Nell Smith and Samuel Mann

Understanding ethical surprises and dilemmas in contemporary

pedagogical research: What is happening in our learning spaces?

Ethics in Practice ConferenceMay 2015

Nell Smith and Samuel Mann

Understanding ethical surprises and dilemmas in contemporary

pedagogical research: What is happening in our learning spaces?

Those of you who have undertaken research into teaching and learning:

Think of a word to describe your experience of pedagogical ethics.

Everyday ethics

Everyday ethics

Professional ethics

Teaching

Teaching

Teaching Research

Teaching Research

Teaching Research

Teaching

Teaching

Teaching

Teaching

Teaching

Teaching Research

FEATURE REFERENCE (example)

EXPLANATION ETHICAL IMPACT(example)

Students as co-creators of learning and knowledge 

Mann and McKewan (2013)

Students are becoming accustomed to co-creating knowledge often in spaces that are “like a good home”, a place of learning, sharing, trust, nurturing, peace and personal growth (Pittella and Rostein, 2015) 

Student-student relationship, and the student voice are prominent

Teachers as facilitators and partners in learning Marvell et al. 2013 

Teachers are increasingly taking the role of facilitator, guide and mentor in the learning space

The teacher-student power-imbalance may have altered

Learning spaces with open or ‘fuzzy’ boundaries Increased use of technology (Chang and Gray, 2013) Community partnerships (Wright and Ratsdorf, 2014) 

Increasingly learning is occurring outside of the traditional classroom walls, including through technology use and community partnerships

Relationships are less contained and controllable than within the four walls of a traditional classroom

A growing openness to indigenous worldview and pedagogies Diamond 2013; Hamilton-Pearce 2009; McKay 2014

In New Zealand (and elsewhere) indigenous pedagogies and perspectives are increasingly incorporated into the learning experience

Different cultural relationships can exist rather than one dominant culture

An increased focus on producing graduates with certain affective and transferable attributes  

Mann, 2011; Boyd, B., 2008 

Graduate outcomes (including in the tertiary sector) are increasingly including affective attributes such as the ability to think and act like sustainable practitioners

Focus on raising student ethical awareness and critical thinking they can be active, thinking members of a classroom 

Negotiated outcomes (incl work based learning, project based, individualised special topics)

Boud et al 1999 assessment,

With empowering rather than prescriptive curriculum documents learning is increasingly tailored at a fine scale, and often both contexts, content and the mechanics of the learning process are the result of a negotiation.

Unpredictability of context and complexity of relationships.

The pedagogic researcher as a part of the learning community Frielick, Smith, Whitehead and Wyse (2015)

Pedagogic research is increasingly co-created “in” the learning space, and teaching and research can be combined.

The research is not an ‘outsider’ looking in.

Teaching/Research

Process 1. add missing actors2. add relationships 3. add ethical challenges

posed by those relationships.

4. add processes to manage those challenges. (note: not formal ethics).

5. how could we formalise this thinking?

Teaching/Research

Process 1. add missing actors2. add relationships

between actors3. add ethical challenges

posed by those relationships

4. add processes to manage those challenges (note: not necessarily formal ethics).

co-creation/openness of the space through the use of new technologies (including learning analytics and social media) and community partnerships/inclusivity of indigenous perspectives/cultural awareness/changing contexts - graduate outcomes (sustainability etc.)/assessment/...

Future focus

– What is actually happening in contemporary learning spaces and in pedagogical research?

– Can a pattern language be developed, or rules of engagement?

– Is this model a useful tool for exploring the ethical systems at play in these spaces?

– What are the implications for pedagogical research(ers) and formal ethical review bodies?

Nell.Smith@aut.ac.nzhttp://cflat.aut.ac.nz

Samuel.Mann@op.ac.nz @samuelmann

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