Collegial Conversations Research Articles

Implementing employability strategy: Inspiring change through significant conversations

Higher education plays a key role in cultivating graduate employability, which is essential to meeting multiple individual, community, social and labour market needs. Universities prioritise employability through strategic goals and initiatives designed to foster work-ready graduates equipped with the skills, aptitudes, and knowledge needed to navigate self-determined career pathways. One core approach to delivering on the employability agenda is through work-integrated learning (WIL). Despite institution’s efforts to set targets to increase access to WIL for all students, there is little evidence on how these strategies are implemented, reported, and revised, particularly in resource-depleted environments. This paper illuminates how institutional directives can be enacted when transformative learning is centralised through relational, collegial conversations. It builds on Dean et al.’s (2020) paper to unpack how the WIL Curriculum Classification (WILCC) Framework has been executed through employability champions across the institution, who advocate for meaningful, contextually appropriate change that is co-designed with colleagues. These ‘significant conversations’ are the impetus for transforming students’ learning experiences and career readiness. The paper offers four vignettes to showcase how the WILCC Framework has been implemented and disseminated across local, institutional, cross-campus and international contexts through transformative engagement in relational dialogue. It outlines key recommendations for holding significant conversations to influence change and champion the employability movement.

Insights into professional learning for intensive Block Model: Lessons from a participatory evaluation for capacity building

We share lessons gained through supporting an institution-wide curriculum innovation via a post-graduate professional learning program. At the inception of the innovation, an intensive Block Model (BM) was unfamiliar to both the institution and its professional learning facilitators. The Graduate Certificate of Tertiary Education was re-modelled with BM as the heart of professional learning so academics would encounter BM as students. The program modelled BM principles, reinforced by meta-conversations to provide students with a reflective, immersive experience. Through a participatory evaluation, professional learning facilitators’ individual reflections were distilled to generate collaborative insights into academics’ capacity building for BM. Their lessons inform strategies to cultivate institution-wide capability-building including their own professional growth. Lessons shape the study recommendations. Recommendations originate from effectively engaging time-poor, diverse cohorts. (1) In recognition of the ease with which students can fall behind, embedding strategies to manage their time and stress helps to maintain a realistic study pace. (2) Authentic assessments provide students with useful products for their teaching. (3) Peer-feedback and examples of students’ work exposes them to how their colleagues present their work and illustrates good BM practices. (4) Modelling BM principles must be reinforced by meta-conversations to provide students with a reflective, immersive experience of the pedagogical principals. We observed that well planned efficiencies for students often provide consequent efficiencies for staff. These insights are captured in a model for scalable institutional-based professional learning practice. Capability growth flourishes at the intersection of action, reflection and evaluation. Professional collegial conversations are the catalyst for developing context-relevant professional learning.

Beyond theoretical courses – A study of Swedish psychiatric residents’ collegial learning through conversations in the workplace

Background Collegial conversations are important for sustainable learning to last beyond a course. Research on collegial conversations and peer learning in the workplace during psychiatric residency courses remains sparse, however. In this study, the aim was to explore residents’ opportunities for collegial conversations during and after national courses in psychiatry. Methods Residents in psychiatry completed an online survey including questions on opportunities for collegial conversations in their workplaces. Logistic regression was used for multivariate analysis and thematic content analysis was used for the open-ended answers where a theoretical framework of communities of practice was employed for the interpretation of the findings. Results The survey was completed by 112 residents out of 725 (15,4%). The participants reported few structured forums for collegial discussion. The results of multivariate analysis suggest that more women than men feel it is advantageous to attend courses with others from the same workplace or from the same group of residents, described here as a team. The analysis of qualitative data identified how opportunities for collegial conversations differ across contexts and the type of values that are attached to team participation in residency courses. Conclusions This study highlights the importance of collegial conversations as a way to sustain the learning from residency courses into the workplace. By learning about residents’ perceptions of collegial conversations during and after courses, teachers and directors may be more able to support residents’ lifelong learning and professional development.

Insights into professional learning for intensive Block Model: Lessons from a participatory evaluation for capacity building

We share lessons gained through supporting an institution-wide curriculum innovation via a post-graduate professional learning program. At the inception of the innovation, an intensive Block Model (BM) was unfamiliar to both the institution and its professional learning facilitators. The Graduate Certificate of Tertiary Education was re-modelled with BM as the heart of professional learning so academics would encounter BM as students. The program modelled BM principles, reinforced by meta-conversations to provide students with a reflective, immersive experience. Through a participatory evaluation, professional learning facilitators’ individual reflections were distilled to generate collaborative insights into academics’ capacity building for BM. Their lessons inform strategies to cultivate institution-wide capability-building including their own professional growth. Lessons shape the study recommendations. Recommendations originate from effectively engaging time-poor, diverse cohorts. (1) In recognition of the ease with which students can fall behind, embedding strategies to manage their time and stress helps to maintain a realistic study pace. (2) Authentic assessments provide students with useful products for their teaching. (3) Peer-feedback and examples of students’ work exposes them to how their colleagues present their work and illustrates good BM practices. (4) Modelling BM principles must be reinforced by meta-conversations to provide students with a reflective, immersive experience of the pedagogical principals. We observed that well planned efficiencies for students often provide consequent efficiencies for staff. These insights are captured in a model for scalable institutional-based professional learning practice. Capability growth flourishes at the intersection of action, reflection and evaluation. Professional collegial conversations are the catalyst for developing context-relevant professional learning.

A practice-based perspective of discursive change in collegial conversations. Explicit and implicit communication at work.

This paper examines the relationship between explicit and implicit aspects of communication at work and especially how discursive change is enabled in that relationship. The studied context is collegial conversations in Swedish School-age Educare settings. The purpose is to elaborate on practice-based perspectives on reproducing and changing discourse in communication at work, contributing to productive teacher discourse. This paper proposes two aspects contributing to reproduction of discourse: shallow consensus and intersubjectivity; and two aspects enabling discursive change in collegial conversations at work: multivoicing and revisiting events. Identified aspects of (re)production in collegial conversation shows positioning and constructions of group belonging in work teams are important to make conversations productive. This paper contributes to elaboration on the literature of collegial discourse and communication and literature on team-based work.

Informal learning processes in the daily practice of one German PE teacher

ABSTRACT Background: Physical education (PE) teachers’ learning processes are one important factor influencing the quality of PE and the learning outcomes of their students. To conceptualise learning for this study two dimensions were meaningful: an individual dimension with a focus on knowledge construction and other traits of teachers and a situational dimension that focuses on the special situation of teachers’ workplace. For this study changes in the professional competencies of an individual are used as indicators for previously occurring learning processes. Professional competencies are defined from the perspective of the competency-centred professional research branch. Purpose: This study aimed to reconstruct the working processes of PE teachers, which are associated with changes in professional competencies as indicators for professional learning. The following research question was therefore central to the study: In the context of which working activities does a teacher learn and how is this learning influenced? Method: The study followed a case study research approach and is based primarily on eight approximately 90-minute interviews. Grounded theory coding processes were used as the data analysis strategy. After the final interview, the working process of lesson planning and delivery was selected as the further focus of the analysis because there were only a few learning situations in the other working processes and constant comparison was within these working processes not reasonably possible. The cases within the selected category were categorised into four categories that differentiate sub-working processes and changes in professional competencies. Findings: Informal learning takes place in different facets of the daily work processes of a physical education teacher and extends over long periods. As outlined above, the presentation of the results for the working process of lesson planning and delivery follows the four identified subcategories: impetus, initial development, further development, and routine adaptation. The order of these four categories follows a chronological order of the working process. Changes in professional competencies were observed in the two middle categories concerning professional knowledge (content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge) and professional vision. The changes in the named professional competencies were influenced by several external and internal factors, such as time, collegial conversation, or availability of high-quality information. Conclusion: The data of the study support assumptions about the strong importance of informal learning in a teacher's everyday working processes. Therefore, support for professional learning in the every day should focus on these informal processes. Based on the results, three options for supporting informal learning can be concluded. Firstly, the investigated teacher reported extensive time needed for research in the initial development stage and that reliable sources for high-quality knowledge and teaching materials spare time, but these sources are rare. Secondly, informal learning processes might be supported by some sort of incentives or acknowledgment. Third a structurally integrated opportunity to engage with professional learning communities might foster the transformation of working processes into learning opportunities.

Critical friendship and collegial conversations

In this reflective article, a case study, we draw upon scholarship on a critical friendship (Schuck & Russell, 2005; Silva, 2003) that grew in 2020 as we worked to assist one another in creating NWP writing programs for teachers and youth. At the heart of our professional collaboration was our desire to maintain and cultivate community engagement (Deans, Roswell, & Wurr, 2010; Preece, 2017), while advancing racial literacies in digital spaces (Price-Dennis & Sealey-Ruiz, 2021) and as we worked with a framework for instructional equity (Muhammad, 2020). Weekly meetings led us to using Padlet for 189 hours of professional development, 9 programs with 511 youth, and 7 courses with 320 students. Padlet became a location for curation, especially as we worked to promote diverse, inclusive children’s and young adult texts as models for classroom teacher and student writers.

Leading with care: four mentor metaphors in collaboration between teachers and researchers in action research (Translated from the Swedish and revised by the authors)

ABSTRACT Mentoring is a central aspect of action research processes and raises ethical issues concerning roles and responsibilities, particularly when teachers and researchers collaborate. The purpose of the study is to explore mentoring and the roles of mentors in action research from an ethical stance. The theoretical basis is the philosophy of care ethics developed by the American educational philosopher, Nel Noddings. Participants in the study included one researcher and three teachers with experience serving as mentors in action research. Data collection included written reflections and collegial conversations on mentoring. Thematic analysis and the domain interactional model were used in the analysis, where four mentor metaphors in action research emerged: the gardener, the shepherd, the teacher and the bridge-builder. All roles can be practiced at the same time; sensitivity determines when a mentor moves in and out of different roles. The study finds that care ethics can contribute to an increased understanding of mentoring as something situated and relational, where a symmetrical approach between mentor and mentee is emphasized. The goal of mentoring should not be to treat everyone equally, but instead to build relationships on the individual level in order to establish mutual trust based on individual needs. The study shows that the four mentor metaphors can serve as a useful tool for critical reflection on the complexity of the mentor role and accordingly, the renegotiation of stereotypical mentor roles in relation to the quality of teaching.

Is There an “I” in “We?” – Children as Individuals or Group Subjects in School-Age Educare Staff’s Collegial Conversations

The aim of this study is to gain knowledge of how School-Age EduCare (SAEC) staff in and through collegial conversations construe a child/children. Collegial conversations with two SAEC staff teams were analyzed using the theoretical concepts from the fields of discourse analysis and systemic functional grammar. The results show that children were repeatedly construed as a group subject by the staff and more rarely as individual subjects. The SAEC staff construed the children as group subjects in four different ways: as general groups, as pre-determined groups, as quantity-related groups, and as behavior-related groups. The children who were construed as individual subjects were mainly the ones who diverged from the group, often in negative ways.

Collective meaning-making in collegial conversations: teacher educators’ talk about students’ academic writing

ABSTRACT This study explores ways in which a group of teacher educators co-construct knowledge about students’ academic writing and aspects of academic writing instruction in collegial conversations. Analysing the communicative projects, communicative acts and types of talk in 22 episodes from four collegial conversations, it investigates how the teacher educators’ talk and interaction may present opportunities for joint meaning-making in this respect. The analysis shows that the teachers’ talk was predominantly cumulative and descriptive, reflecting a focus on collegial consensus. However, it also suggests that descriptive talk may hold transformative capacities in meaning-making contexts as it provides the teachers with opportunities to interthink about students’ academic writing and aspects of their own instructional practices. Interestingly, while exploratory talk was employed in conversations about specific teaching practices, cumulative talk occurred primarily in conversations about perspectives on students’ writing. It is also interesting to note that, with respect to students’ academic writing, these teacher educators appear to perceive teacher education as its own disciplinary field with its own conventions. The study concludes that collegial conversations may provide spaces where teacher educators can engage in collective meaning-making, and that such conversations may promote a greater collective awareness of students’ academic writing and academic writing instruction in teacher education.

Att utveckla undervisningen i förskola på vetenskaplig grund och beprövad erfarenhet: Förskollärares professionella lärande i ett aktionsforskningsprojekt

The Swedish preschool has undergone some radical education policy changes during recent years, all of which have affected teachers’ work. The focus of this article is on the changes relating to the demand for research-based education and how the concept of teaching has been introduced in preschool. The aim of this article was to study preschool-teachers’ professional learning in relation to research-based education within an action research project which focused a new conversation method with the children. The theoretical framework of the study was based on social learning theory and communities of practice. The empirical data consists of collegial conversations and written documents produced in the action research project. The results show that the preschool-teachers in a mutual agreement persistently examined and negotiated conversation methods so that they could be adapted to their view of teaching, their professional self, and children and children’s participation and learning. Through a common repertoire of scientific tools and social learning processes, they reflected each other’s teaching in an open, trustful, and appreciative collaboration, and together, they critically reviewed and problematized their earlier experiences and their teaching in relation to research.

952. Validating a Novel Framework to Classify Inpatient Infectious Diseases Consultation Requests

Abstract Background Consistent classification of consult requests may lead to more efficient and collegial conversations about patient care, which could improve work satisfaction and enhance the learning environment. The authors propose a framework of 7 consultation types (Table 1). We aimed to obtain validity evidence for this rubric to consistently classify consultation requests. Table 1. Framework for classifying consults into 7 types Methods A randomly selected sample of 100 de-identified infectious diseases (ID) consult requests from a single academic center were independently coded as 1 of the 7 consultation types by 3 ID specialists and 3 hospitalists. Perfect concordance (6/6 coders) and partial concordance (4/6 or 5/6 coders) was calculated. Total (3/3 coders) and partial (2/3 coders) concordance based on consult subtypes and provider specialty was also calculated. We compared proportions between groups using a chi square test. Results Perfect concordance was 30%, and partial concordance was 60% (Figure 1). Total concordance among ID specialists was 44% and among hospitalists was 54% (Table 2). In cases without perfect concordance (n=70), ID specialists had 20% total concordance and 70% partial concordance, while hospitalists had 34% total concordance and 59% partial concordance. ID specialists were less likely than hospitalists to have perfect concordance for ideal consults (52% vs 73%, P=0.01). ID specialists and hospitalists were similarly likely to classify a consult as ideal (65% vs 69%, P=0.34), but ID specialists were more likely to classify a consult as S.O.S. (25% vs. 17%, p=0.02), and less likely to classify a consult as confirmatory (3% vs 7%, P=0.02) (Table 3). Figure 1. Concordance overall by consensus consult type among hospitalists and infectious disease specialists Table 2. Concordance by consult type stratified among infectious disease specialists and hospitalists Table 3. Consult type by physician subspecialty, among infectious disease specialists and hospitalists Conclusion ID consults can be classified into a novel rubric of 7 subtypes. Overall, partial or perfect concordance between hospitalists and ID consultants was 90%. ID specialists were more likely to classify consult requests as S.O.S than hospitalists, and hospitalists were more likely to classify consults as confirmatory. Opportunities exist to utilize the rubric to improve provider communication and interprofessional education. Disclosures All Authors: No reported disclosures

Uncovering missing links in collegial learning conversations

This article is the result of an international collaboration between two academics who work closely with local schools as critical friends, each in their own PLC setting. This exploratory study aims to apply an analytical model in order to illustrate possibilities and clarify silences or missing links in collegial learning conversations. The analytical model is applied to analyse collegial learning conversations from two PLC settings, along with collegial conversations between the two researchers. The analysis was guided by three core considerations: What? Why? How? Two purposely selected transcripts of conversations with two separate PLCs, along with anecdotal notes from our conversations as research colleagues, provided the base for analysis. Findings generated by the application of the analytical model indicated that teachers’ PLC conversations were most explicit in relation to identifying what elements of practice to improve and how to improve teaching and learning, rather than articulating why change initiatives to develop professional knowledge were needed or on what basis they were chosen. In turn, this prompted the researchers to become more aware of ‘why’ considerations in their own work as researchers.

The Educational Development Interview: a guided conversation supporting professional learning about teaching practice in higher education

ABSTRACT Drawing on the qualitative research interview, the authors propose the Educational Development Interview is an important but understudied form of significant conversation and educational development practice. By summarizing types of interviews from educational development literature, and describing our recent use of interviews for producing videos and podcasts about teaching practice, we contend that the Educational Development Interview can be used to: elicit reflexive practice about teaching and learning, increase academics’ self-confidence, influence their sense of identity as educators, and may increase capacity for and visibility of collegial conversations about teaching and learning.

Validating a Novel Framework to Classify Inpatient Hematology Consultation Requests

Background: Consistent classification of consult requests may lead to more productive, efficient, and collegial conversations about patient care, which can facilitate improved work satisfaction and an enhanced learning environment. We propose an organizing framework of 7 specific consultation types: ideal, obligatory, procedural, S.O.S., confirmatory, inappropriate, and curbside. We aimed to obtain validity evidence for this rubric to consistently classify consultation requests in an academic setting. Methods: A random sample of 100 de-identified hematology oncology consultation requests made through the online consult portal from a single academic center were selected and independently coded as 1 of the 7 consultation types by 3 hematologists and 3 hospitalists. Perfect (same consult assignment by all coders) and partial (same consult assignment by >4/6 coders) concordance was calculated. Perfect and partial (>2/3 coders) inter-rater concordance based on consult subtypes and provider specialty was also calculated. To assess if length of consult request has an impact on the classification of consult, the length of the request was compared across concordant, partially concordant, and discordant requests. Results: Of the 100 consults, perfect concordance was 57%, and partial concordance was 92% (Figure 1). Perfect concordance was 69% amongst hematologists and 78% amongst hospitalists. In cases without perfect concordance (n=43), hematologists agreed with each other 76% of the time, while hospitalists agreed with each other 81% of the time. Of the consults that at least 4 coders classified in the same way, hospitalists were more likely than hematologists to have perfect concordance for ideal consults (89% vs. 66%, respectively; P=0.001) but less likely to have perfect concordance for S.O.S consults (56% vs. 100%, respectively; P=0.003). Hematologists were twice more likely than hospitalists to classify a consult request as S.O.S (26.7% vs. 12.3%, P<0.001), while a greater proportion of hospitalists classified consults as ideal (74% vs. 61%, P=0.007). There was no significant difference in the word count of requests that were perfectly concordant (68+35), partially concordant (65+51), or discordant (39+22) (P=0.18). Conclusion: Hematology oncology consult requests can be classified into a novel rubric of 7 specific subtypes. Overall, partial concordance between primary providers and consultants was high, and perfect concordance was moderate. Hematologists were more likely to classify consult requests as S.O.S (without specific questions) than primary providers. Opportunities exist to utilize the rubric to improve communication between health care providers and to improve the medical education of trainees. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Facilitating reflective practice: developing built environment educators’ capacity for teaching and learning

The international literature on higher education emphasises the importance for academics and professional staff to develop their disciplinary teaching and learning practice. Teaching staff in built environment degree programs tend to focus on ‘what’ subject content is taught and less on ‘how to’ improve and innovate teaching and learning contexts and students’ skills development. To investigate these trends, this research reviewed the higher education literature and relevant international studies on strategies to enhance quality teaching and student learning. Findings highlight that reflective practice and engaging in a personal teaching philosophy and teaching profile provide an important link for individual professional development and basis for improving teaching and learning. The objective of this study was to apply findings from the literature in facilitating professional learning workshops, with a pedagogy for collaborative reflective practice and the development of a teaching philosophy. This research reports on the first stage of professional development for staff in built environment programs to establish a teaching profile through reflection on their personal and discipline specific pedagogies. Initial findings highlight the positive impact of reflection and collegial conversations about learning and teaching, as well as future opportunities for individual and discipline based capacity building for improving educational practice.

Collegial Conversations at a Time of COVID-19

During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, citizens and social institutions have been called into action. Questions of the future of school and an appropriate educational response to the pandemic have been widely discussed and debated. As scholars of science education, subjects particularly relevant to educating about the virus and its transmission, we discuss the roles and responsibilities of science education during pandemic. The format of this paper is a dialogue. We discuss theoretical positions related to science education and the pandemic, inequalities and injustices, recent anti-Black racism protests, and concrete pedagogical responses. As our discussion progressed, we increasingly recognize teachers and students as crucial agents in developing community-grounded, critical place-based, educational responses, recognising and addressing injustices related to differential global and local realities experienced during the pandemic.

Disrupting the status quo: How teachers grapple with reforms that compete with long-standing educational views

Teacher education programs and school reform efforts are two mechanisms by which research-based reform messages reach thousands of teachers. Prior research has noted, however, that these messages are often in conflict with longstanding beliefs and norms at school sites. This paper examines teacher agency in the context of school of structure and culture to investigate how both new and experienced teachers grapple with these conflicting messages. Qualitative data reveal that, although the structural and cultural aspects of new teachers’ experiences differed in some ways from those of their more experienced counterparts, the approaches they took in addressing change varied within rather than between the two populations. Some teachers felt they were unable to sustain engagement with instructional reform or were only able to do so within their own classrooms or with a limited group of like-minded teachers. Others challenged the institutionalized practices of their sites, but doing so required navigating the structural and cultural elements of their schools that supported institutionalized practices. Many teachers feared that pushing for wider instructional change among their colleagues would jeopardize cordial relationships, but teachers of all experience levels who did push for change found ways to do so while preserving social cohesion. Findings suggest that it may be useful for both teacher education programs and in-school reform efforts to support their participants in engaging in collegial conversations with their peers in ways that deprivatize practice and push against the status quo while still maintaining social cohesion among the members of the group.

What Are We Really Talking About? An Organizing Framework for Types of Consultation and Their Implications for Physician Communication.

Consultation amongst providers is a foundation of modern health care and one of the most frequent means of interdisciplinary communication. Accordingly, clear and efficient communication between providers and across medical specialties during consultation is essential to patient care and a collegial work environment. Traditionally, consultation requests are felt to require a clear question that falls within the purview of the consultant's expertise. However, this narrow constraint is often lacking in the real-world clinical environment and may in fact be detrimental to physician communication and patient care. In this Perspective, the authors propose an organizing framework of seven specific consultation types, which apply broadly across disciplines: ideal, obligatory, procedural, S.O.S., confirmatory, inappropriate, and curbside. The authors describe what factors define each type and the benefits and pitfalls of each. The proposed framework may help providers have more productive, efficient, and collegial conversations about patient care, which may facilitate improved work satisfaction and an enhanced learning environment.

Conversations in a professional learning community: An analysis of teacher learning opportunities in mathematics

The growing perception of professional learning communities as an effective professional development approach needs to be supported with knowledge of how such communities create learning opportunities for teachers. Activities in professional learning communities are underpinned by collegial conversations that foster learning, and in this article we analysed such conversations for learning opportunities in one professional learning community of mathematics teachers. Data consisted of audio-recorded community conversations. The focus of the conversations was to understand the thinking behind learners’ errors, and teachers engaged in a number of activities related to learner errors and learner reasoning. Our analyses show how opportunities for learning were created in identifying the origins of learners’ errors as well as learners’ thinking underlying their errors. Results also showed that the teachers had opportunities for learning how to identify learners’ learning needs and in turn the teachers’ own learning needs. The teachers also had opportunities for deepening their own understanding of the conceptual meaning of ratio. The learning opportunities were supported by the following: having a learning focus, patterns of engagement that were characterised by facilitator questioning, teacher responses and explanations, and sharing knowledge. Such mutual engagement practices in professional learning communities resulted in new and shared meanings about teachers’ classroom practices. Our findings also show the critical role of a facilitator for teacher learning in professional learning communities.