preparing teachers for knowledgeable action: epistemic fluency, innovation pedagogy and work-capable...

The University of Sydney

Preparing teachers for knowledgeable action: Epistemic fluency, innovation pedagogy and work-capable graduates

Lina Markauskaite Acknowledgements: Peter Goodyear & DP0988307

Centre for Research on Learning and InnovationSydney School of Education and Social Work

ITEPL@ QUT, Brisbane20 February, 2017


Link to eBook

Context: Epistemic fluencyGrounded (extended) view of cognition and professional knowledge

– Professional expertise is inseparable from capacities to (co)construct epistemic environments that enhance knowledgeable actions

– Such expertise is grounded in embodied, situated professional knowledge work

– It requires mastering professional epistemic tools and ways of knowing (epistemic games)

– Much of this work is done by (co)creating professional (epistemic) artefacts that embody actionable knowledge

http://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-94-007-4369-4


Today

1. Actionable knowledge 2. Epistemic tools, games and

fluency3. Assessment artefacts4. Innovation pedagogy 5. Some provocative

suggestions

Our empirical study– nursing, pharmacy, social

work, teaching, school counseling

– 20 professional courses– workplace-related

assessment tasks


Why should teachers come to university?

WORKProfessional

practices (resourcefulne

ss)

RESEARCHEpistemic practices

LEARNINGKnowledge practices (cultures)

Knowledge, but…

Evidence-using

practiceEvidence-producing practice

Knowledge-using

practiceKnowledge-generating

practice

Knowlegeable action Actionable

knowledge


Actionable knowledge

Actionable knowledge is “knowledge that is particularly useful to get things accomplished in practical activities”

(After Yinger & Lee, 1993, 100)

“…knowledge is conceived largely as a form of mastery that is expressed in the capacity to carry out a social and material activity. Knowledge is thus always a way of knowing shared with others, a set of practical methods acquired through learning, inscribed in objects, embodied, and only partially articulated in discourse”

(Nicolini, 2013, 5)


Knowledge(ing): Culture, practice and resourcefulness

(Personal) epistemic-conceptual resourcefulness/fluency

(Local) epistemic practices

(Global) knowledge cultures

Act

iona

ble

know

ledg

e(in

g)

Inno

vatio

n


Epistemic games and toolsas one aspect of epistemic fluency


Epistemic games

“When people engage in investigations – legal, scientific, moral, political, or other kinds – characteristic moves occur again and again”

(Perkins, 1997, 50)

Epistemic games are patterns of inquiry that have characteristic forms, moves, goals and rules used by different epistemic communities to conduct inquiries

(Morrison & Collins, 1996)

RootsWittgenstein: language-game, form of life, family resemblance

Examples– Creating a list– Creating a taxonomy– Making a comparison– Proving a theorem– Doing a controlled experiment– Planning a lesson


Epistemic fluency & functional epistemic games

Epistemic fluency is an ability “to use and recognise a relatively large number of epistemic games”

(Morrison & Collins, 1996, 108)

Functional epistemic games – patterns of inquiry which contribute to the way practitioners generate (situated) knowledge that informs their action

But…“...decision making, problem solving, and like kinds of thinking do not have specifically epistemic goals – goals of building knowledge and understanding”

(Perkins, 1997, 55)


Playing & weaving professional epistemic games

Epistemic games

2. Situated problem-solving

games

3. Meta-professional games

Research games

Producing games

Coding games

Concept combination games

Articulation games

Evaluation games

Making games4. Trans-professional

games

Sense-making games

Exchanging games

1. Propositionalgames6. Weaving

games

5. Translational public games

Conceptual tool-making games

Routine games

Semi-scripted games

Concept games

Public tool-making games

Organising games

Open games

Investigative discourse

games

Decomposing & assembling games

Flexible games

Semi-constrained games

Situation-specific games

Standardisation discourse games

Conceptual discourse games

Informal discourse games


Mastering epistemic tools and professional infrastructure

Epistemic tools

2. Epistemic devices

3. Epistemic instruments & equipment

Epistemic forms

Epistemic concepts

Inquiry strategie

s

Epistemic statements

Data & information

gathering tools

Processing & sense-

making tools

Output generating

tools

Evaluation & reflection

tools

1. Epistemic frames

(Intra) professional epistemes

General epistemic

frames

Domain-specific

conceptual models

Professional perspectives &

approaches

Inquiry structures

Inquiry processes

Problem-solving strategies


Main insights1. Learning to use powerful epistemic tools and play powerful

epistemic games are among those key aspects of professional epistemic practice that could/should be taught at universities

2. Teaching would benefit from much more articulated and precise understanding of its epistemic toolkit

3. Epistemic tools and games could provide a concrete foundation for preparing teachers and for assessing


Assessment objects and artefacts


Learning through making artefacts

We should look for foundations of enduring professional practices, discovery and innovation in objects and artefacts

(After Nicolini, Mengis and Swan, 2012)

1. What is it that students are expected to learn and produce for assessment?

2. How does students’ work on making assessment artefacts help them bridge knowledge learnt at university with knowing in workplaces?


Objects of tasksMotives/Objects

Everyday practices Unusual practices

Fine-tuning skill and knowledge

Key specific skills and knowledge

Eg. Administering reading assessments

Hardest elements of practiceEg. Teaching lessons of most difficult topics

Shaping professional vision

Core inquiry frameworksEg. Using Bloom’s taxonomy question prompts

Hidden elements of professional practice Eg. Seeing social justice in a lesson plan

Making professional artefacts

Artefacts for/in action Eg. Designing a plan

Generic artefacts-toolsEg. Creating guidelines, teaching kits


Assessment artefacts

Cultural artefactsConceptual artefacts Epistemic artefacts

Action

Meaning

Practice artefacts Action

artefacts

Design artefactsAnalytical

artefacts

ReadyKnowledgeable Capable


Main insights

1. Programs should create the right mix of tasks that involve production of cultural, epistemic and conceptual artefacts

2. ‘Unusual’ objects often involve epistemic qualities that we don’t see in everyday objects

3. The value of artefacts comes from knowing involved in production and knowledge they embody


Innovation pedagogyTeachers as constructors of professional tools for knowledgeable action


Learning through innovation

1. A productive way to ‘package’ many aspects of epistemic fluency

2. Developing a special skillset for practical innovation

3. Value of the product

Three modes

of inquiry

Systems thinkingDesign

practice

Responsive action


IV. Constructing shareable principled-practical knowledge products

Making knowledge actionable and action knowledgeableI. Learning methods (epistemic

tools and games) for inquiring into complex social systems

III. Learning to create their own innovation environment

iPad Journey (MLS&T, 2011)

II. Grounding theory and methods in practical sense-making and action

https://sites.google.com/site/ipadjourney/home


Learning analytics for deep learning

Challenges the students chose to address

Ipad journey: Introducing iPads in a Secondary School

Overcoming isolation in online learning

Learning on-the-go: Mobile learning in higher education

E-type guide: Moving from print to online in higher education

Redesigning learning spaces: Learning through making

Developing students’ creative potential

Google brain: Utilising power of digital knowledge tools for learning

Creating an engaging school


What the students valued…

– Novelty of pedagogical approach

– Motivation and engagement– Teamwork experience– Autonomy and agency– Relevancy of theoretical

knowledge– …

“Really enjoyed the group work challenge, the assessment piece was appropriate and the reflection was a good way to consolidate the learning.” (MLS&T, 2013)

“I learnt far more doing the teamwork than I'd expected to. There was a great exchange of ideas and knowledge. Overall, a different but very rewarding course for me.” (MLS&T, 2013)

“[The best aspect of the course is] the innovative ways that the course is designed to encourage, or actually demand, autonomous learning.” (MLS&T, 2013)

“This unit was a challenge for me, a completely new and different way to learn, but very effective!!” (MLS&T, 2013)

“I really appreciated the benefits of covering (usually) one reading a week and then writing a post which connects it to my work experience.” (MLS&T, 2013)

“The Innovation Challenge gave us opportunity to work as a team on an ill-structured problem, which was highly motivating and great learning experience.” (MLS&T, 2013)

“We can explore and have ideas without pressure” (MLS&T, 2015)


(Re)imagining assessment and ‘measurement’ of readiness1. Using epistemic games and tools as a guide what students

are expected to master 2. Developing professional resourcefulness through

construction of principled-practical professional artefacts-tools

3. An open, ‘live’ database of professional tools constructed by (pre-service) teachers…

4. …and possibly multiple evidence how these tools work in various contexts


Most importantly…

1. Moving away from a ‘blind’ evidence culture to an epistemic culture and practice that values professional ways of knowing

2. Taking pre-service teachers’ capacities seriously and leaving behind a ‘deficit’ view

Related ideas3. Principled-practical knowledge (Bereiter)4. Family resemblance of expertise (Sternberg & Horvath)5. Deliberative expertise (Hatano & Inagaki)


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