Complete thesis - Murdoch University

Table 4.4: Reflection in the Scholarship of Teaching model (Kreber, 1999)ContentCurriculum Pedagogical InstructionalWhat are the goalsof my teaching?What do I knowabout how studentslearn?What instructionalstrategies should Iuse?Process How conscientioushave I been inidentifying thisgoal?How effective amI in promoting itsachievementHow effective havemy strategies been?PremiseHow does my goalmatter? What arethe alternatives?What are alternativestrategies?Why does it matterthat I use this strategyguiding the journey, and triggering pedagogical growth in the researcher. Thus another aspectof learning, and reflection on action, is that of ontology. Side-by side with epistemology,this study aims to challenge (at least, but also, hopefully transform) the researcher’s wayof being a tertiary teacher. As DallAlba (2005) notes, knowing is not simply somethingwe possess, but who we are. Contextualised, knowing is not exclusively cognitive, but iscreated, enacted and embodied. Thus as the practices described within the Action Researchcycles are questioned, analysed and evaluated, a heightened awareness of new possibilitiesfor educational practice is engendered. Cowan (1998), in describing reflection-for-action as atype of anticipatory activity involving reflecting on past experience to identify needs, establishpriorities, aspirations and objectives, addresses this role for the reflective process.Within this study, therefore, reflection is seen as both analytical and evaluative: not onlyposing ‘How do I do it?’, but also ‘How could it be better?’ (Cowan, 1998). In this way,evaluative reflection encompasses the results of doing analytical reflection while also involvingmaking a decision on what to do next on the basis of judging whether the development whichhas taken place is adequate to proceed to the next stage.The approach to reflection taken is based on Kreber (1999)’s Scholarship of Teaching model(see Table 4.4). This categorises reflection as content, process, and premise (double looplearning) within the domains of instructional (eg writing and sequencing learning objectives,choosing readings, facilitating discussions and group work, preparing syllabi, constructingand evaluating assessment), pedagogical (eg how students learn, how to respond to differentlearning styles and approaches to studying, how to facilitate critical thinking and selfmanagementin learning, or how to influence students motivation to learn) and curricular (ofthe goals, purposes and rationales for the unit, how it fits into the larger curriculum and howthe teaching contributes to the universitys societal and cultural role) knowledge. Since the206