Massey Documents by Type

Permanent URI for this communityhttps://mro.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/294

Browse

Has files: YesSubject: search.filters.subject.Communities of practice

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Work integrated learning (WIL) practitioners' perceptions of the value of communities of practice : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Education in Tertiary Education at Massey University (Manawatū), New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2017) Nicholas, Leanne
    Work integrated learning (WIL) practitioners design and deliver situated, experiential learning opportunities for a growing number of programmes within the New Zealand tertiary sector. Professional development opportunities for WIL practitioners’ should lead to effectively designed and delivered WIL programmes for learners. Due to the limited availability of formal professional development opportunities, much of WIL practitioner development is through informal and incidental on-the-job learning (Lazarus, Oloroso, & Howison, 2011). Greater collaborative learning opportunities have been advocated as beneficial by the WIL community (Brown, 2010). In addition, professional development initiatives are increasingly focusing on Communities of Practice (CoP) to support situated learning for educators. The pressure on teachers required to design, teach, administer and manage WIL experiences, raises issues of how best to develop and support them in effectively fulfilling their roles. This qualitative study explores and interprets the experiences and perceptions of WIL practitioners of the value of communities of practice. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews. A recursive approach to the data collection and analysis stages (an adaption of the Wenger, Trayner, and de Laat (2011) five cycles of value creation framework) was adopted. The study findings indicate a lack of common understanding of WIL terminology, and that WIL practitioners want greater access to WIL networks, expertise, best practice and related policy information. The many and varied relationships of WIL practitioners, provide inherent values, upon which to benchmark and develop their practices. However, the invisible nature of many WIL activities, hidden within programmes, makes it difficult at times for WIL practitioners to identify each other, connect in networks and develop relationships. WIL practitioners want more collaborative learning opportunities and sharing of best practice resources. In spite of this, WIL practitioners are seeking out expertise that assists them to be more competent, knowledgeable and effective practitioners. The study has highlighted that WIL practitioners are engaging in, and gaining value from, the very same process of learning within CoPs, that they co-ordinate for their students. WIL CoPs are valuable mechanisms for WIL practitioner development that should be acknowledged and encouraged.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Working together to teach inclusively : a study on the development of a community of practice : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Educational Psychology, Massey University, Distance Learning, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2015) Padmasiri, Sneha Samindani
    This qualitative action research project aimed to enhance teachers’ knowledge and practice of inclusion in one secondary school. The study investigated how, through action research, a community of practice (CoP) contributed to the development of teacher knowledge about teaching, learning and inclusion for students with diverse learning needs. A CoP comprising of four teachers, a teacher aide and the researcher was established and began their action research with an exploration of students' perspectives of school. Student perspectives became the starting point for teachers to explore the meaning of inclusive education and its implications for teaching and learning, including the roles and responsibilities of staff. Perspectives of students also became the basis for teachers to apply the knowledge of inclusive practice gained in the CoP to their daily teaching. Teacher and student interviews, student surveys, CoP meeting minutes and informal conversation data were examined to find how within the CoP teachers responded to their students' perspectives; how teachers co-constructed knowledge about inclusive teaching practice; and how teachers changed their classroom practice as a result of knowledge sharing. Results show that through their participation in the CoP, teachers' understandings about inclusion were affirmed and developed further; teachers responded to students' comments about school by developing their teaching practice to attend to students' strengths and needs for support; teachers shared knowledge of inclusive teaching practices within the CoP and planned to share knowledge beyond the CoP; and there was some indication of students feeling positive effects from developments in the CoP. The study indicates the importance of using school staff's shared knowledge as a resource when promoting inclusion in schools and providing teachers’ time to collaborate and share knowledge as part of their professional learning.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Knowledge and learning in a service context : sensemaking in an online community of hair stylists : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctorate of Philosophy in Management at Massey University at Auckland, Albany Campus
    (Massey University, 2013) Fachira, Ira
    Little research is directly concerned with knowledge and learning in the service context, especially with how frontline service personnel learn to deal with the technical and social aspects of service encounters. This thesis aims to explore knowledge and learning in the service context by investigating how frontline personnel make sense of their workplace experiences in an online community of practice. This thesis uses Goffman‘s (1959) dramaturgical metaphor concepts to look at service encounters as similar to a theatre. Lave and Wenger‘s (1991) situated learning paradigm is used as an interpretive lens to examine learning as the development of practice and identities through participation in a community of practice. This research presents a qualitative study of a single case: an online community of hair stylists called Hair Pro Forum. Data was collected from the Forum‘s online discussions stored in the community‘s archive. Discussion threads are characterised by storytelling and collective interpretation of workplace events. There are two forms of data in this study: discussion strings and stories. The primary data for this study was 31 strings and 29 stories. Data was examined using thematic analysis. Knowledge and learning in the service context was analysed using Weickian (1995) ideas about collective and individual sensemaking activities. Gabriel‘s (1995) notion of =story-work‘ enabled sense to be made of hairstylists‘ sensemaking activities. Results of the study indicated that knowledge in the service context was constructed through narrative sensemaking, conducted online through discussion. Hair stylists created meaning by sharing stories about a service encounter as a specific event, consisting of technical and social interaction approaches suitable for the particular situation.Findings are that the initial stories of the hairstylists are posted as possible interpretations of an event, and this enables the community to respond and make collective sense of the event. Sensemaking activities enable hairstylists to gain deeper understandings of the significance of their actions in light of the flux of events in the workplace. Narrative performance invites collective interpretation, which enables learning, which in turn assists the construction of professional identity. This study provides an exemplar of how sensemaking and storytelling in an online community can help develop learning and professional identity. Further, the study shows how the activity of learning about customers is social, on-going and constantly being interpreted. The study also provides empirical evidence that knowledge about the service encounter is not static but is continuously generated.