Using Action Research to Improve Communication and Facilitate Group Work in a Multicultural Classroom: A South African Case Study

This study started with problems that my colleagues (and I) were experiencing with interaction and intercultural communication among students in our diverse classrooms. Educators were also experiencing difficulties in motivating students to work effectively in groups. The purpose of this paper was to seek solutions to these problems by exploring variations of the group oral assessment structure in a multilingual and multicultural context. Four phases of assessments were conducted at two tertiary institutions in South Africa using a combination of action research and a participatory approach. Not only did this study succeed in addressing the problems but it also revealed the added benefits of using an action research methodology.     

Reflection-in-and-on-Action in Participatory Action Research: Toward Assessment <Emphasis Type="Italic">for </Emphasis>Learning

This article is about the use of oral assessment for learning and was based on a reflection-in-and-on-action approach within a participatory action research framework. The purpose of this paper was to argue for the incorporation of oral assessment in tertiary science as a fair, reliable and valid approach to assessment. This study found that the interactive nature of the oral assessments led to improved learning of content for learners from their peers and assessors. Assessors too learnt about their students as individuals, their study habits and critiqued their teaching from the oral assessments. They also learned from their co-assessors. Valuable lessons were learned for collaborative team teaching and assessing for the benefit of assessors and learners alike. This study also found that action research afforded the assessors a new way of doing things empowering them to conduct research in their own classrooms, with their colleagues and their learners.     

Research and Reflection: Potential Impact on the Professional Development of Undergraduate Occupational Therapy Students

In occupational therapy education in South Africa, community service (CS) focuses learning opportunities during fieldwork placements. CS therefore enabled the researcher to utilise successive small scale research projects to guide learning of students during fieldwork while simultaneously developing the occupational therapy service at a residential care facility. This community setting provided a powerful environment through which research, in combination with opportunities for reflection, contributed to nurturing skills needed by these future health professionals. A technical action research (AR) approach incorporated AR cycles and opportunities for structured reflection. Therefore situations were created for the students to embrace experiential learning. Experiential learning in the form of anticipatory reflection, reflection-in-action, reflection on reflection and retrospective reflection impacted on the quality of the students’ work. Besides encouraging unique leaning opportunities for students when engaging in research during their fieldwork placement, engagement in AR cycles simultaneously improved service delivery to residents in the facility. Key benefits of this investigation were that fieldwork education utilising AR cycles within a CS situation promoted students to identify voids in their theoretical background as well as practice skills; to apply reflective practice that could contribute to their personal and professional development; and to utilize learning opportunities optimally. Despite positive gains showed by this study, the role of power relations between the researcher as fieldwork educator and the students prohibited the AR cycles from being more emancipatory in nature and should be addressed in follow-up studies.     

The Use of Critical Systems Heuristics to Surface and Reconcile Users' Conflicting Visions for a Business Intelligence System

This paper describes an action research study where the business requirements analysis approach of a business intelligence development project was enriched. Critical systems heuristics, a critical systems methodology that is positioned in the critical systems thinking paradigm, was applied to surface the inherently conflicting views and visions (however unknown to them) that the various stakeholders had regarding a new business intelligence system and its underlying business process. It therefore enabled surfacing of human/cultural and organisational issues that would have negatively affected the adoption of the new system; these were successfully resolved. Accordingly, the various stakeholders reflected on their real requirements that constituted improvement, rather than mere automation, of a business process; it ultimately resulted in a successful new business intelligence system that realised business benefits.     

Learning by Action Research: A Policy for School Development

In this article I define a project organization as action research. Thus defined, the approach presents a method for experiential learning among educators who develop as learners in an educational setting. Second, the approach describes a method for focusing on research related to change in classroom didactics brought about by the mediating instruments educators discover and use so as to overcome their own learning anxiety. Third, action research and academic investigation are described as a method for integrating theory with practice. Finally, action research is outlined as an effort for social justice—the way knowledge usually develops by social construction.     

Student Engineers as Agents of Change: Combining Social Inclusion in the Professional Development of Electrical and Computer Engineering Students

Community-based action research helps students link subject matter to everyday life and developing sense of responsibility to their community. While combining research and a development into teaching engineering software which has been vastly conducted in engineering disciplines such as Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) and Computer Science (CS), including inclusive participatory research is yet to be fully developed. We participated in the NGO by providing information technology (IT) and/or assistive technology (AT). This paper examines the practice of action research in service-learning projects that aim to introduce more socially responsible studies in the context of engineering education. It begins by exploring different forms of action research that may benefit engineering disciplines with a focus on action engagement to improve students’ involvement in marginalized communities. The article provides field-based reflections of the action research project and suggests ways in which practice of action research may increase socially responsive value in the professional development of student engineers.     

Using an Action Research Framework to Explore Assessment: A South African Case Study

This article is a reflection of my first experience with action research in trying to devise a system of assessment that would benefit both first and second language speakers of English in an assessment system that is plagued by its separatist past. In this paper, I discuss an action research study on oral assessment implemented at two tertiary institutions in South Africa. The actual details of each phase of the assessments are not reported on, but the methods used to facilitate the processes are. The findings and adaptations after each phase of the assessments are discussed to show the effectiveness of using an action research methodology.

You are Seldom Born with a Drum Kit in Your Hands: Music Teachers’ Conceptualizations of Knowledge and Learning Within Music Education as an Assessment Practice

Due to an increased demand for evaluation and accountability, the focus on assessment in public education has become stronger. Already leading to teachers’ deprofessionalization, another risk is assessment leading to criteria compliance and becoming a tool for measuring teaching quality. Those whose learning is affected are thereby not only students, but also teachers. One major factor to restore professionalism and focus assessment on learning is to change practitioners’ ways of thinking and not only their behaviour. Therefore, a group of seven music teachers and a researcher in music education have carried out a research and development project using participatory action research as approach as well as method. This article explores and presents these upper secondary school music teachers’ conceptualizations of musical knowledge, learning and educational communication working with peers. Using Deweyan pragmatism as a lens to interpret the qualitative data, the results show that while a professional language does exist, the music teachers’ conceptualizations of musical knowledge and learning and educational approaches differ. A key aspect for the teachers to develop their professional language, concepts and assessment practices is the teachers’ opportunities to communicate—both factual as well as perceived.     

基于效用的自适应协同多业务传输研究及系统级仿真验证

协同通信是目前无线通信的研究热点之一,协同通信中的节点选择,功率分配等问题已得到深入的研究,但对于多业务传输问题目前并没有得到足够的关注。通过建立协同通信中的资源分配模型,基于效用的自适应协同多业务传输(utility-based adaptive cooperative multi-traffic transmission,UACMT)算法解决了多业务在协同通信中的传输问题,并能够自适应的在协同与非协同传输模式中进行选择。系统级仿真结果表明与传统协同和非协同传输相比,UACMT能够在一定误块率BLER约束条件下提高用户的业务效用。     

Enhancing Collaborative Learning in a Blended Learning Environment: Applying a Process Planning Model

The research reported here was undertaken in a blended learning environment where contact tuition is “blended” with computer-supported (online) learning. The context is a developing country (South Africa). After completion of two full cycles of an action inquiry the planning for the third cycle was undertaken according to an existing process planning model which was originally developed for the design and planning of team-based action learning and action research (ALAR) projects. The illustration of the application of the model focuses on the aspect of student collaboration in a blended learning environment and shows how the original process planning model was adapted and applied during the re-planning phase of the project. The final deliverable is a set of action plans for future collaborative learning that could strengthen student-centred learning experiences in a context which still bears the scars of an unfortunate segregated past.     

Through the Eye of a Fly: Action Research as a Support for the South African National Literacy Campaign

Globally and across the African continent, the past decade has seen an increase in the commitment to reducing adult illiteracy, inspired among other things by the Education for All (EFA) drive to halve the incidence of illiteracy among adults and youth by 2015. While literacy campaigns were less common during the 1990s, the last decade saw a new impetus for mass adult literacy campaigns as a way of improving national literacy levels. This paper examines the South African endeavour to meet its EFA target through the implementation of the South African Kha Ri Gude Mass Literacy Campaign, which was launched by the South African government in 2008 with the aim of enliterating 4,7 million adults who had little or no education as a result of the apartheid legacy. The Campaign was deemed successful receiving a number of South African awards for best practice and its work in rural and impoverished communities including the international UNESCO Confucius Prize for Literacy (UNESCO 2016). This article focuses on how the campaign utilised action-oriented processes, specifically the methods of participatory action research (PAR), to enhance the achievement of its goals. The methods of PAR were embedded in the campaign structure, comprising clusters of communities of practice (COPs) which provided fora for educators to voice and address challenges. Moreover, since the Campaign was implemented in post-apartheid South Africa, the article shows how the Campaign operations were guided by the ethos of ubuntu as necessary for redress and empowerment.     

Designing a Management System for a Rural Community Development Organization Using a Systemic Action Research Process

This paper describes the first phase, 'finding out', of a systemic participatory action research intervention in the management systems of a rural community development organization in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. The aims of the intervention were to (a) improve the management system of this organization, and (b) evaluate the usefulness of particular systems methodologies for the improvement of management systems of organizations involved in community development in under-resourced rural contexts. The second phase, "implementation," needs to be completed and thoroughly evaluated before any final conclusions can be drawn about the suitability of the chosen systems framework for Third World type rural contexts. However, the second phase is, at the time of writing, underway and all indications are that an interpretive ('Soft') Systems Methodology, combined with insights from a more functionalist ('hard') approach (with methods chosen through a Critical Systems Thinking framework) holds much promise for participatory systemic interventions in these contexts.     

Systemic Thinking and Practice Toward Facilitating Inclusive Education: Reflections on a Case of Co-Generated Knowledge and Action in South Africa

This article offers our reflections around a case of facilitating systemic thinking and practice in which the first author of the article (Tlale) interacted with research participants/participant researchers with the intention of strengthening systemic thought and action toward fostering inclusive education in the setting (a rural school in the Eastern Cape in South Africa). We reflect upon the process and also how our engagement was perceived by participants, as expressed in feedback received from them. We point to how Tlale introduced the idea of systemic thinking (to teachers, school management team, school governing body, and a district officer for the district) as tied to the possibility of acting to generate transformation toward a more inclusive educational context for the benefit of the learners at the school in question, thus acting as a systemic mediator on their behalf.     

Environmental Education: Enhancing Learning and Awareness Through Assessment

Environmental issues are rapidly gaining momentum globally as humans try to find sustainable solutions to the effects of climate change, carbon emissions, and the actions of human-kind (see Olver, Blacklist those who ‘greenwash’. Companies must walk the talk regarding climate. The Times, 2011a; The weather warriors’ war. Real change will come when a few good men and women say ‘enough is enough’. The Times, 2011b). To enhance learning and awareness of environmental issues among Environmental Education students and the community at large, this study situated assessments within communities of practice around the university. Using action engagement within action research students had to work with insiders from the community to identify, formulate action or intervention plans and find solutions to problem situations in the community. Using action engagement within action research in this study definitely enhanced student’s knowledge of their community’s problems. Their personal involvement and the cyclical approach adopted, enhanced students’ emotional understanding and gave them an insider perspective into the situations and problems that required intervention; and trust was built between the students and members of the community as they worked together to accomplish a common goal.     

From Practitioner to Researcher: Designing the Dissertation Process for Part Time Coursework Masters Students

Coursework Masters degrees that are offered as block release programmes provide opportunities for access to postgraduate education for adult students while in full time employ. These students attend structured contact modules after which they return to home and work and a distance format of study. However, these courses are generally characterised by low completion rates and lengthy time to completion, particularly of the research dissertation. While various explanations for this problem have been offered, for example, students’ non-academic commitments and supervisor–student-relations, our particular concern in this paper is students’ reading and writing practices in the transition from professional work practice and Masters coursework to the research dissertation. This paper proposes a systemic design to improve student reading and writing in this transition, and the proposal is illustrated using a block release coursework Masters programme in Management at a South African university. The design draws on interpretive systems ideas to think about the different levels of institutional and disciplinary context that impact on the research dissertation. We also use an academic literacies perspective—the concepts of literacy practice, language identity and power in particular—to think about reading and writing. This design incorporates components that include system elements, relationships, purpose and feedback that facilitate interaction between the conventions of the research practice, what the student brings to the practice, and the agency of the student.     

本体论在Agent间通信中的应用

在基于agent的仿真系统中，agent之间的协作和通信问题一直是研究的热点和重点。而agent的通信问题又是agent协作前提。目前存在的agent通信语言只规范了通信行为，而没有规范通信内容。本体论作为一种知识表示方法，利用它对agent通信内容进行规范化表示是一种可行的方式。首先对本体的概念做了简要介绍，并结合一个例子给出了领域本体的开发方法、步骤，然后对本体理论在agent问通信方面的应用进行了详细探讨。     

无人机协同中继过程中的路径规划与通信优化

通信网络是保证无人机在协同搜索时获取更多的战场信息,发挥协同作战优势的基础。主要研究多无人机完成通信中继任务过程中的搜索路径规划和通信性能优化问题。搜索路径规划的目的是确定未知地面移动人员具体方位并对其组网,以便无人机执行中继任务;而通信优化问题则是针对无人机中继过程中可能出现的通信中断、失真等问题,分析通信网络信息传输的路由选择,选取通信延时为性能指标,通过改变无人机的路径选择来提高通信网络的性能。仿真结果表明了本文实现通信中继和通信网性能提高的有效性。     

Ethical Issues and Role Duality in Insider Action Research: Challenges for Action Research Degree Programmes

Insider action research describes the process when a member of an organisation undertakes an explicit action research role in addition to the normal functional roles they hold in an organisation. Real-world work-based research is relevant and important to many full-time managers, consultants and members of organisations including those who choose to undertake higher degrees in business as part-time postgraduate students. Within these programmes a proposal for an insider action research project is often associated with important and interesting research projects that have already arisen in an organisation where the researcher works full-time, and are part of their existing role and established working relationships with key stakeholders. Ethical issues in organisationally located insider action research can differ from other forms of action research because of role duality, i.e. that the researcher holds an ongoing work role and power relationships associated with this as well as the action research role. Ethical issues can be associated with choices about alternative options, expected impacts and outcomes on the researcher, participants, organisation and stakeholders, and these are important considerations for academic supervisors, institutional review boards and human research ethics committees.     

Migration, Ethnicity and Privilege

Representation assumes that those who govern have knowledge of those for whom they govern. It is easy to presume knowledge of the “other”, but as we know this can be based in prejudice, cultural difference, or simply misinformation or simplification. Usually our explorations of this process have focused on populations identified as disadvantaged, disempowered or somehow “non-privileged”. However, the research process outlined here has revealed previously unexplored diversity within a population commonly described as privileged suggesting that good governance requires alertness to presuming to know both the unprivileged and the privileged. The research approach outlined in this paper has used a blend of historical reappraisal and qualitative techniques focusing on a population who have been conceptualized as doubly privileged. This population focus is that of older British; post World War II male migrants in South Australia. These people have been conceptualized as privileged because they are male, and they were part of the preferred ethnic group that Australian politicians and policy makers favoured post WW2. However, review of the historical data and qualitative interviews with some of these men show that the accepted narrative of a homogenous pre-WW2 British origin population is over simplistic. The historical research suggests that the presumption that post WW2 British migrant men were coming into an homogenous, privileging environment in migrating to SA is both ahistorical and crude. Furthermore the belief that post WW2 British migrant men were ethnically homogenous is undermined by the qualitative research, that reveals that their presumed homogeneity is much more fluid and nuanced than dominant conceptualisations have allowed. The impact of core ethnicities that continue to exist and compete in Britain, the social class focus and economic commodification of migrants in the machinations of powerful players in the state of South Australia all confound homogenizing, simplistic knowing of British migrant men in this state. Generically these findings caution social researchers with regard to presuming to know so called “privileged” populations as well as presumed non-privileged groups.     

When Social Workers Meet Special Education Teachers: Action Research to Implement Curricular Changes in Taiwanese Special Education Systems

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) offering supported employment services in Taiwan recently have identified a missing link between their programs and the vocational programs students with disabilities received in secondary special education system. Sponsored by a national initiative aimed to enhance public education through crossover trials and social inclusion under the umbrella of ??HighScope Taiwan??, academics and mainly senior social workers devoted to supported employment for persons with intellectual disabilities started a two-way outreach program through action engagement in 2007. Action research became the common focus of the joint task forces across social work, public education systems, and academia. The article provides field-based reflections of the action research project and suggests ways in which practice of action research may increase social impact in the professional development of individuals.