Workshop 3: Self-study of teacher education: A multidisciplinary transformative approach to researching teaching and learning

TITLE: SELF-STUDY OF TEACHER EDUCATION: A MULTIDISCIPLINARY TRANSFORMATIVE APPROACH TO RESEARCHING TEACHING AND LEARNING

Description

This four-hour workshop conscientises teacher educators to become aware of dilemmas, challenges and wonderments in their teaching situations, and to respond to them by critically reflecting on such issues with the self and with others. Only by critical reflection can we transform our classrooms and ultimately teacher education as a whole.

The workshop will commence with the presenters role-playing authentic situations encountered by a teacher educator. Workshop participants will be asked to respond to each case presented, followed by a joint reflective process, and actual insights from such reflection. The workshop will continue with participants engaging in the steps of self-study of their own experiences:

• Each participant creates a journal entry of an experience of their own – entered on the Padlet link provided.
• The entries are shown anonymously on Padlet for participants to read.
• Facilitators allocate journal entries to participants to respond to or interrogate, and they comment on Padlet.
• Journal entry owners are given time to respond to comments provided by their peers.
• Participants tease out and share insights and new learning from the entries.

The workshop will conclude with a short presentation on the benefits and pitfalls of self-study research. Participants will be provided with guidelines on how to conduct self-study of their own practice, for potential publication. The workshop will be evaluated orally, on Padlet or on an evaluation form.

Requirements for participants

• Good Wi-Fi
• An electronic device (laptop, tablet or smart phone)

Downloaded material

Nyamupangedengu, E. & Khupe, C. (2018). Why does this distress me? A teacher educator’s response to and reflections on pre-service teachers’ classroom behaviours. Pushing boundaries and crossing borders: Self-study as a means for researching, 295-301.

Nyamupangedengu, E. & Lelliott, A. (2018). Planning for teaching a genetics course to pre-service teachers: Experiences of a biology teacher educator, African Journal of Research in Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 22:3, 308-318, DOI: 10.1080/18117295.2018.1539325c.

Facilitators

Associate Professor Eunice Nyamupangedengu, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa

Dr Eunice Nyamupangedengu is an associate professor in Science Education at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), South Africa. She obtained her PhD at Wits in 2015. She has published over 23 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters and has made over 30 conference presentations nationally and internationally. Her research areas are self-study of teacher educator practices (S-STEP). She is a recipient of many awards. She is currently the Director of the Marang Group for Research in Mathematics and Science Education and she is engaged in a project that uses the concept of authentic conversations to promote teacher educators’ scholarship of teaching and learning.

Dr Tony Lelliott, Saide, South Africa

Dr Tony Lelliott

Dr Lelliott works in the field of teacher education at the South African Institute for Distance Education (Saide), a non-governmental organisation based in Johannesburg, South Africa. At Saide, he has worked on several projects, including Open Educational Resources (OER) Africa, the National Senior Certificate for Adults (NASCA) and African Storybook. Prior to joining Saide, he was an Associate Professor, a C2-rated researcher with the National Research Foundation (NRF), and worked with pre-service teachers, as well honours, master’s and PhD students at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. He is the author of 25 publications in refereed journals and books, and has supervised 10 doctoral and 13 master’s graduates to completion.