New Epistemology, Change, November/December, 1995.

Snow, C. (2001) Knowing What We Know: Children, Teachers, Researchers. Educational Researcher (Vol. 30, No. 7)

Whitehead, J. (1989) Creating a Living Educational Theory from Questions of the Kind, "How do I improve my Practice?" in British Educational Research Journal, 15, pp. 3-17

Whitehead, J. (2000) How Do I Improve My Practice? Creating and legitimating an epistemology of practice. Reflective Practice. 1 (91-104).

Zeichner, K. (1998) The New Scholarship in Teacher Education. Transcript of Vice-presidential address to Division K of AERA, San Diego, 1998.