Ksenija Napan

What's in the 'co'? Tending the tensions in co-creative inquiry in social work education

Abstract Higher education is one of many fields of practice that have undergone a so-called ‘dialogic turn’ whereby processes of co-creation proliferate as a means of generating knowledge. According to dialogic ideals, co-creation harnesses the transformative potential of dialogue across difference and empowers participants as co-learners or co-researchers. But what does the ‘co’ of ‘co-creation’ entail in practice? The aim of the article is to explore the tensions in the ‘co’ of co-creation through critical, reflexive analysis of the enactment of one particular approach to co-creation, ‘Academic Co-Creative Inquiry’ (ACCI), in a social work course in a higher educational institution in Aotearoa New Zealand. Using the Integrated Framework for Analysing Dialogic Knowledge Production and Communication (IFADIA), the analysis identifies tensions arising in the interplay between top-down and bottom-up dynamics in a contested terrain of dialogic and neoliberal discourses. It is argued that ACCI’s and IFADIA’s reflexive sensitivity in relation to tensions offers some resistance to neoliberalism in higher education.

Collaborative Transformations: Cooperative Inquiry as a Catalyst for Change.

This research demonstrates that cooperative inquiry (CI) offers authentic opportunities for academics to transform their teaching, paving the way for additional collaborative practices in higher education across a range of disciplines. Using data from cycles of action and reflection, a multidisciplinary group of seven tertiary teachers committed to monthly meetings over a period of 18 months. This collaborative process enabled expansion of personal, professional, and institutional boundaries in terms of how learning can occur through transformed and transformative teaching approaches. Our commitment led to innovative teaching practices that emerged from our CI process. Challenges of this approach and possible ways to overcome them are addressed. This research led primarily to transformation of self and enhanced academic relationships. It also provides insights regarding the potential to transform tertiary learning institutions and contribute to the development of academics who are inspired to be more appreciative of and engaged with their students.

Diversity, Inquiry, and Co-creation

This paper critically reflects on a neoliberal paradigm and attempts to propose ways of addressing issues of diversity through engagement and utilization of inquiry based education within a postgraduate multicultural classroom. The notion of mutuality and reciprocity is examined in the light of a co-creative teaching experience in a postgraduate multicultural classroom. A method of inquiry learning called Academic Co-Creative Inquiry (ACCI), which tends to cater for diversity is presented, explored and open for critical reflection in terms of its viability in a range of teaching contexts. The following questions are explored: What is the purpose of tertiary education within a globalized context of increasing diversity? How can diversity, inquiry and co-creation become antidotes to neoliberalism within globalized University? How is co-creative learning different and how it contributes to the transformation of tertiary education? What are the challenges of this kind of transformation? How can ACCI help academics do to remain critics and conscience of society and retain academic integrity within a current paradigm or even help transforming it?

A Transdisciplinary Approach to Teaching Social Practice

This paper explores the rationale, purpose, and challenges of offering a transdisciplinary Masters of Social Practice (MSocP) at Unitec, New Zealand. It focuses on the notion of transdisciplinarity that underpins its existence, and the teaching and learning methods that this approach requires. The programme is based on a dynamic interchange between helping professions, with the aim to serve social practice clients in a way that suits the needs of the client. It allows members of a range of professions to contribute knowledge and skills, collaborate with others, and transcend disciplinary boundaries. This relates equally to teachers as well as students, as it aims to transcend disciplinary competencies to facilitate change with individuals, families and communities, and dismantle the notion of external expertise, replacing it with internal competence and collaboration. It is a responsive and dynamic programme, which explores social practice issues in the context of partnership and collaboration, and intends to manage multiple epistemologies and multiple research and practice methodologies while engaging in a world where practice rather than professions count, and where new dimensions of ethics and morality emerge. It addresses the relationship between theory, practice and research, and is explicit about its commitment to social justice. Focused on the integration of theory, practice, experience and research, it addresses the five aspects where this integration can occur: ethics, commitment, responsibility, accountability and spirituality. This paper will demonstrate how these five aspects are addressed, and explore joys and challenges of applying a heutagogical approach to teaching it.