scholarly journals Exploring Intersections of Work Intensity and Professional Learning: Female Teachers’ Responses to Research Engagement as Professional Learning

2020 ◽  
Vol 44 (10) ◽  
pp. 66-85
Author(s):  
Jennifer Mitton-Kukner, St. Francis ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Professional Learning ◽  
Time Use ◽  
Teacher Research ◽  
Work Intensity ◽  
Research Experiences ◽  
Research Engagement ◽  
Female Teachers ◽  
Research Activities ◽  
Cultural Expectations ◽  
Professional Responsibilities

Much research has focused upon the promise of teacher research engagement as a form of professional learning. Yet, little scholarship has looked closely at how female teachers juggle research engagement alongside personal and professional responsibilities. This inquiry into the research experiences of two mid-career teachers provides an up-close look at the ways they attempted to sustain engagement over a three-year period. Attending closely to participants’ accounts of time use, as they engaged in research activities, sheds light upon the presence of socio-cultural expectations, in these instances, constraining their efforts and, arguably, impacting the depth of their professional learning.

scholarly journals Burrowing Into Female Teachers’ Temporal Constraints Experienced in the Midst of the Research Process

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 261-283
Author(s):  
Jennifer Mitton-Kukner
Keyword(s):  
Professional Learning ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Temporal Constraints ◽  
Research Experiences ◽  
Professional Obligations ◽  
Female Teachers ◽  
Teachers Experiences ◽  
Teacher Researchers ◽  
First Time ◽  
Teaching Professional

The focus of this qualitative study is on three female teachers’ experiences as teacher researchers in the midst of conducting first-time research studies about their own teaching/professional practices. Inquiring into participants’ accounts of their research experiences revealed complex personal and professional obligations shaping the amount of time that participants felt able to invest in the research process. The findings of this paper have implications for better understanding teacher research as a sustainable professional learning endeavour and for considering the complexities teacher researchers must navigate as part of their professional development.

scholarly journals Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation as Drivers for Early Engagement in Research by Medical Students

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yassar Alamri ◽  
Erik Monasterio ◽  
Lutz Beckert ◽  
Tim J Wilkinson
Keyword(s):  
Medical Students ◽  
Extrinsic Motivation ◽  
Self Determination Theory ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Research Engagement ◽  
Research Activities ◽  
Research Involvement ◽  
Key Factor

Abstract BackgroundA student’s motivation is a key factor in their success in undertaking an education endeavour. However, how this relates to involvement in research by medical students is unclear.MethodsAn electronic questionnaire was sent to all medical students at our institution. To ascertain students’ motivation to undertake research, they were asked an open-ended question to describe the single major factor that would encourage them to get involved in research as a medical student. A framework of self-determination theory was used to deductively code the responses as intrinsic motivation (‘IM’; e.g., interest/passion) or extrinsic motivation (‘EM’; e.g. improving CV). The two groups were then contrasted in relation to their research engagement.ResultsA total of 348 students were included in the survey, of whom 204 were coded as IM responses, and 144 were coded as EM responses. Students who engaged in extra-curricular research activities were more likely to report an underlying EM (48% vs. 36%, p = 0.03). They were also older (23.7 ± 3.5 vs. 21.9 ± 3.7, p = 0.005), and more likely to have completed a prior research degree (15% vs. 3%, p = 0.01).ConclusionIn this study, EM was a bigger influencer on research involvement by medical students than IM. Future studies should explore promoters of IM, and include longitudinal data in order to assess whether EM students continue to be involved in research long-term.

scholarly journals The Burden of a Remote Trial in a Nursing Home Setting: Qualitative Study (Preprint)

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susie Donnelly ◽  
Brenda Reginatto ◽  
Oisin Kearns ◽  
Marie Mc Carthy ◽  
Bill Byrom ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Nursing Home ◽  
Data Collection ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Personal Space ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Home Setting ◽  
Research Engagement ◽  
Research Activities ◽  
Key Characteristics ◽  
Nursing Home Setting

BACKGROUND Despite an aging population, older adults are typically underrecruited in clinical trials, often because of the perceived burden associated with participation, particularly travel associated with clinic visits. Conducting a clinical trial remotely presents an opportunity to leverage mobile and wearable technologies to bring the research to the patient. However, the burden associated with shifting clinical research to a remote site requires exploration. While a remote trial may reduce patient burden, the extent to which this shifts burden on the other stakeholders needs to be investigated. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to explore the burden associated with a remote trial in a nursing home setting on both staff and residents. METHODS Using results from a grounded analysis of qualitative data, this study explored and characterized the burden associated with a remote trial conducted in a nursing home in Dublin, Ireland. A total of 11 residents were recruited to participate in this trial (mean age: 80 years; age range: 67-93 years). To support research activities, we also recruited 10 nursing home staff members, including health care assistants, an activities co-ordinator, and senior nurses. This study captured the lived experience of this remote trial among staff and residents and explored the burden associated with participation. At the end of the trial, a total of 6 residents and 8 members of staff participated in semistructured interviews (n=14). They reviewed clinical data generated by mobile and wearable devices and reflected upon their trial-related experiences. RESULTS Staff reported extensive burden in fulfilling their roles and responsibilities to support activities of the trial. Among staff, we found eight key characteristics of burden: (1) comprehension, (2) time, (3) communication, (4) emotional load, (5) cognitive load, (6) research engagement, (7) logistical burden, and (8) product accountability. Residents reported comparatively less burden. Among residents, we found only four key characteristics of burden: (1) comprehension, (2) adherence, (3) emotional load, and (4) personal space. CONCLUSIONS A remote trial in a nursing home setting can minimize the burden on residents and enable inclusive participation. However, it arguably creates additional burden on staff, particularly where they have a role to play in locally supporting and maintaining technology as part of data collection. Future research should examine how to measure and minimize the burden associated with data collection in remote trials.

Language teacher research engagement

2010 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 391-429 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Borg
Keyword(s):  
Professional Practice ◽  
Teacher Research ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Research Knowledge ◽  
Language Teacher ◽  
Reading Research ◽  
Professional Activities ◽  
Research Engagement ◽  
Educational Literature

The aim of this review is to provide a critical analysis of language teacher research engagement. The term ‘research engagement’ here covers both engagement in teacher research (i.e. by doing it) as well as engagement with research (i.e. by reading and using it). Research engagement is commonly recommended to language teachers as a potentially productive form of professional development and a source of improved professional practice; empirical accounts of teachers’ practices and experiences in doing teacher research and reading research, and of the benefits that accrue to them from such activities are, however, limited and diffuse. This review examines the available evidence on research engagement in language teaching and discusses this in relation to the educational literature more broadly. The analysis presented here highlights both the benefits and the challenges that are associated with teacher research engagement, and sheds light on why teacher research remains largely a minority activity in the field of language teaching. It also illustrates the complex relationship between research knowledge and what teachers do, and considers the implications of this relationship for the contribution that reading research can make to teachers’ professional activities. The paper concludes by outlining a number of conditions which facilitate teachers’ attempts to engage both in and with research. An awareness of these conditions is fundamental to the success of initiatives which aim to promote language teacher research engagement.

Electronic Research Collaboration via Access Grid

2016 ◽  
pp. 147-156
Author(s):  
Jingjing Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Professional Learning ◽  
Research Collaboration ◽  
Qualitative Case Study ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Connected Network ◽  
Research Activities ◽  
Technological Advances ◽  
Time Distance ◽  
Access Grid

Recent technological advances are providing new and exciting opportunities for researchers to work together across the conventional boundaries of time, distance, and discipline. These advances have formed new networks of research, both in electronic mediums and in face-to-face environments, different from traditional networks in terms of their changing nature and scope. This paper reports some of the preliminary findings from a qualitative case study of the establishment of the ‘EMT project'. It attempts to illustrate how the EMT project as a connected network formulates positive academic interactions and consequently facilitates professional learning immersed in research activities. In parallel, the study examines the benefits and problems arising from the sense of being together across time and space supported by advanced networked technologies in collaborative research, and further identifies the gap between the academic and the technical perspective in research.

A Convergence of Transformative Multicultural and Mathematics Instruction? Dilemmas of Group Deliberations for Curriculum Change

1997 ◽  
Vol 28 (6) ◽  
pp. 767-782
Author(s):  
Khaula Murtadha-Watts ◽  
Beatriz S. D'Ambrosio
Keyword(s):  
Multicultural Education ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
Teacher Research ◽  
Mathematics Curriculum ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Deliberative Process ◽  
Research Activities ◽  
Personal Histories ◽  
And Mathematics ◽  
Definition Of

In the work described here we report on our collaborative efforts to produce a multicultural mathematics curriculum for Grades K—6 that was socially transformative. We drew insights and direction from the following discourses: multicultural education, socially proactive mathematics, and preservice and in-service teacher deliberations. Through group deliberations, the analysis of existing mathematics and multicultural curricula, and the sharing of personal histories, we planned our teacher-research activities. Our goal was to define mathematics as a tool for social analysis. In this article we describe the perplexity of issues related to the definition of multicultural curricula and mathematics curricula for social transformation, the complexities of the group deliberative process, and the demands involved in the teacher-research process.

Some aspects of school seen as a Professional Learning Community

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 241-249
Author(s):  
Adela Bradea
Keyword(s):  
Learning Community ◽  
Professional Learning Community ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
School Boards ◽  
Subject Area ◽  
Participative Management ◽  
Joint Research ◽  
Research Activities ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
Implementation Period

AbstractEach school is part of the community and at the same time, a provider of education services. This makes school a Learning Community for both teachers and students. While in the case of students this is a mission accomplished, in that of teachers’ things seem to be a bit more difficult. The latter ones should see themselves as members of a Professional Learning Community (PLC), where each teacher should cooperate with the other to achieve common goals, engage in common research activities for the progress of their school, take part in evaluating school results and propose plans to improve them etc. This research aimed to identify teachers’ perception of the role of school as a Professional Learning Community, to identify how school boards support and encourage this idea through participative management and to identify lines of joint research in which teachers are involved. The instrument used was a questionnaire having 30 close-ended items, administered to pre-university teachers from Bihor county, Romania. The implementation period was January to June 2016. The results show that there is collaboration between the same subject area teachers, who form committees to discuss, analyse and propose solutions. The research has also showed that more effort is required to improve collaboration between more experienced teachers and those who are at the beginning of their career, to improve collaboration between different subject area teachers by getting them to engage in joint projects, but above all, there is a need for a greater involvement of teachers, of school boards in managing schools so that participative management is achieved.

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