Creative Ways of Documenting Research in Improvement of One’s Own Practice and Related Validity Issues

This was a one day seminar held on 3th Feb 2010 with Jack Whitehead as a Facilitator. Jack is an action researcher whose experience and point of departure lies in doing and facilitating master’s and doctoral students for thirty six years. The seminar was attended my master’s students in vocational pedagogy as well as their tutors at HiAk. The seminar was headed ‘creative ways of documenting Research in Improvement of one’s practice and related validity issues.’

Learned in this seminar
One cannot have his/her action research validated without considering the ethical values. Ethical values in Action research vary with culture.
In a Living educational theory approach to action research and human existence, individuals hold their lives to account by producing explanations of their educational influences in their own learning in enquiries of the kind
A person’s ontological values/ way of thinking/ how he/she does his/her work motivates him or her all the time. In a research, I have to use my own creativity and originality. For example; freedom which is a passion, honesty is absolute and requires one to be prudent, commitment to doing things different leading to change
Indigenous cultural knowledge may also have a higher learning result than the formal one. I believe and have experiences that learning at the work place has a higher knowledge retention than the formal way.
Paying attention to anything in Action Research enhances it, The cause-effect phenomenon does not apply to Action research.
Validity;
I validate my findings by reflecting upon the usefulness of the findings to my learning process. An action reflection cycle is a tool. During validation, I ask myself a question as “how do I strengthen my explanations of my learning about the influence of the data in response to the question?” This question is answered with the questions below;
Ø Is my explanation as comprehensible as it could be?
Ø Could I improve the evidential basis of my claims to know what I am doing?
Ø Does my explanation include awareness of historical and cultural influences in what I am doing and draw on the most advanced theories of the day?
Ø Am I showing that I am committed to the values that I claim to be living by? This judges my authenticity
These questions could be answered by being aware of the power of authentic expressions visualizing my work, use of social media such as video, documentation through blogs, digital photography, audio recordings etc as important in portraying one’s embodied knowledge. A public knowledge base could also be created through video conferences. This enables the researcher to identify how other people see her.
The passion and expression of one giving a narrative can hardly be portrayed with words/texts. This is better expressed in a video form.
Action research conversations are also important in validation of one’s findings and if not well handled could affect the quality of one’s findings. Everything educational is values-led. Make my judgment basing on the data collected. I should then democratically evaluate this data. One may dispute what is valuable or better but I need to understand the world from my point of view as well as having integrity of my own value.In writing something credited for a master’s degree, one needs to find his/her

The Model of Didactical Relations

In a seminar about vocational didactics and being a facilitator in a learner-centered learning environment, I learned that this model is useful to me who has a challenge of improving my practice as a facilitator in learner-centered learning environment.
The model concerns analysis of teaching in order to facilitate learning. It’s action related and this model can be a useful tool in assessing of one’s improving process
Vocational didactics: This refers to planning of educational work and reflective thinking in relation to every aspect included in the plan. It’s important that one is describing concretely her practice.

In the Ugandan context, we have what is called a ‘lesson plan’ which has similar components as those in the model of didactics relations. Having the teacher-centered approach to teaching and learning, this plan is written by an instructor without involving the beneficiaries who are the students. Secondly, there is also no critical reflection about one’s practice and the teacher can use the same plan for several years with the same subject matter in teaching different students. This is a challenge because I as the instructor, I do not reflect on my practice even with different types of students.

Different aspects are taken care of in this model during the analysis of teaching and learning which boasts the instructor’s improvement process. These aspects are;
Students’ learning
This is the most aspiring resource for change in the model.
The teacher may have students with different backgrounds (educational, social, vocational, e.t.c), abilities, strength and weaknesses. There may be students with physical, mental and other disabilities. The differences in these students may relate to educational psychology, sociology, philosophy, educational history among others. As a teacher, it is important that I take care of the individual differences and pay special attention to the learners’ abilities (strengths) and not their disabilities (weaknesses). The teacher hence needs to take note of the different needs of the student and work with them to achieve their goal(s).
As a teacher, different people have different approaches to knowledge which is partly related to their theories and backgrounds. I should therefore take care of my theory of knowledge (critical approach to knowledge, technical approach to knowledge among others) when dealing with different people not to affect the way I work with them.

Educational frames
According to my background and experience, this is common as timetabling. In Uganda, this is usually the role of the Director of Studies (DoS) and administrative body in schools. The teacher decides what to teach the students when and where.
In the context of the model, it is also timetabling or splitting the education into subjects. It is important that the teacher works with the students in planning, how they can be meeting, when and where and for what. This is useful in creating a safe environment for an open dialogue between the student and his/her teacher.

Objectives/aims
My previous experiences are that I have always written the aims/objectives of the lesson and would never mind whether the learners would be having different objectives related to a certain subject matter. In the didactical model, I have learned that it’s important to me as a facilitator to learn about the students’ aims of coming to school or class and systematically discuss with them how they want to work to attain this. This according to me promotes self assessment and the student would evaluate his status after a given period of time to check out his improvement process.
As a teacher with action-based approach, it’s important that I work with the learners in achieving their objectives. This will help me to achieve my objectives and this leads to improvement of practice.

Work frames
These closely relate to the educational frames and objectives/ aims. They may involve instructional material/ learning aids, textbooks, self study, and group discussions among others. My experience has been that the teacher selects the visual aid and not with the learners. The challenge is that not all students may need the same visual aid; it will be very complex for the teacher to meet each student’s needs if he/she has not learned about their abilities and strength, what they are interested in and how they want to attain it.

Subject matter
The kind of subject matter/ challenge depends on the learner’s ability, educational frames, work frames, aim and objectives, method of teaching and assessment or evaluation. Consideration of all these aspects helps in identifying relevant information for the different learners. My experience is that the teacher determines the subject matter for the students without questioning it’s relevance to each individual student.
Working with the students in identifying their interests/ subject matter is important in improving my practice as a facilitator in a leaner-centered environment

Teaching methods
My experience is that the teacher determines the type of methods to use during learning facilitation. According to me, this has been a risky experience because the teacher chooses a method easy for him/her to use or one which is not time wasting and not one which will lead to full participation of all the learners’ in the lesson. Some learners in this case get bored during the lesson, may also begin dozing or move out of the class as much as they can so that they can “pass time” for the lesson to come to an end. In other cases, some learners even dodge the lessons and worse still drop out of school.

Evaluation/ assessment
The different parts of this model will influence what are relevant information/ knowledge to be evaluated. According to my experience, evaluation has been more concerned with writing examinations and marks and not necessarily the learning process. The challenge is that this promotes cram-work because the learner will concentrate on reproducing what the teacher has given as relevant content and not necessarily what he/she has learnt. It’s has been noted that many students only get “serious with their work” when the examination time table is displayed on the notice board. This partly puts the blame on me the teacher because I have not facilitated the student to be responsible for his learning process because I even judge one’s learning with marks at the end of a term (three months of teaching) or year(three terms). The teacher takes up the responsibility the students’ learning and the learner tend to think towards that.
It is therefore important for me as the teacher to question myself again; “what kind of knowledge is most worth?” The model of didactic relation enables me as a teacher to focus on what is relevant content and continuously move back and forth through reflections to ensure that all activities are leading to development of the relevant knowledge. This implies that assessment of learning should be on a daily basis (may be using logs) and not least planning over and again to facilitate creation of relevant knowledge. It enables the learner to take up the responsibility for his/her learning process and assessment. The cases of absenteeism according to me will reduce because the learner’s will be interested in what he/she is doing

With the Gap analysis model, one is able to assess his/her improvement process and the cycle continues over and again.

STRUCTURING AND LEADING DIALOGUE; PEDAGOGICAL COUNSELING

As a facilitator/ teacher, it is important to always ask yourself a question; “How can I facilitate so that the person in focus reflects and develops?”
In response to this question, the facilitator needs to;
Focus on the participants’ needs of;
a) Being seen
b) Being taken seriously
c) Being challenged

The participants / students should not be challenged before being seen or taken seriously. This will prevent cases of resistance from the participants’ assumption that the facilitator is taking control over them/ their lives/ needs.

• Have ground rules/ guidelines or contract
  The facilitator can ask the participants/ students another question; “what do you need for our cooperation to feel comfortable?” The participants may raise some guidelines and in case they get confused and are unable to raise any; the facilitator can give some of as;
  All participants should like what is good for each other. The facilitator advises that once a guide has been agreed upon, expressions should be made as “we” and not “I”. The participants need to avoid the “I-form talk”
  According to me, this is a good practice since it creates ownership of the learning process and the participants become more responsible for their own learning.
  ¨ Possibility focus; having ground rules with charges in case any one abrogates any of the rules.
  Ground rules/ possibility focus empowers both the facilitator and the participants leading to a democratic learning process. The “how” question depends on the facilitator and the kind of participants he/she is facilitating. The facilitator hence needs to adjust accordingly to meet the needs of each participant’s needs
• Accepting that we stop each other when we are talking. This is aimed at ensuring democracy as well as exercising authority. The participants should be given empowered but the facilitator/ instructor should avoid a point of helplessness( this implies that they are cases when he/ she needs to show some authority
  
  Facilitation Tool Box
  For good facilitation of learning, a facilitator is advised to use the tool box below;
• To see (the participants should introduce himself and the participants to do the same). The participants will feel seen and recognized.
• To ask (what, how and when). The facilitator has to avoid the ‘why’ question because it promotes resistance among the participants.
• To lead. This is problematic and that’s why the having a contract with the participants (guidelines for good cooperation and charge in case of violation) is useful.
• To structure( facilitation didactics-model of didactical relations)
• To be quiet. This helps one to reflect about what he/she has discovered.
• To mirror; important in giving feedback/ reconfirming what the participants have been discussing. In a research context, this process is relevant in validation of findings.

Note; It’s important to clearly spell out (write them clearly on paper) during cooperation with participants so that they can get acquainted with them. I find this useful because it assists the participants to adopt some of the tools they may find useful in facilitation of learning of their own students leading to improvement.

• To organize. The facilitator needs to discuss about one or two challenges at a time, allow the participants to talk as he/she listens, mirror them and then challenge them to make choice.

The participant or tecaher needs to assess him/herself using the Gap analysis model; what is my situation now? Where do i want to go/goal?
The motivation towards attaining the desired goal is dependent on; basic needs interests, wishes and dreams.
Goals seem abstract but are empowered by them being close to one’s basic needs, interests, wishes and dreams. The action commitment therefore involves breaking down the goal into small steps which lead one to achieving of his/ her goal in a long run.
In research context, the participants can be guided on how their individual challenges can be broken down into small achievable ones on a weekly basis or two weeks according to the participants’ or facilitator’s wish.

Assess every meeting with the question; “what have you discovered today?” This question applies to both the participants and the facilitator for self evaluation/ learning assessment. Writing of personal logs could be a useful tool throughout the whole process.
If the learners are unable to speak out what they have discovered, then it may necessitate the facilitator to reflect upon his/ her approach and adjust where necessary.

Understanding the learning groups' context at the VTC

On Thursday the 15th October, 2009, we had a short meeting with Otim who is the principal of the centre. He had just returned from a 10 days leave. These meetings were aimed at helping me understand the context of how the learning groups have been going on as well as learning about how the principal would like me to help during my stay at the VTC.

Question 1 to Otim: have you drawn any plan in preparation of how we are going to work together?
He informed me that he did not have any plan and was waiting for me so that we draw the plan together. We agreed that we are going to do that with all the other participants who are interested in this process.

Question 2 to Otim: What would like me to help in at the NPAYVTC towards SCL?
He mentioned that they needed “redirection” and gave an example of the blogs. He mentioned that some teachers have been opening their blogs daily (gave an example of Clara and Amuge among others) while the others lost their passwords. He also mentioned that meetings/learning group meetings of the three major sections (carpentry & joinery, building & construction and Tailoring, tie &dying) were going on independent of each other. The meeting which was scheduled for all the different groups did not take place last month. He also reported that most of the instructors were ding most of the work as individuals independent of their groups.
Meeting with Otim on 16th October, 2009
In a dialogue with him, I raised a question as “what did you mean by ‘redirection’ in relation to what you would like me to help in towards SCL?
He responded that he meant;

1. 
   Opening of their blogs
2. Getting more information about what SCL/ other sources of information. I suggested related to this that this would be done by discussing with the students about what they may be interested in learning/ improving of their practice
3. Documentation of practice; how can we be able to receive feedback about what we write about our practice? Some of the ways he suggested were the “blogs” and “logs” We discussed that it would be good if the ways of documenting practice is discussed with all the other participants who would like to be documenting their practice throughout this period of our collaboration.

We also discussed about the upcoming meetings and agreed that other administrative members of the organization like the Deputy Principal, secretary and bursar be invited to attend and be a part of our discussions. This will help us to be informed of their interests and may also choose to be a part of what will be going on at the VTC during this period. A meeting with the Deputy Principal was yet to be held since he was in class during the time and was travelling to Juba over the weekend.
A day for the meeting with all the willing participants was yet to be set by the principal after the discussion with the Deputy Principal.

Why Experiential learning?

Oxford English Dictionary defines knowledge as (i) expertise, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject, (ii) what is known in a particular field or in total; facts and information or (iii) awareness or familiarity gained by experience of a fact or situation[1]. According to my experience, vocational knowledge and skills can be learnt both at the VTCs and local industries through both education and experience, although the latter may yield better results.
Atkinson et al, 1993 defines learning as a relatively permanent change in behavior that results from practice.[2] The concept of ‘experiential learning’ which is ‘learning by discovery’ necessitates one to make meaning from direct experience. Knowledge in this case is developed from the process of action and reflection (Inglar, 2002:8). ‘Learning by discovery’ which is unveiling meaning, both in professional and contextual matters as well as relating to one’s own existence, in this case acting as an alternative for ‘learning about’ which is a view of knowledge that focuses on the content to be learned, learning material as something written in books and this knowledge does not necessarily need personal relevance (Bjerknes, 2002: 8-11).
Learning by discovery empowers individuals to take responsibility of their learning process, and with that authority, learning takes place more deeply and what is learnt is retained longer than when one learns by being taught and told(Knowles, 1980). This way of facilitating learning requires that one is responsible, committed, self organized, motivated and has an open mind to change.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge
[2] http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/whatlearn.htm

Learning Group

The learning group is a number of two or more people meeting together to share their knowledge and experiences. Meeting together is either face-to-face at a fixed time and place or via email as a part of a computer-supported community/group.
We mean by a group (learning group)* a number of persons who communicate with one another often over a span of time, and who are few enough so that each person is able to communicate with all the others, not at second-hand, through other people, but face-to-face (Homans: 1950: 1)[1]
To put it simply, they are units composed of two or more persons who come into contact for a purpose and who consider the contact meaningful (Theodore M. Mills: 1967: 2).[2]
The purpose of the learning group is to explore the ideas of the participants in the group in order to develop a diversified understanding of the topic under discussion. It is not necessarily that the group members comply with one’s idea(s) but rather the members understand each other’s view(s) related to the topic under discussion.
The learning groups in Yei Workshop for V.T.D were formed as a means to facilitate their learning process. The participants were therefore asked whether they wanted to work in a group or as individuals and all were in support of working in groups.
Groups can be formed using self selection, random assignment or criterion-based selection. The participants selected the different groups they wanted to belong to. As Walvoord describes, self-selected groups seem to work best in small classes, for classes of majors who already know one another, or in small residential college (Walvoord, 1986).[3]
In reference to the above quotation of Walvoord, our experience as a small self-selected learning group, living in one residential area at Arassen, we find that we are able to work best as a group in proximity. This is so because we found ourselves to be the only English speaking Masters’ students in Vocational pedagogy who are on a full time programme.
The learning groups in the VTD workshop were five (5), numbered from one (1) to five (5) with a maximum of four (4) participants each and only one group had three (3) participants. According to Rau and Heyl (1990), “smaller groups (of three) contain less diversity; and may lack the divergent thinking styles and varied expertise that help to animate collective decision making. Conversely, in larger groups it is difficult to ensure that all members participate.”[4]
In general, groups of four or five members work best. Larger groups decrease each member’s opportunity to participate actively. The less skilful the group members, the smaller the group should be. The shorter amount of time available, the smaller the group should be (Johnson Johnson and Smith, 1991).[5]
According to our interpretation, the criteria for group formation in the V.T.D workshop in Yei may have had some challenges such as the different backgrounds of participants’ experiences. For example in the group of three, we observed that one of the participants was not contributing to the discussion and the other two members continuously talked. Reflecting on that, it is perhaps because she was a woman and as a woman in the African culture, she may have felt the lack of freedom to express herself as well as her opinions among men. Secondly, the two may have been talkative and thought that their experiences about the subject in discussion were more than what the lady had, hence leading them controlling the discussion.
On the other hand, in the group of four there were equal chances given to each member to express and listen carefully to the comments of the group. There was a reconsidering of the opinion and judgment of each member in the group. By allowing the participants to give their ideas equally, this may result into generation of a diversity of ideas by the group and this may lead to a powerful decision.
We also observed that each of the groups was asked to setup some rules that can guide the discussion to enhance their cooperation. To mention, some of those rules were punctuality, respect for each others ideas/contribution, record keeping, one person talking at a time among others.
According to our reflection, having rules to guide or facilitate the progress of a learning group is good because it gives the participants a sense of responsibility and members assert their own ideas without attacking the ideas of others, which leads to respect for each other’s ideas. On the contrary, members’ participation in the group may be restricted by the rules and they may not come to meetings, or they attend but withdraw from discussion or even not doing any work.
Group work, under proper conditions, encourages peer learning and peer support and many studies validate the efficacy of peer learning. Under less than ideal conditions, group work can become the vehicle for acrimony, conflict and freeloading. It may also impose a host of unexpected stresses on, for example, students with overcrowded schedules living long distances from the University. (University of Wollongong assessment policy, 2002)[6]
Referring to the above quotation and our experiences as a learning group, the effectiveness of a learning group is related to its importance to learning for example; Peer learning can improve the overall quality of participant’s learning, Group work can facilitate the development of skills, which include: teamwork skills (skills in working within team dynamics; leadership skills); analytical and cognitive skills (analyzing task requirements; questioning; critically interpreting material; evaluating the work of others); collaborative skills (conflict management and resolution; accepting intellectual criticism; flexibility; negotiation and compromise); organizational and time management skills.
During the groups’ discussion, we observed that some participants would monopolize the group discussion and this could have blocked the learning process of group as well as of the individual’s. Similarly, there were also strong points in their group discussion such as sharing personal experiences from a vocational point of view, discussing the weakness in teaching among others.

Learning group is important because it may enhance an individual’s understanding. It may also help participants to learn from each other and benefit from activities given to the group to work on in order to acquire knowledge and skills. The learning group helps an individual to improve his or her own practice. As Johnson, Johnson, and Smith outline that;

The students learn best when they are actively involved in the process. Johnson, Johnson, and Smith reported that, regardless of the subject matter, students working in small groups tend to learn more of what is taught and retain it longer than when the same content is presented in other instructional formats. Students who work in collaborative groups also appear more satisfied with their classes. (1991)[7]
* By Group according to the citation, we refer to a learning group.
[1] Homans, George, (1950) the human group, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
[2] Mills, Theodore M. (1967) the sociology of small groups. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.
[3] Walvoord, B. F Helping Students Write Well: A Guide for Teachers in All Disciplines; 2nd ed. New York: Modern Language Association, 1986
[4] http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals(JTE/jte-v7n1/Gokhale.jte-v7n1.html
[5] Johnson and Johnson, Cooperative learning: Increasing College Faculty instructional productivity. ASHEFRIC Higher Education Report No.4. Washington, D.C.: School of Education and Human development, George Washington University: 1991
[6] http://www.uow.edu/about/teaching/teaching_code.htm



[7] http://teaching.berkeley.edu/bgd/collaborative.html

VOCATIONAL TEACHER DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP-YEI, SOUTH SUDAN

Introduction

The workshop started off on the Monday 16, February 2009 with a total of 15 participants. As the day progressed, the number of participants increased to 19. The workshop took place at the vocational training centre of NPA, also commonly known as the community development center. The participants came from different vocational and technical trades which included the vocational training center, Mine action, Agricultural training center, medical training center and SPLM. This workshop lasted for five days.

Prior to the official opening, the principal of the center welcomed the participants and facilitators. He later welcomed the Project Coordinator Mr. Johan Thiis-Houge fo an introductory speech. He gave a brief introduction to the workshop and the NUCOOP project in general as well as emphasizing that the facilitators are to learn more form the participants and not a one way training.

The workshop was officially opened by Mr. Paterno Legge, the Investment and Development Advisor to the Governor of Central Equatorial state. In his speech, he highlighted the importance of Capacity building in south Sudan after a 20 years period of war and limited schools as well as formal education. He further emphasized the importance of having the interest in learning if one has to progress in his/her carrier such as assessing all aspects of one’s working life.
He mentioned the three things that one needs to develop that is; to be creative by having the room to think, commitment to one’s work and contentment with what one has.

The workshop facilitator introduced the participants to what the workshop was about which was teachers’ facilitation of student centered learning. The major of question of “how can I improve my practice?” was used throughout the whole process of the workshop.
The facilitator then asked the participants to say out the questions which were on their minds after introduction of the guiding question. The questions which were brought up by the participants included;
· How to learn in relation to my field?
· How to improve unknown area which I have not handled?
· How to cope up with the training being my first time to see and attend such a thing?
· How to learn to keep up with new generation issues?
· How to get the right material to improve my teaching profession so as to improve my students?
· How to make my students learn?
· How to learn new things on capacity building?
· How to think and get the right way of learning?
· How to get the proper way of passing knowledge to the students?
· What to do to get my students to understand me better as a teacher?
· How to maintain my ethics when teaching?
· How to be creative to make others learn?
· How to improve areas of weakness in my field?
· How to make students happy while giving my lessons?
· Will there be any improvement while delivering lessons to my students after this workshop?
· How to activate the community to join the vocational training center?
· How to have the students to be attentive during lessons?
· How do I ensure that the students retain their knowledge so they are able to apply it when needed?
· Which are the objectives of the workshop?

The facilitator mentioned that improvement of how one does his her work should be a continuous process. He also noted that there is a difference between questions about oneself and questions about others.
The questions above highlight that pedagogy of the participants involved is about facilitation of teaching and not the learning process. To some of the instructors, teacher-centered teaching and learning seemed ideal depending on the type of questions arose by them. They were more concerned about how to impart their knowledge to their learners and not how to facilitate learning.
The questions also highlight the areas where each of participants may want to improve or what they are concerned about according to my observations and reflections.