Academic Co-creative Inquiryand my work as an Academic support to students at

Unitec

---A snapshot of my inquiry into Higher Education

Hua Dai23May, 2013

Academic Co-Creative Inquiry

• Developed by Ksenija Napan, a recipient of the Ako Aotearoa Tertiary Teaching Excellence Award in 2011 and Associate Professor of the Department of Social Practice at Unitec.

• In ACCI, students and lecturers co-create the context and the content of the course by using individual learning contracts between the teacher and the student. It uses peer and self reflection tools to find answers to their personalised inquiry questions

Main qualities of ACCI Underpins its effectiveness

• Responsiveness to Context (culture, personal, learning styles…enjoy , fun)• Flow (discussion, conversations, activities etc)• Trust (built between the teacher and the student)• Choice (students having choices in the learning)• Integration and Integrity (both in the teacher and

student as well as in the process)

Qualities ACCI tends to engender

• Competence

• Love for learning(Curiosity, engaged, stimulated..)

• Self Confidence

How ACCI become relevant to what I do at work

• I was drawn to it when I first heard Ks’ presentation at the Unitec T & L Symposium in 2011.

• As I began looking at my work as a learning and development lecturer using an ACCI concept, I realize that this co-creative concept supports my belief that education has a transformational potential:

Through co-creating the learning context, learning outcome as well as defining the resource and obstacles on their learning journey, students develop confidence and skills to take responsibility and charge in their life, students stay in the centre place of this teaching and learning forum during my appointments with them, I am there as an experienced learner who facilitate their learning and provide guidance when needed.

I liken the journey of learning to a river: at its origin, it’s a curiosity, and it runs through different terrains: through forest,

rocky bed, and gathers momentum along the way toward its destiny.

this journey is a question that I have been experimenting and searching for an answer.

Learning and Development Lecturer

• Learning: (evolutionary pull? Baby crawling? A need to meet?)

• Development (developmental stages? Evolutionary truce? evolving self as learner?)

• When student become more confident in themselves and taking charge in their life while taking responsibility in their own learning process, my role as a learning and development lecturer is fulfilled as students achieving their learning and developmental goal on this platform of higher education.

My reflection as an Academic support

A story of Joanna ---Pseudonym (presented at NTL&T Conference in Oct, 2012)

At the end of the semester, she decided to quit for a year working to get her finance back on track before returning to a full-time study for a Bachelor's degree in 2013. She had my full support. ---retention?

When I saw her the first term, 2013, enrolled as a student in BSoP, I was delighted and humbled at the same time. I was humbled at being given the chance to witness the continuing process of a student growing and developing on her learning journey at my workplace.

To me that is what education could offer to our students, and the society.

To Grow a tree and to grow a person

• 10-tree, 100-people: “Not teach a ripe person, waste of person; teach not a ripe person, waste of word”---Confusius

Teacher present when students ready

all the action for an anticipated situation, our students ready? One-one, on-line, choice for students? ---story of a friend studying extrmurally

• 100-year Strategic Educational Plan (Pyramid, tent?) --- a contrast between two cultures, any insight can we get from it as educators?

A Phenomenon in Maths

• Ratio• Equivalent Ratio• Common factor

2:5 …4:10 8:206:15 6:158:20 4:10… 2:5

Common factors in the equation of Education

• Learning

• Teaching

The work continues• This year, I have one student who was away from formal study for over 30

years and enrolled in a course with little confidence in how to go about it. After the first appointment, she shared with me her dream about studying for a degree and really shows to her siblings who all hold at least a Bachelor’s degree, that she herself can do it as well as they have.

• She is feeling more confident in her study so she does not need my support as much as when she first started.

• At the same time, I am working with one student on her Maths and really proved to her Maths is fun. She enjoyed the learning and practicing with me in a relaxing and fun environment, She now has taken her three other classmates to our appointments and my drop-in time for support. One day she told me that all of them had passed their maths exam after working with me the day before. They understood the concept and done sufficient practice with me, therefore they found it easy to proceed in their exam.