Faculty of Education - Research Publications
Permanent URI for this collection
Search Results
1 - 8 of 8
-
ItemValidating the ILETC’s Teacher Transition Pathway(The University of Melbourne, 2019)Demonstrating the validity of findings in order to ensure credibility is a key juncture in any research (Creswell & Miller, 2000). At this stage of the Innovative Learning Environment & Teacher Change (ILETC) project, what was important was to undertake procedures to validate inferences (Hammersley & Atkinson, 2007) drawn from the ILETC Phase 1 data. Specifically, this related to the temporal dimensions and Grand Themes initially identified through Phase 1, and subsequently conceptualised as the Teacher Transition Pathway (ILETC, 2017). The project team leveraged the collective expertise gathered in Transitions18 research symposia in Phoenix, USA, and Copenhagen, Denmark, to undertake a series of validation processes. This chapter describes the data collection methods used for validation, along with results obtained. Comparison is made between the two venues. Implications for the next stages of the project are discussed.
-
ItemA Systematic Review of the Effects of Innovative Learning Environments on Teacher Mind Frames - Technical Report 5(University of Melbourne, LEaRN, 2019)The overall objective of the systematic review was to identify studies which provide evidence that innovative learning environments have an effect on teacher mind frames. For this review, an innovative learning environment is defined as the product of innovative design of space and innovative teaching and learning practices (Mahat, Bradbeer, Byers & Imms, 2018). Innovative learning spaces are physical educational facilities designed and built to facilitate the widest array of flexibility in teaching, learning, and social educational activity, while innovative teaching and learning practices are the sum of teaching and learning activities that, in combination, assist in the best possible learning outcomes and learning skills of students required in the 21st century. An innovative learning environment is produced when these two phenomena are successfully merged. Teacher mind frames can be defined as the ways that teachers consciously think about their teaching roles, the content and pedagogical knowledge, which in turn has an impact on their attitudes, actions and decisions that are likely to have significant impacts on student learning (Mahat et al., 2018). Within these parameters, the review identified, collected and synthesised available literature that examined and evaluated the way primary and secondary school teachers considered their role, work, and practice in relation to learning environments.
-
ItemTeacher Mind frames and belief systems(University of Melbourne, 2017)The workshop focused on teacher mind frames and belief systems. Participants worked in small groups to explore how teachers’ beliefs about learning shape their teaching. These small group discussions illustrate challenges other teachers face, what they are doing to overcome them, and provide an opportunity to discuss what teachers need to support their ideal teaching practice.
-
ItemInnovative Learning Environments and Teacher Change: Defining key concepts - Technical Report 3/2018(University of Melbourne, LEaRN, 2018)The aim of this report is to provide a synthesis of the literature that is relevant to our project and has informed definitions of key constructs. By synthesising scholarly research, together with quantitative findings from the Space, Design and Use Survey (Imms, Mahat, Byers & Murphy, 2017) and qualitative findings from the teacher workshops (Mahat, Grocott & Imms, 2017), this paper advances definitions and characteristics of these concepts pertinent to the current study: Innovative Learning Environments, Teacher Mind Frames and Student Deep Learning. In the context of the ILETC project, these key constructs and definitions frame the study and provide a scope to respond to the project’s key research question, Can altering teacher mind frames unlock the potential of innovative learning environments?
-
ItemNo Preview AvailableThe “state of play” concerning New Zealand’s transition to innovative learning environments: Preliminary results from phase one of the ILETC project(New Zealand Educational Administration & Leadership Society, 2017-01-01)Driven by international trends and government policy, it is a requirement for all newly built schools in New Zealand to be designed as innovative learning environments (ILEs) with flexible learning spaces. These environments, celebrated by some for the “transformational” educational opportunities they may provide, also raise questions about whether the anticipated pedagogical value of these “non-traditional” spaces is based on idealised visions of teaching and learning rather than empirically derived evidence. Before such complex issues can be efficiently addressed, evidence of the actual “state of play” of ILEs is required. Drawing on New Zealand specific data from a large Australasian research project, this paper triangulates principals’ opinions, teachers’ perspectives, and the literature on some key preliminary issues: what types of learning spaces can be found in New Zealand schools; what teaching styles are evident in these spaces; what pedagogical beliefs are driving ILE teaching practices; and what types of learning activities are occurring in ILEs? The paper provides an evidence based platform for further discussion about the opportunities and challenges surrounding the use and practice of ILEs in New Zealand.
-
ItemI can see clearly now the wall Is gone: Situated Professional Learning in a Collaborative Innovative Learning Environment(LEaRN, University of Melbourne, 2016)The development of effective collaborative teacher practice within Innovative Learning Environments (ILEs) in primary schools forms a critical component that might underpin how successfully they operate. For many teachers, this shift into new and shared spatial settings may well coincide with increased levels of openness, visibility, deprivitisation of practice and opportunity to learn from their colleagues. Physical proximity, however, does not guarantee this learning, although professional exposure is perhaps more inherently assured. In such an environment, where does the difference lie between seeing and observing? And what role does feedback play between colleagues? ‘What’s working’ can perhaps therefore be constructed in terms of predominant cultural conditions, shared understandings, and teachers’ capacities to ‘be comfortable being uncomfortable’. This article draws on material from a wider study on teacher collaboration in ILE, and presents findings from data conducted in one of the New Zealand primary schools case study sites. It utilises data collected through interviews with principals and teachers, and observations of teacher teams practicing in ILEs. It reflects the notion that while spatial proximity may well present opportunities for teachers, it also presents complex challenges at the professional, social, and cognitive level.
-
ItemWorking Together in the Space-Between: Pedagogy, Learning Environment and Teacher Collaboration(Sense Publishers, 2016)For teachers, the arrival of new generation learning environments (NGLEs) may offer the chance to do something that the predominant built infrastructure has discouraged - the opportunity to work together. Learning environment designs that deliberately group teachers, students and learning settings together signal a spatially inbuilt intentionality for teacher collaboration. However as Blackmore, Bateman, Loughlin, O'Mara, and Aranda (2011) noted, learning environment research has often focused on the design phase rather than on ongoing occupation. As a result there remains an aspirational tone that frequently runs through the design literature, often making the assumption that changes in teaching and learning will occur as a result of new spaces. Consequently researchers and evaluators have called for a better understanding of the way that teachers occupy space, their pedagogical approaches, and the resulting impact on learning. In essence, ‘what works?’ The same question also needs to be asked of collaborative teaching spaces. There is a need for a better understanding of the way teachers occupy space together, what pedagogical practices are used and with what impact? This space-between pedagogy, learning environments and teacher collaboration therefore forms the heart of this emerging theme. ‘What works’ together?
-
ItemFinished beginnings: Finding space for time in collaborative teacher practice(LEaRN (University of Melbourne), 2015)The design of Modern Learning Environments (MLEs) in New Zealand primary schools follows a global shift in thinking about the relationships between pedagogy and space. MLEs that deliberately group larger cohorts of teachers and students signal a spatial intentionality for teacher collaboration. This study focuses on the nature of that collaboration and the impact on the professional work of teachers, both at the interface with students and behind the scenes. The study is being completed in three phases. The first phase consists of interviews with selected educational leaders across New Zealand to identify key themes as well as potential research sites. This builds on the notion of Reputational Site Selection (Goetz & LeCompte, 1984; LeCompte & Schensul, 2010), as well as the practice of identifying and examining practice in exemplar learning environments (Blackmore et al., 2010; OECD, 2013). Subsequently a set of snapshot case studies will be conducted in six primary schools, with data collected through observations, semi-structured interviews with principals, and focus groups of teachers and students. Three schools will then be selected for in-depth case studies (Stake, 1995), with data collected through field journal observations, interviews and documentation. Initial analysis taken from the first phase of the study indicates that as schools move to occupy new spaces and inhabit them on an ongoing basis, emergent issues for teachers and leaders are concerned less with the spatial and instead with the relational, temporal, and organisational dimensions. Effective teacher collaboration in MLEs takes time, negotiation and ongoing systemic support, and is shaped and reshaped over time. While geographical proximity may present opportunities for teachers, it also presents complex challenges at a professional, social, cultural and cognitive level. This paper illuminates some of this emerging complexity and supports the notion that although MLEs potentially provide a catalyst for change, the newly built environment presents schools and teachers with a ‘finished beginning’: a starting point from which adaptations to support successful teaching and learning can occur.