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Thinking in Space: Virtual Bricolage Self-Study for Future-Oriented Teacher Professional Learning

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Being Self-Study Researchers in a Digital World

Part of the book series: Self-Study of Teaching and Teacher Education Practices ((STEP,volume 16))

Abstract

We reflect on an online research conversation in which we dialogued about facilitating transdisciplinary self-study learning communities with university faculty in South Africa and the USA. We describe this virtual dialogue as thinking in space. Digital technologies made available new ways of connecting with each other between the continents in which we live and work, between our diverse personal and professional and interests, and between those we work with in diverse disciplinary and methodological domains. Digital technologies also allowed us to explore in a virtual space which illuminated and documented developing and iterative sets of data. We enacted a virtual bricolage self-study method using dialogic tools to generate, analyse and represent data for our collaborative, arts-based self-study: (1) emails (2) letter-writing, (3) the co-creation of two online mood boards, (4) photographs, and (5) research poetry. Extracts from our emails and letters document how our ideas were brought into dialogue and how we discovered similar sources of inspiration and influence in our work. Our self-study offers evidence of how we each grew in our individual understandings because and only because of our collaborative use of digital technologies. Recognising our sources of inspiration through an online dialogic self-study process provoked new insights about the generative potential of understanding and openly communicating the personal and professional impetus for our work. Our study suggests and we recommend that as universities strive to support faculty development, they might consider facilitating access to virtual spaces for dialogue and exchange that can contribute to polyvocal professional learning.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoem.do?poemId=15613

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Acknowledgements

This chapter is based on a paper presented at the Tenth International Conference on the Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices:

Pithouse-Morgan, K., & Samaras, A. P. (2014). Thinking in space: Learning about dialogue as method from a trans-continental conversation about trans-disciplinary self-study of professional practice. In D. Garbett & A. Ovens (Eds.), Changing practices for changing times: Past, present and future possibilities of self-study research. Proceedings of the Tenth International Conference on the Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices (pp. 167–170). Herstmonceux Castle, UK: University of Auckland.

We gratefully acknowledge support and grant funding for Transformative Education/al Studies (TES) project activities from the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa (Grant Number 90380), the Durban University of Technology’s Research Office, the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s University Learning and Teaching Office (UTLO), and Walter Sisulu University’s Research Office. We further acknowledge that any opinion, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and therefore the funders of the TES project activities do not accept any liability in regard thereto.

At George Mason University, we appreciate the contributions of each faculty member who participated in one of the three faculty self-study groups who helped us to better understand facilitating self-study research and the co-facilitators: Lesley Smith, Esperanza Roman-Mendoza, Ryan Swanson, and Lynne Scott Constantine. We thank each of the sponsors who supported our work: 4-VA, GMU Office of the Provost, Office of Distance Education, and the Centre for Teaching and Faculty Excellence−especially Kim Eby for her guidance and encouragement and to Ashleen Gayda for her administrative assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Education, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa

    Kathleen Pithouse-Morgan

  2. Graduate School of Education, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA

    Anastasia P. Samaras

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  1. Kathleen Pithouse-Morgan
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  2. Anastasia P. Samaras
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Correspondence to Kathleen Pithouse-Morgan .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

    Dawn Garbett

  2. The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

    Alan Ovens

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Pithouse-Morgan, K., Samaras, A.P. (2017). Thinking in Space: Virtual Bricolage Self-Study for Future-Oriented Teacher Professional Learning. In: Garbett, D., Ovens, A. (eds) Being Self-Study Researchers in a Digital World. Self-Study of Teaching and Teacher Education Practices, vol 16. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39478-7_10

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