action research

Joining Christian in this latest episode of Developod are Claire Steele and Sarah Smith, Directors of Eltonix. They discuss the future of teacher development with a focus on 'bottom-up' teacher development, and in particular 'classroom-based inquiry' (or 'action research'), which they argue is both more teacher-centred and student-centred than most current forms of prescriptive professional development led by language school institutions.

Information about Eltonix:
Website: https://eltonix.com/
Facebook Group: eltonix connects (a fund, friendly and international TD community)

Previous related Developod episodes:
Episode 36 Classroom-Based Inquiry
Episode 18 Action Research
Episode 8 Creating a Culture of Teacher Development (with Silvana Richardson)

Today’s episode features guests Frances Rust, PhD and Roberta Schomburg, PhD.  In the late 1970s, the Carnegie Foundation began to explore the differences between a PhD and an EdD. All too often it seemed that teachers and administrators found the PhD to have little relevance to their world of practice. At the same time, those in the university were concerned that the results of research were not being integrated into practice.  These concerns gave rise to a question, “What can be done to make the EdD both scholarly and practically relevant?”  No one wants the EdD to be a PhD lite. At the same time, there doesn’t seem to be a consensus on what substantive practitioner scholarship should look like. Dr. Rust and Dr. Schomburg bring their wealth of experience in working with students at the doctoral level to this conversation about the nature of doctoral study and the dissertation as part of doctoral work. 

Today’s guest is Frances Rust, PhD, Professor Emerita at New York University’s Steinhardt School. Dr. Rust has a distinguished career as a teacher educator and has directed programs at Teachers College of Columbia University, Manhattanville College, Hofstra University, and NYU; most recently she has served as Senior Fellow and Director of the Teacher Education Program at the University of Pennsylvania GSE. Among her numerous awards are the 1985 AERA Outstanding Dissertation Award, the 1998 Teachers College – Columbia Outstanding Alumni Award, the 2001 Association of Teacher Educators Distinguished Research Award, and the 2009 National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators Outstanding Teacher Educator Award.  She has published widely on topics related to teacher preparation, teacher professional development, and teacher-driven action research and school improvement. As a Fulbright Fellow, Dr. Rust is currently working with the Council of the International Forum on Teacher Educator Development (InFo-TED). In this conversation, we explore the current state of teacher education, Dr. Rust’s vision for the future of teacher education, and the importance of teacher research. 

Christian talks to Petra and Eliška, two primary school teachers of English in the Czech Republic.  Their classroom-based inquiry projects centre around the topics of differentiation and motivation in the classroom, and their findings reveal how relatively small changes can have a very profound impact.

Tania talks to our 2021 Scholarship Winner winner Victoria, and to co-collaborator on TDISG, Irene. They chew the cud on a range of diverse issues such as equity, diversity, inclusivity, racism, sexism, emotional education, action research and English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI). They also review their highlights from the 2021 TDSDIG Pre-Conference Event (PCE) and the 2021 IATEFL online conference. 

TDSIG PCE: https://www.iatefl.org/sites/default/files/TDSIG%20PCE%20Program%20-%20links%20to%20recordings.pdf

TDAJ: https://tdsig.org/tdaj-v2n1/ 

Dr. Shawn Loescher, CEO of Urban Discovery Schools in San Diego, has a conversation with Dr. Punya Mishra about his formative educational and professional experiences, including the influence of his family, his time in college studying music alongside subjects like philosophy, and his experiences working abroad in the Czech Republic and Slovakia following the Velvet Revolution, during a time of great political upheaval there. Loescher talks about his fundamentally optimistic view of the possibility for social change, and how he balances that with realism. Mishra and Loescher then discuss how Loescher’s values and educational philosophy play out in his more recent work as leader of a network of urban schools, including in his approach to “managing up,” teacher training and development, bridging research and practice, and the school network’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He explains how design thinking and action research are integrated into the fabric of Urban Discovery schools in their approach to continued learning and improvement.

Learn more about Shawn Loescher and Urban Discovery Schools at sloescher.com, www.urbansd.com, or follow him on Twitter @shawnloescher

For more information, check out learningfutures.education.asu.edu Keep in touch with Punya on Twitter @punyamishra, or at punyamishra.com