A living educational theory approach to action research

A living educational theory approach to action research and pedagogical practices Jack Whitehead, Visiting Professor of Education, University of Cumbria, UK. Presentation to the online conference in Malaysia on the 20 th June 2020 YOUTUBE VIDEO OF THE PRESENTATION AT https: //youtu. be/v 4 v 6 Eyf. Ukf. I

What is educational? • Not all teaching, learning, and assessment are educational. • To be educational, teaching, learning and assessment must all involve learning with values of human flourishing. This is because education is a values laden practical activity. To distinguish something as educational involves a value judgement that it is worth while in terms of values of human flourishing. • See Whitehead, J. (2018) Living Theory research as a way of life. Bath, Brown Dog Books. Free access from: https: //www. actionresearch. net/writings/jack/jwbook 2018 LTR. pdf

What is Action Research? • Action research is a form of self-study practitioner research that is appropriate for researching questions of the kind, ‘How do I improve what I am doing in my professional practice? ’ • Living Educational Theory researchers often use action-reflection cycles in which they define their concerns as they share what they want to improve in relation to their values; produce an action plan for improving their practice; act and gather data to make a judgement on their educational influence; evaluate the effectiveness of their actions in terms of their values; produce an evidence-based explanation of their educational influences in their own learning, in the learning of others and in the learning of the social formations that influence practice and understandings.

Creating your living-educational-theory • A living-educational-theory is an individual’s explanation for their educational influence in their own learning, in the learning of others and in the learning of the social formations that influence practice and understanding. • The explanatory principles used by an individual, to explain their educational influences in learning, include the values they use to give meaning and purpose to their lives. • To ensure the validity of an explanation they are subjected to the mutual rational controls of critical discussion in a validation group of some 3 -8 peers.

On-line educational conversations during the coronavirus pandemic to support your Living Educational Theory research. • See the Network Educational Action Research Ireland (NEARI) and the Values Led Practitioner Research, Special Interest Group of the Educational Studies Association of Ireland, for the use of on-line learning with a multi-media application for professional development • Browse down http: //www. eari. ie/2020/05/11/notes-from-nearimeet -vpar-sig-launch-online-24 -april-2020/#comment-89 to see the use of ZOOM with multi-participants.

Improving pedagogy in teaching, learning and assessment. See: Huxtable, M. & Whitehead, J. (2020) Enhancing educational influences in learning with a Living Theory approach to Pedagogical Action Research in Higher Educational Action Researcher. Published online on the 15 th June 2020. To link to this article: https: //doi. org/10. 1080/09650792. 2020. 1779771 Accessing the final draft before publication at: https: //www. actionresearch. net/writings/jack/mhjw. EAR 180520. pdf

Joining local and global communities of Living Educational Theory researchers by producing and sharing your living-poster • See the 2020 homepage of living posters at https: //www. actionresearch. net/writings/posters/homepage 2020. pd f With guidelines for producing and sharing your own living-poster as a contribution to a global network of practitioner-researchers who are working to improve the educational influences of their teaching, learning and assessment and to extend the influence of a Living Theory approach to professional development with values of human flourishing.

Living Interactive Posters as an assessment method • Mounter, J. (2020) Living Interactive Posters. See http: //www. actionresearch. net/writings/mounter/joyassessment. pdf