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CAPTURING PRINCIPALS’ DECISION MAKING PROCESSES IN AN ONLINE PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITY. Dr. Stephanie Chitpin ([email protected]) Dr. Marielle Simon ([email protected]). UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA Faculty of Education. www. cpln .ca. RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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CAPTURING PRINCIPALS’ DECISION MAKING PROCESSES IN AN ONLINE PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITY
UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA Faculty of Education
Dr. Stephanie Chitpin ([email protected])Dr. Marielle Simon ([email protected])
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RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY
Additional responsibilities are affecting principals’ decision-making.
Radical changes in principals’ role and responsibilities.
Continuously increasing burden on principals as managers, head of finance, schedulers, followers of bureaucratic regulations, curriculum leaders, reflective practitioners, decision makers, evaluator of teachers and builders of collaborative cultures.
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How, and on what basis, principals make decisions around important aspects of school improvement is important both to their development as leaders and also to the educational reform itself.
CAPTURING PRINCIPALS’ DECISION MAKING PROCESSES
IN AN ONLINE PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITY
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WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
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RESEARCH QUESTIONS
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To what extent does the use of the OKGF contribute to provide holistic and comprehensive descriptions of participants’ decision-making process when faced with complex problems?
How does the Canadian Principal Learning Network (CPLN) enhance the process of making decision in groups?
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Canadian Principal Learning Network
Through online activities, CPLN collaboratively links together an international group of principals and researchers to explore the potential of online community professional learning using the OKGF.
The OKGF is a model of self-directed professional learning based on the critical rationalism.
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CATEGORIES OF DECISIONS
simple, routine, highly structured, repetitive, familiar, low level and quantitative in nature
novel, unfamiliar, ambiguous, complex, non-systematic, and qualitative in nature
Programed decisions
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Non-programed decisions
CAPTURING PRINCIPALS’ DECISION MAKING PROCESSES
IN AN ONLINE PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITY
The terms problem solving and decision making are often used interchangeably and erroneously.
Problem solving is “broader and encapsulates all of the tensions, turbulence, goals, strategies, agendas, preferences, demands, complexities, and potential outcomes of a problematic
event”. (Davis and Davis, 2003, p. 37)
Decision-making is the specific process that an individual or a group engages in to solve a problem.
Decision-making is a subset of problem solving. With simple or routine problems, decision making and problem solving can be synonymous events.
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DEFINITION OF DECISION MAKING
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THREE COMPONENTS OF DECISION Welch (2002)
2Options
for attaining the goal
different tentative theories or solutions employed to solve the problem
making decisions as to which of these tentative solutions to try out
1A goal
3The
selection of the
preferred option
CAPTURING PRINCIPALS’ DECISION MAKING PROCESSES
IN AN ONLINE PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITY
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MAKING PROCESSES IN AN ONLINE PROFESSIONAL
LEARNING COMMUNITY
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CPLNCanadian Principal Learning Network
Objective Knowledge Growth Framework
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OKJF
Cost efficient and relatively easy to implement.
OKGF: A framework of principal’s decision making (Chitpin, 2009; 2010).
Systematically tracks the progression of decision-making (challenges and opportunities) and the problem-solving skills employed by the participants.
Builds upon Popper’s (1979; 2002) critical rationalism,
This method drives users to discover weak points in theories and to question their arguments.Sensitive to experience, contexts and expectations (Chitpin et al, 2010).
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OKGF’S FRAMEWORK
P1 Problem Identification
TT1 Tentative Theory
EE1 Error Elimination
Pn Problem Identification
after self-reflection
The figure depicts the cyclical process of identifying an initial problem (P1), proposing a first
tentative theory to address or solve the problem (TT1), testing tentative
theories against experience or the criticisms of others (EE1), to arrive
at a new problem identification process that arises out of error elimination (Pn).
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FUNCTIONS OF OKGF
Decision making
It invites people to explicitly examine:
How they make decisions?
How they devise tentative theories and consider their accuracy?
How others influence the decision process and what that means?
How and why they eliminate certain options in favour of others?
Devise theories
Influence on decisions
Selectivity
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METHODOLOGY
Researchers trained 12 principals as a reflective members to examine their decision-making processes and problem solving strategies when faced with challenges and opportunities.
Participants were asked to document their decision-making process, using a template as they try to solve situational problems.
illustrative case 1
illustrative case 2
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CASE 1: CRYING ALL THE TIME
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Identification of problem (P1)What do I do with a student who starts to cry over everything “soreness all over the body” since the parents went on a business trip?
Identification of problem (P2)How do I get the child to stop crying?
Identification of problem (P3)How do I ensure that the child do not have any medical problem?
Identification of problem (P4)What do I do with a child who has anxiety?
Tentative Theory (TT1)To suggest the parents to seek medical advice from both CHEO and GP about crying
Tentative Theory (TT2)To ignore some of the crying that he is exhibiting in class
Tentative Theory (TT3)To continue to suggest to the parents to speak with the family doctor
Tentative Theory (TT4)To seek the assistance of the Phoenix Centre where the child can join a group class or a private or family counseling session.
Error Elimination (EE1)Feedback provided to the parents by CHEO and GP indicates that the child is well and there are no medical issues. However, the child continues to cry over small pen mark.
Error Elimination (EE2)Feedback from ignoring some of his crying indicates that he will go play with the other students. He is also a physically fragile kid.
Error Elimination (EE3)Feedback from the doctor suggests that no further testing is required and believes that the child has anxiety.
Error Elimination (EE4)In the meantime, the teacher continues to ignore his crying and “the child has transformed back to his old self”.
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CASE 2: ICE-FISHING
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Identification of problem (P1)What decision should I make with the request of a teacher and parent about taking grades 4-7 for ice fishing in February?
Identification of problem (P2)What do I need to do to ensure that I have taken students and staff safety into consideration?
Identification of problem (P3)What do I do to ensure students and staff safety?
Identification of problem (P4)What do I do to ensure students and staff safety?
Tentative Theory (TT1)To find out the thickness of the ice
Tentative Theory (TT2)To tell students and parents to go ice-fishing on Family day instead
Tentative Theory (TT3)To check the ice safety regulations recommended for ice-fishing
Tentative Theory (TT4)To ensure that ice-fishing trip is related to the curriculum and if so, to follow the directions set in the extracurricular/field trip section form of the Board Policy.
Error Elimination (EE1)Feedback from other principals indicate that they have let students go ice-fishing and that it should not be an issue.
Error Elimination (EE2)Feedback from students and parents indicate that perhaps students would like to do ice-fishing with their peers instead of it being a family activity.
Error Elimination (EE3)Feedback to check on ice-fishing regulations do not re-assure me completely of some potential risks to both students and teachers
Error Elimination (EE4)Feedback to ensure that ice-fishing is an activity connected to curriculum makes me aware of the need to make the connection between activities and learning outcomes
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Findings…The use of the OKGF allows the participants to learn from each other in a collegial and non-judgmental environment. (Q2)
CPLN was a place for principals to use the OKGF to try out theories/solutions/ ideas and to reflect more deeply about their decision-making skills in their leadership practice. (Q1)
The OKGF provided a place to pose questions, try out tentative solutions, listen, and reflect on the advice of peers. (Q1 & Q2)
The CPLN provided a unique place for participants to be reflective and to learn about their decision making practices. (Q2)
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Implications
1There needs to be an ongoing self-
directed structure
2Any learning
structure (CPLN) needs to have a mechanism for
maintaining rigour as the principals
learn
3Studies need to
capture principal decision-making in authentic contexts
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CONCLUSIONThe present study reveals that as decisions become more complex, the ability to solve them through rational means alone becomes increasingly difficult.
Problems come in different forms and contexts and intuition has the potential to assist principals in making good decisions under complex and stressful conditions.
Principals can learn from reflective professional communities by building one for themselves. The CPLN is one answer as to how this might be done.
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The Renfrew County Catholic District School Board and the researchers wish to thank:
The Knowledge Network for Applied Education Research (KNAER)/The Ontario Ministry of Education and the University of Toronto for funding this research and the symposium.The team also wish to thank all the participants to the symposium.
CAPTURING PRINCIPALS’ DECISION MAKING PROCESSES
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