Programs and presentations
Here is the program overview and presentation slides (where available for online publication)
Thursday
9.30-11.00
Welcome
Keynote Presentation - Gerlese Åkerlind: From a research methodology to a theory of learning: the development of Phenomenography and Variation Theory
11.00 -11.30
Morning tea
11.30-1.00
Doctoral Work in Progress
Brett Shipton - Looking beyond the trees: Mapping a development path for police educators
Christine Pritchard - Project discussion and questions
1.00 - 2.00
Lunch
2.00 - 3.30
Research Presentations
Illona Box - The Concepts and Approaches of Business Information System Analyst/Designers
Helen Forbes - Clinical teachers’ experiences of nursing and teaching
Nicola Parker - Assignments and Learning: Variation in Highly Achieving Students' Experiences
3.30 - 4.00
Afternoon tea
4.00 - 5.00
Presentations
5.00
Presentations close.
Friday
9.30 -12.00
Workshops
Mandy Lupton - Bringing Phenomenography and variation theory together: teaching and learning legal reasoning
Jo McKenzie
- Interviewing (to come)
- Variation in ways of analysing ‘enacted’ phenomena
12.00
Symposium close.
Selected References
Gerlese Akerlind's papers she recommended during the symposium:
A°kerlind, G. 2004, A new dimension to understanding university teaching, Teaching in Higher Education, Vol. 9, No. 3, July 2004.
Paper Abstract: This paper reports the outcomes of a study, undertaken from a phenomenographic perspective, of academics’ ways of experiencing or understanding being a university teacher. A range of understandings was found, representing in particular a varying focus on the experience of teaching as a: teacher transmission focused experience; teacher–student relations focused experience; student engagement focused experience; and student learning focused experience. This work builds on previous studies of university teachers’ conceptions of teaching. However, the focus taken in this study on the experience of being a teacher, rather than engaging in teaching, has highlighted new aspects of university teaching.
A°kerlind, G. 2008, A phenomenographic approach to developing academics’ understanding of the nature of teaching and learning, Teaching in Higher Education, Vol. 13, No. 6, December 2008, 633-644.
Paper Abstract: Phenomenography is best known as an empirical research approach for investigating variation in conceptions of different educational phenomena: including learning, teaching and particular disciplinary concepts such as price in economics and motion in physics. It is less well-known for its theoretical basis, in terms of its epistemological and ontological claims (Marton and Booth 1997), and the variation theory of learning that has developed out of phenomenographic research and theory (Marton and Tsui 2004). This paper discusses what ‘conception’ and ‘conceptual development’ mean from a phenomenographic perspective and how phenomenography and variation theory can be combined with empirical research on academics’ conceptions of teaching to inform the design of a postgraduate course for academics, aimed at the development of academics’ understanding of the nature of teaching and learning. Keywords: phenomenography; variation theory; conceptions of teaching; academic development; teaching development.
During the symposium we also talked about Kvale's books on interviews:
Kvale, Steinar, 1996, Interviews: an introduction to qualitative research interviewing, Steinar Kvale, Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications.
Kvale, Steinar, 2009, InterViews: learning the craft of qualitative research interviewing, Steinar Kvale, Svend Brinkmann, Los Angeles: Sage Publications.