amy l. fletcher political science programme university of canterbury new zealand...
TRANSCRIPT
Session Agenda
Context of New Zealand Tertiary Sector
Organization of T4T4T Pilot Project
Framework: Information Ecology
Outcomes and Challenges
Preliminary Conclusions
I Will Leave Here Today With . . .
Demonstration of online professional development in a different (NZ) context
Information Ecology Practical use of the concept for
professional development initiatives
Outcomes, Challenges, Conclusions
Higher Education Policy Context: New Zealand
1984 “neoliberal revolution” Fees Expanded participation
“Knowledge Society” Critic and conscience of society Changes accelerate with national
government in the 1990s
Tertiary Sector Today
Performance-based research funding (PBRF)
Tertiary Education Commission (TEC)
Accountability, transparency, outcomes
T4T4T – Pilot Project
Collaborative online community
Professional development Improve teaching – all approaches and
disciplines E-learning (secondary) Strengthen Canterbury Tertiary Alliance
Canterbury Tertiary Alliance (CTA)
University of Canterbury Christchurch Polytechnic Lincoln University Christchurch College of Education
Research Team
Coordinator/External Researcher UltraLab, Ltd
Mentors/Researchers Assist in recruitment of colleagues Regular workshops and meetings Participate in community activities Off-line mentoring where appropriate
Amy:Amy:Amy:Amy:Amy:Amy:
Participants
Participants 1 hour per week Establish a professional development
goal Participate in and across online forums
Amy:Amy:
Information Ecology
A system of people, practices, values and technologies in a particular local environment.
Nardi and O’Day (1999)
Information Ecology and T4T4T
Assumption 1: interaction of people + technology in an organization shapes adaptation and acceptance
Productive, Dysfunctional, Neutral
A2: Canterbury very different from the other CTA members
Research Questions
How—or will—T4T4T affect Canterbury’s existing information ecology?
Will there be sources of resistance? If so, what motivates this resistance?
Canterbury’s Information Ecology
Faculty = primary emphasis on one’s disciplinary identity
Reputation defined nationally or internationally – not locally!
Promotion and respect via publication
Executive = Focus on PBRF in pilot timeframe
Outcomes
Limited participation that declined markedly over course of pilot – community not self-sustaining
Tension: ‘theoretical’ and ‘applied’ participants
Lack of Canterbury “fit”
Very little buy-in from full-time professional staff outside of Education
Challenges
Time constraints?
Tension between Canterbury mentors and rest of pilot research team (Action Research = what is it?)
How can key variable – professional development – be measured?
PBRF
Subtle Forms of Resistance
Participant lack of initiative Different views of the word “mentor” Alleged reputation of ERAU Instrumental and time-limited goals Professional jealousy? (I.E., why do you get to be a mentor?)
Reluctance to appear “vulnerable” or “less than competent”
Preliminary Conclusions
Organizational culture is the emergent result of the continuing negotiations about values, meanings, and proprieties between members of that organization and with its environment. If you want to change a culture, you have to change all these conversations.
R. Seel (2000)
Preliminary Conclusions
More empirical research needed before roll-out on a national level
Need for executive level buy-in and incentives to participate
Different faculty career paths within higher education?
Preliminary Conclusions
Exploration of political implications and values underlying “online professional development.”
One-size fits all does not work.
More depth within disciplines. Organized along a departmental basis?