scholarly journals Developing Connective Pedagogy in Cultural Research—A Case Study from the Teachers’ Perspective in Adopting a Problem-Based Approach in Higher Education

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 252 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kumpulainen ◽  
Vierimaa ◽  
Koskinen-Koivisto

The article examines the challenges university teachers face when adopting connective pedagogy in organizing teaching. Instead of studying the learning outcomes of the method, we decided in this research to focus on the teachers’ experiences when doing things differently in a fairly traditional pedagogical institution like a university. In spring 2019, as a part of our new degree programme entitled Culture, Communities, and Change (KUMU) at the University of Jyväskylä, we implemented a multisensory ethnography course in collaboration with a third sector development project promoting village tourism in Central Finland. On the course, we applied a problem-based approach to implement the connective pedagogy through which we wanted to increase the students’ working life skills and public engagement. While the main objective of the multisensory ethnography course was to develop village tourism and teach the students how to do ethnographic research, we also scrutinized our own teaching experience in developing higher education pedagogy through documenting our own activities in field diaries and analysing our own roles through self-reflexive ethnographic practice. The group discussions and the diaries of the teachers during the course are the data that has been analysed by means of social practice theory. The three elements of social practices—material, competence, and meaning—helped us to identify the important factors that should be taken into consideration when trying to change everyday practices in our work, in this case to organize collaborative teaching with a third sector development project. According to our results, a problem-based approach is an effective tool on a collaborative project course between the university and a third sector organization because it enabled us to practice connective pedagogy at a very practical level. There are also challenges in applying a new method. Studying our diaries and notes of group discussions and reflecting our experiences, we identified the following critical stages and weak spots: Planning and co-ordinating the course took a lot of time and resources and teachers must tolerate a certain amount of uncertainty. The competence of the teachers was also challenged; they needed to be open, for example, to dealing with unfamiliar research topics. Even if the teachers’ meanings, motivation, and values were in accordance with the principles of connective pedagogy, there are still many contradictions in the meaning element of problem-based teaching practice. Above all, the teachers were compelled to question their role as experts when taking third sector actors as equal partners in producing new knowledge.

2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 61-77
Author(s):  
Peter Chomba Manchishi ◽  
David Sani Mwanza

Teaching practice exercises serve the purpose of orienting the teacher into real classroom situations where the novice puts his or her skills into practice. Education students at the University of Zambia (UNZA) go through the school teaching experience after their third year of study. This comes after they have arguably completed enough content and methodology courses to teach. The purpose of this study was to establish the effectiveness of the UNZA school teaching experience. The research instruments used were interview guides, observation checklists, and focus group discussions. The respondents included 80 serving teachers, 80 student teachers, and 10 head teachers drawn from 10 high schools in the Lusaka District. In addition, 10 lecturers from UNZA were also sampled. The findings revealed that the design and delivery of the UNZA student teaching experience was not effective.


2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro Ribeiro ◽  
Juliana Paulin

Context: Rethinking mathematics teaching practices in a university context is an emerging research theme. Objectives: In this article, we aim to discuss the limits and possibilities of using mathematical tasks in the teaching and learning processes of the concepts of Derivative, Integral and the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus. Design: The study is based on a qualitative-interpretative perspective of research, with methodological procedures inspired by a Design-Based Research. Environment and participants: The research was developed with students attending a Functions of a Variable class in a public university in the state of São Paulo. Data collection and analysis: Data were collected through mathematical tasks on Differential and Integral Calculus solved by students. The protocols produced were analysed, pointing out the main aspects identified, which led us to organize categories of analysis and dimensions (i) knowledges mobilized and developed by students in relation to mathematical concepts; (ii) main errors and difficulties presented by students in the development of tasks; (iii) limits and possibilities of the practice of exploratory teaching in the university context. Results: The results reveal aspects that characterize a process of resignifying the mathematical concepts discussed with the students and a deepening of their knowledge about the concepts of the DIC. Conclusions: As future notes, we suggest rethinking university teaching practice, since the study indicated possibilities and potentialities of the use of exploratory tasks in the teaching of Differential and Integral Calculus.


Author(s):  
Chrissi Nerantzi ◽  
Craig Scott Despard

In this paper we describe the use of LEGO® models within assessment of the Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice (PGCAP) offered at the University of Salford. Within the context of the PGCAP, we model innovative and contextualised assessment strategies for and of learning. We challenge our students, who are teachers in higher education (HE), to think and rethink the assessment they are using with their own students. We help them develop a deeper understanding and experience of good assessment and feedback practice in a wider context while they are assessed as students on the PGCAP. We report on an evaluation of how the LEGO® model activity was used with a cohort of students in the context of the professional discussion assessment. We share the impact it had on reflection and the assessment experience and make recommendations for good practice.


2021 ◽  
Vol 99 ◽  
pp. 01004
Author(s):  
Tatiana Tregubova

In the context of socio-pedagogical transformations of higher education organizations, the modernization of the system of teachers’ professional development becomes an integral component of the reforms. Today university teachers have to be ready for continuous development and advanced training throughout their lives. Thus, the study of the problem of university teachers’ professional development in Russia and abroad is very relevant and timely as a response to the modern requirements of civil society for the personality of the teacher. The need for professional development among university teachers is closely related to his (her) desire for more successful indicators in teaching activities. To do this, it is necessary to fulfill several pedagogical conditions, including the teacher's own awareness of the need for professional development; the interest of the university administration and the availability of resources to organize an effective professional development system, etc. The purpose of the article is to show some successful practices of the teachers’ professional development in Russian, Chinese and European universities which the author observed while visiting those universities within the realization the project “Enhancing teaching practice in the universities of Russia and China”. The article presents the possibilities of benchmarking in higher education, in particular, the use of the benchmarking technology as a method of studying the effective practices of organizing the teachers’ professional development in a modern university.


2007 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-91
Author(s):  
László Kárpáti

The title of the proposed JEP project is: “Agribusiness Higher EducAtion Development” with the acronym AHEAD. This curriculum development project – in case of acceptance – will last for three years, from July 2005 and June 2008. The primary project site is the University of Zagreb, Croatia; the contractor and the co-ordinator institution is the University of Debrecen, Hungary. In the consortium, 3 further European universities (University of Hohenheim, Wageningen University and Scottish Agricultural College) will participate, from the Croatian side the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management and an additional 7 Croatian institutes will also be involved. The total number of members in the consortium is 13. The main objective of the AHEAD project is to establish new BSc and MSc programmes in Croatia at two Faculties of the University of Zagreb. These are as follows: Agricultural and Rural Development, Food Safety and Quality Management and pilot MSc training in Agribusiness and Rural Development. These are preceded by faculty retraining programmes in food safety and quality management, as well as agribusiness and commerce within the framework of a MBA programme accredited by the International MBA Network. The professional content of the project is a modernised curriculum and training palette that would be available by the end of this project at the University of Zagreb, serving not only the higher education of the country, but the demand of the Croatian national economy as well, in line with the basic principles of the European Union.


Author(s):  
Nely Boiadjieva

Supervision is viewed within the process of art-therapy and counseling in social work practice as an applied field of social pedagogy. The consulting and counseling within the helping professions in the social sphere is viewed as an important issue in the university training of specialists working with individuals, families and groups with different problems. The specifics of the consulting and counseling in the social sphere have been defined. On the basis of the analysis and the study of one’s own teaching experience as well as the empirical study of the feedback from students` opinions conclusions have been made about the problems of the methodology of the preparation for the helping professions. Attitudes towards professional counseling, self-estimation of the level of education and expectations for realization in the social sphere have been viewed as indirect orientations. In the end some generalization are made about the practice of supervision in art-therapy and counseling in social practice and teaching.


Author(s):  
Evelyn Aguirre ◽  
Solomon Faller

The usefulness of teachers’ mentoring program cannot be underestimated. Some universities and colleges in the Philippines have been implementing this kind of program with different approaches, content, and scope. The extent of mentoring programs to improve teaching careers has been studied here and abroad. Results remain inconclusive. This case study with a phenomenological peg has explored the lived experiences of neophyte teachers through semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions. Their experiences in the first years of teaching were characterized by uncertainties, anxieties, struggles, and difficulties emanating from their lack of expertise on various aspects related to teaching practice, lack of knowledge about the culture and context of the university in which they were teaching, and lack of knowledge about the learners. With these specific inadequacies identified and the novice teachers’ implicit desire to be mentored, cues for a viable neophyte teacher’s mentoring program are drawn in the context of a teacher-training university.


This anniversary volume of the Association for the Teaching of Spanish in Higher Education in the United Kingdom is a compilation of contributions made by members and delegates at the 2019 ELEUK annual conference held at the University of Edinburgh. Throughout the book, authors share their teaching, assessment, and research practice in the area of Spanish Language Teaching (SLT). From strategies to enhance student engagement and foster student agency to reflections on language teaching practice from diverse angles, these nine short papers contribute to current debates around foreign language pedagogy, with a focus on teaching Spanish in the higher education context.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rocío Muñoz Benito ◽  
Maribel Rodríguez Zapatero ◽  
Leonor Pérez Naranjo ◽  
Cristina Morilla García

The development of language skills in a second language as well as knowmad skills are key to the future employability of students. This research aims to analyze the impact of the introduction of a specific methodology implying the development of both types of skills on the student’s motivation and satisfaction in order to foster the development of a bilingual itinerary. The methodology is based on Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) and the sample involved 227 students of the Degrees in Tourism of the University of Córdoba (Spain). Through a model of structural equations, the data analysis revealed that the development of language skills in an L2 and the development of knowmad skills had a significant direct effect on the students’ motivation towards learning a second language. The indirect effect of the development of these skills on the students’ satisfaction with the teaching experience was also significant. 


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Ssekamate

Higher education offers several opportunities for faculty, administrative staff, and students to contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation as well as promote sustainability within the areas where such institutions are located. Through training, research, and community engagement functions, higher education institutions can ably contribute to sustainability and climate change response. This paper presents part of the findings from a larger study conducted at University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. The researcher adopted a socio-constructivist perspective to explore the perspectives and views of lecturers, administrators, and students on climate change related programmes regarding the role that university governance and management can play in promoting climate change and sustainability interventions at their university. Data was generated using semi-structured in-depth interviews and focus group discussions (FGDs) from 33 participants. Data was analysed using thematic analysis based on Braun & Clarke (2006). Findings revealed several roles that their university’s governance has and continues to play in promoting climate change and sustainability interventions including integrating these aspects in the university strategy, adding climate change and sustainability to the university research agenda, and promoting sustainability practices in the management and governance processes and systems. The findings may be handy in supporting other universities to promote these aspects right from the governance levels.


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