iSean

my article on the Australian journal The Knowledge Tree is now available. you can read (or listen to) the article here — and feel free to discuss the article in the comments section. i am pleased with the results, but this article started with a different direction entirely. in fact, i originally wanted to talk about using blogs (like this one) to help shape learner dispositions. the resulting article still has a focus on student dispositions, but i narrowed the focus to those things that individual instructors can do with preservice and inservice teachers to help shape future behavior. specifically, the article looks at the use of modeling and the use of reflection and how blogs and other technologies can play a central role in these processes. please visit and join in the fun. also, there will be a live conversation with my wife (co-author) and me on the 27th of November (28th in Australia). more information can be found on the Elluminate Live website here.

i want to provide a snippet from an early draft of the article — keep in mind that this was a draft and not near completion; in fact, it was soon cut. but this snippet shows a direction i started to go and it’s something i want to explore more in the future. the paragraph in front of this one discusses the difficulty educators have in bridging the gap between research and practice and how new strategies might be warranted. so, here’s the snippet:

The dissemination of research findings to practitioners in a palatable, useful manner has been addressed by professionals in the field (insert cite here) as well as the organizations that oversee institutes of higher education. Currently, most research is disseminated to teachers in the form of research articles published in peer-reviewed journals or presentations made at national or state conferences. Often, researchers will make the effort to summarize descriptions of interventions, programs, or approaches and their findings for publication in practitioner-based journals. Unfortunately, most practicing teachers feel a disconnect with research published in peer-reviewed journals. In fact, peer-reviewed research is considered less trustworthy by teachers than is gaining information from peers and acquiring information during inservice trainings (Landrum, Cook, Tankersley, and Fitzgerald, 2002). Additionally, the demands placed on teacher time and budget cuts, prohibits teachers from attending conferences and reading widely in peer-reviewed of practitioner journals. One purpose of this article is to explore alternative methods for disseminating research results and best practices to educators who currently have limited time and opportunity to take advantage of traditional methods but are concerned about using best available, proven practices with regard to technology in education. A second, related purpose is to discuss how this sharing of information can impact the dispositions of preservice teachers.

i was going to discuss how ed tech blogs should start to see themselves as the vehicle for change in education. i wanted to explore whether blogs (e.g., ed tech) might be more trustworthy that peer reviewed journals and i had some evidence that this is the case. perhaps another article some day, but for now i’ll just explore this personally on my blog.

Technorati Tags: blogging, blogs, dispositions, education, knowledge tree, modeling, scholarship, reflection