Analysing Teaching Learning Interactions In Higher Education

Whilst current research into teaching and learning offers many insights into the experiences of academics and students in higher education, it has two significant shortcomings. It does not highlight the dynamic ways in which students and academics impact on each other in teaching-learning interactions or the ways in which these interactions are shaped by wider social processes. This book offers critical insight into existing perspectives on researching teaching and learning in higher education and argues that alternative perspectives are required in order to account for structure and agency in teaching-learning interactions in higher education. In considering four alternative perspectives, it examines the ways in which teaching-learning interactions are shaped by teaching-learning environments, student and academic identities, disciplinary knowledge practices and institutional cultures. It concludes by examining the conceptual and methodological implications of these analyses of teaching-learning interactions and provides the reader with an invaluable guide to alternative ways of conceptualising and researching teaching and learning in higher education.

Theorising Learning to Teach in Higher Education provides both lecturers embarking on a career in higher education and established members of staff with the capacity to improve their teaching. The process of learning to teach, and the associated field of professional academic development for teaching, is absolutely central to higher education. Offering innovative alternatives to some of the dominant work on teaching theory, this volume explores three significant approaches in detail: critical and social realist, social practice and sociomaterial approaches, which are divided into four sections: Sociomaterialism Practice theories Critical and social realism Crossover perspectives. Readers will benefit from discussions on the role and place of theory in the process of learning to teach, whilst international case studies demonstrate the kinds of insights and recommendations that could emanate from the three approaches examined, drawing together contributions from Europe, Africa and Australasia. Both challenging and enlightening, this book argues the need for theory in order to advance scholarship in the field and achieve goals related to social justice in higher education systems across the world. It draws attention to newly emerging theoretical perspectives and relatively underused perspectives to demonstrate the need for theory in relation to learning to teach. This book will appeal to academics interested in how they come to learn to teach, to administrators and academic developers responsible for professional development strategies at universities and masters and PhD level students researching professional development in higher education.

Interactivity is at the very heart of learning and is evident at all levels of engagement, whether between fellow students, students and tutors, online learning materials or interfacing with the learning environment. Covering both theory and the practical implications of the issues discussed, this book provides international perspectives on key topics including: analysing and designing e-learning interactions, social and conceptual dimensions of learning, interactions in online discussions, interactions in peer learning and professional development of online facilitators. It is essential reading for all those involved in the design, implementation, management and use of open and flexible learning.

This accessible "how to" book about classroom interaction offers teachers powerful tools of discourse analysis as a way of understanding the complex dynamics of human interaction that constitute effective, equitable teaching and learning and guides them step-by-step through how to build their interactional awareness to improve their teaching.

This book provides an essential resource for researchers and practitioners in the area of networked learning. Networked learning is learning in which information and communication technology is used to promote connections: between one learner and other learners; between learners and tutors and between a learning community and its learning resources.

Teaching, Learning and Research in Higher Education offers a combination of critical perspectives and practical advice that is ideally suited for individuals interested in enhancing their practice through analysis and critique. The aim is to promote a critical understanding of one’s own practices: to foster personal and professional formation through a reflexive engagement with one's environment and circumstances. At a practical level this means to continuously think about how to adjust practice rather than following a formulaic approach derived from any particular educational theory. Teaching, Learning and Research in Higher Education argues that academics can find space for their own agency in the midst of institutional policies and practices that serve to frame, as well as delimit and constrain, what counts as good academic work in teaching and research. This text bridges a gap between those books that provide a high-level analysis of contemporary higher education, the more practical texts on how to be a good teacher in higher education, and those texts which aim to improve teaching through better understanding of the learning process. Topical chapters include: Teacher-learner relationship, Learning groups, Practice-oriented learning, Teaching for diversity, e-learning, Assessment, Approaches to Staff Development, Quality assurance, Supervision and Research education, Doing research, and Teaching & Research. A must-have resource for higher education professions, academic developers, professionals, and anyone looking to improve their teaching and learning practices, Teaching, Learning and Research in Higher Education is also appropriate for continuing and professional development courses in the UK and teaching and learning courses in the US. Mark Tennant is Dean of the University Graduate School, University of Technology, Sydney. Cathi McMullen is Lecturer in the School of Marketing and Management at Charles Sturt University. Dan Kaczynski is Professor in the Educational Leadership department at Central Michigan University.

Contrary to the belief that computers isolate users, Karen Littleton and Paul Light demonstrate that learning with computers is often a collaborative and social activity. Learning with Computers brings together a significant body of research that shows how working with others at the computer can be beneficial to learners of all ages, from the early school years to the highest levels of education. It also investigates factors such as gender that explain why some interactions are not as productive as others.

This edited collection draws together the latest thinking, research and practical case studies related to classroom interaction at internationalised universities. Through evidence-based approaches which involve the analysis of and reflection on classroom interaction practices, this book examines issues related to classroom interaction in disciplinary higher education contexts, whilst addressing the question of how teachers and students can develop their ability in orchestrating and taking part in classroom interaction. Covering topics such as classroom interactional competence, ‘silent’ students, interaction and integration in multicultural classes, social factors in classroom talk, group interaction, oracy development and anti-bullying interventions, this title is ideal reading for postgraduate students, teacher trainers in higher education, scholars and researchers and anyone interested in higher education pedagogy and its development.