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Preparing students for the workplace through designing productive assessment tasks: An actionable knowledge perspective
Lina Markauskaite and Peter Goodyear
Acknowledgements: ARC Grant DP0988307Dr Agnieszka Bachfischer
Centre for Research on Learning and InnovationSydney School of Education and Social Work
HERDSA28 June, 2017
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Link to eBook
Context: Epistemic fluency
Grounded (extended) view of cognition and professional knowledge
– Professional expertise is inseparable from capacities to (co)construct epistemic environments that enhance knowledgeable actions
– Such expertise is grounded in embodied, situated professional knowledge work
– Much of this work is done by (co)creating professional artefacts that embody actionable knowledge
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Outline
1. Actionable knowledge 2. Theoretical roots: Objects,
artefacts and things3. Results:
– Objects– Artefacts– Objects & artefacts
4. Final notes
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Focus
1. Developing actionable knowledge through making professional artefacts
2. Developmental assessment tasks in courses that prepare students for workplace practice
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Questions
1. What is the nature of the objects that teachers choose for professional learning and assessment tasks?
2. What are the epistemic qualities of the artefacts that students construct in such tasks?
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Actionable knowledge
Actionable knowledge is “knowledge that is particularly useful to get things accomplished in practical activities”
(After Yinger & Lee, 1993, 100)
“…knowledge is conceived largely as a form of mastery that is expressed in the capacity to carry out a social and material activity. Knowledge is thus always a way of knowing shared with others, a set of practical methods acquired through learning, inscribed in objects, embodied, and only partially articulated in discourse”
(Nicolini, 2013, 5)
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Theoretical perspectives: Epistemic practice
1. Socio-cultural “mediation” (Kaptelinin, 2005)
2. Socio-material “objectual practice” (Knorr Cetina, 2001)
3. Ecological cognition (Ingold, 2012; Knappett, 2010)
Objects are the foundation of enduring professional practices, discovery and innovation... and human consciousness and learning
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Object & artefact
Objects are entities people act towards and/or act with (Star, 2010)
Artefact – lat. arte (“Skill in doing something”) and factum (“A thing done or performed”)
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Object, artefact, thing
Object
ObjektAs “problem space,” concrete (material) entity
PredmetAs “true motive,” psychological stimuli
ThingAs forms that arise in flows of materials and actions
ArtefactsLat. arte (“Skill in doing something”) and factum (“A thing done or performed”)
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Object, thing and artefact
“…the activity does not have a direction and does not really start until the object of activity is defined” (Kaptelinin, 2005)
Inhabited world is not so much composed of objects as of things –forms arise in flows of materials, rather than being set a priori, and “stand against us” (Ingold, 2010)
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Study: “Cognitive-cultural archaeology”
Phase 1 Phase 2
Disciplines Pharmacy NursingSocial workSchool counselingEducation
PharmacyEducation
Sample 20 professional practice courses 3 tutorial groups2 students’ groups
Data Course resourcesInterviews
ObservationsCourse resourcesOpen interviews
Methods Epistemic interviewingCognitive task analysis
Ethno- audio/video taped observations
1
Analytical focus: kinds of knowledge and ways of knowing that were enacted in production of assessment artefacts
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Objects of assessment tasks
Motives/Objects Core aspects Hard/hidden/rare aspects
Fine-tuning skill and knowledge
Key specific skills and knowledgeEg. Administering reading assessments
Hardest elements of practiceEg. Teaching lessons of most difficult topics
Shaping professional vision
Core inquiry frameworksEg. Mastering a generic framework for pharmacy practice
Hidden elements of professional practice Eg. Seeing social justice in a lesson plan
Making professional artefacts
Artefacts for/in actionEg. Designing a plan, writing a report
Generic artefacts-toolsEg. Creating guidelines, teaching kits
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Assessment artefacts
Cultural artefactsConceptual artefacts Epistemic artefacts
Action
Meaning
Practice artefacts Action
artefacts
Design artefactsAnalytical
artefacts
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Cultural artefacts
Artefacts DescriptionAction artefacts Main products of professional work
E.g. A conducted lesson, dispensed medications Practice artefacts Artefacts that mediate daily professional work
E.g. completed assessment instruments, interviewing notes
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Conceptual artefacts
Artefacts DescriptionAnalytical artefacts Products of a deliberative inquiry for professional
judgements (‘know that’)E.g. Professional critiques, evaluations, interpretations, reflections, deconstructions
Design artefacts Products of deliberative knowledge work constructing actionable knowledge (‘know how’)E.g. Plans, concepts, models, designs
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Epistemic artefacts
Artefacts ExamplesEpistemic artefacts Artefacts that link ‘know that’ and ‘know how’, and
conceptual (‘know why’) with cultural (‘know when’) aspects of professional knowledge E.g., Best practice guidelines, teaching “kits”
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Objects & artefacts
Motives/Objects Core aspects Hard/hidden/rare aspects
Fine-tuning skill and knowledge
Cultural action artefacts Cultural practice artefacts
Cultural action artefactsCultural practice artefactsConceptual design artefacts
Shaping professional vision
Cultural practice artefactsCultural action artefacts
Conceptual analytical artefacts Cultural practice artefacts
Making professional artefacts
Conceptual design artefactsCultural practice artefactsCultural action artefacts
Epistemic artefactsConceptual analytical artefactsConceptual design artefactsCultural practice artefacts
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Assessment artefacts
Cultural artefactsConceptual artefacts Epistemic artefacts
Action
Meaning
Practice artefacts Action
artefacts
Design artefactsAnalytical
artefacts
ReadyKnowledgeable Capable
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Concluding insights
1. Programs should create the right mix of tasks that involve production of cultural, epistemic and conceptual artefacts
2. ‘Unusual’ objects often involve epistemic qualities that we don’t see in everyday objects
3. The value of artefacts comes from knowing involved in production and knowledge they embody
4. Developmental tasks are an important element of professional learning
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Further insights
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