Transcript Amy L. Fletcher Political Science Programme University of Canterbury NEW ZEALAND

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