PhD defence by Mayela Coto Chotto
- Tidspunkt
- Fredag 17. december 2010 kl. 13:00 - 16:00
Designing for change in university teaching practices. The case of UNAgora: A community of practice approach to facilitate university teacher professional development in ICT and project- oriented problem pedagogy.
The overall aim of this research is to enhance the understanding of to what extent a distributed community of practice approach affects the professional development of university teachers and whether this leads the teachers to promote a transformation in teaching practices mainly regarding the introduction of ICT and project-oriented problem pedagogy (POPP). More specific research questions are concerned with what is the impact of belonging to the community of practice on teachers?; what kind of changes takes place in the teachers’ practice?; which factors support or hinder the professional development of teachers who are part of a distributed community of practice?; how does technology contribute (or not) to the formation of the community, and to the professional development process?; and what principles may be used to guide the design of a professional development model- based on communities of practice for fostering change of practice?
The study uses a design-based research approach as it can be used to develop a design solution that can be tested and refined in a genuine learning context, thus making the solution more useable and reliable. The main findings of the study are that the distributed community of practice approach appears to be a productive form of professional development under certain conditions. It provides an environment for learning and dialogue that can enrich and deepen teachers' knowledge, as well as an understanding of important educational issues and change of values, beliefs and practices. However, issues of access to technology, culture of online communication and collaboration, teachers’ workload and time are identified as conditions that need to be carefully studied in order for the approach to be potentially effective.
The defence will be followed by a reception hosted by Department of Communication and Psychology
Everybody is welcome to the defence.
- Arrangør
- Department of Communication and Psychology
- Adresse
- Aalborg University, Kroghstræde 3, room 4.112
- Mere information
- http://www.kommunikation.aau.dk/phd/ph.d.-forsvar/Mayela+Coto/
