Crina Damşa

Reflections on Empirical and Methodological Accounts of Agency at Work

This chapter provides a reflective account of the studies in Part II of this volume, with a focus on discussing their empirical and methodological contributions to research on agency at work. Agency at work is a crucial component of how individuals engage with work and learning in a way that enables them to develop. Until recently, research on agency at work has had a distinct conceptual stance. These empirical chapters, therefore, provide an important contribution to the literature, by both employing different conceptualisations and examining agency at work in various contexts. In this chapter, we provide some descriptive and reflective accounts of the variety and nature of the empirical work and the methodologies employed based on a framework inspired by conceptual depictions of agency in the literature. Emirbayer and Mische’s (Am J Sociol 103(4):962–1023, 1998) framework that indicates three facets of agency—iterative, practical-evaluative, and projective—has been complemented by characteristics emerging from the analysed studies, indicating the relational versus transformative nature of agency at work. We engage in a discussion on the focus of these studies and operationalisations of agency, the units of analysis, analytical approaches and main findings. We then reflect upon the nature of agency at work and discuss the heterogeneity that is distinctly featured among the studies: Heterogeneity of terms of operationalisations and methodologies employed and also of findings considered defining for agency at work has stood out as an important characteristic of these empirical works. Based on this analysis and reflection, we delineate avenues that may drive the further consolidation of the field. Our reflective account highlights that the studies reviewed have provided an understanding of agency beyond disciplinary boundaries and beyond exclusively individual or collective actions. They reflect the complexity at the empirical level, where agency is expressed in heterogeneous ways and drives actions that trigger further learning processes.

Unpacking the feedback process: an analysis of undergraduate students’ interactional meaning-making of feedback comments

ABSTRACT In light of a growing emphasis on student-centred learning approaches, feedback is viewed as an activity that has potential to facilitate higher education students’ explorations of knowledge contents and practices. However, research shows that feedback does not always lead to the expected student engagement. This qualitative study proposes a feedback conceptualization informed by sociocultural notions, in which students co-construct meaning from the teacher’s feedback comments through interaction over time, with each other, the teacher, and relevant resources. Based on an in-depth analysis of undergraduate biology students’ discussions of feedback comments, we found that the feedback process takes the form of a meaning-making trajectory students move along by orienting towards and elaborating on both task-specific and general-knowledge content. Thereby, we contribute to a better understanding of what constitutes feedback processes viewed from an interactional perspective and generate knowledge on how to tailor our feedback practices to better address the students’ needs.

Knowledge Practices Environment: Design and Application of Technology for Trialogical Learning

Current networked society present learners with challenges that cannot be sufficiently coped with in educational contexts that are characterized by transmission or participation epistemologies on learning. To address these challenges, the trialogical approach to learning is introduced which focuses on the ways in which people and their communities create knowledge through the tool-mediated development of shared objects. Supporting sustained collaborative knowledge creation requires learning technology that is modular and extensible rather than monolithic and fixed in nature which characterizes most existent learning technologies. The current paper presents the design considerations and the application of the KP-environment which aims to support these object-oriented practices.

Shared Epistemic Agency For Knowledge Creation

Knowledge creation entails collaborative learning processes, involving groups of students who deliberately shape their learning activities and act collaboratively in order to create and advance knowledge. In this chapter, we discuss shared epistemic agency as one of the main constructs capturing aspects of the process of collaboratively creating knowledge.

Research-Based Education: An Exploration of Interpretations in Two Professional Higher Education Programmes

The massification and specialization of higher education, the increased focus on employability, and the challenges posed by the expanding knowledge society fuel discussions of the role of research in higher education and of the relationship between research and teaching in this context. Triggering these discussions are the increasingly complex and dynamic knowledge resources, and new forms of knowledge production and communication that characterize the present educational and professional landscapes. In this context, knowledge acquires a more all-encompassing meaning (Bleiklie and Byrkjeflot 2002) and new assumptions about knowledge, knowledge processes, and the role of higher education institutions are also required. Organizing education and developing curricula that make possible the preparation of higher education graduates that can address the challenges brought about by these developments require a clear strategy with regard to new competencies, forms of knowledge, and ways of working with knowledge.

Research and Development Tasks in Teacher Education: Institutional Framing and Student Experiences

Research and development tasks have been proposed as a learning solution in teacher education, where dynamic subject-matter knowledge and professional practices, and increasingly complex teaching environments generate emerging challenges for teacher education institutions and students. While there is an awareness that research is a complex practice, students are, however, expected to handle research activities as a natural part of the curriculum. This empirical study examined how teacher education students worked on research and development tasks linked to their school internships. The findings show that research and development tasks, viewed from an institutional perspective, bring together knowledge, activities, and experiences that allow students to construct their own repertoire of knowledgeable and teaching practices. But they also generate challenges, related to time management, to finding a balance between the needs of the teaching practice and the expectations of the teacher education programme, or to integrating different types of knowledge. The study raises awareness of how these tasks can be used to expose students to the realities of the teaching practice but also of the need for guidance and support required when such tasks are a part of the curriculum.