Social networks are regarded as powerful resources that have available novel solutions, innovative ideas and can create new pathways. Networks exist as informal webs of affiliation between individuals and also as ties between organisations in the form of professional networks. These different forms of networks have in common that there is a social structure that connects particular agents with each other and enables the flow of information and knowledge between them. Thus, in creating new ties and connecting already existing networks/individuals/organisations, (...) a richer structure is created and with it access options to novel knowledge. The exchange and combination of knowledge is a means for creating innovations. The national initiative “Learning Regions – Providing Support for Networks” fostered this macro-structural change process in Germany on a regional level, so that a new learning culture and with it innovative products and ideas could emerge. An underlying concept for this programme is the theory on ‘learning organisations’ which is referred to concerning the interpretation of the data. Moreover, in order also to focus on the associated change processes, the guiding theoretical elaborations of Scharmer’s “Theory U” are applied to the findings. In this thesis the data gathered during the evaluation of this initiative are re-analysed with the research focus on particular social role inhabitants in networks: network managers. Based on a combination of survey and network data as well as expert interviews, the structural position and the resulting perspectives, perceptions and role learning processes are explored. By means of interpreting the findings, the thesis illustrates a developmental role-taking process for network managers with five stages along a U-curve. Thus, it becomes evident that the above described structural changes of interaction and knowledge flows are accompanied by deep change and the acquisition of certain skills. These skills are identified for example as a high tolerance for complexity and uncertainty, a “bridging capacity”, an awareness of tie structures, a high level of personal mastery and the capacity to act skilfully in interdependent structures and perceive himself or herself as part of a larger system. Network management is recognized as a service function that needs to be filled in professional educational networks. In the networks of the learning regions, network managers are inclined to act as societal change agents and social entrepreneurs who try to induce a process of conscious co-evolution within a defined region. (shrink)

The Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) theory offers a useful conceptual framework for examining the social and cultural factors that may contribute to or detract from the successful integration of computer technology into educational environments. This theory, which grew out of studies in the history of technology and the sociology of science, suggests methods for studying the phenomenon of technological development, such as identifying the relevant social groups involved in the development process and the factors that either leave the technology (...) in a state of interpretive flexibility or bring the interpretation of the technology to closure. This paper uses a SCOT approach to explore how personal and institutional beliefs can shape the ways in which technologies are used by teachers and students, and to identify the social, epistemological, cognitive and motivational factors that need to be considered as computer technology becomes an integral part of the educational experience. (shrink)

This paper develops Lewis’ notion of convention within a framework that mixes cognitive science with some more social theories of activity like distributed cognition and activity theory. The close examination of everyday situations of convention-based activity will produce some interesting issues for a cognitive theory of behavior. Uncertainty, dynamics, and the complexities of the performance of convention-based activities that are distributed over time and/or place, are driving factors in the analysis that is presented. How the actors reason and manage their (...) collaboration is characterized as pragmatic action. During the course of recurrent activities, the participants adapt previously learned convention-based activities to new circumstances. The coordinating representations that are a part of the design of the context mediate parts of the activity. As they act, the participants learn. (shrink)

This paper plays with education through the analogy of karaoke to tease out the instructions of a situated educational practice. Here, Cremin's conceptualization of education as a deliberate, systematic and sustained effort is employed as a starting point to enable an understanding of educational practice between members elicited by karaoke. Using Garfinkel's ethnomethodological framework, the paper investigates modes of education through karaoke practice as part of the ‘live’ narrative, that of instructing and being instructed with the ‘curriculum’ of the event (...) at hand. (shrink)

Selective permeability holds that people’s distinct capacities allow them to do different things in a space, making it unequally accessible. Though mainly applied to urban geography so far, we propose selective permeability as an affordance-based approach for understanding diversity in education. This has advantages. First, it avoids dismissing lower achievements as necessarily coming from “within” students, instead locating challenges in the environment. This implies that settings (not just people) need remedial attention, also raising questions about normative judgments in disability nomenclature. (...) Second, affordances can be negotiated in numerous ways to reach a goal, analogously to how people with missing arms have learned to drive with their feet, so restrictive problem-solving methods are often counterproductive. Third, our approach illuminates how cultural factors ranging from gait styles to language and hence group coordination modulate action possibilities, so that cultural groups may encounter objectively different affordances in the same classroom. But fourth, while fit with environment allows for skill refinement, non-fit can contribute to growth situations, which suggests a degree of selective closure can be desirable. Throughout, we argue social constructs—including educational ones—are literally built or enacted barriers or openings that have reality in environments in the same way that affordances do. (shrink)

The reconceptualisation of school placement (Teaching Council, 2013) poses a challenge to initial teacher education in Ireland. Some criticised the timing (Mulcahy and McSharry, 2013). Others considered it to be too great a professional leap (O’Grady, 2017). This study sought to explore if and how cooperating teachers could develop as mentors in the Irish context, through engagement in a ‘participatory action learning action research’ (PALAR) ‘mentoring community of practice’ (M-CoP). Qualitative data collection methods included: questionnaires with stimulus recall, pre-workshop questions, (...) workshop observation, workshop artefacts, reflective journals, learning journey plans, and extended focus group discussions. Data were analysed via constant comparison of codes and categories. CTs reported that their transformed practice as a mentor and a leader was achieved due to the multi-process, meta-pedagogical, meta-model design of the PALAR M-CoP. They indicated that the meta-model enhanced their fluency in the ‘language of critique’ enabling them to identify and become exercised about a range of complex barriers to growth. It also developed their fluency in the languages of ‘possibility’ and ‘leadership for change and empowerment’, which aided them to cope with, and overcome barriers to growth, resulting in the empowerment of themselves and other school placement partners. (shrink)

Mobile health research involving pervasive sensors, mobile apps and other novel data collection tools and methods present new ethical, legal, and social challenges specific to informed consent, data management and bystander rights. To address these challenges, a participatory design approach was deployed whereby stakeholders contributed to the development of a web-based commons to support the mHealth research community including researchers and ethics board members. The CORE platform now features a community forum, a resource library and a network of nearly 600 (...) global members. The utility of the participatory design process was evaluated by analyzing activities carried out over an 8-month design phase consisting of 86 distinct events including iterative design deliberations and social media engagement. This article describes how participatory design yielded 55 new features directly mapped to community needs and discusses relationships to user engagement as demonstrated by a steady increase in CORE member activity and followers on Twitter. (shrink)

Drawing on the transformative potential of critical-theoretical learning grounded in the CHAT framework of recognizing the bi-directional relationship between learning and development, the present paper is an investigation of how nine American community college students participating in a critical learning community (Peer Activist Learning Community) make sense of and position themselves towards the pursuit of higher education. The paper has two key findings: (1) students primarily draw on vocational discourse paired with a conceptualization of learning as rote learning (i.e. memorization (...) and acquisition of skills) in making sense of their pursuit of higher education, and (2) students embody a transitional positioning toward the community college, which poses the ontological challenge of belonging to an academic institution while seeking to negate this belonging. The findings are framed and discussed in particular through the lens of the transformative activist stance (Stetsenko) with an emphasis on the recognition of education as the process of becoming human as well as with a focus on the transformative potential of meaningful learning experiences. I conclude by suggesting the need for transforming the aim of retention studies as well as put forward the suggestion of re-conceptualization the concept of belongingness in educational psychology in light of the CHAT framework. (shrink)