Challenging the knowledge transfer orthodoxy: knowledge co-construction in technology enhanced learning for children with autism.
Challenging the knowledge transfer orthodoxy: knowledge co-construction in technology enhanced learning for children with autism.
Experimental intervention studies constitute the current dominant research designs in the autism education field. Such designs are based on a ‘knowledge transfer’ model of evidence-based practice in which research is conducted by researchers, and is then ‘transferred’ to practitioners to enable them to implement evidence-based interventions. While these research designs contribute important knowledge, they lead to a gap between what the research evidence may prescribe and what happens in practice, with a concomitant disparity between the priorities of researchers and practitioners. This paper discusses findings from the ESRC funded ‘SHAPE’ project, which adopted a different model of evidence-based practice, focusing on knowledge co-construction. Pupils (N=8), teachers (N=10), a Speech and Language Therapist and a parent in three different school communities investigated creative ways in which children’s social communication skills could be enhanced through technology use. Through a participatory methodology, digital stories were used as a method to enable engagement with the practical realities of the classroom and empower practitioners to construct and share their own authentic narratives. Participants articulated precise knowledge about the learning opportunities afforded to them and their pupils through quality interactions that were mediated by the technologies, as evidenced through digital stories. The Shape project shows that it is feasible to develop methodologies that enable genuine knowledge co-construction with school practitioners, parents and pupils. Such co-construction could offer realistic opportunities for pedagogical emancipation and innovation in evidence-based practice as an alternative to the currently dominant and narrow model of knowledge transfer.
394-413
Guldberg, Karen
9f6c5550-254c-47be-9a21-4d088aad7881
Parsons, Sarah
5af3382f-cda3-489c-a336-9604f3c04d7d
Porayska-Pomsta, Kaska
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Keay-Bright, Wendy
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April 2017
Guldberg, Karen
9f6c5550-254c-47be-9a21-4d088aad7881
Parsons, Sarah
5af3382f-cda3-489c-a336-9604f3c04d7d
Porayska-Pomsta, Kaska
dd251479-77e4-41ec-9521-84c8294b55d2
Keay-Bright, Wendy
9ffbb185-e682-4389-ac3a-c4fa7b48c211
Guldberg, Karen, Parsons, Sarah, Porayska-Pomsta, Kaska and Keay-Bright, Wendy
(2017)
Challenging the knowledge transfer orthodoxy: knowledge co-construction in technology enhanced learning for children with autism.
British Educational Research Journal, 43 (2), .
(doi:10.1002/berj.3275).
Abstract
Experimental intervention studies constitute the current dominant research designs in the autism education field. Such designs are based on a ‘knowledge transfer’ model of evidence-based practice in which research is conducted by researchers, and is then ‘transferred’ to practitioners to enable them to implement evidence-based interventions. While these research designs contribute important knowledge, they lead to a gap between what the research evidence may prescribe and what happens in practice, with a concomitant disparity between the priorities of researchers and practitioners. This paper discusses findings from the ESRC funded ‘SHAPE’ project, which adopted a different model of evidence-based practice, focusing on knowledge co-construction. Pupils (N=8), teachers (N=10), a Speech and Language Therapist and a parent in three different school communities investigated creative ways in which children’s social communication skills could be enhanced through technology use. Through a participatory methodology, digital stories were used as a method to enable engagement with the practical realities of the classroom and empower practitioners to construct and share their own authentic narratives. Participants articulated precise knowledge about the learning opportunities afforded to them and their pupils through quality interactions that were mediated by the technologies, as evidenced through digital stories. The Shape project shows that it is feasible to develop methodologies that enable genuine knowledge co-construction with school practitioners, parents and pupils. Such co-construction could offer realistic opportunities for pedagogical emancipation and innovation in evidence-based practice as an alternative to the currently dominant and narrow model of knowledge transfer.
Text
Guldberg et al KnowledgeTransferOrthodoxy BERJ Author accepted.pdf
- Accepted Manuscript
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 11 November 2016
e-pub ahead of print date: 5 April 2017
Published date: April 2017
Organisations:
Centre for Research in Inclusion
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Local EPrints ID: 402921
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/402921
ISSN: 0141-1926
PURE UUID: f67af705-16a8-436a-bbe6-ecd56ea97179
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Date deposited: 18 Nov 2016 14:46
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 06:04
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Author:
Karen Guldberg
Author:
Kaska Porayska-Pomsta
Author:
Wendy Keay-Bright
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