Pete Bradshaw

Developing Engagement in Ultralab's Online Communities of Enquiry.

This paper provides an account of the development of online communities at Ultralab for students engaged on masters‐level programmes, doctoral research and continuing professional learning. It considers the ways in which the engagement of learners, and their consequent participation, is seen to be dependent on several factors—the learners’ perception of purpose, their sense of identity and trust, framing of learning activities, interventions from learning facilitators and tutors, and the information architecture of the learning space. The notion of engagement in this online community in higher education (HE) is explored. The term ‘community of enquiry’ is used to indicate the key purpose of the community—that of practitioner‐based enquiry, or research.

Open education resources and higher education academic practice

Purpose – This paper aims to report on an externally‐funded project and forms part of its dissemination.Design/methodology/approach – The objectives are achieved through a theoretical framing of the project and an alignment of these with the contexts for the project – namely the Professional Standards Framework of the HEA, its use in postgraduate programmes of Academic Practice in England and the development of teacher resources by the IT in Teacher Education association. Findings – The result of the design process is a nine‐unit course which carries 30 credits on the English Higher Education Framework at level 7. Research limitations/implications – The limitations of the paper are that it reports only on the design and production of a course of postgraduate education. It does not report on the actual implementation as this has not yet happened at the time of writing.Practical implications – The intention is for this course to be adaptable for use in a range of different contexts. This is facilitated by i...

Debates in Computing and ICT Education

Debates in ICT and Computing Education explores the major issues teachers encounter in their daily professional lives. It encourages critical reflection and aims to stimulate both novice and experienced teachers to think more deeply about their practice, and link research and evidence to what they have observed in schools. Chapters tackle established and contemporary issues enabling teachers to reach informed judgements and argue their point of view with deeper theoretical knowledge and understanding. Debates include teacherless classrooms; personalised learning; creativity; digital literacy; visual literacy; e-tools; learning platforms; and opportunities for lifelong learning.

Pre-service teachers’ engagement in a cross-curricular television news project: impact on professional identity

This paper focuses on the impact of pre-service teachers’ engagement in the annual BBC News School Report project on their emerging professional identity and on the evidence they provide as part of the process of becoming qualified. The research reported on is drawn from three years of enquiry. Respondents included pre-service teachers themselves, their tutors as representatives of teacher education providers and their mentors as representatives of schools in which they were placed. The methodological approach was interpretative and phenomenological with qualitative and quantitative data being analysed for emergent themes. Two years of evaluations were followed by a third year in which a set of case studies were developed. The research showed that professional identity is enhanced through being in a leading role in respect of curriculum and working with other staff. Through engagement in such projects, this paper moots that pre-service teachers develop richer evidence of emerging professionalism as defined by standards of initial teacher training. Moreover, self-perception of role was modified to one in which they saw themselves, and were seen, as equals to qualified staff rather than subservient to or dependent on them. A new more equal power relationship developed as they took on responsibility for the project. Pre-service teachers’ move to become full members of the professional community for which they are training was accelerated.