Session Information
32 SES 06 A, Knowledge Mobilization: Connecting Research and Practice
Symposium
Contribution
This paper uses frames from the organizational learning literature (described in the symposium overview: Argyris & Schon, 1978; Daft & Weick, 1984; Kim, 1993) to examine the theory of action of different inquiry projects facilitated by a university effort to connect research to practice through the establishment of different types of learning networks. Over the past two year’s the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Education has been facilitating cross-site (either school and district) inquiry communities to investigate common problems of practice. Three distinct projects are the focus of this paper. The first project was a six month inquiry into teacher questioning of students in mathematics. The second project featured the co-construction of a survey of district leaders in a network of 45 districts about their culture of data use, with subsequent action planning. The third project included 16 high school guidance counsellors who developed and administred a survey on first year high school students’ sense of belonging with a followup plan for action. Each project was designed to operate on two levels: a specific focus on the topic of practitioner interest and a more conceptual focus on the principles of ongoing improvement The paper is based upon both planning documents from the project participants, and interviews (n=20) with members of the three projects. Relevant interview data focused on participants perceptions of the valuable knowledge gained from the experience, their efforts to share what they learned within their organization, and ways in which they internalized and adopted the frame of ongoing improvement. Interviews were inductively coded for themes related to individual and organizational learning. Analyses show interesting relationships between the topic of the different projects and the ways that participants constructed learning experiences within their sites as well as contradictions between plans for individual learning and learning assumptions underlying systems they sought to put in place.
References
Argyris, C. & Schon, D.A. (1978) Organizational learning Theory, method, and practice. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Daft, R.L. & Weick, K.E. (1984). Toward a model of organizations as interpretation systems. Academy of Management Review, 9(2), 284-295. Kim, D. (1993). The link between individual and organizational learning. Sloan Management Review. Fall, 37-50.
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