NZCER: Critical Issues in Maori Education forum (March 2012)

On Friday 16 March 2012, I attended the Critical Issues in Maori Education forum hosted by the New Zealand Centre for Educational Research (NZCER). The forum was held at Tapu Te Ranga, Island Bay, Wellington. The purpose of the forum was to assist in the development of the research agenda for Te Wahanga, the Maori research unit within the NZCER. (For more information about this unit, please visit http://www.nzcer.org.nz/te-wahanga.)

In order to develop its new agenda, Te Wahanga has initiated an ethics-approved research project. Attendees at the forum were invited to act as research participants. Information sheets and consent forms were distributed. The collection method was facilitated focus groups. Each focus group comprised of six to eight participants. The facilitators were three Te Wahanga staff members (Jessica Hutchings, Alex Barnes, and Nicola Bright) and two Kaupapa Maori researchers (Jenny Chen and Leonie Pihama). The facilitators collected research questions and critical issues from participants. All sessions were recorded via a digital audio recorder and summaries on paper.

Attendees were from across the education sector, including representatives from a variety of Commissions, teacher unions, national provider collectives, universities, and schools. A feedback session after the completion of the data collection showed an emphasis by participants on issues of equity. Moana Jackson provided closing remarks which located the research in the place of its conduct.

The forum offered a unique opportunity to interact with visiting indigenous scholar, LisaNa Red Bear, and her son. LisaNa is an award-winning artist, scholar, and educator, and is a certified human rights educator and counsellor. Through our conversation, I learnt what education means in North American indigenous communities, particularly those affected by the boarding school phenomenon.  Spirituality is at the centre of LisaNa's work. We spoke of a world without Two Legs, where Grandmother Earth sleeps and is reawakened again. LisaNa is a guest of Fulbright Scholar Leonie Pihama and will be returning to the snows of Washington state after completing her tour of New Zealand. I wish her safe journeys. (For more information on LisaNa, visit http://www.innovativeconceptsunleashed.con/ or http://www.nativeartists.org/LisaNa.)

Attendance at this forum would not have been possible without the financial support of two sections of the University: Te Putahi a Toi / School of Maori Studies (who met all transport costs) and Te Uru Maraurau / Department of Maori and Multicultural Education (who met all accommodation costs). Further, the NZCER contributed to the attendance of each participant through provision of travel vouchers to the value of forty-dollars.

A copy of this report has been submitted to the other attendees from Massey University.  Further, a copy has been made available to other members of the Centres of Teaching and Learning (Massey University) via the service's learning management system.

"How To View A Prezi"

How To View A Prezi on Prezi

Developing this resource offered the opportunity to create a YouTube video, which non-Prezi users could watch without any need to engage with the software.  Although I prefer learning which is active, situated, and authentic, some learners respond immediately to this approach whilst others require more information.  By utilising screen capture software (Adobe Captivate 5.5) to provide a video format, learners are able to construct a perception of the software from which a scaffolded interaction can be attempted.

Constructivism (Prezi)

Constructivism on Prezi

Bibliography



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Situated Learning: Waitangi 2012

Developed by Lave and Wenger (1991), situated learning:

follow[s] three postulates: (1) Classroom leaning by its very nature is out of context and irrelevant. (2) Knowledge presented in the context of work settings and applications is most relevant and effective. (3) Learning is a highly social, interactive activity that involves a great deal of collaboration and mentoring. (Leonard, 2002, p. 174)

I was priviledged to observe situated learning in operation during a trip to Waitangi (New Zealand) from 3 to 7 February. A mix of postgraduate and undergraduate students of the Treaty of Waitangi were mentored at the site of its first signing. Staff were supported through peer-to-peer engagements and individual exploration. Together, the group developed contextualised knowledge of the Treaty and the construction of political sites by the media. The group continues as a community of practice through Facebook and campaigns.

Situated learning for students of politics is not new. Brubaker (2011), for example, discusses situated learning in the form of voluntary placements in a mayoral campaign. The uniqueness of the Waitangi example is its location and the subjective experiences of the learners and teachers alike. I look forward to next year.

Behaviourism (Prezi)

Behaviourism on Prezi

Bibliography

Chaplin, J. P. (1985). Dictionary of psychology (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Dell.
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Colman, A. M. (2009c). Cognitivism n. A dictionary of psychology (3rd ed.). Retrieved from http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t87.e1624

Colman, A. M. (2009d). Equilibration n. A dictionary of psychology (3rd ed.). Retrieved from http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t87.e2830

Colman, A. M. (2009e). Learning n. A dictionary of psychology (3rd ed.). Retrieved from http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t87.e4580
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Deverson, T. (2004). Empirical adj. The New Zealand Oxford dictionary. Retrieved
    from http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t186.e16716
Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge, United
    Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
Leonard, D. C. (2002). Learning theories, A to Z. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
Pearsall, J. (Ed.). (1999). The concise Oxford dictionary. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
Ponticell, J. A. (Ed.). (2006). Learning, theories of. Encyclopedia of educational leadership and
    administration. Retrieved from http://sage-ereference.com/view/edleadership/n338.xml
Schunk, D. H. (2004). Learning theories: An educational perspective (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ:
    Pearson Education.
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    353). Basingstoke, United Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan.
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    Steiner, S. Scribner, & E. Souberman, Eds.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
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Comment on "APA Style: Internationalised Institutional Knowledge"

The original version of Flint, Clegg, and Macdonald (2006) cites MacFarlane as being published in 2004 versus 2003.  As no document is listed with the same author, title, and publication details in the stated year, I have used the corrected year of 2003.  This does not equate with APA Style, but arguably supports academic integrity.

The ideas of "transfer" and "recipient" populations suggest a homogeneity, which is problematic.  Although the source group, the American Psychological Association, may be constructed homogenously at the meso-level, the construction of the transfer and recipient populations as homogenous is illogical.  Amongst the transfer groups, for instance, will be members of the American Psychological Association and recipient states, as well as a multitude of identities, fractured or otherwise.  Perhaps a better method would be to identify a self-named group within the academic community to which the knowledge flow is directed.

APA Style as Internationalised Institutional Knowledge

I consider APA Style to be an example of internationalised institutional knowledge.  APA Style is a common citation style recommendation made by journals, including those in the education arena (Fairbairn et al., 2009).  Additionally, it is one method of defining what counts (and does not count) as possessing academic integrity.  Drawing on MacFarlane (2003) and Larkham and Manns (2002), Flint, Clegg, and Macdonald (2006, p. 153) describe "the notion of intellectual integrity and originality... [as] paramount to academic achievement" and "inherent" in higher education.  Further, this notion is "perpetuated by external processes such as the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), which rates single authorship journal articles as the highest form of academic output" (ibid.).  Despite its role in supporting the "importance of originality" as an objective, culturally-neutral ideal (ibid.), APA Style continues relatively unchallenged.

I am considering:

(1)     Whether internationalised institutional knowledge is experienced differently by domestic source, transfer, and recipient populations;

(2)     That the American Psychological Association, as the APA Style's source population, have a defined position on originality;

(3)     Whether 'transfer' is the correct term for populations which receive and transfer knowledge to another population;

(4)     Whether institutions as 'transfer' agents act consciously in promoting APA Style;

(5)     If recipient populations are offered opportunities to critique the importance of originality as a core academic construct.

These ideas are forming into the basis for quite a good doctoral dissertation!

REFERENCES (in APA Style, of course)

Fairbairn, H., Holbrook, A., Bourke, S., Preston, G., Cantwell, R., & Scevak, J. (2009). A profile of educational journals. Retrieved from http://www.aare.edu.au/08pap/fai08605.pdf

Flint, A., Clegg, S., & Macdonald, R. (2006). Exploring staff perceptions of student plagiarism. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 30(2), 145-146. Retrieved from http://www.leedsmet.ac.uk/carnegie/files/CJFH_30_02_03.pdf

Larkham, P. J., & Manns, S. (2002) Plagiarism and its treatment in higher education. Journal of Further & Higher Education, 26(4), 339-349. Retrieved from http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/0309877X.asp

Macfarlane, B. (2003). Teaching with integrity: The ethics of higher education practice. London, UK: Routledge Falmer.