Presentation by Andreas Schleicher Tackling the School Absenteeism Crisis 30 ...
Presentation20111118
1. Preparation of teachers as
educational researchers in the
borderless new media community
Yin-Mei Wong
National Institute of Education
Singapore
Email: wong.yinmei@yahoo.com
2. Outline
• Background
• Changing landscape of teachers PD
• Challenges in developing teacher-researchers
• Potential of new media
• Project Baby Butterflies
• Reflections
• Potentials and Challenges
3. Background Introduction
• Global awareness and self-directed learning are
both seen as essential skills for 21st Century
learning and teaching
• Teachers need to develop competencies in
– Learner centred learning approach
– Developing a research culture
– Developing pupils with global awareness and
citizenship
4. Changing landscape in teachers’
professional development (PD)
• Changing role of NIE – Challenges of being a university
Publication, Research, International staff and other ranking
related factors takes priority over local school teaching
experiences and familiarity with the Singapore education
system.
• Changing role of schools – Senior staff with hands-on
experiences dealing with changing student profiles, day-to-
day challenges in completing syllables and teachers general
well-beings
• Changing role of teachers -- Teachers-led PD. Reflective
and inquiry-based learning becomes increasingly
important. Research increasingly seen as important role in
teachers PD. Research Activist in every school.
5. Common Types of Teachers’ Research
• Practitioner Research
• Practitioner Inquiry
• Problem Based Inquiry
• Action Research
• Action Learning
6. Challenges in preparing teachers as
educational researchers
• Is there a venue for teachers to reach out to their
international counterparts?
– International Peer-Reviewed Journals?
• Are there proper training programmes to train the
teachers?
– Institution of Higher Education?
• Do teachers see themselves as competent researchers?
– Literature research on teachers’ opinion
• Are sufficient resources given to support teachers
research?
– Educational Research funds are given to NIE, schools have
little access to research funds.
7. Potentials of new media
• Venue for teachers to reach out
• Professional Development through
participation in global research
• Development of teachers’ identity as
competent researchers
• Support for teachers through innovation funds
8. Project Baby Butterflies
• Nature of study. A very preliminary and
informal study to test the water
• Mission. Based on a bigger objective to
develop a global community of teacher
researchers
• Approach. Teachers develop with their
students through research projects
• New Media Platform. Facebook
9. The project
Participants - Conducted by two teachers with their children
Learning Space - Carried out in an informal and private
learning space for both teachers and children
Research method - Grounded theory
Period – two weeks
Initiation (common experience) – both groups visited a
butterfly farm in Singapore
Extension (individual work and sharing) – children brought
home caterpillar kits
Children learn to raise their caterpillars and supported each
other
Teachers guided the children and teachers learnt together
about conducting research
12. Uploaded document Day 8
End of Day 8:
I put my butterfly container outside and waited
for the butterfly to fly off, but it didn’t. Mum
told me to bring it out to the garden to let it fly
off. I brought the container out but before we
could reach the garden, it flew out and landed a
few meters away. I nearly wanted to bring it
back but I turned around instead. Well… Good
luck, butterfly! I hope we’ll meet again!
16. Reflection
• Facebook as a platform extended learning and
engagement long after the field trip was over
• Compared to conventional trips, emotions and
factual evidences were captured on the new
media platform (Facebook)
17. Potentials and Challenges
• Global network of teacher researchers. Informal
network. Separate groups may be created to facilitate
teachers research knowledge
• Opportunities for global connections and friendship can
develop through such sharing and communication
• Global cultural awareness. Explicit teaching of new
media literacy for both teachers and students are
needed prior to conducting similar projects for
international collaboration
• Other new media platforms such as LinkedIn may be
use if teachers do not wish to share students data
The NIE, as a university, has to meet challenges in university ranking. Academic publication and Educational research are important skills. Unlike the older staff who were usually local teachers with many years of teaching experiences in schools, new staff are more likely to be academics with strong academic publication backgrounds with strong track records in winning research proposals.Teachersdevelopment used to be outside the classroom and students. In Singapore, a teacher’s training college was set up in
Loughran, Mitchell and Mitchell (2002) who characterize teacher-researchers as“practitioners who attempt to better understand their practice, and its impact on theirstudents, by researching the relationship between teaching and learning in their world ofwork” (p.3).
As a social media, communication on Facebook can be more personal, expressive, more emotional. This is a strength over conventional communication methods like emails or bulletins.
Because new media communication can be seen as credible, individual, and emotional, it is important to be literate in its uses, etiques and dangers.