Co-construction Of Knowledge Research Articles

School contextualization with indigenous group’s socio-educational methods and pedagogies

This article presents a method for contextualizing school education and initial teacher training, using the case of Mapuche in schools in central-southern Chile to change the ambivalence of teaching in an indigenous context. The analysis is based on a dispositionalist-contextualist theoretical framework and the results of empirical research projects on Mapuche socio-educational knowledge. It examines the co-construction of intercultural knowledge by researchers and parents. It concludes with a Mapuche educational knowledge base that can contextualize the school curriculum and teacher training plans.

Designing values-based Learning Development spaces

Learning Development is emerging as a transformative force in the constantly evolving landscape of Higher Education (HE) requiring LD to adapt to the technological, cultural and pedagogical changes while embracing cultural diversity and weaving values into their pedagogical practices in the physical and virtual spaces that are available to them. Learning spaces play a crucial role in education, impacting student engagement, comfort and overall learning outcomes and therefore, it is crucial for LD to thoughtfully design diverse spaces for “Working in partnership with students and staff to make sense and get the most out of HE” one of ALDinHE’s (2024) Five Values of Learning Development and “promote engagement in learning and equity of opportunity for all to reach their potential” (PSF 2023). The poster illustrates how the campus-based LD office and ClassCollaborate for 1:1 and group tutorials in one UKHEI were intentionally designed to develop agentic, empowered learners who engage in meaningful conversations with the tutor and/or their peers, co-construct knowledge and navigate HE through respectful dialogue to make sense of their academic journey, thrive and achieve their goals. These dynamic, sustainable spaces are underpinned by Vygotsky's Social Constructivism (1978) and Laurillard's Conversational Framework (2002) demonstrating Teaching Presence (TP) and Social Presence (SP) fostering critical thinking essential for learning and Cognitive Presence (CP). LD spaces where TP, SP and CP, the interrelated elements of Garrison, Anderson, and Archer’s (2001) Community of Inquiry (CoI) theoretical framework interact, are inclusive places for creating deep and meaningful (collaborative-constructivist) learning experiences taking into account diverse learning needs including social justice issues. It is noteworthy that spaces influence how learning developers facilitate learning and how students learn on a case by case basis and the CoI can be a blueprint for designing future physical and virtual spaces for LD promotion.

Academic reading: fear and trembling or being and belonging?

At the University of the West of England (UWE) Bristol, we are in the second year of a project to promote and improve reading skills. One part of our work has focused on embedding collaborative reading techniques within subjects to improve confidence in tackling texts, promote reading as a social practice, and boost belonging within disciplines and cohorts. Our poster presentation reviews the literature on student emotions towards reading, and how these influence their practices. We use this visual representation when liaising with academic colleagues to co-create and facilitate collaborative reading activities. Considerations of the role of student ‘affect’ foreground the motivational dimensions of the reading experience; we look at both pre-existing psychological and emotional barriers to engagement, and incentives and enablers that encourage confident reading and enjoyment of academic texts. We consider how the research literature accords with and further informs our empirical experience of running practical reading workshops. It is hoped that activities such as reading circles and textmapping relieve the individual from sole accountability for comprehension, bringing reading ‘out from the dark’. Deconstructing the process of reading through collaborative roles contributes towards the co-construction of understanding and knowledge, activating fresh insights. Discussion of reading through this shared approach potentially helps to develop student confidence, to nurture feelings of belonging, and to enhance cohort identity. However, we are mindful of the real-world impacts and outcomes of reading strategies for the diverse body of students that we encounter in higher education, with their wealth of difference in cognitive abilities, backgrounds, and cultural experiences. Through this literature review, it is intended that learning from work already published will contribute towards evolving best practice in channelling agency and easing anxiety in academic reading for all students.

Humanizing Online Discussions by remixing AI and #DigitalPowerups

This article explores the need to humanize online learning environments while simultaneously developing students' AI literacies and essential academic skills. Fostering meaningful student engagement by integrating AI tools within the #DigitalPowerups strategy for online discussions, educators can enhance both social presence and collaborative knowledge co-construction, creating a more dynamic and interactive learning experience for students. This approach not only supports creativity, critical thinking, and interdependent thinking, but also ensures that students are equipped with the technological competencies required for success in this digital-age. Remixing these elements—humanized learning, AI literacy, and #DigitalPowerups—provides a comprehensive strategy for engaging students more deeply with course content while preparing them to navigate and thrive in modern educational and professional contexts.

Co-constructing novel science stories or reciting epic narratives?

Although research findings have emphasized the importance of students being engaged in dialogue and co-construction of science knowledge, implementing the teaching required to promote such engagement is challenging for teachers. Co-construction is crucial not only for students' understanding of science content but also for their familiarity with some of the attributes associated with the nature of science (NOS). Inquiry-based science classroom discourses could facilitate NOS familiarization processes by promoting creativity and collaboration in upper primary school. This article presents findings from a case study of how one teacher created and navigated opportunities for students’ co-construction of science stories in a grade 6 class (age 12) working on the topic “Substances around us”. To examine the classroom dialogue and the teacher’s enablement of students’ co-construction in class, observation data were gathered over seven weeks and analysed using principles indicative of classroom dialogue. Findings show that while opportunities for co-construction were created in science class through for example open-ended questions, the teacher’s use of IRE, complemented with boosted communication for evaluation of student answers, often hampered dialogue and co-construction of novel science stories regardless of how the teaching was organized.

Sowing Indigenous Autonomy: Building a Common Political-Ethical Territory of Struggle with Zapatista Seed Pedagogics

This article inquires into the workings of Zapatista Seed Pedagogics’ (ZSP) building of a political-ethical commons outside the movement’s autonomous territories. Parting from a previous theorization of ZSP as a decolonizing educational process, this writing draws on interviews with external activists of neozapatista networks who have encountered and/or accompanied the movement in the last three decades. These evolving conversations reflect on their learnings in what is a life-long pedagogical process. These include: 1) an ongoing struggle for dismantling internalized hierarchies and vanguards in habits of thinking, being, and doing; 2) the recuperation of historical ancestral memory that builds collective subjectivity; and 3) the organization of collectivities that participate in a common political-ethical territory of struggle transcending nation-state identities. This exploration of ZSP reveals reflexive conscientization in subjects willing to learn and listen differently, suggesting the emergence of a transgeographic political-ethical subject immersed in a co-construction of knowledge with Zapatismo itself.

The transformative potential of Open Educational Resources for teacher education and practice

ABSTRACT Open educational resources (OER) have significant potential for transforming teacher education in developing countries, yet this remains underexplored. This systematic literature review analyzes 98 articles to understand the impact and innovative prospects of OER’s ‘openness’ attributes on teacher education over the past two decades. While free access to OER is a crucial benefit and contributes to teacher education programmes, effective OER use relies on the proper application of other attributes. Thus, adaptation allows tailoring of materials to specific needs, promoting flexibility and contextualised learning, which are vital for effective teacher education. Free access addresses barriers like the digital divide and ensures content quality and sustainability, enabling equitable access to educational resources. Collaborative practices through OER foster knowledge co-construction and the development of essential 21st-century skills for teachers. The combination of formal and informal learning and remixing enriches teacher education by integrating structured curricula with personalised learning paths. This broader view of ‘openness’ beyond mere access provides insights for reshaping teacher education programmes to be more innovative and responsive to the evolving needs of educators in developing countries. The findings offer guidance for policies and practices to cultivate a new generation of empowered, adaptive teachers through OER integration.

Territorial capacities for the scaling of agroecological innovations

Agroecology is an alternative approach to socio-economic and environmental crises, which hinder the utilization of natural and cultural wealth in rural communities, and it requires the strengthening of territorial capacities for its scaling up. Despite the extensive literature on agroecological scaling, studies must be more comprehensive to understand the territorial capacities required in this process. A review of 37 documents was carried out in specialized databases to establish the relationship between capacities and scaling, highlighting agency, territorial governance, and co-construction of knowledge, which enable the management of natural and artificial assets. The involvement of actors seeking to participate in political advocacy through collective action was evident, but few documents emphasized the importance of natural capital and infrastructures. No works suggesting evaluations of shared knowledge construction processes were found. Hence, additional research should be developed.

The role of individual preparation before collaboration: An exploratory study on students’ computer-supported collaborative argumentation in a primary classroom

ABSTRACT Background Collaborative learning is widely applied in real-world classrooms while young learners still have challenges engaging in high-quality knowledge co-construction processes. Researchers suggested an individual preparation activity before collaboration. However, there remains a limited understanding of the role of individual preparation on students’ collaborative learning. Method Conducted in a fifth-grade English language class in a Singapore primary school, this study explored students’ collaborative learning outcome and process under two conditions: individual preparation before collaboration (With-IP) and immediate collaboration (Without-IP) conditions. Student groups’ collaborative argumentation artifacts were collected and coded. Process analysis was conducted to reveal the distribution and transitional pattern of students’ verbal discussions and online collaboration behaviors. Findings This study reveals that individual preparation (With-IP) significantly enhanced the quality of collaborative argumentation compared to no preparation (Without-IP), by fostering more idea elaboration, deeper engagement with content knowledge, and higher quality of arguments. However, the students were also found to make more coordination and regulation efforts in the With-IP condition than Without-IP condition. Contribution This research underscores the role of individual preparation on collaborative learning processes and outcomes. This insight is pivotal for educators and practitioners in tailoring collaboration scripts to the objectives of classroom teaching and learning.

Book Review: Bridging Knowledge Cultures: Rebalancing Power in the Co-Construction of Knowledge by Lepore, W., L. B. Hall, & R. Tandon

Book Review: <i>Bridging Knowledge Cultures: Rebalancing Power in the Co-Construction of Knowledge</i> by Lepore, W., L. B. Hall, &amp; R. Tandon

Medical student learning on a distributed training platform in rural district hospitals.

Decentralising medical school training enhances curriculum relevance, exposing students to generalist patient care in diverse contexts. The aim of the study was to understand the student experiences of learning during their 7-week Family Medicine rural rotation. Final year medical students who had completed their Family Medicine rotation in November 2022. A qualitative study involving 24 final year students (four semi- structured interviews and four focus group discussions [4 x 5 students]). All interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed thematically. Analysis revealed positive learning experiences and identified the following themes: taking responsibility for learning, the generalist context, teaching and learning in context and managing the learning environment. Active participation in hospital activities, exposure to disorientating dilemmas that challenged assumptions and reflection on these experiences led to transformative learning and knowledge co-construction.Contribution:The study contributes to the discussion and reinforces the advantages of distributed, experiential training, highlighting the positive impact of meaningful participation and transformative learning opportunities.

Content knowledge for language teaching: dialectical materialist stance on developing teacher language awareness

Morton’s language knowledge for content teaching (LKCT) is a powerful tool for understanding interactions in content and language integrated learning (CLIL) classrooms, as well as CLIL teachers’ knowledge base and teacher language awareness (TLA). However, often lacking in the body of research on TLA and LKCT is an explicit stance on epistemology. We further propose an expanded construct that builds on LKCT and includes content knowledge for language teaching (CKLT). To address these gaps, focusing on two teachers in a Japanese context, we report on a study whose goal was developing English teachers’ (n = 24) in Japanese schools knowledge base, TLA, and practices in an intervention informed by dialectical materialism. The instructor created conditions for teachers to co-construct knowledge by introducing theoretical concepts, which he invited the participants to use as a lens to understand their practices, while using their practices to build an understanding of these concepts. To trace the teachers’ development, we analysed their interviews and forum interactions. We illustrate how dialectical materialist epistemology allows for simultaneously uncovering and provoking teacher development, focusing on a transformation of TLA towards the role of language as a meaning-making tool as teachers began to embrace CKLT.

Foreign Language Learners' Uncertainty Experiences and Uncertainty Management.

Uncertainty is unavoidable in life; it is also an indispensable characteristic of educational settings. The process of learning a foreign language naturally involves interaction and coconstruction of knowledge. During this process, students may encounter uncertainty from a variety of sources, including the course, context, friends, or the teacher. Besides, to communicate meaningfully, the mutual effort of both the listener and the speaker is needed to deal with uncertainty. Considering this, the present study makes an effort to comprehend how learners appreciate and manage uncertainty in language learning environments. Although uncertainty is considered a multidisciplinary research topic, a limited number of studies are found in the literature which examine how students experience uncertainty and how they react to it. Regarding foreign language learning, related research focused on a specific form of uncertainty, Tolerance of Ambiguity, which is conceptualized as a cognitive style. In-class pen-and-paper surveys, reflective journals, video recordings, and stimulated recall interviews were the instruments used to gather data. The findings demonstrate that language learners frequently encounter uncertainty during the language learning process due to course-related, cognitive, and social factors, and learners may appreciate uncertainty in both positive and negative ways. Additionally, learners' emotional reactions to uncertainty depend on their positive or negative appraisals of uncertain situations. By recognizing and embracing uncertainty, language learners will adapt to it and be able to handle it through a variety of techniques. The results suggest that learners employ a variety of strategies, such as reducing, maintaining, and resolving uncertainty as well as ignoring uncertainty.

Openness: Student perceptions

This short paper describes a research project which aims at investigating how students conceive and use open educational practices (OEP). A recent definition by Cronin (2017) emphasizes collaboration, participation and learner empowerment to encompass “collaborative practices that include the creation, use, and reuse of OER, as well as pedagogical practices employing participatory technologies and social networks for interaction, peer-learning, knowledge creation, and empowerment of learners” (2017, p. 4). Researchers and educators alike have considered the role of OEP in more effectively engaging learners in the co-creation of knowledge, critically considering how digital practices and open platforms can be used in practice. Early research on OEP focused on adoption and development of OER (Cronin &amp; MacLaren, 2018), but has recently shifted student perceptions of impact (Jhangiani, Dastur, Le Grand, &amp; Penner, 2018, Lin, 2019) and improved student learning and empowerment (Hodgkinson-Williams &amp; Trotter, 2018). However, there are gaps in our understanding of learner experiences in other dimensions of openness, such as negotiating identity, privacy, visibility, literacy and the co-construction of knowledge. As educators we need to consider how the structures of these spaces will influence the open teaching practices we are using, both in how they may make our spaces permeable, and in how they might make them more impenetrable. If we want our learners to be able to explore what we as educators see as the benefits of open practices, such as co-creation and sharing of knowledge, then we need to explore both their perceptions and direct learning experiences. The focus of this project will be on students' perceptions of openness in education, exploring their identities as open educational practitioners and how they negotiate their open educational spaces. Participants will be situated in an online graduate program (including multiple courses) designed around open educational practices, including open platforms and open educational resources, and endeavouring to include learners in critical digital pedagogical practices. To explore learner practices, the following research questions will be explored using a virtual ethnographic case (Hine, 2008): What are learners’ understanding of open educational practice? How do they see themselves navigating open platforms, open digital pedagogies and practices and critical digital perspectives? What practices, values and/or strategies are shared by learners who are working within an open educational practice framework?

Co-Constructing Knowledge and Space with Refugee Communities: Lessons from the Western New York Refugee Health Summit

Co-Constructing Knowledge and Space with Refugee Communities: Lessons from the Western New York Refugee Health Summit

Using learning analytics to explore peer learning patterns in asynchronous gamified environments

This study explored the dynamics of students' knowledge co-construction in an asynchronous gamified environment in higher education, focusing on peer discussions in college business courses. Utilizing epistemic network analysis, sequence pattern mining, and automated coding, we analyzed the interactions of 1,319 business students. Our findings revealed that externalization and epistemic activity were prevalent, demonstrating a strong link between problem-solving and conceptual understanding. Three primary discussion types were observed: argumentative, epistemic, and social, each with unique patterns of engagement and idea integration. Effective knowledge co-construction patterns included open-ended questions with an epistemic focus, debates serving as intense knowledge co-construction arenas, and social interactions fostering a supportive and collaborative learning environment. The introduction of gamification elements led to increased student engagement and participation. Our findings emphasize the significance of structured analysis, collaboration, and argumentation in promoting effective knowledge co-construction in peer learning settings. This study offers insights into the temporal interplay of discourse dimensions and their potential for collaborative learning, enhancing our understanding of how learning analytics can be employed to discover ways in which students co-construct knowledge in asynchronous gamified environments.

A dialogic approach to transform teaching, learning & assessment with generative AI in secondary education: a proof of concept

ABSTRACT This paper explores the pedagogical potential of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) in secondary education through a dialogic approach to teaching, learning and assessment. It presents an ongoing action research project in collaboration with a high school in Western Australia, involving four teachers to integrate GenAI in their classrooms. The study aims to develop and evaluate innovative pedagogies for leveraging GenAI to enhance educational practices and student learning outcomes across three action research teams focusing on critical questioning, assessment and differentiation. Drawing on Bakhtin’s concept of heteroglossia, the study conceptualizes GenAI not as a definitive knowledge provider but as a dialogic agent that facilitates collaborative dialogue and co-construction of knowledge among students. This perspective aims to encourage students to critically engage with AI-generated content and integrate multiple viewpoints into their learning, thus fostering key epistemic skills. Initial findings demonstrate active student engagement in dialogues with GenAI, highlighting the use of follow-up questions that indicate critical thinking and creativity. These findings underscore the significance of integrating multiple perspectives and fostering epistemic skills among students, promoting a comprehensive and ethical approach to AI use in education. The research calls for further exploration of GenAI’s pedagogic potential and its broader implications for educational practices, suggesting a promising avenue for pedagogical innovation and the development of critical thinking skills in the digital age.

Developing an evaluation framework for an online midwifery programme: a practical participatory approach

PurposeThis paper aims to generate knowledge about relevant evaluation topics that align with and represent the unique character of the midwifery programme for students living in the rural and remote areas of Scotland.Design/methodology/approachThe first two central concepts of Practical Participatory Evaluation (P-PE) framed the research design: the data production process and (2) the knowledge co-construction process. The data were collected using a semi-structured approach via online discussions, dialogues and email-based consultation among programme stakeholders. A structural analysis was performed: the units of meaning (what was said) were extracted, listed and quantified in units of significance (what the texts were talking about), from which the key topics for evaluation emerged.FindingsA community of 36 stakeholdersengaged in the discussions, dialogues and consultations. The stakeholders identified 58 units of significance. Fifteen subthemes were constructed in five main themes: student profile, student well-being, E-pedagogy, student journey/transition from being a nurse to becoming a midwife and learning in (an online) geographically remote and isolated area. The themes, or topics of evaluation, are dynamic functions and underlying mechanisms of the commonly used evaluation measures student progress and student evaluation.Research limitations/implicationsThis P-PE is a single-site study, focusing on a unique programme consisting of a specific group of students living and studying a specific geographic area, affecting the transferability of the findings.Originality/valueIn collaboration with stakeholders, parameters to evaluate the uniqueness of the programme in addition to higher education institution routinely collected data on student progress and satisfaction were systematically identified. The themes highlight that if student progress and satisfaction were the only evaluation parameters, knowledge and understanding of the contributing factors to (un)successfulness of this unique online midwifery programme could be missed.

Teacher educators as knowledge brokers: reframing knowledge co-construction with school partners

ABSTRACT This paper explores the contention that teacher educators are especially well placed to help teachers bridge between practical experience and wider forms of knowledge. In its focus on issues derived from practice, knowledge co-construction and professional judgement, the paper articulates an alternative, but complementary, vision of evidence-informed practice to set alongside prevailing ‘What Works’ approaches. The paper uses the concept of knowledge brokering to analyse the ways that teachers collaborated with one English school of education’s teacher educators in five different projects in the course of a single academic year. Drawing on data from semi-structured interviews, common brokering mechanisms are identified, yielding a set of principles for creating conditions, boundary crossing and reciprocal working which cut across subjects and age phases. Four distinctive attributes of teacher educators are proposed as part of reframing such collaborative relationships. The paper adds to debates about the need to reconfigure university-school partnerships for professional learning in order to identify more clearly the distinctive contribution of the university teacher educator, respond to the role tensions of teacher educators and support teachers’ critical professionalism.

EMI programmes in Vietnamese higher education: a case study of translanguaging practices for inclusive education

Abstract Previous studies have discussed stakeholders’ perceptions of using first language in English-medium instruction (EMI), but only a few have examined classroom practices in Vietnam. Against this backdrop, this article focuses on lecturers’ translanguaging practices in an EMI programme where all the lecturers and students were Vietnamese. More specifically, it employs the conceptual framework of ROAD-MAPPING, proposed by Dafouz and Smit (“The ROAD-MAPPING framework: Taking stock and paving future directions for English-medium research”, in Emma Dafouz and Ute Smit (eds.), Researching English-medium higher education: Diverse applications and critical evaluations of the ROAD-MAPPING framework, 1–19. London: Routledge, 2016), to see if there was substantial evidence of a constructive co-existence between English and Vietnamese – the first language – in this EMI programme. The findings suggest that under the lecturers’ and students’ agency, the two languages were distributed across various domains of classroom practices to benefit students’ learning of content knowledge. In teacher talk, English and Vietnamese have different functions to support the process of knowledge co-construction. The study implies that the current monolingual orientation promoted in many top-down EMI policies should be reconsidered, given the linguistic diversity of higher education settings. In other words, EMI should be promoted as an educational environment where students can access their linguistic repertoires and develop their academic knowledge bi/multilingually. Translanguaging, therefore, should be acknowledged as an inclusive pedagogical practice.