BUILDING A RESEARCH COMMUNITY IN

EDUCATION

Agenda (27/10/2011 - 10.00 – 13.00)

1. Goal of this Meeting (MJoão)2. Knowing Each Other (MJoão)3. Research on Education (PK)4. What is a Community? (PK)5. SWOT analysis of the Project RedeS (PK involving

everybody)6. How to Proceed? Possible Pathways (PK involving

everybody)7. Summary (MJoão involving everybody)

Goal of this Meeting Knowing and having insights from the external

consultant of the project Discuss views about research in education, in

particular about postgraduate research supervision, and communities

Initiate a SWOT of the project RedeS based on a similar exercise for CoPs (Communities of Practice) and WBCs (Web-based Communities)

Explore the potentials of new PostGrad contexts and academic networks – possible pathways for the project

Knowing Each Other Who am I? The role of diversity – to enrich

collaboration by different: supervision models research interests (theoretical vs connected

with educational practices – relevance for the field)

research approach familiarity with ICT …

The cooperation and mutual learning among Educational PostGrad supervisors could be conceived as a joint activity that needs more than just synchronisation and mutual learning.

Constraining factors: The number of PostGrad candidates

(partially due to the labour market) Limited Human and Material Resources Higher Requirements for the PostGrad

candidates (shift towards ISI journal articles and English instead of Portuguese)

Research on Education

Research Process

Research on Education

Research on EducationSupervision Models (including coaching) F2F -> F2F + WBC P2P -> PCoursePs (statistics, domain, ...) Academical -> Contextual (field representation) +

Academical Online Community (ICT: TARGET OR

INSTRUMENTAL?) ICT (anticipate to the Network Society) (Castells &

Van Dijk) PostGrad should manifest in its practical relevance PostGrad should be part of a global (international)

CoP

What is a Community?

A Community is a group of persons who have a broad need to achieve common goals

The Community Attitude is to share experiences even if they are ‘not relevant to the topic’

Explicit Attention for the ‘Sense of Community’

What is a Community?Building a sense of community Choose the right moment Choose the right place Choose the right topics Make a smart summary Define the environment

(web/atelier/portal...) Evolution

Information Communication Support

What is a Community?

SWOT analysis of the Project RedeS A specific community of practice A web-based community

SWOT analysisStrengths: List the physical, social, and

regulatory assets of the community.

What makes this community unique? What do I like about this community? What contributes to a positive

community image?

SWOT analysisWeaknesses: List the physical, social, and

regulatory shortcomings of the community.

What do I dislike about this community? What would I like to see less of in this

community? What is contributing to a poor community

image?

SWOT analysisOpportunities: List the physical and

social entities or assets of the community that are underutilizes or undeveloped.

Where are opportunities for change? What would I like to see more of in this

community? What could change the image of this

community?

SWOT analysisThreats: List the physical and social entities or

assets and regulations that detract from the community or if left unchecked could diminish quality of life for residents and businesses in the community.

What prevents this community from flourishing? What are obstacles to community development

and or preservation? What detracts from a positive community

image?

How to Proceed? Possible PathwaysCommunity co-construction  Existential - What are the values and culture etiquette?

I feel responsible for the talented Aveiro youngsters to obtain a post-graduation degree

The quality of the real education (primary and secondary) is at stake; it needs a continuous and in-depth research and development

As I am member of the faculty of education I feel responsible for my colleagues’ success in doing so

I see my participation and contribution to the planned community as a Win – Win situation

How to Proceed? Possible PathwaysCommunity co-construction  Existential - What are the values and culture etiquette? Conceptual - What are the horizons – internal/external

stakeholders? What is the target scope of our community? Who do we

want to be included? (The postgraduate students: Master-, PhD-, post-docs, etc. plus the internal/external supervisors)

What time span are we aiming at? What quality dimensions do we intend to

guarantee/improve? Which aspect of efficiency do we want to increase? Which community processes amongst the postgraduate

students do we want to instigate?

How to Proceed? Possible PathwaysCommunity co-construction  Existential - What are the values and culture etiquette? Conceptual - What are the horizons – internal/external

stakeholders? Metaphorical - Where’s the centre of the community?

What is the planned centre of the community? Are the supervisors and the postgraduate candidates in the same control? In how far do we trust the postgraduate students to be the moderators of the community themselves?

What is the metaphoric label of the web-portal for the community? Is it a ‘living room’, an ‘atelier’, an ‘archive’, etc?

Which actors with which roles will perform in the web portal?

How to Proceed? Possible PathwaysCommunity co-construction  Existential - What are the values and culture etiquette? Conceptual - What are the horizons – internal/external

stakeholders? Metaphorical - Where’s the centre of the community? Structural - What are the components?

Web-based community systems have three levels of user support: Information supply (repository and public access) Communication support: allowing its members to balance between

broad- and narrow casting Functional support: in terms of post-graduation progress, one may think

of supervision systematic where the versioning, commenting and reviewing can take place

The current portal site has been built with the goal to exemplify and enable a smooth first idea on how to proceed. It has a good repository function already.

It is likely that the current web portal (built in Drupal) can be evolved further.

How to Proceed? Possible PathwaysCommunity co-construction  Existential - What are the values and culture etiquette? Conceptual - What are the horizons – internal/external

stakeholders? Metaphorical - Where’s the centre of the community? Structural - What are the components? Navigational - How to interact?

The navigation (usability) needs to be upgraded all the time as for new-comers, soon the site looks too complex.

The further evolution of this community portal needs to be controlled by representatives of the two main groups of users: the supervisors and the postgraduate students

Building groups’ relationship

What type of interaction? How to bring the questions so colleagues

can help? How to deal with diversity and different

skills?

How to Proceed? Possible Pathways

Summary Capture the essence of the discussion