Writing Up Your Action Research Project
Abstract
Many practice-based researchers have expert knowledge of doing research but often experience difficulties when writing it up and communicating the significance of what they have done. This book aims to help bridge the gap. Packed with practical advice and strong theoretical resources it takes you through the basics of designing and producing your text so that it will meet established standards and high quality assurance expectations. Divided into 3 distinctive parts, key points include: Understanding writing practices Engaging with the literatures How to write up a project report or dissertation How writing is judged in terms of professional and academic writing practices Developing ideas for further study and publication Writing up Your Action Research Project is an essential text for practitioners on professional education and undergraduate courses across disciplines who want their writing to reflect the excellence of their research. It is the ideal companion to the author's You and Your Action Research Project,now in its fourth edition.
... 22 AR also allows the development, testing and evaluation of solutions in practical contexts and multiple opportunities to hone these over subsequent cycles. [22][23][24] For this research, we undertook six formal cycles, named 1-6 in the text, one after the other, each in a different health-care setting in the same hospital. Research began in 2017, with one cycle every approx. ...
... As part of this analysis, data from workshop evaluations and interview transcripts were searched for words relevant to IMO, as this foundational "theme" developed after the deliberate introduction of IMO into the program. In each cycle, we offered a series of five 40-min active learning workshops, framed as upskilling in teaching and learning, 24 including relevant values/behaviours. 26 Content was tailored to common issues, determined by preintervention research [26][27][28][29][30] and specific, perhaps values-related issues captured during participants' individual interviews. ...
Background
Medical student and health-care staff bullying remain international concerns. Our understanding about what might solve such problems is still developing. A common approach suggested for bystanders to bullying is that they challenge or “stand up” to the bully. At the same time, the considerable risks should they act (eg, verbal rebuke) are rarely acknowledged, and neither is the potential for considerable cognitive dissonance should they choose not to.
Methods
Drawing on a substantial literature review, we developed an interventional program, initially with medical student bullying in mind, that generally employed a discourse for values cultivation. We implemented and evaluated this program through 6 cycles of action research methodology in 6 different departments of one tertiary teaching hospital. Data include individual interviews, discussions with key participants plus freehand comments from wider staff’s workshop evaluations.
Results
Alongside others, an early serendipitous finding was the “IMO” [Indirect, focus on Me, focus on Outcome] framework, intended for bystanders to student bullying. From using this framework, participants reported developing confidence in tackling negative behaviours, that interactions had better outcomes and that the workplace atmosphere felt more relaxed. It’s use also significantly reduced cognitive dissonance. Encouragingly, participants went on to use IMO for staff–staff bullying incidents, and other common negative behaviours. We attribute IMO’s utility to its memorability, simplicity and for catering to the many possible causes of bullying, including values issues, without perpetuating or creating conflict.
Conclusion
The IMO framework is offered as a widely usable framework for all staff in a clinical environment – a useful addition to popular frameworks used in the clinical workplace, ideas from which might also help these be further refined. Further evaluation would establish whether IMO invites long-term change and its utility in other contexts.
... Reason i Torbert (2005) razlikuju tri vrste akcijskih istraživanja: individualno (first-person) u kojemu pojedini praktičari nastoje unaprijediti i istražiti određeni aspekt svoje prakse, suradničko (second-person) u kojemu grupa praktičara suradnički provodi istraživanje, i organizacijsko (third-person) u kojemu istraživačke zajednice nastoje unaprijediti cijele organizacije, zajednice ili sustave. U ovom slučaju radi se o individualnom akcijskom istraživanju (Coghlan i Brannick, 2005;McNiff, 2016). ...
Kvalitetna povratna informacija omogućuje učeniku usmjeriti se na cilj nastave i biti svjestan odgovornosti za svoj uspjeh. Ona ne treba predstavljati kritiku ni pohvalu, već obuhvaća set informacija koje će ga uputiti kako popraviti pogreške i učiti. Povratna informacija pozitivno utječe na učenje učenika (Voerman et al., 2012) i ključan je čimbenik u povećanju postignuća iz matematike (Clarke, 2001). Svrha ovog akcijskog istraživanja je unaprijediti početnu nastavu matematike davanjem povratnih informacija. Analizom videozapisa nastave utvrđeno je da prevladavaju povratne informacije usmjerene na provjeru razumijevanja i postignuća učenika. Osim toga, učenici su dobivali povratne informacije o zadatku. Ostvarivanjem planiranih aktivnosti uočena je povećana kontrola nad vlastitim učenjem i učeničko zadovoljstvo nastavom matematike. Pokazalo se kako je moguće unaprijediti nastavu matematike uvođenjem promjena koje su primjerene mogućnostima i interesima učenika. Pritom je važno da učitelj poznaje učinkovite nastavne metode koje mora prilagoditi odgojnom i obrazovnom kontekstu u kojemu radi.
... This research was conducted in 8-12 meetings, with 4 meetings for each cycle. Classroom action research is an ongoing process because there will always be a new problem arising in classroom practices (McNiff, 2016). Thus, the cyclical process in this study conducted until the researcher meets the satisfactory result of students' writing proficiency. ...
Peer tutoring in academic writing is a kind of peer-assisted teaching-learning strategy that provides the opportunity for students to facilitate other students in a collaborative way of learning writing. In pairs or groups, the student may learn not only academic, but social, behavioral, and functional skills as well. Many different ways to pair students, such as by ability level, skills mastered, or age. Indeed, to help each student with their particular writing issues, peer tutoring is necessary as an opportunity to offer extra lessons. Up-to-date, the Coronavirus pandemic's extensive effects have led to more and more educational institutions offering training and instruction online. Most schools and higher institutions in West Kalimantan use digital technology in their instructional program. However, because online sessions are usually held in big groups and have internet limitations, it might be difficult for the lecturer to keep track of all of their students. Incorporating peer tutoring via digital means can be an alternative to meet the student’s needs in online learning
... It also seeks critical self-reflection and the ability to think by the participants. There are several kinds of PAR; our approach is related to the "empowerment type" [18] because it explores and involves members of the community taking part in the research activity [19]. The study comprises four phases: (1) observation, (2) planning, (3) acting, and (4) assessment, which will be explained further on in the manuscript [20]. ...
Background:
Indigenous populations are represented among the poor and disadvantaged in rural areas. High rates of infectious diseases are observed in indigenous child populations, and fever as a general symptom is common.
Objective:
We aim to improve the skills of healers in rural indigenous areas in the South of Ecuador for managing children with fevers.
Method:
We performed participatory action research (PAR) for this study with 65 healers.
Results:
The PAR focused on the following four phases: (1) 'observation,' eight focus groups were used. (2) 'planning' phase was developed, and with culturally reflective peer group sessions, a culturally adapted flowchart was constructed titled "Management of children with fever." In phase (3): 'action', the healers were trained to manage children with fever. Phase (4): 'evaluation', 50% of the healers used the flowchart.
Conclusions:
Explicit recognition of the need for traditional healers and health professionals in indigenous communities to work together to improve health indicators such as infant mortality exists. Additionally, strengthening the transfer system in rural areas is based on knowledge and cooperation between the community and the biomedical system.
... We embraced action research based on McNiff model to guide our instructional practice [1]. The model involves six processes: Observe -Reflect -Act -Evaluate -Modify -Move in new directions. ...
... We embraced action research based on McNiff model to guide our instructional practice [1]. The model involves six processes: Observe -Reflect -Act -Evaluate -Modify -Move in new directions. ...
We designed an at-home experiment on the inverse square law of light as an alternative to a standard in-campus experiment during the COVID-19 pandemic. The collaborative experiment uses smartphones with remote instructor’s support.
... The study was designed as an action research. Action research is the type of research that is performed by practitioners in way that is concerned with improving learning as well as cultural and social transformation in a value-driven and collaborative manner by being engaged in critical questioning and deconstruction (McNiff, 2016). Also referred to as real-world research (Robson, 2011) that is both critical and pragmatic (Johansson & Lindhult, 2008), action research is considered to make it possible for practitioners to partake in critical debate, transformative action and the process of understanding and changing practices (Kemmis, McTaggardt, & Nixon, 2014). ...
The aim of the present study was to find out if direct or indirect written corrective feedback was more beneficial for a group of 28 students in the English Prep Year of an engineering department at a public university in Turkey. Utilizing an action research design, the observation and reflection phases of the study included the observation of the current written corrective feedback applications in the group. In the action phase, the students were divided into six groups for a collaborative writing task. Following the completion of the task, three groups were provided with direct written corrective
feedback while the remaining three were given its indirect counterpart. Evaluation data was collected through semi-structured teacher observations, voice records of participant discussions and responses to guided reflection questions. The findings revealed that both types of written corrective feedback could be beneficial for the participants, however, indirect feedback was more suitable for classroom use since it also necessitated direct feedback for final drafts.
... However, it is necessary to emphasize, as stated by McNiff (2015), that the quality judgment of a qualitative work is problematic and the results of the analyzes should be used for reflection and not for identification of good or bad. It is not the simplistic case of completing a checklist indicating that this or that criterion was adopted but rather demonstrating that the quality criteria were experienced during the course of the research and that not all of them apply to all situations. ...
The practical relevance of research in information systems has led researchers and journals to indicate the use of the action research field strategy. However, this strategy holds several criticisms and it is necessary a set of criteria that can be used to evaluate how well the work is done. From the compilation of a series of qualitative research quality criteria, case study quality and action research quality itself, it was possible to compile a set of 9 criteria to be used in conducting action research, namely: construction of the research corpus; data collection and analysis; research reflexivity; process description; process democratization; catalysis of participants; results; openness for surprise; and dialogue with peers. However, it is important to signalize that the criteria set presented here should not be a list to be followed, but as a series of points to be remembered by the researcher in conducting field research.
... The teaching and learning process was observed and recorded by two research assistants who were stationed in the classroom. Collecting the data and conducting the research included planning the action, putting the plan into action, observing the results of the plan and reflecting on the next course of action; the procedure was adopted from Burns (2010) and McNiff (2016). From the first class, 12 out of 25 students pursuing the course in Semester 2 in the second year of the Diploma Programme (DP) were accepted as samples, while, from the second class the samples were all the 12 students pursuing the same course in Semester 1 in the third year of the Undergraduate Programme (UP). ...
This paper reports on a classroom action research study on teaching news writing in English to two different classes of English Department students. Twelve students from the Diploma Programme and 12 others from the Undergraduate Programme enrolled in the course, English for Journalism, were purposively selected to participate in this research. Teaching of this kind requires a unique strategy because the students are faced with the problem of news content on the one hand and that of how to convey the content on the other. In addition to strengthening the news content through field observation and interviews of the source of information, students should create suitable kinds of genre at the discourse level and select appropriate types of lexicogrammar at the clause level. Basically, news falls into the recount genre, but there are usually some sub-genres embedded within this larger genre. How concepts of genre work and how lexicogrammar should be employed in teaching English news writing are the focus of discussion in this paper. The results of this research show that regardless of the different learning performance of the two groups of students, it is evident that in transferring field knowledge to a well-arranged news piece consisting of relevant sentences, students in the different classes need knowledge of both text organisation associated with genre and linguistic skills associated with lexicogrammar choices.
... The methodological approach (Fig. 2) adopted is based on 'dialectical and critical reflexivity' [145], 'critical realism' [146], 'phenomenological' [147,148], 'existentialist' [149]and an approach of more recent origin which the author holds combines all of the above mentioned approaches an 'autoethnographic research' approach [150] The type of research sample that this study deals with can also be called as a 'discourse analyses' and here the study follows an 'abductive' approach to analyse the discourse by 'moving back and front amongst empirical data, research literature and developing theory' to have an understanding of the structures and apparatuses that influences the way researches are done. The researches selected are individually approached by the author and by 'interrogating, deconstructing and decentring' [151] each research is assessed of its connection to the reality on the ground level and the extent to which the researches have a pragmatic heuristic value. The author does not 'step out of the world', is not 'detached' from the existing reality and acknowledges her/his native belongingness. ...
Background:
Isms affect the way we think, define, approach and seek to understand and solve any particular issue or condition. The particular ism that prevails currently has been labeled as neoliberalism. Here the ways that researchers use KAPS for various health issues or conditions and the extent to which it is connected to the existing reality along with its pragmatic utility are assessed. Based on how heuristics is conceptualized the use of KAPs is heuristics in use. The primary task of this article embarks is on determining whether the researches using KAPS has any heuristic purpose or is it just fulfilling some self- centered ritualistic and instrumentalist objective. The focus here is on Nepal but that does not mean that the arguments made here is not applicable to other nations that have similar socio-economic conditions.
Methods/ Findings:
The data selected here are researches done by an epistemic community presented in two national conferences. The methodology followed is based on dialectical reflexivity and the approach adopted is auto-ethnographic. The dominance of procrustean, atomistic, dehistoricized, reductionist and individualist philosophy that deemphasizes structural relations is seen. The incorporation of neoliberal values has created a trend where researches seem to solely serve ritualistic and instrumentalist purpose.
... Précisons que la planification donnait suite à l'identification spécifique d'un problème relativement à la pratique inclusive et d'un écart à combler pour agir en direction d'une situation désirée. La recherche-action avait pour buts ultimes le changement, la compréhension des pratiques, la résolution de problèmes et l'amélioration d'une situation donnée, soit autant de fonctions inhérentes à ce type de recherche qui contribuent inévitablement à sa complexité (Lavoie, Marquis et Laurin, 1996; McNiff et Whitehead, 2010; Reason et Bradbury, 2008). Le sentiment de compétence, ou ce que Bandura (2007) appelle plus fréquemment le sentiment d'autoefficacité ou le sentiment d'efficacité personnelle, est à compter parmi les principaux mécanismes régulateurs du comportement humain. ...
Ce texte pose un regard sur le questionnement d’enseignants et d’orthopedagogues engages dans une demarche de recherche-action visant l’emergence de pratiques inclusives en contexte d’enseignement primaire. On y retrouve tant les principales craintes associees aux pratiques inclusives que celles associees a la transformation des roles et a l’apprentissage au reel travail collaboratif entre enseignants et orthopedagogues. Ces craintes semblent intimement liees au sentiment de competence des participants a la recherche. Enfin, des pistes de formation visant a soutenir les pratiques inclusives sont proposees par les participants. Ces pistes ne sont pas sans rappeler la place centrale qu’occupent la formation continue et la formation initiale en contexte d’inclusion scolaire.
... In planning the action research, foreseeing the activity in focus groups the factors discovered in earlier stages of the research and related to the concept of functional mathematical literacy and the situation of education meeting special educational needs in mainstream schools were taken into consideration. In creating the methodology of functional mathematical literacy for students having moderate special educational needs action research has been organized (Kemmis, McTaggart, 1988, 2005Charles, 1999;Burns, 2000;McNiff, 2002;Baranauskienė, Ruškus, 2004;McNiff, Whithead, 2009;Reason, Bradbury, 2006;Gelžinienė, 2009etc.), using the elements of the method of focus group (Belanovskij, 2001;Ehigie, Ehigie, 2005;Rupšienė, 2007, Wilkinson, Birmingham, 2003 etc.). For data processing the methods of content analysis (Merkys, 1995, Burns, 2000, Belanovskij, 2001, Rupšienė, 2007etc.) and statistical data analysis have been applied. ...
The article deals with the strategies used in of mathematical education, while creating the methodology of the development of mathematical literacy in senior class students of mainstream schools having moderate special educational needs oriented towards the development of functional students’ abilities in practice. 20 pedagogues (teachers of mathematics and special pedagogues) developing mathematical abilities of 30 students having moderate special educational needs in the 8th forms of mainstream schools participated in the action research. As it is shown in the scientific literature, the performed action research has been analyzed: its peculiarities and strategies of application in creating the methodology of the development of functional mathematical literacy in students with moderate special educational needs in the 8th form of mainstream school have been revealed
The books used by teachers in the learning process regarding the introduction of cities are less attractive to students. When using books at school, teachers experience problems because books are still conventional so they are easily damaged when used frequently. The purpose of this study was to develop a media for learning the picture story 'Bolokuncoro' in an interactive learning introduction to local cultural literacy for early childhood students. This research uses the Research and Development (R&D) method adopted from the Borg and Gall model with a small scale, namely 7 stages of research. The results of this study are the percentage validation test. The final validation results of the material obtain an average percentage of 88%. The percentage is included in the very feasible and usable category. While the average percentage of media validation is 86%. The percentage is included in the very feasible and usable category. However, there are some suggestions that can be applied by researchers and if they are not implemented too. During the field test using the teacher's response questionnaire. The final score based on the total score divided by the maximum score obtained an average of 96% with a very decent category. So that the media can be used in learning.
The limited English proficiency of students may be attributed to the teacher's failure to emphasize motivation throughout the learning journey. This research aims to identify the initial factors that influence students' motivation to learn English and investigate the potential of gamification in increasing their motivation to study the language. This study is a class action research conducted in the 8th grade of State Junior High School 1 Banyumas during the academic year 2023/2024. The study utilized a dataset of observations and questionnaires administered to a cohort of 35 students. Descriptive statistics were applied in the data analysis process. Research shows that engagement levels increased from pre-research (62% observation sheet, 68.21% questionnaire) to post-research (71.62% observation sheet, 79.36% questionnaire). The use of gamification can have a positive impact on learners' motivation by increasing interactivity and enjoyment in the learning environment. Therefore, gamification can be a viable approach to increasing learners' motivation to acquire English language proficiency.
Objective: This study aims to explore the impact of integrating the Sasando folktale into Bangflo Coffee's brand identity on Instagram, focusing on its effects on consumer behavior, loyalty, and market positioning in the Jakarta coffee industry. Theoretical framework: The study is grounded in the foundations of storytelling in human culture, the strategic application of storytelling in digital communication, and the multidimensional nature of brand identity. Method: Employing a robust action research methodology rooted in Lewin's cycle, the study emphasizes the strategic use of storytelling. Multiple action research cycles are conducted to adapt the Sasando as a central symbol, aligning with President Joko Widodo's support for local entrepreneurs. Results and conclusion: The Sasando assumes a prominent role in Bangflo Coffee's identity, symbolizing cultural heritage and connecting deeply with the audience. The storytelling approach resonates with socially conscious millennials, fostering community, social responsibility, and heightened brand awareness. The integration of folktales proves effective in transforming the brand beyond a simple coffee supplier into a meaningful cultural ambassador. Originality/value: This research contributes to the field by showcasing the innovative use of digital storytelling in the coffee industry, bridging traditional folklore with modern branding strategies. It emphasizes the importance of cultural integration in creating authentic and enduring connections with consumers, particularly in the context of social media platforms like Instagram.
The pedagogical use of performative research methods allows for the exploration of power and intersectional oppressions that transform both audience and researcher. However, the use of qualitative methods in medical/health sciences and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) classroom contexts has been deemed a transgressive practice. Furthermore, introducing controversial topics in academic settings is not always fruitful since students need time to deal with their ways of seeing the world. Yet, in a transgressive space where both the authors are coded as transgressors—Women of Colour (WoC) in teaching and learning at a Predominantly White Institution in the Midwestern United States—the praxis of arts-based research methods and intersectional theory may be the most transformative. This chapter outlines an applied health humanities classroom project from Fall 2019 and Spring 2020 that used arts-based and intersectional theory to introduce issues around sexual health policy to health sciences undergraduates. After outlining details on this performance-based group assignment, we present an analysis of students’ written reflections on their experiences performing scenes dramatizing the real-life consequences of restrictive U.S. reproductive health policy on historically marginalized individuals.
The article deals with modelling of the system of functional mathematical literacy development of eighth form pupils with moderate special educational needs, learning in mainstream schools. Applying the action research method, the measurements of the participants of the (self-)educational process are analysed and, based on them, the possibilities of developing functional mathematical literacy of pupils with moderate SEN in the mainstream school, grounded on the approaches and ideas of pragmatism, social constructivism, social participation and empowerment theories, are revealed.
Chapter 7 presents the journeys of the researchers. The chapter draws on diverse data sources to document the realities and complexities of the intersecting processes of collaboration and independent inquiry that the project was designed to foster from its inception. These data sources include project documents, audio-recordings and transcriptions of meetings, email archives and notes on discussions involving different members of the group, as well as the data gleaned directly from the researchers’ work with the teacher partners as documented in previous chapters.
La investigación-acción, proveniente de las ciencias sociales, es una metodología participativa y aplicable a cualquier problema de gestión empresarial. No obstante, es poco conocida en ingeniería. Esta investigación desarrolla la revisión sistematizada de 48 artículos publicados en Scopus y la Web of Science entre los años 2000 y 2020 por investigadores adscritos a instituciones iberoamericanas que desarrollaron experiencias y prácticas de investigación-acción en contextos vinculados a la ingeniería. El objetivo fue describir las características de dicha producción académica y de su implementación. Los resultados revelan que Brasil y España lideran el uso de la investigación-acción en Iberoamérica, siendo predominante en el área de la ingeniería informática, de software y de sistemas de información. La investigación-acción se presenta con fuerte participación de los mismos investigadores; quienes observan la situación problemática, proponen acciones, reflexionan y evalúan el sistema para comenzar un nuevo ciclo de trabajo. La revisión concluye que, el incipiente uso de la investigación-acción, ha resultado exitoso para la ingeniería y que existe la consecuente posibilidad de ser replicada en otras áreas afines a la gestión y administración empresarial.
Action research: A Path to Sustainable Professional Development for Teachers
Prof. Salah Ghoneim
مجلة كلية التربية- جامعة بني سويف- عدد ديسمبر- 2017
تمثل بحوث الفعل أداة مهمة وضرورية لكل عامل في الميدان التربوي، ووسيط تدريبي يتصف
بالمرونة والتجديد المستمر يعين الأفراد على تطوير الأداء وتحسين النتائج، كما أن بحث الفعل نهج يجمع بين العمل أو الإجراء والبحث. أي العمل لإحداث تغيير في مجتمع أو منظمة أو برنامج ما، والبحث لزيادة فهم ما يجري بحثه أو تغييره. ويختلف بحث الفعل في كونه يركز على العمل أو الإجراء بخلاف البحوث الأخرى التي تركز على تصميم البحث ويكون فيها العمل نتاجًا ثانويًا ويكون همها نشر النتائج لقطاع أوسع من مجتمع الدراسة.
The thesis focuses on designing specific physical and digital tools and exploring their interaction in solid geometry lessons to support the students’ visualisation development. The basic structure is divided into three parts, which are the theoretical background, the methodological background and the empirical study. In the first part, the thesis points out the historical context and the current state of research on visualisation and information technologies in an educational context. It characterises the so-called GWS model consisting of two horizontal and three vertical planes. All planes are interconnected with each other by individual components, each characterised and subsequently adapted to the research part as required. The methodological part deals with issues related to methodologies, methods, data collection and data analysis instruments that are applied in the following part of the work. The last part of the thesis is an empirical study containing a qualitative analysis of the students’ operations on the basis of the physical and digital tools and quantitative analysis of a standardised test of spatial abilities of participating students.
The importance of partnerships is critical in educational arenas, but information on how partnerships form with the involvement of corporations, districts, and universities working in harmony is limited in the current literature. The teacher preparation program described in this paper is a “built-to-last” partnership model with over 650 teachers prepared to be teacher-leaders in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. The authors provide a history of the program’s development, the sustainability of the program over time, the content of the various components of the partnership, and the evolution of the program, including its current status.
Introduction
With rapid urbanisation in low-income and middle-income countries, health systems are struggling to meet the needs of their growing populations. Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) in Ghana have been effective in improving maternal and child health in rural areas; however, implementation in urban areas has proven challenging. This study aims to engage key stakeholders in urban communities to understand how the CHPS model can be adapted to reach poor urban communities.
Methods and analysis
A Participatory Action Research (PAR) will be used to develop an urban CHPS model with stakeholders in three selected CHPS zones: (a) Old Fadama (Yam and Onion Market community), (b) Adedenkpo and (c) Adotrom 2, representing three categories of poor urban neighbourhoods in Accra, Ghana. Two phases will be implemented: phase 1 (‘reconnaissance phase) will engage and establish PAR research groups in the selected zones, conduct focus groups and individual interviews with urban residents, households vulnerable to ill-health and CHPS staff and key stakeholders. A desk review of preceding efforts to implement CHPS will be conducted to understand what worked (or not), how and why. Findings from phase 1 will be used to inform and co-create an urban CHPS model in phase 2, where PAR groups will be involved in multiple recurrent stages (cycles) of community-based planning, observation, action and reflection to develop and refine the urban CHPS model. Data will be managed using NVivo software and coded using the domains of community engagement as a framework to understand community assets and potential for engagement.
Ethics and dissemination
This study has been approved by the University of York’s Health Sciences Research Governance Committee and the Ghana Health Service Ethics Review Committee. The results of this study will guide the scale-up of CHPS across urban areas in Ghana, which will be disseminated through journal publications, community and government stakeholder workshops, policy briefs and social media content. This study is also funded by the Medical Research Council, UK.
The main approach for improving the performance experience and/or performance quality for musicians has been to find solutions for music performance anxiety. An alternative model is prevention through psychological skills training (PST), which is increasingly being shown to have beneficial effects. Pre-performance routines (PPRs) are a common strategy used in such programs. PPRs are thought to help musicians be “ready to perform,” and that musicians could benefit from a deliberate introduction to PPRs by an instructor. This article reports on the teaching of PPRs to recreational piano pupils in an exploratory action research project designed to introduce a PST approach in regular piano lessons. PPRs were taught for 4 weeks in two action cycles leading up to a performance and were evaluated by teachers and pupils. The findings demonstrate how PPRs can be developed, learned, and implemented and suggest that PPRs function in two ways: to improve concentration and to achieve a sense of calm prior to the performance. Consequent increases in performance confidence and improved performance quality could not be attributed to the PPRs alone as the teaching of routines led to changes in working practice. Implications for future research are discussed.
This paper is looking at the development of the Benzodiazepine and Opiate Withdrawal Service (BOWS) in the borough in Inner London to implement a model that would treat patients effectively in GP practices. It is to illustrate what can be achieved with experienced nurse prescribers in treating an emerging group of patients in primary care. Often patients are aware of their dependency on opiate medications and do want to reduce and come off their medications. This paper describes the BOWS service and its approach, illustrating what can be possible, in terms of treatment for patients in general practice. It also shows what can be designed in NHS services to address the growing issue of dependency on prescribed drugs and argues that services having experience in addictive behaviours can play a very large role in achieving this.
This study investigates how a UK Secondary School introduced inquiry as a form of teacher professional development and focuses on the levels of engagement by the teachers in this type of development activity. The approach taken in this investigation centres on a qualitative case study focusing on a deep understanding of teachers' beliefs, conceptions and experiences of inquiry engagement. Data was collected over an academic year by interviewing nine teachers and a senior member of the school leadership team at different stages throughout the academic year; by observing teachers in some of their classes and the staffroom; and by collecting internal documents and external public reports related to the school and the inquiry programme. The data was analysed using thematic coding which facilitated the identification and comparison of significant themes across all data sets. Findings from the research reveal that despite the school's attempts to engage teachers in inquiry, the latter found it challenging to do so due to various factors. The analysis reveals the emerging factors of the conceptualisation of inquiry, availability of resources and ownership of the inquiry initiative and the impact of school culture on teachers' inquiry engagement. The question of the appropriateness of inquiry as a form of professional development and the way it is facilitated in school emerges as a key theme. The study claims three main contributions to the field of teacher inquiry. Firstly, it proposes incorporating a micropolitical perspective of the school culture to investigate the realities of teachers' inquiry work. The study argues through empirical illustration that such a perspective is likely to provide us with invaluable insights necessary to understand teachers' conceptualisation of inquiry and their inquiry engagement. Secondly, this study proposes a categorisation of various types of teachers' inquiry engagement. Such categorisation is likely to help us understand how and why teachers engage in inquiry and therefore the best ways to facilitate this type of professional development. Finally, the current study advances a framework illustrating various processes, interacting factors and main considerations in the context of inquiry as a form of professional development for teachers. The framework explains how teachers respond to an inquiry programme and the conditions that facilitate their inquiry engagement or otherwise. This contribution has practical implications for schools and practitioners interested in undertaking inquiry as a form of professional development. It is argued that the practical implications are likely to improve the planning and implementation of inquiry programmes in schools.
The purpose of this chapter is to critically examine socioecological learning within the context of the evolving scientific story of the universe through Big History. We orient the reader to an overview of Big History in the context of the post-Anthropocene. Big History promotes antidisciplinary boundaries, beyond siloing, to forge new connections within an increasingly complex universe. Incorporating the experiences of fifteen students, we represent their post-Anthropocene imaginaries revealing five distinct themes/concepts. These include: Big History is More-than-Human; Big History Metanarratives; Antidisciplinary Learning through Big History; Whole-systems and Worldviews in Big History; Agency and Possibility of Transformative Thinking in Big History.
Keeping students’ attention in class and engaging them in learning is not an easy task. In this paper we report the approaches and strategies used in a university course ‘Games and Learning’. An action research study was conducted involving three cycles. During the first one, a flipped learning approach was used to motivate students to read the papers before class. In the classroom, students had to use their mobile devices to answer quizzes, fill a form, and summarize the lesson. During the following cycles, students worked in groups, analyzing digital games. Along the second cycle students analyzed a video game and during the third cycle they analyzed a serious game. We realized that asking them to submit some tasks online before class, helped them to work more and achieve better results. From the first group work to the second one the majority of students improved their critical digital game analysis. The collected data supported the conclusion that students were engaged in learning.
Critical Thinking is considered an essential component of education given its potential to enhance students’ development at an academic, value-related and moral level. Teachers’ critical thinking dispositions may be utilized in school settings in order for them to design teaching practices that are focused on the cultivation of students’ critical reasoning. The current qualitative study aims to explore teachers’ Critical Thinking dispositions as they emerged through an action research project carried out in Macedonia, Greece involving semi-structured interviews and a focus group. Three major subject areas were explored including resilience, peer mediation and citizenship education. Ten teachers of primary education and three teachers of secondary education (Lyceum) participated in the study. Qualitative data findings have suggested that teachers exhibit certain Critical Thinking dispositions which will inform teaching interventions to be designed and applied during this specific project.
Work accommodations are generally understood to refer to individual solutions for older and disabled employees that have been tailored to their specific situation within a workplace. This article, however, argues that there is potential for collective employment relations to motivate and enable social partners to develop a role in implementing reasonable accommodations and supporting older and disabled employees in the labour market. Focusing on industrial relations and work accommodation systems in Estonia, Poland and Hungary, the potential role that social partners could play in creating more inclusive workplaces is explored. This is done by reference to the findings from an action research project that brought together social partners to discuss ways in which practices in providing work accommodations could help better to integrate underutilised sources of labour in these three countries. The industrial relations regimes in the three countries have potentially enabling characteristics that could facilitate work accommodations. Current knowledge of the work accommodation process and the integration of this issue into the collective employment relations agenda, however, needs further improvement.
Este capítulo pretende arrojar luz sobre algunas de las cuestiones recurrentes dentro de la enseñanza de cultura: ¿Por qué es fundamental la cultura en cualquier programación de L2? ¿Qué entendemos por cultura? ¿Por qué se suele comparar con elementos tan dispares como un iceberg, una cebolla o unas gafas? ¿Qué es la competencia intercultural? ¿Por qué no deja de ganar importancia no sólo en la educación sino en la empresa, la economía o las relaciones internacionales? ¿Qué tiene que ver ambos conceptos, cultura y competencia intercultural, con el aprendizaje de L2? Y, sobre todo, ¿cómo se pueden trabajar de una forma sencilla y apta para todos los niveles y contextos educativos?
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The Routledge Handbook of Spanish Language Teaching: metodologías, contextos y recursos para la enseñanza del español L2 provides a comprehensive, state-of-the-art account of the main methodologies, contexts and resources in Spanish Language Teaching (SLT), a field that has experienced significant growth worldwide in recent decades and has consolidated as an autonomous discipline within Applied Linguistics. Written entirely in Spanish, the volume is the first handbook on Spanish Language Teaching to connect theories on language teaching with methodological and practical aspects from an international perspective. It brings together the most recent research and offers a broad, multifaceted view of the discipline. Features include: • Forty-four chapters with an interdisciplinary overview of SLT written by over sixty renowned experts from around the world; • Five broad sections that combine theoretical and practical components: Methodology; Language Skills; Formal and Grammatical Aspects; Sociocultural Aspects; and Tools and Resources; • In-depth reflections on the practical aspects of Hispanic Linguistics and Spanish Language Teaching to further engage with new theoretical ideas and to understand how to tackle classroom-related matters; • A consistent inner structure for each chapter with theoretical aspects, methodological guidelines, practical considerations, and valuable references for further reading; • An array of teaching techniques, reflection questions, language samples, design of activities, and methodological guidelines throughout the volume. The Routledge Handbook of Spanish Language Teaching contributes to enriching the field by being an essential reference work and study material for specialists, researchers, language practitioners, and current and future educators. The book will be equally useful for people interested in curriculum design and graduate students willing to acquire a complete and up-to-date view of the field with immediate applicability to the teaching of the language. Javier Muñoz-Basols is Senior Instructor in Spanish and Coordinator of the Spanish Language Program at the University of Oxford, UK.
Jeff Fernandez explains how primary care services are vital to providing cost-effective and successful alcohol detoxification treatment in the community, and they should not be reduced as a result of cuts to healthcare funding
The good provision of alcohol and drug services need to be protected despite budget cuts and the continual redesign of primary care services. This article will examine the alcohol detoxifications completed in one alcohol and drug service over a 2-year period and asserts that what is effective should be retained in any service redesign. An in-depth case study of a typical patient of the service will be presented to illustrate in detail the positive effects that detoxification can have. This article suggests that this valuable work should not be lost or reduced as a result of funding cuts to the health service.
This chapter draws on the concept of communities of practice as described by Wenger (Communities of practice: learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1998; Communities of practice and social learning systems: the career of a concept. In: C Blackmore (ed) Social learning systems and communities of practice. The Open University, Milton Keynes, pp 179–198, 2010) to examine a doctoral researcher’s written literacy development through interaction with his supervisor. The term community of practice is used here to describe a group of individuals who are mutually engaged in a joint enterprise who share a repertoire of knowledge, activities and discourses. Membership comes into being through participation, interaction, and negotiated meaning: a situated process of identity construction (Ewing Discourse and the construction of identity in a community of learning and a community of practice. In: T Stehlik, P Carden (eds), Beyond communities of practice: theory as experience. Post Pressed, Upper Mount Gravatt, pp 149–170, 2005). Two key elements of a community of practice are participation and reification; these two elements are explored in detail in this chapter through the concept of feedback, where feedback is understood not as a form of output produced by a provider and transmitted to a receiver but as a social, situated process which is not complete until an initial input is engaged with and transformed (Dunworth, K., & Sanchez, H. H. (2016). Perceptions of quality in staff-student written feedback in higher education: A case study. Teaching in Higher Education, 21(5), 576–589). The chapter explores this process of contestation and negotiation which is part of the development of a member-as-writer within a community of practice.
Programming is a rewarding and yet demanding field in the ICT labormarket, but it is considered a challenging and difficult area of learning for significant numbers of novice programmers. As a result, high attrition rates from introductory programming (IP) courses are reported despite extensive research which attempts to address the issue. In this research, an action research methodology was used with three cycles to investigate and improve the teaching and learning process of the IP course. There were nine activities performed during the span of these three cycles. All three entities of the didactic triangle (student, instructor, and content) together with learning context were incorporated into the research design to understand the problem better and execute the proposed solution. The result shows that three cycles of the action research methodology helps in understanding and improving the students learning outcomes in the IP course. Moreover, the attrition rate was also reduced in the IP course.
This paper looks at the cohort of patients that need more than one alcohol detoxification in 12 months. It analyses the patients who needed this treatment and how their insight and understanding of their alcohol pattern changed through each experience of detoxing. The paper examines the community detoxifications carried out in a primary care based service in London and the cohort who detoxed over a period of 2 years from 2015–2017 by the primary care service. It examines the patients through case studies, which illustrate the journey each patient went through that enlightened and informed them.
The senior year design students and I were dismayed when my linear teaching and their habitual rote learning failed in a Middle Eastern University. The gulf between the curricular objectives and our teaching-learning methods intrigued me. I turned this into an action research project that sought to answer the questions, ‘What paradigm shift might we need to migrate from traditional rote learning to deep learning? What attitudinal change and philosophical beliefs would that call for in an instructor?’ The search for a solution metamorphosed me from a disengaged instructor into an empathizing reflecting practitioner. It led my students to active engagement in an enquiry-based learning workshop, which significantly improved their performance. This paper celebrates the journey of our collective deep learning. It explicates how I built my personal theory of teaching praxis through critical consciousness and meta reflection. This knowledge-creation process is empowering and may draw many teacher researchers towards meta-reflexive engagement with the social systems around. These change drivers can initiate institutional overhaul to effect systemic reforms.
The increasing offer of software tools for product development introduces methodological questions to design engineers in terms of the easiness of tool integration and design activities’ sequencing. Nowadays, Design Verification and Validation through prototyping techniques have been enriched with software solutions enabling virtual prototyping to take more product’s behaviors into consideration during analysis and simulation. It is the case of the Systems Engineering module in CATIA™ V6 that proposes a sequential “Requirements–Functional–Logical–Physical Design” (RFLP) approach to link conceptual design activities with 3D-models and simulation. Since some practitioners traditionally use these concepts, this article presents an analysis, based on action research, to evaluate the Design Verification activities as well as the tools integration offered by the new Product Lifecycle Management vision of CATIA™ V6. The analysis enabled authors to refine and propose a model’s nature-dependent design method, enriched from the basic RFLP concept. Additionally, the presented results also showed the benefits of using integrated approaches when designing complex products, represented in a case study on virtual Design Verification of an automotive sub-system.
Informal science educators must understand the ramifications of their beliefs about teaching and how people learn. As informal educators define who they are and their notions about learning, they will shape informal pedagogical and epistemological learning perspectives. Even though the guidelines informal science educators follow will be different from those used to monitor formal educators, informal science educators should take into consideration one important aspect of formal education, reflective practice. Reflective practice is important for the growth and development of formal educators and now attracts attention from ISE researchers. In order to aid informal science educators in developing a self-awareness of their teaching, I suggest the implementation of the Nine Dimensions of Reflective Practice. In this chapter, I place the Nine Dimensions into three categories, which depict the modes of Theory and Research, Teaching, and Peers, and provide practical examples for how they might be implemented.
The final-year undergraduate dissertation is commonplace in Education Studies programmes across the world and yet its philosophical assumptions are complex and not always questioned. In England there is evidence to suggest a tacit preference for empiricism in textbooks designed to support early researchers. This brings, we suggest, problems associated with dualism, instrumentalism and of accounting for value, redolent of the dilemmas that emerge from Hume’s empiricist epistemology. The paper suggests that if argumentation were explicitly taught to undergraduates it may help oversee the more judicious use of empirical approaches that are currently privileged in dissertation guidance.
The aim of nursing research is generally agreed to be the generation of knowledge, and whilst this is a relevant aim in theory-based disciplines such as sociology, the primary concern of nursing is with practice. Using examples drawn mainly from the field of mental health, it will be argued in this paper that the application of generalizable, research-based knowledge to individual, unique, person-centred practice, the so-called 'research-based practice' advocated by the Department of Health, is one of the main causes of the theory-practice gap. It will be further suggested that nursing requires a paradigm of clinical research which focuses on the individual therapeutic encounter in order to complement the existing sociological paradigm of theoretical research which is best suited to the generation of generalizable knowledge and theory. The paper will conclude by suggesting that such a clinically based research paradigm must not only focus on the individual nurse-patient relationship, but that it must be carried out by the nurse herself. Clinical research, if it is to make a difference to practice, must therefore be practitioner-based research.
This article is a sequel to the conversation on learning initiated by the editors of Educational Researcher in volume 25, number 4. The author’s first aim is to elicit the metaphors for learning that guide our work as learners, teachers, and researchers. Two such metaphors are identified: the acquisition metaphor and the participation metaphor. Subsequently, their entailments are discussed and evaluated. Although some of the implications are deemed desirable and others are regarded as harmful, the article neither speaks against a particular metaphor nor tries to make a case for the other. Rather, these interpretations and applications of the metaphors undergo critical evaluation. In the end, the question of theoretical unification of the research on learning is addressed, wherein the purpose is to show how too great a devotion to one particular metaphor can lead to theoretical distortions and to undesirable practices.
The starting point for this book is the premise that the workplace is the natural location for learning, but that the process of learning through and at work does not necessarily come naturally. Raelin's objective is to show how the everyday work activities in which we engage provide the framework within which both individual and organisational learning can occur, and to explain the range of approaches which can be used to create a workplace learning environment. This book provides a practical guide for those engaged in business development, primarily from the standpoint of organisational development professionals, but it will also be of interest to those public and private sector educators and trainers concerned with workforce development and the nature and potential of the workplace as a learning environment. It is not concerned with the practicalities of delivering work-based learning (WBL) programmes per se, rather with establishing and promoting the workplace as a legitimate and essential learning environment. Raelin balances context, discussion and theory (Chapters 1-4) with practical explanation and guidance (Chapters 5-11), delicately seasoned throughout with wide-ranging examples and case studies which demonstrate the global application of the approaches described. Comprehensive notes and references are provided on a chapter by chapter basis and the index cross-references cited authors; however, a separate alphabetical bibliography of sources is not provided and this would have been a useful addition.
The subject of this book is the mental activities that go into composing written texts. For brevity we will often refer to the subject simply as writing, but the term should not be taken too literally. In this book we are not concerned with the physical act of writing, except insofar as it influences other processes. The mental activities of writing considered in our research are the same kinds of higher mental processes that figure in cognitive research on all aspects of human intelligence. They include goal setting, planning, memory search, problem solving, evaluation, and diagnosis. Writing is, of course, easily recognized as an activity in which a good deal of human intelligence is put to use. Its neglect, until very recently, by cognitive scientists is, however, easy to understand. Cognitive research has been gradually working its way from well-defined to ill-defined problems, from tasks that draw on limited knowledge to tasks that draw on large bodies of knowledge, and from tasks that are easily constrained experimentally to ones that are more susceptible to intentions of the participants. On all of these counts, writing lies far out on the yet-to-be-reached end of the continuum. © 1987 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. All rights reserved.
Action Research for Professional Selling by Peter McDonnell and Jean McNiff is for people working, or hoping to work in sales, who wish to improve their capacity for selling, and who may be involved in providing or participating in a structured sales training programme. It provides a basis for professional selling that connects the sales process to different philosophical models for understanding human interactions and contains much practical advice for selling in a tough economic environment. Action research is used across the professions as a powerful methodology for improving performance and outcomes and will enable sales practitioners to generate their practical theories of selling. The book answers calls for evidence-based practice in sales education, placing special emphasis on the strength of a values-based approach over the outmoded manipulative models of the past (many of which are still in evidence). It is essential to develop your understanding of what you are doing, and be able to explain it, and the book shows you how to do this through researching your practice in action. It focuses seriously on selling as a field of research offering an innovative, practical approach to selling, underpinned by strong theoretical and philosophical frameworks.
Information technology is changing the way we write. Special features such as outliners, spelling checkers and graphic facilities have transformed word processors into document processors; document processors have, in turn, integrated with other electronic resources such as e-mail and the Internet to provide a complete writing environment. The New Writing Environment examines the knowledge that is needed in order to develop, use and evaluate computer-based writing environments. The emphasis is firmly on practical issues: tasks performed by writers at work, problems they encounter, and documents they actually produce. Writing is defined within a wide social and organisational context, in order to give an accurate assessment of how the new technology affects the social and cooperative aspects of authorship. The result is a wide-ranging and comprehensive assessment of the relationship between writing and computers.
Are you struggling with your dissertation? Have you started too late and now you're panicking?
Help is here! Your Dissertation in Education is a straight-forward, plain English guide to doing and writing your project. It will take you from start to finish, with practical and friendly advice on every page. This second edition includes:
- A new Foundations section with the concepts and tools you need to get started
- An expanded guide to methodology and writing about methods
- A new chapter on mixed methods
An essential companion on your dissertation journey, this book is ideal for students across education, including teacher training, early childhood and education studies.
In this much-anticipated book from acclaimed blogger Vicki Davis (Cool Cat Teacher), you’ll learn the key shifts in writing instruction necessary to move students forward in today’s world. Vicki describes how the elements of traditional writing are being reinvented with cloud-based tools. Instead of paper, note taking, filing cabinets, word processors, and group reports, we now have tools like ePaper, eBooks, social bookmarking, cloud syncing, infographics, and more. Vicki shows you how to select the right tool, set it up quickly, and prevent common mistakes. She also helps you teach digital citizenship and offers exciting ways to build writing communities where students love to learn. Special Features: • Essential questions at the start of each chapter to get you thinking about the big ideas • A chapter on each of the nine essential cloud-based tools--ePaper and eBooks; digital notebooks; social bookmarking; cloud syncing; cloud writing apps; blogging and microblogging; wikis and website builders; online graphic organizers and mind maps; and cartoons and infographics • A wide variety of practical ways to use each tool in the classroom • Alignments to the Common Core State Standards in writing • Level Up Learning--a special section at the end of each chapter to help you review, reflect on, and apply what you’ve learned • Writing tips to help you make the best use of the tools and avoid common pitfalls • A glossary of key terms discussed in the book • Useful appendices, including reproducible material for your classroom No matter what grade level you teach or how much tech experience you have, you will benefit from Vicki’s compelling and practical ideas. As she emphasizes throughout this essential book, teaching with cloud-based tools has never been easier, more convenient, or more important than right now.
Since its first publication, Action Research: Principles and Practice has become a key text in its field. This new updated edition clearly describes and explains the practices of action research and its underlying values, and introduces important new ideas, including: • all professionals should be reflective practitioners; • they should produce their personal theories of practice to show how they are holding themselves accountable for their educational influences in learning; •the stories they produce become a new people's history of action research, with potential for influencing new futures. This new edition has expanded in scope, to contribute to diverse fields including professional development across the sectors and the disciplines. It considers the current field, including its problems as well as its considerable hopes and prospects for new thinking and practices. Now fully updated, this book contains: • A wealth of case-study material • New chapters on the educational significance of action research • An overview of methodological and ethical discussion The book is a valuable addition to the literature on research methods in education and nursing and healthcare, and professional education, and contributes to contemporary debates about the generation and dissemination of knowledge and its potential influence for wider social and environmental contexts. Practitioners across the professions who are planning action research in their own work settings will find this book a helpful introduction to the subject while those studying on higher degree courses will find it an indispensable resource.
Recent criticisms of management education have raised the need for a critical pedagogy in management studies but have rarely evaluated the possible implications for management learning and practice. Drawing from critical and social constructionist perspectives, I propose we need to ground critique by incorporating reflexive dialogical practice in management learning as a way of developing more critical and responsive practitioners. Specifically, I reconstruct learning as reflective/reflexive dialogue in which participants connect tacit knowing and explicit knowledge. From this perspective, both educators and learners need to take a critical view of their dialogical practices and what may constitute `good' learning conversations. I include examples from my attempts to incorporate this approach in my own teaching practices.
'Interpretive Pedagogies for Higher Education' provides a humanistic perspective on pedagogy by relating it to the interpretive practice of particular public educators: thinkers and writers whose work has had an immeasurable impact on how we understand and interpret the world and how our understandings and interpretations act on that world.
Many definitions of postmodernism focus on its nature as the aftermath of the modern industrial age when technology developed. This book extends that analysis to postmodernism by looking at the status of science, technology, and the arts, the significance of technocracy, and the way the flow of information is controlled in the Western world.
This controversial new look at democracy in a multicultural society considers the ideals of political inclusion and exclusion, and recommends ways to engage in democratic politics in a more inclusive way. Processes of debate and decision making often marginalize individuals and groups because the norms of political discussion are biased against some forms of expression. Inclusion and Democracy broadens our understanding of democratic communication by reflecting on the positive political functions of narrative, rhetorically situated appeals, and public protest. It reconstructs concepts of civil society and public sphere as enacting such plural forms of communication among debating citizens in large-scale societies. Iris Marion Young thoroughly discusses class, race, and gender bias in democratic processes, and argues that the scope of a polity should extend as wide as the scope of social and economic interactions that raise issues of justice. Today this implies the need for global democratic institutions. Young also contends that due to processes of residential segregation and the design of municipal jurisdictions, metropolitan governments which preserve significant local autonomy may be necessary to promote political equality. This latest work from one of the world's leading political philosophers will appeal to audiences from a variety of fields, including philosophy, political science, women's studies, ethnic studies, sociology, and communications studies.
My purpose in this article is to highlight characteristics of participatory research that distinguish it from other forms of research aimed at generating action. To this end, I will single out the central role that ordinary people play in motivating and sustaining research efforts, the nature of the knowledge generated, and the social change mechanism embedded in participatory research.
Critically reflexive practice embraces subjective understandings of reality as a basis for thinking more critically about the impact of our assumptions, values, and actions on others. Such practice is important to management education, because it helps us understand how we constitute our realities and identities in relational ways and how we can develop more collaborative and responsive ways of managing organizations. This article offers three ways of stimulating critically reflexive practice: (a) an exercise to help students think about the socially constructed nature of reality, (b) a map to help situate reflective and reflexive practice, and (c) an outline and examples of critically reflexive journaling.
The lectures explain how most values, cultural values, depend on social practices, and how some others, moral value, depend on them in a different, more partial and indirect way. They also explain why such dependence does not lead to pernicious relativism about values or morality.
Ikujiro Nonaka e Hirotaka Takeuchi establecen una vinculación del desempeño de las empresas japonesas con su capacidad para crear conocimiento y emplearlo en la producción de productos y tecnologías exitosas en el mercado. Los autores explican que hay dos tipos de conocimiento: el explícito, contenido en manuales y procedimientos, y el tácito, aprendido mediante la experiencia y comunicado, de manera indirecta, en forma de metáforas y analogías. Mientras los administradores estadounidenses se concentran en el conocimiento explícito, los japoneses lo hacen en el tácito y la clave de su éxito estriba en que han aprendido a convertir el conocimiento tácito en explícito. Finalmente, muestran que el mejor estilo administrativo para crear conocimiento es el que ellos denominan centro-arriba-abajo, en el que los gerentes de niveles intermedios son un puente entre los ideales de la alta dirección y la realidad caótica de los niveles inferiores.