On Case Studies | 27.02.2022
In our first task of the morning, we had to divide up into sub-groups on our table and take 20-30 minutes to (re)read a case study provided by the course.
Our group decided on the case study on: Improving teaching: Enhancing ways of being university teachers (Giorgia Dall’Alba, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, 2005)
When reading through the case study and pages, I noted / marked certain sections that seemed interesting to me/ stood out. Before beginning to read the article, I first had to clarify important terminology in orderer to accurately respond to the text:
Epistemology: The theory of knowledge, especially with regard to its methods, validity, and scope, and the distinction between justified belief and opinion.
Ontology: The branch of metaphysics dealing with the nature of being.
Epistemology in the service of ontology
The case studies enlarge raises the question of how to be better University Teachers. The following points listed are a culmination of important points raised in the article, as well as personal points of views added in order to further inform our group discussions.
- Course aims to extend well beyond teaching techniques.
- So, epistemology is not seen as an end in itself, but is in the service of ontology.
- More organic and more innate learning
- my argument here is that a focus on epistemology at the expense of ontology falls short of what higher education programs can,
- For example, if we consider the transformation expected during transitions from student to doctor, economist, engineer, teacher and so on, it becomes apparent that knowledge and skills are not sufficient, in themselves. Knowledge and skills acquisition does not ensure skilful practice.
- Maybe intuition and exploration as a means of creativity (Ontology) to inform Practice (Epistemology)
- Understanding knowledges in this way calls into question a conventional notion of knowledge transfer or acquisition, in which authoritative knowledge is transferred or acquired while remaining unchanged.
- I, as university teacher, cannot simply transfer knowledge about teaching to course participants. Instead, they create, enact and embody the knowledges they encounter through the course to varying extents and in a range of ways, both individual and shared.
- Personalisation and customisation of teaching experiences
- Instead, learning in the course involves transformation of the self in relation to the social practice that is university teaching.
- They explain that ‘what are commonly called skills are not activities to which we give anything of ourselves’ (p. 26; emphasis in original). In other words, by reducing teaching to skills, ontology is not addressed.
- Martin Heidegger
- The real teacher, in fact, lets nothing else be learned than—learning.
- I see the course as a form of collaboration among colleagues in which we all learn, in contrast to a conventional student–teacher model.
- Requires and demands more flexibility, compassion and social skills whilst teaching.
- Group Discussion about the article
- The lived experience, bringing individual points of views to the table
- Learning to be in the process and not focusing on the outcome
- Group Presentations
- Intro
- Reflections
- Progression
- Other Group: Neoliberal Race in Public Universities
- Shifting from social rights to personal responsibilities
- The issues of privatisation: Only students of privilege can study
- Issue of home students vs. international, being able to afford tuition fees vs. not being able to afford tuition
- A degree form another UNI, with name recognition that buys a student a job
- Structures of market might dictate educational system and how/what is being taught.
- What are the policy makers within a government and how do they influence education
- Conflict of interest in terms of Economical Model (Capitalism), a system of imbalance