Azilawati Jamaludin

Expanding “within context” to “across contexts” learning: a case study of informal and formal activities

Learning happens not only in schools, but also in every context that affords new experiences and opportunities for metacognition. We aim to maximize the different activity-milieux in which learners are engaged in developing their life-long learning dispositions to learn within and across contexts. This paper is a follow up of an earlier published paper in which a framework on interpreting learning as how the self interacts with phenomena and reifications was proposed. Grounded in this learning framework, our research seeks to expand the “within context” learning to “across contexts” learning with evidence from a case study examining a 10-year-old boys learning process. Through the case study, we will describe the interplay between bowling and schooling and how strategies learned from one context is situated into another drawing upon Ito et al.s (2010) developmental trajectory of “hanging out-messing around-geeking out” perspectives. The findings show that for learning to be meaningful and authentic for the twenty-first century, it is essential for the learner(s) to be in constant dialectical interactions and relationship with oneself, others, and with the social-cultural artifacts that afford the learning. We conclude with practical implications derived from the study.

Unpacking self and socio dialectics within learners' interactive play

Research on learning within interactive play spaces have shown how learning for players is far from merely a matter of acquiring information, but rather their participation and interactions bear upon the enculturation of relevant dispositions, demeanor, and outlook. Not only are players constantly engaged in co-appropriation of knowledge and meaning within emergent networks, but so too are their individual actions impacting the collective learning of their social communities. This intertwining relationship between individual performances within the activities transacted and the collective emergence and regulation of social communities represents the central focus of our research. Through a case study descriptive of four youth game players, aged between 14 and 18, our study focused on unpacking how players, as learners, structure their cognitive development, construct and negotiate their identity and sense of self, and make meaning of their social experiences online. Arising from our findings, we propose a framework on self-socio dialectics, explicating on its four constituent constructs of cognitive enactments, metacognitive attunements, affordance management, and inclinatory affinities. We discuss implications of self-socio dialectics with respect to learning practices and conclude with directions for future research.

Pedagogical reforms within a centralised-decentralised system: A Singapore’s perspective to diffuse 21st century learning innovations

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the dialectical interplay between centralisation and decentralisation forces so as to understand how schools leverage on its autonomous pedagogical space, influence the diffusion of innovations in the educational landscape of Singapore and how a centralised-decentralised system supports (or impedes) pedagogical reform for twenty-first century learning. Design/methodology/approach The paper first outlines the evolutionary stance of Singapore’s decentralisation from its past to present trajectories, thus providing a broader social-historical interpretation to its tight-loose-tight coupling of the education system; followed by situating the context of reform within the national narrative of Ministry of Education’s (MOE) twenty-first century competencies framework. The authors examine how school autonomy should be accompanied by systemic enabling mechanisms, through two case illustrations of whole-school reforms. Findings There are four carryover effects that the authors have observed: structural, socio-cultural, economic and epistemic. Middle managers from the two schools act as a pedagogical, socio-technological and financial broker outside the formal collaborative structures organised by the MOE. Such a “middle-out” approach, complemented by centralised mechanisms for “coeval sensing mechanism”, has resulted in boundary-spanning linkages and multiplier effects in terms of knowledge spillovers. Research limitations/implications Socio-cultural context matters; and what constitutes as co-learning between policymakers and practitioners in Singapore may be construed as policing that stifles innovations in other contexts. Originality/value In addition to the conceptualisation of how school autonomy may lead to school-based innovations, the paper provided some preliminary empirical evidence of how the co-production of knowledge has been engendered within, across and beyond individual Singapore schools through the mechanism of innovation diffusion. The unit of analysis is innovation ecosystem.

An Epistemic Shift: A Literacy of Adaptivity as Critical for Twenty-First Century Learning

Many so-called twenty-first century literacies are not new; it is only that they are particularly germane to our present times. Dispositions and skills such as collaboration and media literacy are more critical now than ever, because of the degree of inter-connectedness potentially afforded to social beings. Due to the near-immediate feedback which arises from membership of social networks, decisions made at the individual level have – now more than ever – potential social consequences which impact upon the collective whole. Understandings of inter-connectedness should therefore extend beyond the rhetoric of Web 2.0 social networking as a communicative-medium, to conversations around rapid iterative cycles, and real-time situated metacognition (thinking about one’s thinking) as a result of both the potential reach and impact of the decision-making process afforded by games and other forms of digital and social media. In this chapter we outline the need for an epistemic shift in thinking about what it means to foster twenty-first century soft -skills and literacies. While in the past, instructional paradigms in which content knowledge is taught to students were generally adopted, we argue that soft-skills are less ‘taught’ than ‘caught’. The epistemic shift in thinking that we call for is consistent with social-constructivist notions rather than objectivist views of knowing. The participatory metaphor of learning advocated by social-constructivism posits that knowing is a process in which learners participate in activities and interactions through which learning and knowledge are constructed (Hung D, Chen D-T. Educ Media Int 38(1):3–12, 2001).

Innovation becoming trajectories: leveraging lateral and vertical moves for collaborative diffusion of twenty-first century learning practices

Abstract This paper argues for innovation diffusion as a “becoming” process in the context of lateral and vertical moves. The context of these innovations involves technology-mediated innovations and their diffusion trajectories in the Singapore education system. Embedded in a centralized-decentralized dialectics, this paper traces particular innovations from their nascent beginnings to their present state of play. We found that the cases we observed had lateral (or decentralized) moves and were subsequently supported by vertical (or centralized) ones. Characterizing these innovation diffusions was challenging as we found them to move across models according to different granularities and levels of analysis. Instead, we have chosen to characterize these diffusion patterns as “innovation becoming”. We attempt to distil some substantive generalizations from three case studies presented and how decisions can be made for future innovation diffusions. We recognize that the trajectory for innovation diffusion is inextricably linked to the identity projected by the particular innovation and the leadership supporting it.

A system’s model of scaling: leveraging upon centralised and decentralised structures for diffusion

ABSTRACT A key thrust of education reform is the spread of innovative ideas and practices oriented toward school improvement and advancements in student’s deep learning and teacher’s professional development. Framed within concepts of scaling and diffusion, trajectories of innovation spread can afford explanatory and predictive understandings of adoption or rejection of new ideas and practices. This paper seeks to trace and unpack the adoption and adaptation trajectories of innovative pedagogical practices facilitated by technologically-mediated innovations within the context of Singapore schools. Recognising the Singapore education system as affording both centralised structures (in terms of shared responsibility and accountability across the education ministry, teacher training institute, and schools) and decentralised tenets (in terms of manoeuvrability, autonomy and agency for schools on the ground to chart their own innovation path), the research (1) characterises the variant models of innovation spread within a context of innovations in Singapore, (2) explicates how such models leverage on the centralised-decentralised structures of the system, and (3) draws implications for “harvesting” of innovations for rootedness and sustainability in schools.

Educational Change for the 21st Century: “Leadership from the Middle”

This is the final draft of a book chapter published by World Scientific. The published version is available at https://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/10633

Overcoming Impediments to Reform: Building a Sustainable Ecosystem for Educational Innovations

This is the final draft of a book chapter published by World Scientific. The published version is available at https://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/10633

Significance of Educational Leadership: Case for Singapore Schools Today

This is the final draft of a book chapter published by World Scientific. The published version is available at https://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/10633

Learning, Becoming, Embodying: A Review of Embodiment in an Era of Learning with Contemporary Media

In recent times, there exists an increasing interest in the concept of embodiment in all disciplines dealing with knowledge and intelligent behaviour, especially that of the learning sciences. While embodiment has often been used in its simplest form, i.e. ‘intelligence requires a body’ (Weigmann 2012), there now exist deeper issues concerning the complex interplay between problems of physical-virtual embodiment, complexities of the environment, and the principles of neural development within today’s evolved culture of participation where more and more students communicate, interact, and socialise through immersive new media environments, represented by avatars. This chapter looks at the major conceptual developments in embodiment research from the works of ancient philosopher Aristotle to contemporary roboticist Moravec, positing that the current state of embodiment research reverberates of dichotomised conceptualisations of natural states vis-a-vis artificial forms of embodiment. Against this binary backdrop, concepts of autopoiesis and allopoiesis are reconceptualised in the context of twenty-first century media, pointing to the need for a new theoretical understanding of embodying. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the pedagogical possibilities in this realm of new media and learning where conventional constraints of embodiment are challenged, advocating the need for educators to devise creative pedagogical approaches that work with these new articulations.