Microteaching: An Opportunity for Meaningful Professional Development

Microteaching is a way of doing professional development for teachers wanting to incorporate new evidence-based and high-leverage practices into their instructional toolboxes. Given how much work is required in teaching and the limited time professionals have available, microteaching is an accessible process that supports instructional improvement by practicing evidence-based and high leverage strategies. Professionals, working with a small group of peers, engage a four-phase process that includes planning, enactment of a strategy, as well as individual and group reflection. Professionals use the opportunity to explore a teaching strategy that is responsive to student needs in the context of critical friends. Having an opportunity to try it out before introducing it in the classroom can be a valuable way to work out bugs, discover aspects that need development, and build a sense of efficacy. Microteaching is a way to support collegial growth by seeing into each other’s classroom practice.

Open Pedagogy and Transdisciplinary Thinking: Making Connections Through a Visual Artefact Self- Study

The examination of teacher educators’ own practices through self-study research has been well established and self-study aligns with the growing interest in open educational resources (OER) and open pedagogy. This research used a self-study method of a Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics (STEAM) OER project, Form and Function(s): Sustainable Design meets Computational Thinking. Two research questions were pursued: How do open pedagogy attributes contribute to a transdisciplinary STEAM OER pedagogical stance? And how can one apply visual artifact self-study as intentional critical friends to examine professional value and to enhance pedagogical self-understanding? The researcher analyzed visual artifacts of created and documented images that supported the process of her interrogations of transdisciplinary curriculum development and open pedagogy. The sites and modalities of the artifacts were questioned and answers recorded using a critical visual methodology. Klein’s (2008, 2018) transdisciplinary thinking and the eight attributes of Hegarty’s (2015) open pedagogy frame the interrogation of the images and the connections made to curriculum theorizing. The self-study provides conclusions to the role of visual artifacts when conceptualizing the gestalt of complex ideas and relations. The self-study provides warranted assertions for open educators and researchers interested in the practices of transdisciplinary, open curricular and pedagogical processes alongside the eight attributes of open pedagogy, and the role of critical self-reflection.

Being and Becoming an Exemplary Nurse - an Authentic Journey

<p>The aims of this study were to illuminate the joint constructions of exemplary nurses and their lived experiences of being and becoming one. Inherent in being ‘exemplary’ was the notion of ‘becoming’, which involved the integration of knowledge and experiences through reflecting on the day-to-day of ‘being a nurse’. Being exemplary was not about perfection but learning from every experience and integrating these into becoming. To elucidate these phenomena, I developed a creative qualitative and participatory method informed by Guba and Lincoln’s Constructivist, and van Manen’s Human Science Approaches, underpinned by Glaser’s Emergent Philosophy. Ten exemplary nurses were recruited and interviewed three times. They also provided supplementary data such as photos, poetry and writings. This interview data was transcribed and imported into the computer programme QSR NVivo. This programme allowed for management of the raw data and facilitated coding and categorising, while remaining grounded in the whole text and its meanings. Analysis occurred through first and second level categorising and the use of writing as method. Writing became a way of knowing – assisting discovery and allowing reflection on the data in order to connect the categories and themes together in a coherent and workable whole. The above method led to the following emergent findings. The pivotal construct was Authentic Being, through living a reflective life, surrounded by the major constructs of Love of Nursing, Making a Difference, Critical Friends, Walking the Talk and Backpack patients. These constructs directed a specific and comprehensive review of both the philosophical and nursing literature. This review was not used to expand or enlarge the findings but to enlighten, illuminate and clarify. Significant philosophical ideas were extended, developed and synthesised with the findings. Noteworthy was the expansion of Heidegger’s notion of B/being: where capitalisation denotes essence and lower case symbolises the verb – to be. The use of B/being represents the merging of a person’s essence and being into one. The notion of B/being and B/becoming through time – specifically human-lived-time was also important. B/being and B/becoming exemplary was an authentic embodiment of being self with being with others – a true holistic B/being-in-the-world. The purposeful review of significant nursing theorists and the general nursing literature demonstrated that this study’s participants had attributes and skills comparable to those described and ‘called’ for. In addition, this study’s participants often went further than these descriptions, and demonstrated and exemplified a true holistic B/being – where they were more than the sum of their parts and integrated all aspects of themselves through critical reflection in order to B/be and B/become. Through synthesis of this knowledge a definition of B/being and B/being an Exemplary Nurse was developed - Exemplary nurses authentically embody being themselves – with being with others – they are B/being-in-the-world. Situated in human-lived-time they use experiences carried in their backpacks to actively ‘Be’ who they want to ‘Become’. At the spiralling intersection between past and future they use their love of nursing and critical friends to make a difference for those they care for and to walk the talk with their colleagues. The new knowledge that emerged from this research has profound implications for everyday nursing practice, undergraduate and post graduate nursing education, and for Charge Nurses and Senior Nurses, who are of vital importance as role models, mentors and critical friends. The results are significant and are important for nurses and the nursing profession and contribute to, and, advance nursing knowledge.</p>

Being and Becoming an Exemplary Nurse - an Authentic Journey

<p>The aims of this study were to illuminate the joint constructions of exemplary nurses and their lived experiences of being and becoming one. Inherent in being ‘exemplary’ was the notion of ‘becoming’, which involved the integration of knowledge and experiences through reflecting on the day-to-day of ‘being a nurse’. Being exemplary was not about perfection but learning from every experience and integrating these into becoming. To elucidate these phenomena, I developed a creative qualitative and participatory method informed by Guba and Lincoln’s Constructivist, and van Manen’s Human Science Approaches, underpinned by Glaser’s Emergent Philosophy. Ten exemplary nurses were recruited and interviewed three times. They also provided supplementary data such as photos, poetry and writings. This interview data was transcribed and imported into the computer programme QSR NVivo. This programme allowed for management of the raw data and facilitated coding and categorising, while remaining grounded in the whole text and its meanings. Analysis occurred through first and second level categorising and the use of writing as method. Writing became a way of knowing – assisting discovery and allowing reflection on the data in order to connect the categories and themes together in a coherent and workable whole. The above method led to the following emergent findings. The pivotal construct was Authentic Being, through living a reflective life, surrounded by the major constructs of Love of Nursing, Making a Difference, Critical Friends, Walking the Talk and Backpack patients. These constructs directed a specific and comprehensive review of both the philosophical and nursing literature. This review was not used to expand or enlarge the findings but to enlighten, illuminate and clarify. Significant philosophical ideas were extended, developed and synthesised with the findings. Noteworthy was the expansion of Heidegger’s notion of B/being: where capitalisation denotes essence and lower case symbolises the verb – to be. The use of B/being represents the merging of a person’s essence and being into one. The notion of B/being and B/becoming through time – specifically human-lived-time was also important. B/being and B/becoming exemplary was an authentic embodiment of being self with being with others – a true holistic B/being-in-the-world. The purposeful review of significant nursing theorists and the general nursing literature demonstrated that this study’s participants had attributes and skills comparable to those described and ‘called’ for. In addition, this study’s participants often went further than these descriptions, and demonstrated and exemplified a true holistic B/being – where they were more than the sum of their parts and integrated all aspects of themselves through critical reflection in order to B/be and B/become. Through synthesis of this knowledge a definition of B/being and B/being an Exemplary Nurse was developed - Exemplary nurses authentically embody being themselves – with being with others – they are B/being-in-the-world. Situated in human-lived-time they use experiences carried in their backpacks to actively ‘Be’ who they want to ‘Become’. At the spiralling intersection between past and future they use their love of nursing and critical friends to make a difference for those they care for and to walk the talk with their colleagues. The new knowledge that emerged from this research has profound implications for everyday nursing practice, undergraduate and post graduate nursing education, and for Charge Nurses and Senior Nurses, who are of vital importance as role models, mentors and critical friends. The results are significant and are important for nurses and the nursing profession and contribute to, and, advance nursing knowledge.</p>

THE ROLE OF CRITICAL FRIENDS IN ACTION RESEARCH: A FRAMEWORK FOR DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION

The primary purpose of action research carried out by teachers is to improve their own educational and pedagogical practices in a specific context. However, teachers need to develop a more critical stance on their practice to interrogate and validate their action research systematically. Literature suggests that action research can be strengthened through the involvement of critical friends who can ask provocative questions, provide data to be examined through another lens, and offer a critique of a person’s work as a friend. This narrative review paper seeks to emphasize the role of critical friends and propose a critical friend framework that can be integrated into action research studies. It extensively reviews the role of critical friends in action research with illustrations from previous studies. It offers a critical friend’s protocol according to the action research process of self-reflective cycles, namely reconnaissance, planning, action and observation, and reflection. It is therefore suggested that teachers should consider the incorporation of critical friends into their action research studies.

Uncovering missing links in collegial learning conversations

This article is the result of an international collaboration between two academics who work closely with local schools as critical friends, each in their own PLC setting. This exploratory study aims to apply an analytical model in order to illustrate possibilities and clarify silences or missing links in collegial learning conversations. The analytical model is applied to analyse collegial learning conversations from two PLC settings, along with collegial conversations between the two researchers. The analysis was guided by three core considerations: What? Why? How? Two purposely selected transcripts of conversations with two separate PLCs, along with anecdotal notes from our conversations as research colleagues, provided the base for analysis. Findings generated by the application of the analytical model indicated that teachers’ PLC conversations were most explicit in relation to identifying what elements of practice to improve and how to improve teaching and learning, rather than articulating why change initiatives to develop professional knowledge were needed or on what basis they were chosen. In turn, this prompted the researchers to become more aware of ‘why’ considerations in their own work as researchers.

Pandemic Pivots: The Impact of a Global Health Crisis on the Dissertation in Practice

Five scholarly practitioners in an educational leadership for social justice doctoral program share their intentional, community-minded pivots during a global pandemic that disrupted their Dissertations in Practice (DiP). Embodying their Ed.D. program’s CPED framework (Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate, 2019), the authors, at varying stages in the dissertation process, sought inventive solutions to COVID-19-related challenges that included the development of a new topic and research questions, adjusting study settings and participant pools, and embracing new methodologies to account for virtual-only approaches. Although uncertain how the global health crises would impact their DiP, by fostering a shared sense of community, the authors became critical friends, supporting each other in their personal, professional, and academic lives. Each narrative highlights the potential of oppositional praxis of threading identities of practice, reflection, and research–to respond creatively to the needs of their diverse research communities with compassion, vision, and agility.