No description available.

The purposes of the study were: (1) to operationalize Pratt’s five conceptions of teaching (Engineering, Apprenticeship, Developmental, Nurturing and Social Reform), (2) to predict conception of teaching scores, (3) to determine the existence of dominant conceptions of teaching, and (4) to determine the extent to which personal, socio— cultural/educational and program variables predict dominant conceptions of teaching. A 75-item instrument, Conception of Teaching Scales (CTS) was developed to operationalize Pratt’s five conceptions of teaching. A pilot study revealed that the instrument had good face, content, and convergent validities as well as acceptable test-retest reliability and internal consistency. A sample of 471 Vancouver School Board and New Westminster School Board adult education instructors responded to a mailed questionnaire survey conducted in the Fall of 1993. Responses to the CTS were evaluated to determine whether Pratt’s five conceptions were operationalized successfully. Factor analysis was employed to determine whether the items in the CTS were representative of Pratt’s five conceptions of teaching. Results revealed that 63 out of 75 original items in the CTS successfully operationalized five conceptions of teaching, with Pratt’s Apprenticeship conception split into Apprenticeship-Practice and Apprenticeship-Modelling. Further refinement streamlined this number to a six—scale 50—item Revised Conception of Teaching Scales (CTS—R). Personal, socio—cultural/educational and program variables were used as predictors in multiple regressions to explain variance in six conception scores. There was no single common predictor of conceptions. On the average, the significant predictors in the six regression equations accounted for 14.5% of variance in the conception scores. The only prominent predictor which accounted for most variance (2R = 17%) in the Nurturing conception was personality—nurturance measure. An instructor’s dominant conceptions were predicted by nine independent variables, namely, gender, ethnicity, personality— dominance, personality—nurturance, years of teaching adults, content upgrade, living arrangement, level of education and class size. These variables were collapsed into three significant discriminant functions which correctly classified 34.7% of the 288 eligible cases into one of the six dominant conception groups. The study concluded that: (1) Pratt’s five conceptions of teaching could be operationalized and that a Revised Conception of Teaching Scales (CTS-R) was a valid and reliable instrument to assess people’s conceptions of teaching, (2) conceptions of teaching were independent concepts having their own existence, (3) most instructors held at least one single most dominant conception of teaching, and (4) dominant conceptions of teaching were predicted by four personal variables (gender, ethnicity, personality—dominance and personality—nurturance), four socio— cultural/educational variables (living arrangement, level of education, years of teaching adults and content upgrade effort) and one program variable (class size).

The purposes of the study were: (1) to operationalize Pratt’s five conceptions of teaching (Engineering, Apprenticeship, Developmental, Nurturing and Social Reform), (2) to predict conception of teaching scores, (3) to determine the existence of dominant conceptions of teaching, and (4) to determine the extent to which personal, socio— cultural/educational and program variables predict dominant conceptions of teaching. A 75-item instrument, Conception of Teaching Scales (CTS) was developed to operationalize Pratt’s five conceptions of teaching. A pilot study revealed that the instrument had good face, content, and convergent validities as well as acceptable test-retest reliability and internal consistency. A sample of 471 Vancouver School Board and New Westminster School Board adult education instructors responded to a mailed questionnaire survey conducted in the Fall of 1993. Responses to the CTS were evaluated to determine whether Pratt’s five conceptions were operationalized successfully. Factor analysis was employed to determine whether the items in the CTS were representative of Pratt’s five conceptions of teaching. Results revealed that 63 out of 75 original items in the CTS successfully operationalized five conceptions of teaching, with Pratt’s Apprenticeship conception split into Apprenticeship-Practice and Apprenticeship-Modelling. Further refinement streamlined this number to a six—scale 50—item Revised Conception of Teaching Scales (CTS—R). Personal, socio—cultural/educational and program variables were used as predictors in multiple regressions to explain variance in six conception scores. There was no single common predictor of conceptions. On the average, the significant predictors in the six regression equations accounted for 14.5% of variance in the conception scores. The only prominent predictor which accounted for most variance (2R = 17%) in the Nurturing conception was personality—nurturance measure. An instructor’s dominant conceptions were predicted by nine independent variables, namely, gender, ethnicity, personality— dominance, personality—nurturance, years of teaching adults, content upgrade, living arrangement, level of education and class size. These variables were collapsed into three significant discriminant functions which correctly classified 34.7% of the 288 eligible cases into one of the six dominant conception groups. The study concluded that: (1) Pratt’s five conceptions of teaching could be operationalized and that a Revised Conception of Teaching Scales (CTS-R) was a valid and reliable instrument to assess people’s conceptions of teaching, (2) conceptions of teaching were independent concepts having their own existence, (3) most instructors held at least one single most dominant conception of teaching, and (4) dominant conceptions of teaching were predicted by four personal variables (gender, ethnicity, personality—dominance and personality—nurturance), four socio— cultural/educational variables (living arrangement, level of education, years of teaching adults and content upgrade effort) and one program variable (class size). / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

This portfolio is a compilation of beliefs about effective foreign language (FL) teaching. The core of this portfolio is a teaching philosophy, in which theories, such as comprehensible input, teacher and student roles, and activities are explained. The teaching philosophy is accompanied by a reflection of the authors teaching observed from a video. Following the teaching philosophy and personal teaching reflection are three artifacts centered on language, culture, and literacy. The language artifact contains an observational study in which instructors’ practices are compared with their beliefs. The cultural artifact is focused on storytelling. Many civilizations employ storytelling in the form of oral traditions to pass on learning. In the artifact, effectiveness of storytelling as an approach to FL teaching and learning is examined. The literacy artifact is a proposal for a research study. In the proposal, questions are raised about the effectiveness of computer-aided support materials offered to students as they navigate various texts. The final sections of the portfolio contain a “looking forward” section, an annotated bibliography, and references.

In the literature on reflection in teaching, authors frequently lament the lack of clarity in understandings of this concept, despite its wide acceptance as a phenomenon beneficial to teaching and learning. This dissertation reports a study of this literature that attempts to clarify the meaning of reflection and to establish a methodology for examining such a complex concept. Three analyses, each intended to explore the literature on reflection from a different perspective, comprise the study. The first is an analysis of the literature on reflection in three professional communities---continuing professional development, higher education and teacher education---to establish general themes in this literature. The second analysis examines definitions of reflection from the three communities, focusing in particular on processes and rationales of reflection. The third analysis explores a variety of critiques of reflection to determine predominant epistemologies and recurring themes in the literature. The merging of the results of the three analyses leads to a framework for understanding reflection. This integrative framework highlights the importance of underlying epistemologies as the bases for different understandings of reflection and shows the intricate interrelationships among four major themes in the literature: the processes involved in reflection, the rationales behind it, the context in which it occurs, and its connection to action. The framework also points to the link between the self and the reflective context, the possibilities of reflection in-, on-, for-, and as-action, the unclear connection between the cognitive and affective processes and the movement from internal to external rationales. The study contributes both conceptually and methodologically by making sense of the range of ways reflection has been understood and by providing a possible model for exploring a complex concept. It provides a consistent language for discussing reflection, demonstrates the complexities of the concept and the interrelationships of the themes contained in the literature, allows for the situating of individual works within the literature, increases understanding of the connection of reflection and action, and helps to position the concept of reflection within broader theories of cognition and social practice.

As educators and instructional designers consider educational practices nationally and internationally, they find themselves questioning the traditional ways of teaching and learning which seems to be outdated in an era defined by the World Wide Web and globalisation. Instructional designers and educators worldwide recognise that there is a need for learning facilitation that builds upon the diverse needs and diverse experiences of learners and that is open to change. Instructional design can be regarded as one way of addressing the needs of learner groups with diverse needs as learners attach much value to the quality of their learning materials. In fact, many learners depend on the quality of their learning materials to complete their courses successfully and to enter the labour market as qualified people. Well-designed learning materials and environments, therefore, play an important role in contributing to improved student pass rates and, in the broader South African context, to the skills development and socio-economic development of our country. It is thus a huge challenge for instructional designers to ensure successful learning facilitation by means of the learning programmes and environments they design. The intellectual contribution of this dissertation lies within the area of instructional designers’ personal views on teaching and learning. More specifically, the focus of this research inquiry is on investigating the extent to which the personal teaching and learning philosophies of a group of instructional designers at a higher education institution influence their design decisions. A review of the literature reveals that instructional designers are dependent on learning theories that have been tested in order to make design decisions that would best suit the requirements of a particular teaching and learning situation. For this inquiry I contend that the personal teaching and learning philosophies of instructional designers are based on established theories of human learning, but that their personal teaching and learning philosophies change over time as they address the demands of changing socio-cultural contexts. Considering the focus of this study, it is thus important to establish what a grounded instructional design approach entails as well as what views socio-cultural theory and activity theory hold on humanlearning and how these relate to the personal teaching and learning philosophies of the research participants. A grounded approach uses theories of human learning as a foundation for making decisions on the design of learning experiences and environments that would result in effective learning. According to activity theory, if human behaviour is to be understood, a study of surrounding social practices should be part and parcel of the inquiry. In this regard the decision-making process of instructional designers can be seen as an activity system. Within this system the design activities of instructional designers are mediated by tools aiming at effective learning programmes and environments. Tools, activity theory states, are created and transformed during the development of the activity itself. As such the personal teaching and learning philosophies of the designers are viewed as design tools that are continuously shaped and modified during the design process. This inquiry is concerned with the emergence of the everyday knowledge and actions of a group of identified instructional designers. Therefore a qualitative, ethnomethodological strategy is followed allowing me to examine the nature of the personal teaching and learning philosophies of the designers and how these philosophies are shaped and used to make instructional design decisions in their place of work. Activity theory is used as both the theoretical framework and data analysis tool for this inquiry. The findings of the study make it clear that instructional designers regard personal teaching and learning philosophies as essential tools in their daily design activities. The findings also demonstrate that personal teaching and learning philosophies are individual user tools, and as such the unique qualities of the tools remain with the individual instructional designer. / Dr. G. V. Lautenbach

No description available.

The primary purpose of this study was to investigate a biographical approach to understanding how we, as teachers and co-researchers, think and act; and how we have come to think and act the way we do in our classrooms. The term autobiographic praxis was central to the study as a specific conceptualization of a teacher's knowledge. Until this study, autobiographic praxis existed as a biographical conceptualization of a teacher's personal, practical and professional knowledge based. This study used the work of Butt and Raymond who, with two teachers, Lloyd and Glenda, working as co-researchers, explored and reported these two teacher's stories highlighting elements of their knowledge held. Based upon that work, this study, through ethnographic field work, returned to the respective teachers classrooms and utilized elements of their stories to guide both observation and interviews about their classroom practices. This exploration of teacher knowledge held and teacher knowledge expressed was an attempt to show the potential of a methodology which integrates autobiography, classroom observation and biographic and ethnographic interviews. The results with respect to the two teachers, Lloyd and Glenda, indicated that:(1) the substance and process of knowledge they held can be accessed through collaborative autobiographic inquiry, and (2) that the knowledge expressed as elements of classroom action can be observed in a stronger interpretive light if guided by understandings of their stories, such that (3) methodologically through biographic and ethnographic interviews elements of knowledge held, as revealed through autobiography, can be brought into a dialogue with the actions of knowledge expressed, as observed through ethnographic participant observation, and thus (4) the resultant findings were that in the thoughts and actions of the two teachers significant indicators were present to illustrate a strong harmonic relationship between who they were as persons, and who they were as teachers, due specifically to a synchronicity between their knowledge held and knowledge expressed. The process, of doing the sudy, illustrated the potential of biographic conceptualization of teacher knowledge accessed through a method of inquiry which featured story, observation and interview. The findings of this study were considered desirable in that teachers and researchers, working together, should attempt to engage in action research concerned with achieving a dialogue between teacher thought and action. / x, 194 leaves : ill. ; 28 cm.

The title of this thesis is: Connection: A Hermeneutical Inquiry of an Autobiographical Text. It is based on the following thesis question: What is the significance of connecting with another in teaching? The following quote set the stage for the writing: "All places have names and stories, and wisdom sits in (those) places" (Chambers, 2003,p.233). Hermeneutics -- the art of interpretation -- is used to inform an autobiographical fragment. This autobiographical fragment is a fictional rendering of two days of teaching told in a narrative format. the thesis is designed around Gadamer's text Truth and Method. Gadamer's work is supplemented with the work of Martin Heidegger, F.D.E. Schleiermacher, Georg Hegel, as well as modern curriculum scholars such as Cynthia Chambers, David Smith, David Jardine and Max Van Manen. The writing begins with a methodology which grounds the writing, and then is developed through three voices in the form of a literature review, a narrative fragment, and text interpretation. The literature review is guided by questions such as Why use autobiographical narrative? What is the site of the inquiry? and Is narrative still relevant in a postmodern world? Time is also spent on the questions: Who were the great hermeneutical thinkers? and Who speaks for hermeneutics now? After the literature review, a narrative fragment is given. In the last third of the thesis, the narrative is deconstructed using Truth and Method and curriculum scholarship articles to structure the reflections. The "voice" shifts between the three sections. In the first third of the thesis the voice is intended to be academic. The voice in the narrative is personal. The third voice is interpretive and plays back and forth between academic reference and personal reflection. The major themes evolved as the writing progressed. The theme of authoritarianism as antithetical to connection was explored. Alienation acted as a foil to connection. There is an analysis of connection in the context of proper conversation, which includes guidelines for mutual respect and codes of moral conduct. The thesis provides a commentary on the power of hermeneutics to inform the teaching process. It then concludes with a series of questions pertaining to the significance of hermeneutical exploration in teacher preparation and classroom teaching. / viii, 127 leaves ; 29 cm.

This thesis is a critical examination of postmodernist pedagogy currently used in the education of visual artists. It is particularly concerned with the teaching of the traditional disciplines of painting and drawing within a postmodern context. My hypothesis is that the teaching of visual arts within a postmodern orientation more or less relies on an anti-aesthetic stance that is content-centered, with an insistence on critically and politically aware art. The overall objective of this thesis is twofold: First, to generate some questions and ideas that could be of assistance to post-secondary art instructors. Second, to establish a framework for an extended qualitative research that will address the impact of postmodernism on education of artists. The title "beyond the anti-aesthetic" does not necessarily present itself as a negation of the postmodernist paradigm. It identifies a need to revitalize visual art instruction within the postmodern model, to re-address the interplay between form and content in visual art and enhance critical thinking.