Encouraging Teachers’ and Students’ Innovation with the Support of Teacher Learning Communities

Leonor Margalef García

Leonor Margalef García

Keywords: Collaborative learning, Higher education, Professional development, Teacher learning communities, Training teachers

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to share knowledge generated through the implementation of “Teaching Innovation Teams” as a strategy for teachers’ professional development and innovation at the University of Alcala (Spain). We analyse the contributions of this strategy to the facilitation of curriculum innovation in higher education and reflect on some of the
achievements and results of the activities carried out by these teams, identifying the dilemmas and difficulties that teachers experienced and that hinder the development of curriculum innovations. Finally, we outline some educational contributions of Teaching Innovation Teams understood as a collaborative and formative strategy to facilitate educational change.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Brockbank, A., & McGill, I. (2002). Aprendizaje reflexivo en la educación superior. Madrid:
Morata.

Cochran-Smith, M., & Lytle, S. (2002). Dentro/fuera. Profesores que investigan. Madrid:
Akal.

Cochran-Smith, M., & Lytle, S. (2003). Más allá de la certidumbre adoptar una actitud
indagadora sobre la práctica. In A. Lieberman, & L. Miller (Eds.), La indagación como
base de la formación del profesorado y la mejora de la educación (pp. 65-79). Barcelona:
Octaedro.

Christie, D., Cassidy, C., Skinner, D. et al. (2007). Building Collaborative Communities of
Enquiry in Educational Research. Educational Research and Evaluation, 13(3), 263- 278.

Dooner, A., Mandzuk D., Rodney, & Clifton, A. (2008). Stages of Collaboration and the
Realities of Professional Learning Communities. Teaching and Teacher Education, 24,
564–574.

Goodnough, K., Osmond, P., Dibbon, D., Glassman, M., & Stevens, K. (2009). Exploring
a Triad Model of Student Teaching: Pre-Service Teacher and Cooperating Teacher
Perceptions. Teaching and Teacher Education, 25, 285-296.

Grushka, K., McLeold, J., & Reynolds, R. (2005). Reflecting upon Reflection. Reflective
Practice, 6(2), 239-246.

Hannan, A., & Silver, H. (2005). La innovación en la enseñanza superior. Madrid: Narcea.

Hargreaves, A. (2000). Four Ages of Professionalism and Professional Learning. Teachers
and Teaching: Theory and Practice, 6(2), 151–182.

Harrison, J., Lawson, T., & Wortley, A. (2005). Facilitating the Professional Learning
of New Teachers Through Critical Reflection on Practice During Mentoring Meetings.
European Journal for Teacher Education, 28(3), 267-292.

Könings, K., Brand-Gruwel, S., & Van Merriiënboer, J. (2007). Teachers’ Perspectives on
Innovations: Implications for Educational Design. Teaching and Teacher Education, 23,
985-997.

Kraft, N. (2002). Teacher Research as a Way to Engage in Critical Reflection: A Case
Study. Reflective Practice, 3(2), 175-189.

Kushner, S. (2002). Personalizar la evaluación. Morata. Madrid.

Margalef, L., & Pareja, N. (2008). Innovation, Research and Professional Development in
Higher Education: Learning From Our Own Experience. Teaching and Teacher Education,
24, 104-116.

Margalef, L. Canabal, C., & Iborra, A. (2006). Transformar la docencia universitaria: una
propuesta de desarrollo profesional basada en estrategias reflexivas. Perspectiva, 49, 73-89.

Margalef, L., & Álvarez Méndez, J. (2005). La formación del profesorado universitario
para la innovación en el marco de la integración en el espacio europeo de enseñanza
superior. Revista de Educación, MECD, 337, 51-70.

McLaughlin, M. W., & Talbert, J. E. (2006). Building School-Based Teacher Learning
Communities: Professional Strategies to Improve Student Achievement. New York: Teachers
College Press.

Ponte, P. (2002). How Teachers Become Action Researchers and How Teacher Educators
Become Their Facilitators. Educational Action Research, 10(3), 399-422.

Ponte, P., Axb, J., Beijaarda, D., & Wubbels, TH. (2004). Teachers’ Development of
Professional Knowledge Through Action Research and the Facilitation of this by Teacher
Educators. Teaching and Teacher Education, 20, 571–588.

Postholm, M. (2008). Teachers Developing Practice. Reflection as a Key Activity. Teaching
and Teacher Education, 24, 1717–1728.

Randi, J., & Corno, L. (2000). Los profesores como innovadores. In Biddle, B. (Ed.), La
enseñanza y los profesores III (pp. 169-230). Madrid: Paidós.

Zwart, R., Wubbles, T., Bolhuis, S., & Bergen, Th. (2008). Teacher Learning Through
Reciprocal Peer Coaching. An Analysis of Activity Sequences. Teaching and Teacher
Education, 24, 982-1002.