Collaborative Production of Pedagogical Knowledge in Higher Education

Collaborative Production of Pedagogical Knowledge in Higher Education Professor, Dr., Airi Rovio-Johansson, Gothenburg Research Institute (GRI), School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg Airi.Rovio-Johansson@gri.gu.se

Outline of the presentation • 1. Background to changes of Higher Education programmes in EU countries • 2. The Learning study in the Accounting department • 3. The aims of the study and theoretical framework • 4. Design and methods • 5. Results and Conclusion • 6. Implications for teaching Airi Rovio-Johansson

Higher Education in Europe and Sweden • A major reform 2007 in EU, named the Bologna reform, changed the higher education landscape in the European countries. • The aims of the Bologna Reform: • Comparability and competitiveness in the EHEA (in European Higher Education Area among European countries and programmes) • Transferability by means of ECTS (European Credit Transfer System) • Mobility of students, teachers and researchers • Employability of students • This is the EU framework of the study. Airi Rovio-Johansson

Swedish undergraduate 3 year programmes for Economists and Accountants • In Sweden, there are 28 possibilities to apply to these programmes, arranged at Universities and University Colleges. • The learning study is conducted at the School of Business, Economics and Law at Gothenburg University • The focus is on the subject Accounting and 2 groups of 200 students/group, who were admitted to this programme in two consecutive years. Airi Rovio-Johansson

The aims of the Learningstudy The first aim to improve students’ learning outcomes and improve teaching in three Accounting courses by applying a Learning Study and the variation theory The second aim to improve teachers’ ways of (a) improving teaching in Accounting and (b) developing teachers’ thinking about Accounting as the subject matter Airi Rovio-Johansson

Variation theory: Learning objects Teacher Teacher and students Students Airi Rovio-Johansson

Theoreticalframe: Variation theory • The variation theory is a general learning general pedagogical theory and a learning theory. • Students’ learningexperiences of the learning object are interpreted as • student’s capabilities to simultaneouslydiscern certain aspects of the learning object • students’ learning means a change in experiences of the aspects of the learning object, according to Marton and Tsui (Classroom discourse and the Space of learning, 2004). • The teachers focus on the critical aspects of the learning object, and varies these aspects according to different patterns of variation. Airi Rovio-Johansson

A criticalaspect of the intendedlearningobject CRA 2 CRA 1 CRA 5 CRA 6 CRA 7 CRA 3 CRA 4 Airi Rovio-Johansson

Teacher’squestion: Howcan I improve students’ learningoutcomes? • From students’ perspectives, “critical” aspects are the aspects, which are necessary to discern in order to understand the meaning of the enacted learning object • The enacted learning object and itscritical aspects are systematically varied by the teacher and it is the necessarycondition for making learning possible • Teachers can develop patterns of variation, i.e., such as contrast, generalization, fusion and separation. Airi Rovio-Johansson

To summarise: • Learning process: • Intendedobject – teacher’s plan • Enactedobject – deveoped by teacher and students in cooperation • Livedobject – students´ learningobjects • Criticalaspects of the Learning object • Teacher is varyingonelearningobjectat a time • Teacher is varyingoneaspect of the learningobjectat a time and leavingotheraspects invariant (background) Airi Rovio-Johansson

Learning Study • First, the teacher has to choose a learning object • Variation – means that one aspect of the learning object is varied and other aspects are left invariantas a background • Question: Is it possible to apply this thinking in other subjects? What happens? • Natural Science, Languages, History, Psychology Airi Rovio-Johansson

LearningStudycycle First year: Cycleadapted to HigherEducation Results If the results of the posttest were not better than the pretest the teachers have to go back to the LO redesign the lecture and test again next year and the next group. AiriRovio-Johansson

Example of a problem in Accounting • Make an Annual Account based on certain assumptions in a business • A change occurred in one assumption concerning an asset • The effect of the change was varied systematically by the teacher • All effects were discussed in detail (direct and indirect relatedness between the revenue report and the balance sheet) Airi Rovio-Johansson

Relevance and credibility • Reference group (teachers, students, experts and one researcher) followed the entire study • Discussions in the reference group • How to perform a lecture • How to design course materials • How to select examination problems and tasks • The aim of examination (Bologna reform) • How to assess the examination tasks Airi Rovio-Johansson

Qualitativeassessment of examination problems (tasks) • Examination problems were used to test the understanding of basic economic relationships among the two student groups • First group started Year 1 (Comparison group/no change of teaching process) • Second group started Year 2 (Target group/application of the Learning study) • An examination problem, from each of the three courses, were used to compare the performance of the two students groups and students’ understanding of basic economic relationships Airi Rovio-Johansson

Qualitativeassessmentrevealedthreelevels of understanding Fragmental understanding The student has little or no understanding of the relationships between the reports. The eventual understanding do not concern central parts of the problem. Limited understanding The student has acquired some understanding of the relationships between the reports. The understanding can include some important parts but the student has not showed an holistic understanding of the problem. Good understanding The student has understood the relationship between the reports. The understanding included both important parts and a holistic understanding of the problem. Airi Rovio-Johansson

Results: Students’ understanding Introduction Management Financial to Accounting Accounting Accounting Under- Admitted Admitted Admitted standing C Group T Group C Group T Group C Group T Group (n=277) (n=180) (n= 157) (n= 151) (n=149) (n=159) Fragmental35.0 4.5 43.6 19.9 59.1 32.0 Limited39.0 10.0 18.0 7.3 15.4 10.0 Good26.0 85.5 38.4 72.8 25.5 58.0 Airi Rovio-Johansson

How can you become a professional university teacher? Answer to the teachers’ question: You need to understand • (1) how to develop students´ awareness of critical aspects and enhance their capabilities; • (2) how to use educational research in order to professionalize teachers´ work, i.e., • (a) in their roles as teachers in higher education; • (b) in using the subject matter and • (c) collectively produce pedagogical knowledge, compare with Lesson Studies Airi Rovio-Johansson

Excerpts from the follow-upinterviews, twoyears after the Learning study Teacher A • we know what is important in our subject and what the students must have learnt when they take their exam • I learnt that I can work more with the subject content and utlize it better • I can use examples in the lectures from the media to make students interested in the subject matter and to see the relevance of the content of the lecture Teacher B • it was a veryinterestingstudy • students’ were very interested in our experiment • to use content for problematizing an issue was good and • you could add several examples and do the same variations in order to point out different aspects • I learnt that it works better when you take fewer examples but try to go deeperintoeachexampletoelucidate the problem Airi Rovio-Johansson

Teacher A Teacher B(excerpts from interviewstwoyears after the Learning study) • this knowledge about the subject in different courses and how you can use it is valuable • we [teachers] don’t have time to discuss with each other due to too much teaching • We should do the same in other subject areas – not only basic relationships • for me it was development of a way of thinking about the subject • even if we as teachers know what the students have to learn – we are not aware of that we have to find out how to use our own subject to reach the learning outcomes • still it is difficult to talk about it since other teachers doesn’t know our subject and content in courses Airi Rovio-Johansson

Implications of this Learning Study • The study • affected teachers’ ways of thinking about the subject matter, students’ learning outcomes and curricula • the teachers jointly investigated the subject domain • the teachers depicted empirically grounded didactical knowledge • made the teachers to collectively professionalize teaching and the role of the teacher • the results of the study confirmed that the subject matter content is specific, but the application of the variation theory and the resultsare possible to generalise to different subject matters in Higher Education. Airi Rovio-Johansson

Pedagogicalknowledge and didacticalknowledge What are teachers supposed to know about teaching a subject matter? Ference Marton (1989) encouraged teachers • to take the students’ perspective on learning • to investigate how students understand the subject • to use educational research more in educational practice Airi Rovio-Johansson

Pedagogical and didacticalimplications 1) the development of new curricula, new courses and programs 2) revision of existing programs and curricula 3) the development of the teachers’ didactical and pedagogical knowledge 4) training and further education of academic teachers/in-service training 5) professionalization of teachers in Higher Education Airi Rovio-Johansson

Thankyou for your attention! Airi Rovio-Johansson

Collaborative Production of Pedagogical Knowledge in Higher Education