Faculty of Arts, Computing, Engineering and Sciences

Dr Keith Burley, John Walton, Dr Elizabeth Uruchurtu

MEETING THE LEARNING NEEDS OF POSTGRADUATE STUDENTS FROM

THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT - A RESEARCH APPROACH

 

THE RESEARCH AGENDA

The research project which is already underway, uses the frameworks of the Organon model of Language, the Boisot Social Learning Cycle and the Schein Model of Culture to establish how the dependant variable (student performance) is affected by the independent variable (academic input). This is mediated by the issues of Vidya, Veda and Varna, (education, religion and caste). We seek to determine how they can be interpreted using appropriate education and epistemological approaches.

 

Indian Subcontinent Masters' Research Project

Literature Review - Epistemic Issues1

Literature Review - Methodological Issues2

Exploratory Research - India3

Exploratory Research - UK4

Generation of Research Tools5

Methodological Reflexivity & Choices6

Synthesis & Theory Generation 8

Initial Identification of Core Competencies & Superordinate Goals of ACES

9

In Depth Research - India7a

In Depth Research - UK7b

Theory Generation Subject to Crucial Evaluation

10

Production of Education & Artefacts to Address Step G

11

Deployment of Artefacts12

Evaluation of Artefacts13

Diffusion to a Wider Audience14

Federation to Refine & Relate Core Competencies

& Superordinate GoalsProduction of Programme

This is the Cannonical Action Research Cycle

Historically Indian Higher education goes back to the Gurukul systems some 500 to 700 before Christ [Gupta:2008:576]. This education was not paid for at the time of delivery and as it took place in a highly religious and hierarchical community it was therefore believed that, Lakshmi (the godess of wealth) and Sarawasti, (the godless of learning) could not co exist [Gupta 2008:576].

There is also the caste system of:

Brahmins (learned class); Kshatriyas (Warriers); Vaishyas (Commercial Class) Shudras (Manual Workers)

The deep cultural significance is that "those involved in the quest for knowledge ought not to aspire for worldly goods and comforts. Learning had no bearing on earnings" [ Gupta 2008:576].

Levels of CultureArtefacts

Espoused

Values

Basic Underlying

Assumptions

Visible organisational structures and processes

(hard to decipher)

Strategies, goals, philosophies

(espoused justifications)

Unconscious, taken-for-granted beliefs, perceptions, thoughts, and feelings

(ultimate source of values and actions)

The Movement of Knowledge in the ISpace

B Proprietary Knowledge

A Personal Knowledge

C Textbook Knowledge

D Common Sense

Scanning

Problem-solving

Abstraction

Diffusion

Absorption

Impacting

The Social Learning Cycle

Education Religion and Caste

• It will also examine some of the issues of Vidya, Veda and Varna, (education, religion and caste) and how they can be interpreted using appropriate education and epistemological approaches.

Karl Bühler's organon model of language. [Finlayson 2005:33]

Objects and Facts

Speaker Hearer

cognitive function

appeal function

expressive function

CULTURAL WEB OF INDIAN UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION

RITUALS AND ROUTINESLong hours of lectures and large classes. Students are not expected to interact with academic staff. There is high competition between students and a belief in educational Darwinism that it is right for only the fittest to survive and prosper.STORIESAvoid disgrace, the code of honour amongst students is to bring to the attention of the college administration the behaviour of those students whose behaviour is unacceptable.SYMBOLSThe text book, Spartan accommodation, elevation of the lecturer on a dais, addressing the lecturer as ‘sir’ or 'madam'.STYLELarge number of students one (and only one) authoritative lecturer. The university resembles a machine bureaucracy rather than a professional bureaucracy as in the West [Mintzberg 1999:314;348]

CULTURAL WEB OF INDIAN UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION

CONTROLExaminations, rigid submission of essays and assignments that are isomorphic with the core text book.POWERMany universities are privately owned and fees are a considerable expense to the families concerned. To be seen not to be accord with the norms of theinstitution, and therefore that of the country itself is considered a disgrace.STRUCTUREVery hierarchical with scalar reporting structures [Mintzberg 1979 : 27]. PARADIGMThe participation of all stakeholders in the diffusion of codified knowledge that corresponds to a widely published corpus of knowledge in the domain. Standards are guaranteed and not questioned because the assessment of the students accords with this.

BA'In knowledge creation, one cannot be free from context. Social, cultural and historical contexts are important for individuals, as such contexts provide the basis for one to interpret information to create meanings. As Frederick Niche argued, "there are no facts only interpretations". Ba is a place where information is interpreted to become knowledge'

Nonaka et al 2000:14

The Distinction Between Knowledge and Knowing

• Knowledge In Possession

• Knowledge in Action

• The interplay between the two is the ‘generative dance’.

[Cook & Brown 1999:387]

The generative dance between knowledge and knowing

(Cook and Brown, 1999)• The explicit/tacit/group/individual categories refer to

what is known (knowledge as possession): ‘Robert knows auto mechanics’

• Not all that is known is captured by this: what is part of the practice (knowing as action): ‘Robert is fixing cars’

• The generative dance: “(…) the source of new knowledge and knowing lies in the use of knowledge as a tool of knowing within situated interaction with the social and physical world.” (Cook and Brown, 1999)

• Interaction takes place rather than knowledge transfer

Four Forms of Knowledge[ Cook and Brown 1999:391]

Concepts Stories

Skills

Individual Group

Explicit

Tacit

Genres

References• BOISOT, M., MACMILLAN, I. and HAN, K., 2007. Property rights and information flows: a simulation approach.

Journal of Evolutionary Economics, 17(1), pp. 63-93. • COOK, S. and BROWN, J., 1999. Bridging Epistemologies: The Generative Dance Between Organizational

Knowledge and Organizational Knowing. Organizational Science, 10(4), pp. 381. • 'DARWIN, J., 'JOHNSON, P. and 'MCAULEY, J., 2002. Developing Strategies for Change. Edinburgh Gate, Harlow,

Essex, CM20 2JE, England: Pearson Education. • 'HABERMAS, J.'., 1990. Moral Consciousness and Communicative Action. UK: Polity Press. • 'HOLLAND R', 1999. Reflexivity. Human Relations, 52(4), pp. 463. • HUNGER, D.W., T., 2007. Essentials of Strategic Management. Pearson Prentice Hall. • 'IYER, S., 1991. Journal of Management Development, 10(7), pp. 14. • JARZABKOWSKI, P. and WILSON, C., 2006. Actionable Strategy Knowledge: A Practice Perspective. European

Management Journal, 5, pp. 348. • JARZABKOWSKI, P. and WILSON, D.C., 2006. Actionable Strategy Knowledge:: A Practice Perspective. European

Management Journal, 24(5), pp. 348-367. • NONAKA, I., TOYAMA, R. and KONNO, N., 2000. SECI,, Ba and Leadership: a Unified Model of Dynamic

Knowledge Creation. Long Range Planning, 33(1), pp. 5. • NONAKA, I., TOYAMA, R. and NAGATA, A., 2000. A firm as a knowledge-creating entity: a new perspective on the

theory of the firm. Industrial & Corporate Change, 9(1), pp. 1. • 'VON CLAUSEWITZ, C.'., 1830. On War. Cumberland house,Crib Street,, Ware, Hertforshire, SG129ET: Worsworth

Editions Ltd. • WATERMAN, R., PETERS, T. and PHILLIPS, J., 1980. Structure is not Organisation. The McKinsey Journal, , pp. 2. • WHITTINGTON, R., 2001. What is strategy - and does it matter? 2 edn. Thomson Learning.